I also suggest starting with a good 22. I don't suggest a auto for a beginner because you could get use to pray and spray method. I suggest either a boltaction savage or marlin or a leveraction Henry or marlin. Either one would be great for starting out. If you are set on a shotgun a good 12 is hard to beat. But if you aren't use to recoil I'd look into a 20 guage. My pet guage is 16 in between the two but gives the best of both worlds just ammo is harder to find. Also look into used guns there just as good and usually alot cheaper than a new one. I find used remington 870's and mossburg 500's all the time for 125-150. That's my sugestions...