rmrvette

All have given you good advise. I'd love to add a beautiful over and under to my gun case but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll add $.02 in favor of the more flexible Remington 870 or if you can add a little more to the budget the Remington 1187 autoloader. With the vent rib, Rem Choke barrel you can do any thing you want to get started in shooting sports. The choke tubes are reasonably priced and readily available. Use "improved cylinder" for skeet and fast flushing small birds like quail or even rabbits sitting tight on a cold winter morning. Also use this choke for Deer slugs. "Modified" is good for general upland game hunting and I have been known to break a few clay birds with my old Winchester 1400 modified autoloader. Both skeet and trap. Use the full choke tube for trap and longer distance shot shell hunting. Like shooting larger, fast flying birds like grouse or pheasants also ducks and geese as an example. Extra full choke tubes are available for turkey and long range geese. You can later add a "deerslayer" barrel made specifially for shooting deer slugs. These come with either open "iron" sights or scope mounts. Either platform is a good one to start with for multipurpose shooting and hunting and can be built upon for you future desires. I'll also add that the 1187, as a gas operated autoloader has far less recoil, though it is a little more expensive. Both of these are in my gun safe.

rmrvette

...and by the way Thresh33, Gander Mountain is a fine store but not the only place to buy "long guns". Cabelas, Dick's Sporting goods, local gun shops, maybe Bass Pro, also Wallmart, and even pawn shops have choices for you. Not too many Berettas or Stoegers at Walmart but I've seen field grade Remingtons. If you go the local pawn shop take the shooter in the family with you. You are looking at used guns there primarily. You can find great deals if you know what you are looking for and at, but someone with some experience is strongly suggested. It doesn't have to be brand new to be a great shotgun. Also check out the classifieds right here on Hunting.net. You might find a great deal close by.

Thresh33

Thanks i'll definitely check some of those other places out. Being a beginner to all of this, am I really going to need all these different chokes and whatnot? Could I just use one for trap and one for slugs if I decide to hunt?

Also, is a pump shotgun more inconvenient for trap? My unexperienced opinion would think so. I still have conflicting reports on that over under stoeger gun.. would I be able to shoot slugs out of that effectively, or is the general conensus the remington 870? Unfortunately, I do not have a grand to drop on that 1187.

rmrvette

Thresh 33, like that "Uncle" before me said, I wouldn't shoot slugs out of an over and under. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love to have one, I just don't yet. That Winchester 1400 is still in my gun safe. It was given to me by my dad on my 16th birthday. My first shotgun. I'm 56 now. It's a fixed, modified choke. I don't shoot slugs out of it either. A lot of clay birds have been broken with 870 wingmasters. Alot more with the "venerable" 1100 automatic. The 1187 is just the "next generation" of the 1100. You can likely find one of these in great shape used if you look around a little bit. I love mine and it ain't for sale but I'll bet you can find one much more reasonable than a grand. The added advantage over the 1100 was that it will also shoot 3" magnam shells. Some of the 870s will as well. My son's 870 is a 20 guage and has the "magnam reciever" which allows it to shoot 3" magnam shells. The advantage of the autoloaders other than the lighter recoil is that you do not have to work the action to get off the next shot. I'm not all that used to pump action guns and sometimes have not quite gotten the action closed to take the next shot. It's a learned experience, and I've not had as much with pumps as with autos. My first was an auto after all. Head back out to that shooting club and look around. I'll bet you can still see a few of the pumps and autos being used. I'll also bet if you talk to some of those guys, you can shoot a couple of different guns and see what you like best. ...and no you don't need to get it all at once. Start with your 870 or 1187 skeet gun, vent rib barrel. Buy the full choke tube and the wrench to change the tubes. (if you don't decide to buy a package with choke tubes included or even a combo package with a deer slayer barrel included) Two chokes will get you started. One skeet and deer slugs (imp. cyl) and one trap and long range upland game and birds (Full Choke) Just let that rabbit run a little further. Full choke will make him disapear in a cloud of fur at 10 yards or so.

marlin30/30_drabe

one of those guns has a smoothbore slug barrel which i use own on my dads 870 and the other has a filed barrel. oyu wnat the filed barrel for trap, turkey, ducks,pheasant etc. but you could slugs if you wanted to. another gun that you can look at is the Mossberg 500 or 835. its usually a little cheaper than the 870. i have an older 500 and it works fine but i dont really know what the new ones are like but you should check out both guns. i dont think you could go wrong with either

cullbuck

My vote is for the 1187 or 870 as well. There is a lot of flexibility there and they are generally very reliable if you keep them clean. The choke tubes add flexibility and the availability of deer barrels adds flexibility.

Sheridan

Thresh,

My recommendation is to buy an entry level shotgun to see if you are going to like the shooting sports and hunting game.

It seems you are a novice, so who knows what the future holds ?

When you go to the range you'll notice "most" of the regular shooters use a O/U, some use autoloaders because they have less recoil, which helps them to "get on" their second shots (particularly "gas guns").

Just before hunting season, all the boyz show up with their "hunting guns" (pumps, etc.) to practice up for the up-coming season.

Will one gun do it all ? yes (870 is a good example), but if you get bit by the bug, you will find that you will need/want the right gun for the right job......................

No judgements here, as I shoot all the shotgun sports "low gun", because I see it as good hunting practice (although I get the business at the range from the "good guys").

Good luck with your FIRST purchase and I hope you enjoy the process..................

ButchA

I agree...

The Remington 870 12ga is by far the ultimate "go anywhere, do anything" shotgun around. You can drop it in the dirt, drag it through a muddy marsh to a duck blind, and it will still fire and not have any issues. The accessories for the 870 are mind boggling too. You could literallly make it into whatever you wanted.

Also... Every gun safe has to have an 870 in it. It's a rule. LOL...

Thresh33

Hit the nail on the head. Complete novice here, which is why I requested some expert opinions.

The general consensus here sounds like the 870. The only thing I'm thinking is that it might be a few years until I actually get a chance to go deer hunting, seeing as my brother is the one who does it and I kinda need him to get back into it for me to be able to.

And seeing as I definitely am a novice, i'm just wondering if a pump shotgun is going to be a good deal more difficult for trap then an over under. In the stations i was consistently getting about 5/10... obviously not very good, though it was my first time.

That was with an over/under, and I'm just hesitant to go with the 870 because I think it will add more difficulty. I'm quite torn here! Though for the price it seems like my best option is the 870 since it will allow me to do a lot more in the future

Thresh33

I started to google a little bit and i'm coming across some things that say the mossberg 500 series is a better and cheaper gun than the remington 870?? opinions?