Remington's 20ga 870, made on a smaller receiver than their 12ga model, is what I'd pick if I were going to go buy a new home defense shotgun. It's slimmer, lighter, and all-around more handy than the 12ga model, follow-up shots are easier, it won't beat you senseless when training (you do train, right? I mean other than with a keyboard,) and at across-the-room distances with buck or slug it will cancel a birth certificate every bit as effectively as its larger sibling. And I need Less-Lethal or breaching rounds like I need a hole in my head. Many other shooters, even those of the big, manly, experienced variety, have expressed similar sentiments to me.
Plus, as everyone in the blogosphere has now mentioned, it is available in terminally kewt (get it?) pink. I want one. If you tell anybody, I will come to your house and shoot you in the kneecap.
Oh for crying out loud. I can't wait for the Gunroom on your less-lethal, reduced-recoil, short-stocked, pink Vulcan 20mm.
ReplyDeleteThe seller on the pink 20 isn't the load so much as the stock length. Smaller-framed 870 devotees might well say "What's the big deal, if it don't fit, just take a little off the butt"(a line much more welcome at the gunsmith's than the bar); just try it with a Beretta. What a Christmas that was.
Agreed on the reduced-recoil loads. Got a Benelli Special Purpose a couple of years ago, and it's great: but with full-house buckshot or slugs, that light shotgun kicks the crap out of you. MUCH better with the r-r loads.
ReplyDeleteAnd at down the hall or across the yard range, I kinda think it'll do the job.
I'm actually a fan of #4 shot for house hold defense. At short in the house ranges it will take down whatever I need to take down and in the full size 12ga the recoil is very controllable.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I have always heard about with the 20ga is that the weapon is too light and just will not absorb the recoil shock like the heavier 12ga.
Remember recoil is an outgrowth of Newton's third law (for every action there is an equal and opposite resction). Thus, the heavier the weapon, the more force is required to shift it. Which could explain why some hunters only shoot during hunting season, and then only as much as they absolutely think that they have to. Those featherweight .308 and .30-06 rifles have a punishing recoil.
I've used a 20 gauge Mossberg 500 with the short rifle sighted barrel from Gun Parts. It's my miniature riot gun for small riots.
ReplyDeleteIt's not very heavy and easily controlled relative to a Remington 1100 12 bore.
Geoff
Who figures a snoot full of #3 buck will slow down just about anything.
Need gatling shotgun... for when the zombies come for us.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no, Tamara. If it's not an Ithaca Mag 10 Roadblocker it's just not tactical and cool enough for me.
ReplyDelete(I just wish you could see the expression on my face as I type that one for you. Ah, the sardonic rolling of eyes and shaking of head.)
A Remmy 870 youth is a peachy little problem solver.
ReplyDeleteHell, I'd get one just so the prosecutor would have to try to convince the jury it was evil if I ever had to use it for defense.
ReplyDeleteMaybe stick a few hello kitty stickers on it too...
I remember well the day I passed up a bright bubblegum pink polymer Witness in 9m/m or .40 at the gun show.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that it wasn't as cu- er, kew- oh, foo, kawaii as could be. It was. I just kept imagining the headline: Local Girl Points Pink Gun, Burglar Injures Self Laughing.
They don't laugh for very long.
Gee, Massad Ayoob's been saying this for, oh, about 25 years now!
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of branding myself as a True Wimp, I love the 20ga. Yes, I have 12ga, I've shot a lot of 12ga, and I still prefer the 20. As Mas says, no matter how well you shoot a 12, you'll shoot a 20 better.
Frankly, I'm not willing to give up the velocity (and attendant lethality) to make a 12ga almost as comfortable as a 20 is naturally. Make mine a 20ga!
-=[ Grant ]=-
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Hmmm....Had a Roadblocker some years back. Pretty damn impressive, but only 3 rounds, took a 200 pounder to manage it and self defense ammo was hard to find. Make a 6-7 round version and I'd get another one, though.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned at Kim's, at 2007 SHOT I found a 20 gauge version of the 870 riot at the Remington booth, and scrounged one up ASAP. It gets used most as a student gun, and "people of small build" who think they would prefer a pellet dispenser very much prefer it over a 12.
Current project is an old 1100 in 20 that I ran across; the Choate mag extension is in, and I'm hunting for a barrel suitable for hacksaw work. It'll wind up with a 20" tube and 7 round mag, and we'll see how it does in 3 gun. Then it'll probably become a house gun.
It would be nice, though, if more places stocked a wider variety of 20 gauge ammo. I'd like to be able to get buckshot without using the brown truck of happiness.
hee. if you do buy it, you must wear your kalashnikitty shirt while shooting it...and take pictures.
ReplyDelete12 gauge loads aren't bad at all out of an autoloader. Of course everyone knows semi-auto shotguns are unreliable, unlike semi-auto pistols or semi-auto rifles.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think prevalence of pump shotguns is more due to the low cost that any real deficiency of modern automatics (hell, even some non modern autos: try to get a properly set Browning Auto-5 to choke).
See if they make the 1100 in the pink.
ReplyDeleteA session behind a gas-operated 20 gauge and reduced recoil loads makes you feel like the fastest, most competant Being on the planet. Or at least within your curtilage.
I seriously have been for some time questioning aloud why this hasn't become a standard cop gun. Maybe we could get cops to shoot more than their 5 a year if we did.
I think a 12 loaded with a dozen or so Aguila Mini 1.75" buckshot loads would give you light recoil with the ability to use specialty rounds as needed.
ReplyDeleteAnd anyone who has had to reload a shotgun under stress will love the high capacity.
http://tinyurl.com/35rs6c
My baby is an old 20 Gauge Rossi hammer Coach gun. There is a belt slide of No.6 right above it for things that go bump in the night. Cowboy action shoting beat any love for the 12 Ga right out of me...(chuckle)...Now, If my Chinese Winchester 1887 repro was only in 20 gauge...(sigh)...
ReplyDeleteRev. Turk