Looking for a good home defence shotgun. Reliable, easy to use, and has a rail for a light. My main goal is something easy to use for my wife while I am gone for work. Do not have a crazy budget. Any advice would be great thanks guys.
Yeah, keep it simple, with probably a 500, or 870, although NEF puts out a pump that I've heard is satisfying, that can be had for under $200. Don't neglect used gun listings, or pawn shops, either.
Install a magazine extension, and your best bet for a light, is to get a barrel-mag clamp, with a rail.
For budget stuff there, Primary Arms has some good weaponlight deals.
IMHO only. This is just an opinion based on my experiance with my spouse and her eyes glazing over whenever I tried to show her how to use my 870 Marine Magnum.
Rossi Coach Gun. 20 gauge and yes they make one with the rail (and it's even black!")
We have the standard 20 gauge coach gun. It can be loaded from the butt cuff in seconds. I keep three number 4 buck, and two 00 buck in the cuff on ours. She can have it loaded and pointed down the hall in 3 seconds or so.
I think at in the house range a 20 gauge is nearly as effective as a 12 gauge.
This is only my opinion and my offering of this opinion in no way implies that I am right or that there are not other options available.
Check out the 20g NEF youth "pardner" shotgun at WalMart for $179. Best deal around. We even motored to Greencastle to buy ours since the Brownsburg store took forever to fill their case. They have them now. It comes with one choke, and others are available.
We have our usual pistols stashed, but there is nothing so intimidating as hearing that pump of the shotgun. An added plus, my wife can use the youth model, and in the house, the youth model is perfect for me to use, and 20g will do a hefty amount of damage to an intruder.
I forget the name of the company but they are a Clone of the Remington 870. They are built well and function just like the original for about 130. But stick to the mossberg 500 or the Remington 870...those are the 2 most used Shotguns in law enforcement.
I picked up a used Mossy 500 20 Ga (pistol grip) for $180 and they threw in a standard stock just for fun. Then went out and got a longer barrel for like $80 in case I decide to hunt with it.
Also purchased a new Mossy 500 410 Ga for the lovely wifey (For like $325?). She likes it because of the lower recoil--and I loaded it with Winchester Elite's. From across the room, it will be more than sufficient to take out an intruder.
I picked up a used Mossy 500 20 Ga (pistol grip) for $180 and they threw in a standard stock just for fun. Then went out and got a longer barrel for like $80 in case I decide to hunt with it.
I'm doing the exact reverse of what you did. Have the mossberg 500a in 12 gauge with the 28" barrel and am going to pick up the short barrel and a pistol grip for keeping it around the house in between infrequent trips to shoot trap.
Lovely gun for the price and extra barrels don't set you back a ton if you don't need anything super fancy and go to the right places to shop.