Shotguns

Most self-defense shotguns have a few traits in common—short and maneuverable, high capacity, and simple to operate. In the dead of the night, or, increasingly, in the middle of the afternoon, you need to be able to pick up your shotgun, make it hot, and get to the spot in your house or property where you and several of your friends named Buck will treat intruders pretty ugly.

At Gun Tests, we have reviewed dozens of guns made for such unpleasantness, and our staff shooters have liked many of them, as a poke through the online archives at www.Gun-Tests.com or www.GunReports.com will show. One of the assumptions that we made in those reviews is that the guns are well maintained, which for blued steel means enough attention and love to keep them from corroding closed. But for tens of millions of Americans who live on or near coastal areas with salt air or inland on rivers or lakes with attendant high humidity, blued steel might not be the right choice. Something more inert might be better.

Toward that end, we recently acquired two shotguns made of stainless steel, nickel, polymer, and aluminum that promised, and delivered, much of what we want in a self-defense shotgun plus low, low maintenance. One was Mossberg's Special Purpose Model 500 Mariner 50273 3-Inch 12 Gauge, $571, a six-shot Marinecote-finished pumpgun with stainless barrel and aluminum receiver. We paired it against the Remington Model 870 Special Purpose Express Marine Magnum No. 25012 3-inch 12 Gauge, $772, a handsome shotgun crafted from a steel billet and all its metal parts are nickel coated, including the inside of the barrel and the receiver. There is no toehold for corrosion on this shotgun.

We gave our testers the charge of deciding which gun we'd stow in the cabin of a Hunter 50CC for an extended trip asea, or along for the ride in a bateau headed out to a fishing cabin, or tucked in the corner of the bedroom as a life insurance policy.

There's something about shotguns that brings out the worst in otherwise knowledgeable people. A vast majority of shooters don't even know how to get and keep barrels clean and shiny. Even fewer have any idea about shotgun sights and their use. Still, solving these and other problems are intimidating to the novice, yet there is nothing to most of the jobs after overcoming the initial mystique of these jobs. The easiest are removing slight surface rust from barrels and polishing shotgun bores. Installing sights that will really help the shooter also fall into the easy job category. We will cover these here in enough depth for you to take on any of these jobs comfortably.

The 50th Anniversary Citori shotgun is a collaboration between manufacturer Browning and retailer Cabela's.

NSSF's Dave Miles takes a look at the popular and rapidly growing sport of three-gun shooting with Tom Fuller of Bushnell during the AR15.com/Rockcastle 3-gun Pro AM held at Rockcastle Shooting Center at Park Mamoth Resort in Park City, KY.

(GunReports.com) -– Mossberg has introduced the 500 Thunder Ranch Shotgun, a 12-gauge shotgun designed in conjunction with personal defense instructor Clint Smith.

To qualify for a Franchi shotgun rebate of $100 or $200, shooters must purchase a new Franchi I-12 or Renaissance shotgun from an Authorized Franchi Dealer between January 18 and November 30, 2011.

Advanced Technology International, aka ATI, a manufacturer of gun stocks and firearm accessories, has developed the New Triton adaptor System, allowing shooters to easily mount stocks with no special tools, only an allen or torque wrench.

Watch as Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA shows how to safety handle a gun on the sporting clays field. The proper use of eye and ear protection is covered as well as using the correct ammunition. Safe gun handling is emphasized with specific examples unique to the sporting clays field.

Both the side-by-side hammer guns and the pump-action hammer guns of old left a distinct mark in history and are now resurfacing in the form of replicas finding favor at shooting competitions across the country. The popularity of the simple and easy-to-handle shotguns is also growing among people interested in home-defense firearms.For a trip back to the past, Gun Tests selected a side-by-side to see if there is any advantage or downside—other than the number of shots—to an Old West style shotgun. The test shotgun was a Cimarron T.T.N. Model 1878 Coach Gun 12 Gauge Side-by-Side carrying a price tag of $480 in the new gun rack at Dury’s Gun Shop in San Antonio.

Dropping a dove without retrieving it is both poor form and wasteful. If the friendly neighborhood game warden is in the area, such unsportsmanlike conduct might also get you cited for "waste of game."

When you have managed to knock a bird out of the sky with a well-placed pattern of shot, watch the bird fall all the way to the ground and keep your eye on that spot.

Focus on any identifiable landmark - a clump of tall grass, a bush, a telephone pole or fence post that is in direct line with the fallen bird and immediately walk to that spot.

Don't take your eyes off the spot. Don't shoot another bird and don't look down to load your shotgun. Retrieving that bird is your first and only mission.

Unlike crossing birds where swing through and shooting well in front of the doves is necessary, an incomer requires a touch of finesse.

(GunReports.com) -- Watch as Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA, demonstrates the basic safety and operational features of pump, semi-automatic and break-open shotguns.

The Gun Tests staff tested the Benelli Super Black Eagle II No. 10016, $1515. The 12-gauge gun featured a back-bored (.735-inch interior diameters compared to the 12-gauge nominal .729) barrel, stepped ventilated ribs, three-shot magazine, cross-bolt safety and a smooth, crisp trigger.It came with classy plastic case befitting a 4-digit retail shotgun, with molded impressions to fit the various gun parts, choke tubes and wrenches.