Mrs. Ahab last gave me specifics on the home defense shotgun she’d like me to acquire for her, which is cool because it marks the first time in the 5-6 years we’ve been together that she’s expressed an interest in firearms beyond busting clay birds with her little single shot .410.
Here are the parameters that’s she’s laid out:
Gauge: .410 bore
Action: Semi or Pump
Capacity: more than 2
So far, my search has determined that our best bet at this juncture is one of the Mossberg 500 line of guns, which I’d be totally happy with. Unless one of my intrepid readers knows about a semi-automatic .410 shotgun that weighs less than 5 pounds and holds at least 5 rounds!
And now, before the “she should just get a 20 gauge because my wife uses a 20″ comments start up, we’ve had the conversations about 12/20/etc, and settled on a .410 because she’s comfortable with it, and is an absolute sharpshooter with a single shot H&R .410. And besides, a 3 inch magnum .410 round of 00 buck would pretty much wreck someone’s day.
If she wants a .410 then what about one of marlin’s lever action shotguns? A little more expensive than a standard pump, but it’s got some character to it.
It’s pretty hard to go wrong with the 500 series though.
Remington 1100 .410 or a Siaga .410
Saiga gets props for looking scary…
if that is too pricey, 500 is teh awesome.
The Saiga is right out because it’s stupidly heavy for a shotgun – I mean, it seriously weighs like 6,000 lbs. If a gun is too heavy, she won’t want to practice with it for extended periods, which means she won’t develop the skills necessary to rock someone’s world with a load of 00 buck to the faceparts.
The 12GA, maybe, but looking at specs, the Saiga without a magazine is just a few ounces more than the 1100 at 6 3/4 lbs… Granted the steel magazines are heavier, but the new Surefire mags aren’t bad at all.
What you give up in weight, you get back in performance: They’re quicker to reload and you can’t beat the capacity: 15 rds?
Still, I understand your point – Maybe the pump gun is lighter and better for her.
I saw recently a Browning A5 in .410. Since they aren’t made anymore, I don’t know if it was chambered for a 3″ shell or not. If you got a second barrel, it could do double duty for clays and home defense. I have seen mag extensions for the A5. It may take some work to find one in .410.
The price was right—$300. I didn’t have the cash or I’d have taken it home.
I know it’s kinda silly, but there is always the .410 AR
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/07/06/safir-arms-t-14-410-ar-15-uppers-now-available/
Get a gun and start cutting on both ends. Cut the tube to 18″ and the stock down to 12″ with the recoil pad, the Decelerator by Pachmayr is recommended.
Trigger job with XS ghost right sights. Install sling posts and you’re all set.
I may shop for a butt cuff or side saddle (if they make it for .410).
Practice loading, a bunch. Those .410s are very small and can be tricky to manipulate.
I’d still look at the Remington 870 Youth model, still have to cut it down, but it’s light and balances well.
Yeah, I would have thought that the AR chambered in .410 would be a natural fit here, since you can then hang a rail farm off of it.
:D
The .410 AR is hilarious, but after I stop laughing, there’s the reality… with buckshot it’s ballisticly equivalent to a subgun with absurd-cyclic-rate burst fire.
So Caleb should get one, so it will normalize them for the rest of us.
Yeah, the .410 AR is pretty much right out – as neat an idea as it is on paper, I’m not looking to push the “bleeding modern” envelope of technology when a Mossberg 500 Cruiser is going to work like a friggin’ clock.
Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a side saddle or extension for a .410…
“Get a gun and start cutting on both ends. Cut the tube to 18″”
Xavier makes a good argument on his blog for cutting to 18.25 or 18.5″. Spares you from the “I just committed a felony because I cut the wrong side of the line (17.98″ instead of 18.00″)” issue.
My Local Shop has a nice Mossberg 500 in .410 with an integrated vertical foregrip. Is that the sort of thing you mean?
A mossy 500 is also ballistically equivalent to a subgun… just slower to reload. I always sort of figured you for a bleeding modern kind of guy.
Oh, I lurves me some bleeding modern stuff, but at the same time I also am trying really hard to resist my constant urge to reinvent the wheel. A pump gun in an easy to handle chambering is a lethal combo in my wife’s hands.
Meanwhile, i’ll go buy some ridiculous contraption and hang rails and crap all over it for my personal use!
Wolfwood, yeah kind of like that actually, except without the weird vertical foregrip on the pump. I’m actually thinking about getting a cruiser style gun – one with no shoulder stock for me, and then the stocked version for her.
She must be a hell of a shot if she shoots clays with a .410
Way better than me anyway…which isn’t that surprising when you get right down to it, but kudos to her.
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a side saddle or extension for a .410…”
You could an elastic buttstock sleeve for individual rifle rounds on the shotgun stock. The difference in diameter between a .410 round and .308 ought to be small enough that it would still work.
Why not let her try a few different kinds?
My small game choice for many years with the Mossberg 500E, and I wouldn’t think of ever using this gun where time was a critical factor. It is very sensitive to the OAL of the shells, and jams became such a problem in the field, that I switched to star-crimped 2.5 inchers exclusively. Most also have only full choke barrels, so using one is more like aiming with a rifle.
YMMV
Before you buy one, see if you can field test it with a bunch of different brands of shells. I don’t know your wife’s build, but a 20 gauge self-feeder in the 6.5 – 7 pound range isn’t so bad for recoil and much more forgiving for shot placement. It just takes practice, and she has a pro-level shooter for a spouse.
Once I yelled too loudly in the presence of my .410 1100, and parts fell out of it.
How about the Judge? Holds 5 rounds, less than five pounds, and is .410.
I was wondering long it would take before someone would bring that up.
Okay, I will now employ the obscure sorcery of reading comprehension:
“Unless one of my intrepid readers knows about a semi-automatic .410 shotgun that weighs less than 5 pounds and holds at least 5 rounds!
And now, before the ‘she should just get a 20 gauge because my wife uses a 20′ comments start up, we’ve had the conversations about 12/20/etc, and settled on a .410 because she’s comfortable with it…”
The difference between my 500E and the Winny Ranger 1400 I used to own is about a quarter-pound. Most are going to be in the 6.25 to 7 pound range. I suspect that the .410 will be more sensitive to barrel length, because of the relatively slow burning propellants used.
http://www.mossberg.com/products/default.asp?id=22&display=specs
Best you can do is a Mossy 505 in .410, with a 20″ barrel–tips the scales at 5.25 pounds.
You didn’t specify why the choice was narrowed down to a .410 shotgun, but as an alternative, have you considered a pistol caliber carbine?
We went with .410 because she has a .410 already in single shot, and is comfortable with the cartridge and recoil it generates.
+1 for the lever actions. Either the Marlin 410 or the Winchester 9410 – although the Winchesters had full length tubes (greater capacity) the Marlin has a half length tube (four rounds) that would make it easier to cut the barrel down from 22″ to 18.25″ (and then mount a XS big bead on it). In my experience, it is easier to stay on target between shots with a levergun (compared to a pump) since the support hand (farthest from center of gravity) is not required to manipulate the action. Keeping the motion between the relatively stable points of the shoulder and the forend minimizes movement. Plus there are the style points to consider….