Now, now, fellas.

I went with the Mossberg 695 Bolt -- here' s why.

1) I decided I love deer hunting enough that I could rationalize a gun dedicated to deer. 2) Changing barrels on most pumps means realigning the sights (scopes or otherwise) but the scope on the Mossberg fixes to the barrel. 3) A rifled barrel for my Ithaca would cost more than the entire Mossberg. The Mossberg was $185 at Dicks. 4) In all the reviews it was AS accurate as the Marlin and Savage. Mine likes Winchester Gold (Partitian?) Supreme and groups nicely. 5) If I did have piles of money laying around and I got a fancy-schmancy slug gun with a pretty stock I' d be afraid to crawl in the muck and snow, afraid to use the gun to push back heavy brush, afraid to actually use it for hunting. 6) The Mossberg is one butt-ugly gun (though the ported barrel looks pretty cool). I always worry about guys who hunt with pretty guns. A gun, especially a hunting gun, is a tool. I don' t care if my saws-all is pretty. 7) Heavy barrel so it shoots the new high velocity slugs, but it' s not the 20lb. boat anchor H&R/NEF are selling. 8) If I recall correctly, the Marlin did not eat certain shells w/o jamming. 3 inch, maybe. 9) My wife said I could.

Yes, I know the Mossberg is not a Purdy, but I' m guessing it will last the rest of my life. It gets shot 2 or 3 times a year, not counting sighting it in. Oh, I suppose if money were no issue I might buy something else, but money is an issue in my house. Shoot, if money were no issue I wouldn' t hunt around here with a shotgun, I' d have a 2000 acre spread in the ADK mts, I' d manage a huge herd and I' d hunt with my Savage 99 in .308 (got it used for free). :-)

rhetoric