what ever you end up with, if it
has choke tubes get a tube of choke
tube lube and use it. religiously.
without fail. each and every time
you remove or change a tube.
way cheaper than a replacement
tube and/or barrel and a gunsmith fee.
yeah it's messy, but rags are cheaper
than repairs.
good luck

Hmm.. Maybe the best would be to rent it at range and try both. Do you, by any chance, know a good range with shotgun rental in Austin area?

3.5" is only necessary for hunting geese. I've never used them for ducks and don't need to. 3" is fine for 99% of hunting plus it kicks less and costs less. For everything except ducks I actually use 2 3/4".

1100

Or 870 if you don't mind tha kick

put my 870s through bad nasty muddy situations and don't clean them much... never had an issue

I have an 870 its been a great gun. I would go with a pump for a starter gun.

11-87

An 870 20 guage is perfect. My son weighs 56 lbs. If he can take the recoil from dove loads from a pump shotgun, I'm pretty sure anyone can. Spend $290 on a new 870 at Academy, buy a soft case, cleaning kit and a case of shells and you're still hundreds of $$$ under your budget.

There's a safety factor too. I make my son rack the pump back and keep an open chamber when we're at a break in the action. He'll pull the round out of the chamber and put it back in the magazone tube. All he has to do is rack the pump forward and he's ready to roll. You can't do that with a semi auto. And you can't bump fire a pump.

I really like pump shotguns for beginners, as well. I agree with the poster above about the safety aspect, and in my opinion, you think about each shot more when you have to do more than just pull the trigger.

When I was a kid, I started out on an old Stevens single shot 20 gauge. I think the pump is safer because you don't have to lower a hammer on a pump to unload it if you don't shoot. My first dove hunt, I the hammer slipped out of my grip and I fired a round off. it was pointed in a safe direction, but it scared me.

I'm just curious why everyone is so quick to recommend a pump for safety when the OP said he has experience shooting rifles and pistols at paper? I'm betting that he's familiar with using at least an autoloading handgun. There is nothing wrong with a pump, for many reasons, but someone that can safely handle an autoloading handgun shouldn't have a problem transitioning to an autoloading shotgun.

Man oh man. I remember slipping my thumb on the hammer of a New England Arms .410. Scary stuff when you're not expecting the boom.

I wouldn't touch an 870. Quality on the new ones is terrible. Buddy of mine bought a new one and headed out for a hunting trip. It jammed shut on the first shot and he wasted the whole trip. I'll never trust the 870 unless someone else buys Remington.

Damn shame that Freedom group took one of the most venerable shotguns ever made and screwed it up. I have a prefreedom group 870 and 11-87PL, and they are both outstanding firearms. The Beneli pumps work great, but I hate the way they look. I really hate modern plastic molded stocks on rifles and shotguns.

True that I'm not a kid and I have handled guns for couple of years without issues. But I have never hunted.. maybe the stress or excitement may take a focus away. In any case I think that $280 for reliable shotgun (870) is hard to beat so I will probably go that way. More money for ammo

Makes sense, thanks. What about barrel length? Is there any significant difference of performance between 28" or 26"?

I've still got the "Loaner" 20 gauge S&W 1000 that has taught a number of young'uns & wives/girlfriends to shoot. Soft recoiling gas operated using skeet loads is a help, but the most dominating feature this gun has that makes it IMO IDEAL for a teaching tool is....there is a bolt release button on the left side of the receiver to "unlock" the loading gate to allow access to feed the magazine AND the bolt stays back when it is empty...so you can load one shell at a time thru the ejection port, hit the button, fire, and repeat smoothly and without thinking/knowing about the empty magazine.

When the young/new shooter is trained up enough to allow multiple rounds to be loaded, it has always been a big surprise to them that they can load the magazine too by pushing the button to unlock the mag tube gate.

This gun hasn't been in production in a very long time, but you can find'em occasionaly on GB at under 870/Nova prices. Biggest problem they have is that the O Rings on the gas system regulator have a habit of melting over time with lots of firing and are a real PIA to clean out the O Ring debris that coats the inside of the gas handling system portion of the magazine tube ...but this last set of O Rings has been in my gun for mebbe 15-20 years since it hardly ever gets shot anymore.

It'd be worth looking around to see what other brands may have this same kinda setup these days.
Ron

Hit the local pawn shops. I have bought an 1100 in .410 bore for $300 and an LT-20 for $350 that was a safe queen. Deals can be had there if you are patient and know why to look for.

Wiley, my Weatherby SA-08 and my 40yr old 20ga 1100 full size both have similar buttons, the 1100 being on the bottom.

My dad has a SW 1000, and its one of the hardest recoiling 12 gauge autos Ive ever shot. I still love it though. His doesn't have chokes, so he has two different barrels, a shorter IMP cylinder and a longer full barrel.

IDK if this is true, but a gunsmith told me that mossberg bought up all the spare parts and the rights to the SW 1000 so they wouldnt have to compete in the police market with them.

Colt, next time you have access to your dad's S&W 1000, pull the mag cap off, pull the gas regulator aka Gas Regulating Piston out of the tube, clean the hardened carbon outta the orooves and replace the rubber O Rings. Silicon rings work best as I remember. Then totally clean the inside of the mag tube where the regulator rides of all the sticky residue from the burned up & melted O Rings, and open the gas relief holes inside the barrel collar ring on the bottom side of the barrel inside that mount ring - 2 holes for a magnum & 1 hole for non magnums...makes ALL the difference in the world how the gun recoils.

While you are at it, punch rthe receiver pins and pull the trigger group out the bottom of the gun and clean all the gunk out of the receiver frame using a bore cleaner that'll cut powder residue.

When I was at the distributor from '77 thru '82 I sold couple thousand of these guns in my Dallas & East Texas territory alone, and the 1st series of O Rings were too soft , so I'd fix any customers gun my dealer had and showed him how to to do it in under 5-10 minutes to change out his new gun inventories O Rings too. The sticky stuff inside the mag tube from the melted O Rings is the hardest part to scrub clean. Might need a sharp pocket knife to break up and scrape off the carbon deposits in the regulators grooves though. Piece of cake.
Ron

...more than one way to remove a double post...

Colt, Dunno about Mossberg buyig S&W 1000's...but I'd be surprised if it wan't the S&W 3000 pumps instead...'cause they got a feaure I never saw before or since any where else. At the distributor, the Smith reps, Tommy Oliver and Kenny Sedlecki demo'd for our outisde Sale Group at a meeting one time ...that you could not jam a 3000 with a loose round that had not stayed in the mag tube for whatever reason, and was loose under the closed & cocked trigger and bolt.

You could cycle the pump and clear the receiver of a live round from the chamber and then shuck the pump again and clear the loose round, leaving whatever other rounds were in the magazine still in the magazine behind the feed catch.

Still have some of the dummy demo rounds I got from Tommy & Kenny in my desk drawer as I type this. I sold a lot of these guns on THAT one feature alone.

I'd buy a 20 guage S&W 3000 right now at a decent price in good shape as the sub sized Steel frame was the best pump gun fit I ever had out of any couple dozen pump shotguns I ever owned. ...and haven't seen one on Gun Broker that I can remember in years.
Ron

An older used Remington 870 Wingmaster will nearly always have a lot smoother action than any of the newer rough feeling 870 Express models, IMO. There are 2 versions, the regular receiver which will handle only 2 3/4" shells and the magnum which has an "M" at the end of the serial number that will handle 3" loads. There is also a 3.5" version with an "A" after the serial number. Not sure that the barrels interchange with the others though.

For maybe just a little more money you will have a better piece of equipment. The aftermarket barrels/chokes have about any configuration you will ever want or need, too.

Just an FYI in case you want to look into some other than brand new options. Mine's been flawless since it was bought new in the mid 1970s.