Search the Community

In case you missed it...the Bluegrass Sportsman's League outside Lexington, KY is hosting the best damned shotgun match in the country on September 28th. The fourth annual 2019 Bluegrass Shotgun Championship. Yeah - you've heard of it. You get nine (9) VERY heavy and challenging shotgun stages - bird, buck, slug; an included BBQ lunch; and a unique match HAT (you have enough shirts) - all for $125. Oh...did I mention the random draw prize table with at least four GUNS, crazy good gear/ammo and rare Kentucky BOURBON? Did I mention that 1st thru 3rd in each division gets a CASH payout? Last year 1st place semi-auto took home approx. $750 CASH. I'm looking at you Matt Koopikka!!! This year I'm happy to say we have a TRUE championship with over seven (7) independent stage designers...EACH giving you at least one crazy-ass stage (as MD, I'm just here to make sure it flows and is "safe"; like, seriously - I don't care what they do to you...as long as its "safe", period). I hope you can join us. Because the only shotgun match better than THIS shotgun match..........is the SAME match next year! https://practiscore.com/2019-bluegrass-shotgun-championship-1/register

So I took the barrel off of my Remington 1100 like I have have done before and when i went to put it back on the everything fit up right and fine but the slide won't go all the way foward

Recently my Stoeger M3000 has been failing to fire the round in the chamber. The hammer drops, but nothing happens. I eject the shell and the primer hasn't been touched. This problem is intermittent. Usually occurring once every 25 rounds. It has always occurred on my first shot except for once when it occurred on the second. I have disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the bolt, firing pin and trigger group. Nothing looks broken, stressed, or out of place. I've been shooting factory loads, federal field and target multi puropose load to be exact. If anyone has any knowledge on what is causing this to happen I would love to know because it has befuddled me, but I am new to shotguns. The m3000 is an inertia driven gun similar to the Benelli's of the same mechanism if you aren't familiar with the m3000 specifically. I've really gotten frustrated with this occurring during 5 stand rounds and appreciate any help and advice.

Shotgun only match. Walked into the start box, "load and make ready" "shooter ready?" "stand by" BEEP! blast my first four targets, reach down for the first four (plan was load 4 while moving) out of my Taccom vest...air. I only had 12 on my belt in weak hand caddies, so I was done early. There were 26 targets on the stage. 9+12 does not equal 26 in case you were wondering, especially when you are pysched out and miss a couple. I won't forget to put my vest on again.

The 2Man Shotgun Team Challenge will be August 5, 2017 at The Clinton House Plantation in Clinton, SC. This will be an all shotgun team match of 2 individuals. The match fee will be $150 per team. Divisions will be Semi-Auto, Open, and Pump. The match will be 10 stages in a single day format to be followed by the prize table and a BBQ dinner. The BBQ dinner will be included int he match fees for competitors, however, we will be taking donations to raise money for Task Force Dagger. The stages will be fast, yet will offer you the opportunity to shoot plenty of rounds. It will be all birdshot and slugs, no buckshot. We will offer ammo to be purchased in advance for those flying in and will have ammo to sell on site as well in case anyone runs out. More information to follow!

Has anyone ever heard of King Competition Products for Quad Loaders? See Link below. They look interesting, I believe made out of the UK and used on the European shotgun circuit. Would be interested to get reviews and comparisons (vs. Invictus, Taccom, etc.) http://www.kingcompetitionproducts.com/product/14/msh4g4-king-shell-holder

I just got my open shotgun. Haven't had a chance to shoot it due to an Injury but this week I am feeling it will happen. It's a 21" Benelli m2 with xrail(26rd) and couple other mods. What ammo are u guys using? I am down to try a bunch of different ones but want to narrow it down while purchasing. I currently use federal cheap stuff in my 26" m2 set up for practical and Winchester hp deer slugs 1600fps with good luck. So I will try those. But let me know what u guys run. Thanks

Can anyone point me to a shotgun case that will fit an m2 with the longest Nordic extension tube?

This is info that may help some of you get most of your "JM Pro" items in one place. This is my first shotgun ever and your personal results or professional opinions may vary. These are "my" opinions and findings. They will help many people for sure. I did shoot USPSA for 9 years limited and open ranked A class. I 've usually found that many parts could be better and learned to "optimize" things to function better or to my taste and this new shotgun is not different. I always seem to the the one built on a Fri or Monday hangover. Mine is the 930 JM Pro, 22 inch 8+1 (9+1 w/XL Nordic) and has about 250 bird loads and 50 slugs: -Length of pull reduced 1.5 inches: Mine is 13 inches from cocked trigger to mid recoil pad. I did not reduce the recoil spring length or tube length of the spring housing section. --How: 2 items will remove 1.5 inches of the length of pull, one is a low profile limbsaver Model 10544 grind to fit recoil pad (5/8 inch thick, 5 1/2 X 1 31/32 grindable to 3 7/8 x 1 11/32 & rest is stock/tube/spacer mods. 1st remove the orig recoil pad. Determine how much lower the alum spacer can be trimmed/grinded down so as to still allow threads of the recoild spring tube to be just below alum spacer. Also measure how much tube threads to remove so that appx 1/3 thickness of the nut will tighten over threads. Once remove nut, alum spacer and w/grinder remove two thirds of nut height (appx). Grind down the alum spacer removing appx 1/4 to 1/3 height. The nut is not easy to find at local hw, so be careful and make sure you debur the sharp edges on nut & alum spacer. Once nut, alum spacer complete, and recoil tube threads cut off, install everything except the recoild pad and using stiff tape of item to mark straight line on stock, mark line on stock so top of recoil tube is 1/8 to 1/4 above the line you will cut the stock off (to get 13 inch LOP, you cannot cut to much of the tube off or nut, spacer and tube would have to be cut to far). I used a band saw and a leveling device of your choice and went slow w/little pressure so blade didn't bend much. When you are done, without the low profile limbsaver pad, the tube & nut should be just sticking out above the stock. Install the limbsaver pad (orig form), you will need to redrill one new hole in the recoil pad to install to stock and using scribe, mark around the now cut down stock. Remove recoil pad and grind to match stock. -Sights: If you gun shoots slugs to high or left and you just want adj sights, you can try one option that works and another that I have read about but not tested. Use a tall front sight and add rear adj sight or you can try to see if barrel clamp removal fixes the high shooting issue. --My fix-Use pliers and untwist front sight. Order TRUGLO Tru Bead Turkey Extreme w/ghost, universal PN TG950XD front & rear sight pkg. This pkg has multiple screws and will fit the Mossberg 930. When installing the front sight, I suggest using some good JB Weld under the base since there is only one screw holding the front sight on & use a good Loctite ( I like to mix red/blue and I don't plan on removing the sights) but don't trust blue enough. Install the rear sight as far back on the rib while still having even pressure on the rear mount plate. Use good locktite on the 4 rear base screws. The rear is adjustable up/down via one screw that with tension screws in or out to raise/lower rear sight. The front sight is 2 colors green outside and red middle. Front sight is large but if you aim/hold properly using the top of the front sight in middle of object to hit, no problem. The front sight is twice as high or more than the orig. My RIO low recoil slugs group inside a std mouse pad at 100 yds and my bird loads at 20 yds pattern spot on with these sights. Fiber optic pieces are known to break off the end tips and then the whole fiber will slide out of the sights ( I know). Use a good "clear" epoxy for light gathering and apply epoxy around the fiber optic tubes enough to meet the metal around the fiber, this may allow the fiber tubes to stay in the front/rear sight holder better in case you bump a prop during recoil or during dumping. Ext Tube: Many complaints of the tube connect joint is uneven. This may/may not be a one item fix. Mine didn't appear to jam during live fire, but it's like having a bump in your piston wall (can't be good, can only hurt). With barrel clamp, tube ext all tight, remove the end cap (buy a Nordic XL for +1) and w/flashlight look down tube and rotate looking for high spot typically on on side only. Determine if it's the chromed tube of the Mossberg sticking up or the Nordic ext tube and you can dremel/polish this side down and try to loosely slide spring/follower down. Some have said to loosen the Nordic tube nut and rotate the ext tube and this may even up everything, I don't like leaving it loose, but also ensure the barrel clamp is not causing the issue by pulling/pushing the tube up or down causing the alignment issue. In short a combo of sanding the angle of the front foregrip/stock where the nut tightens, polishing down the rear chrome tube and minor polishing of the underside of the Nordic barrel clamp is what mine took. What a pain in the rear. I also have a GG&G follower, but others should suffice. Tube Spring: The tube that comes with is thin and seems ok, but I replaced with a noticeably stouter Nordic spring and have it at 12 inches past end of ext tube. I suggest you curl the tips on both ends of the spring (follower & end tube) and round/polish the ends so the spring doesn't twist or bind when removing the tube cap (could cause some problems w/spring wrap). Load Port Opened: Dremel or file and sand the openings on the side and the front. Take care on the side that holds the small pin visible from the bottom and don't grind down to far of you'll hit the section of pin that holds the shell stop/bolt open item in place. Polish the alum with fine eraser type dremel polishers or 2,000 grit sandpaper to taste. You need to also remove & angle the forward load port since this is the primary area that will prevent double/quad reload speed. Grind out wide & forward enough but do not go into the follower stop areas or your going to pay for new receiver. Also grinded down the front grip area forward of load port to help with reloading. I've only been loading a shotgun for a couple of hours and I feel like a monkey doing a football versus loading a semi pistol. Firing Pin Spring & Trigger: There are far to many complaints of fails to fire on this weapon so before I even shot it, I replaced the firing pin spring w/the Ruger 10/22 (extra power I think) and cut about 3 coils off. No ignition probs in 350 rds. Stipple grip & forward grip-My first time, but just using a stock little soldering iron and pointed tip made the grips much nicer to hold and for flipping the gun for reloading. Took about 3 hours for me and was quite annoying to do this long (next time will cut the sharp tip off and use a larger rounded profile tip). Don't use big gougy pits or it's gonna stay stuck with all kinds of sweat, dirt, oil, food. You will like the look and feel. Shell Stop Assembly & Lifter-What a pain these items can be. C-Rums did a good job on the lifter. Before I got this gun I'd read about the scattered issues and knew I'd get the one with at least half of the reported issues. I had some double feeds, rounds would not come out of the tube, gun would lock open when the tube still had shells. All during live fire. I think the combo of rounding off the forward shell stop, rounding off the rear (by back of lifter gate/port bottom side of shell stop (part that locks lifter) and tweeking the lifter a little more to the opposite side. This is not always a one polish piece fix as I've determined. Several areas of the shell stop ie...front side to the tube, back side shell stop that could be hitting the lifter, or lifter is cocked to one side a hair to much can cause the issues listed. JAMS/MALFUNCTIONS: Many have stated you must fire 50-100 high power/full load/magnums or some crap. Look, it's just a semi-auto. Do directions ever state a brand new pistol needs magnum ammo for first 100 rds, no just std ammo? Problem w/shotgun ammo is your ammo can be 1150 fps or 1350 fps which is a big diff in power for same weight projectiles. After about 100-150 rds you gun, metal parts are pretty much broken in. If you have to shoot 500 rds on any gun to "break it in" the gun specs/tolerances are the problem. One thing I've notice is some loads may eject the spent casing but will not load a new round because it never released from the tube. I think the bolt comes back far enough to eject the casing but doesn't come back quite far or hard enough to release the shell stop. This could be the gun cycles and goes click and when you rack the bolt it loads fine. It amazes me that no aftermarket companies make hardly any recoil springs (except a few browning & benneli) in less or more weights when there are options for AR's & semi pistols. The rear recoil spring has about 96 or so coils, so I'm going to try the puss loads (1150 fps) with appx 10% of the coils cut off now that my gun is broke in. I cut off 9 coils and will see how this works. Don't want to do to much since this spring is crucial to feeding shells in to the chamber as well as recoil control and when using magnum or hot loads keeps from beat the gun apart. Chamber & internals: I rounded & polished the chamber opening, extractor hook ends, barrel extractor groove cut down deeper and more forward & polished. Polished any hard or rough, peened areas felt after first 75 rds. -The forward chrome part of tube threads had gouges on one side just like some online reports. I believe the fix is to dremel down a steel O-ring joint about 1/3 up into the barrel part of gas chamber (run your finger up there and look for the o-ring where it would almost come together). If this doesn't fix it it's in the chrome piston area, but it puts a nasty line down the threads and the chrome upper tube. Side Saddles: Put a GG&G side saddle on and immediately had function problems. Surprisingly, not much online as to why, hence why I was also surprised people use lots of Velcro versions (now I know one reason why). I have the answer. If your side saddle requires removing the trigger housing pins and replaces with screws or pins that will screw from one side to the other side into a nut or into a thread on the other side, Tightening the screw/nut can cause the bottom of the receiver to pinch/bend inward causing cycling problems, slight receiver bending, pressure to trigger/lift gate area etc... I used longer screws but only slightly firm and the other side nuts built into the side saddle and additional pressure nuts on top of that to prevent backing out. I also made my own version of a device similar to what a matchsaver shell holder to hold the one OH s---? round. Bought 5-6 ft length of PEX tube 3/4 inch is all I can find and some counter sunk screws and nuts and velcro I made 2 single shell holders, one for each side for $15 for both and still have tubing to make 15 more with a band saw and dremel and could make about 20 of these and cost is about $3 bucks on a stretch, likely half that in materials. -Briley Light Mod ext choke -AP Custom 4x4 (don't like grabbing the rear 4, but good for space) -Carbon Arms FLS 8's (ok but I need a few more months to see). Quad loads & petting is tough to do fast, so could be need more practice time or these sryle, not for me. Hope this helps some of you.

Topton Fish and Game and Ontelaunee Rod and Gun Club will be holding a 3 Gun series in 2016. It will be a four match series with all matches counting towards the prize table, but you can qualify for prizes shooting as little as one match. The match fee will be $30.00 per match, with a one time $30.00 fee if you want to be eligible for the prize table. The total for all 4 matches and the prize table will be $150.00. The prize table be made up up cash and some other prizes donated by sponsors. We will also hold a drawing for random cash prizes. Anyone that is eligible for the prize table and doesn’t finish in the cash or prizes will be entered into this random draw raffle. All cash and prizes are dependent upon the number of people that enter the points series by paying the extra $30.00. Once we know how many people have entered the points series we will announce the payout amounts. This match is more about having fun and introducing new people to the sport than having a big prize table. Points will be given by order of finish, the winner getting 100 points, 2nd place getting 98, third 97,4th 96 and so on. The winner gets one extra bonus point as we have done in the past. The matches will be April 17 and September 18 at Topton Fish and Game May 21 and October 30 at Ontelaunee Rod and Gun Club You will use all three guns at all the matches and we will be using the 200 yard range at Topton and the 300 yard range at Ontelaunee at both matches. We will honor the following divisions. Open, Tactical Optics, Limited (irons, or non-magnified dot), and Pistol Caliber Carbine. The prize table for each division will be based on the number of entries in that division, If we have less than 6 people in a division we will not payout for that division, but I will make posts here and notify the people in those divisions so they can switch division if they want. Division rules will follow 3 Gun Nation guidelines. For pistol caliber Carbine division we will have different long range targets, similar to what 3 gun nation is doing. We will only accept registration for people paying for and registering for all four matches until February 26th. You do not have to enter the point series to register early, just enter for all four matches, then from then until a week before the match you may register for 3 or less matches until the match is full. series entry form.pages.zip

Announcing the inaugural Bluegrass Shotgun Championship July 30 at the Bluegrass Sportsmens League in Wilmore, Kentucky, just outside Lexington. This one day match will feature 9-10 challenging stages with short and fast bay-type stages and longer open terrain-type stages and everything in between. There are few shotgun-only matches this year and the Bluegrass Shotgun Championship promises to be the largest and perhaps only dedicated shotgun match east of the Mississippi in 2016. The match is limited to 100 shooters and registration is OPEN at Practiscore ($60 match fee). Match staff are working on random draw prize table - updates forthcoming. Divisions will include open, semi-auto and pump. Trophies awarded for Top 3 in each division plus high Kentucky overall for each division. Follow the Bluegrass Shotgun Championship on Facebook for up-to-date info, stage information, lodging and rules.

The ultimate challenge of competitive shooting ability is back for 2015! The Trijicon Shooting Challenge, (previously the Trijicon World Shooting Championship), assembles shooters from around the world, to include amateurs and professionals alike, representing organized shooting sports worldwide and crown one competitor, the “Trijicon Shooting Challenge Champion.” This year’s event will be held October 21st-24th at the Rockcastle Shooting Center in beautiful Park City, KY. All shooters will compete over the course of 3 days in 12 equally weighted disciplines from various shooting sports. All firearms and ammunition will be provided for each event. Shooters will compete with common firearms and ammunition, thereby leveling the playing field. This will also assist competitors with international and domestic travel. So are you #ReadyForTheRock? What you need to know... • A First Place Prize of $50,000 cash! • Second Place - $25,000 • Third Place - $10,000 • Fourth Place - $5,000 • Lady Champion - $5,000 • Junior Champion - $1,000 • Stage Winners - $2,000 • Side Match Winner - $1,000 • Over $100K in match cash, over $200K in prize table awards. • All guns & ammo for competitors provided. • Features pistol, rifle, shotgun, and combined arm segments. • Three days of shooting in equally weighted shooting disciplines. Go to TrijiconShootingChallenge.com to signup and follow us on social media to get updates and be included into contests pertaining to the event! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trijicon Facebook Event Page: http://on.fb.me/1TRzR2d Twitter: https://twitter.com/Trijicon Instagram: https://instagram.com/trijicon/

After many hours of lurking on this and other forums, I finally decided which shotgun to buy for a noob in 3 gun and I picked up a new Stoeger M3K!!! The LOP and stock angle wasn't working. I cut a 1/2" off the stock butt and changed shims. Pretty darn perfect fit! I have Kick Eez pad and new HiViz site coming in. Oh...and new Briley bolt handle and release....in purple! I'm a girl...it's gotta match the gear! hahaha I am pretty stoked to have it and went outside to pattern the different chokes. Can you say....FU-UHN!!!??? Taking it to trap tonight to get to know it better. Just wanted to share... ...Cheers...

The match is August 6-8, 2015 at Rockcastle Shooting Center. Competitors should plan to be at the Rock all day on the 7th and 8th. Staff will be shooting on Thursday the 6th, when competitors may view stages that are not occupied with staff. 14 stages, approximately ~270 rounds (bird, buck and slugs). 4 Short courses, 4 medium courses, 5 long courses and 1 really long course of 50+ rounds. At this time, I am planning about 50 rounds each of buckshot and slugs total in the match. 13 stages will be in compliance with the 2015 IPSC shotgun rules: http://www.ipsc.org/...ulesShotgun.pdf which will also define equipment rules for Open, Standard and Standard Manual Division. We are also offering an "Outlaw" division which will use the USPSA Tac-Ops shotgun division rules. Equipment checks will be conducted at check-in in a manner similar to what will occur at WorldShoot on the afternoon of the 6th. No competitor will be allowed to commence competition prior to equipment check in any of the IPSC divisions. On the 14th stage of 50+ rounds, Open competitors will be allowed to ignore the division magazine restrictions of the IPSC ruleset and Standard and Standard manual will be allowed to ignore the dimensions and locations related to caddies and shells carriers of the IPSC ruleset. For Open, I see no reason why magazines can not be blocked to be in compliance with the IPSC Open division rules. If you are trying to decide between Standard and Outlaw, these rules might help some of you decide: 5.2.3 Unless otherwise specified in the written stage briefing the competitor’s equipment belt carrying cartridges (in caddies, loops, clips, bags or pouches) and/or detachable magazines and/or speed loaders must be worn at waist level. “Chest-rigs”, bandoliers and similar carriers are expressly prohibited. Additional ammunition carriers mounted on forearms are permitted provided that cartridges are carried individually in loops or clips. 5.2.5 When carried in loops, clips or caddies no part of any cartridge is permitted to extend further than 75mm from a competitor's body. Cartridges carried on the gun are exempt and loose cartridges carried in a pouch or bag are usually exempt from this rule. The Range Master’s decision will be final in this matter. Open Division competitors are exempt from this rule. 5.2.5.1 The measurement is to be taken while the competitor is standing naturally upright. If you have entered a IPSC division and can not pass equipment check, you can adjust your gear or opt to be moved to Open or Outlaw. For the Ladies, we have partnered with Benelli and A Girl and a Gun to offer two all lady squads with a class and a coach through the match. Space is limited: http://www.agirlanda...l-championship/ Entry fee is $150 and registration will open at noon on March 15, 2015. Will get a Practiscore link for registration posted soon.

A friend of mine picked up a Mossberg [see photo below] the other day and we went out shooting. Immediately when I picked it up, I noticed that there was no vent rib and that the bead sat directly on the barrel. When shooting, it was really hard to hit gently thrown clay pigeons. I wanted to pattern his shorgun on paper but we had none on hand. After shooting with him, I jumped online and looked at other pictures of Mossbergs with vent ribs and the bead sits exactly where it should be. What gives?!?! I would think that the POI would be WAY different between the two. [Also, I don't really believe that a tactical shotgun doesn't need to be aimed.] What is the consensus; has Mossberg lost their mind or am I nit picking?

Hi, I'm looking to get into 3-gun and I've got a Browning auto-5 my dad gave me years ago. I love the gun, shot many a bird with it over the years but my question is would it be good for 3 gunning? I assume I'd have to get an extension tube (if they make them for that model). Also, I'm not looking to beat the heck outta that gun, would it be better to just buy a new shotgun and keep the Browning for the birds and the memories? Thanks.

So, on my first 3 Gun match few weeks ago, I was able to smoothly Quad load (for most of the time) the one thing I had trouble figuring out was how to plan my loads between Slugs and Shot, mostly because I was afraid to miss. I was surprised that I ended up not missing a single shot with the shotgun, I just shot slow. I now have a pistol sight on my Versamax with a extension tube that would hold 10+1. My second match is next week and will be a mix of Birdshothot, Slugs and Buckshot with slug targets up to 110yrds. Any tips on how to plan the loads and how to have a contingency plan? I load weak hand, if that matters. Thanks for all your help.

Tomorrow, the UPS driver will be delivering a batch of Lucas Oil Contact Cleaner and Extreme Duty Gun Oil. I'm hoping to retire all of my FrogLube products. They work fine, but I expect to get slightly better performance out of the Lucas Oil product line, given how I operate. However, I am missing at least one thing. What would be a good grease for higher wear locations on all three guns? Or am I over thinking this because the Extreme Duty product won't need the grease in spots? I'm accustomed to putting grease on slide rails and the like. Maybe one of the Lucas sponsored shooters has an opinion? Thank you all for your input and assistance.

hi everyone, hopefully the collective knowledge of brian enos forums can help me out with my shotgun issue. I've been shooting a remington 1100 for my 3-gun matches. I've opened the loading port, added dave's metal works easy loader, and added capacity to 10+1 its been a great shotgun that will run light loads and heavy loads perfectly... until recently. the interceptor latch broke and so i replaced it with a new part. now, the shotgun double feeds intermittently. it appears that the interceptor is not catching the shell as it rushes by. this new part is not contoured like my original part (which was contoured along the lines of the loading port that i opened up). i would love it if a gunsmith who was familiar with 3-gun and familiar with remington 1100's had a chance to take a look at my shotgun and tune it properly for competition. thanks to anyone who might be of help and who might be able to point me in the right direction. location is santa barbara California.

I recently was attending a Remington demo day at the Maidstone Gun Club in East Hampton NY Aside from the really cool suppressed MSR in .338 Lapua Magnum (NICE!) I got some one on one shotgun coaching from Charlie Conager from Remington. He was a great guy and a super instructor. I never was much of a shotgun shooter mainly due to my lack of success in hitting those damm clay pigeons with any sort of consistency. I'd nail a few then miss then nail a couple then miss...it was very frustrating. So when Charlie's first instruction was to "ignore the sights" I thought my hearing had gone out again. I said "Charlie...they put this neat ventilated rib on here and this super cool red fiber optic sight so I could....not use it?" (Remington Versamax shotgun) He said "Trust me...just point at it like you're pointing at something to bring it to my attention." It was like magic. All of a sudden I'm hitting full strings of clays...running the gun out of ammo and reloading and still hitting them. and whenever I fell back into using the sights and closing one eye I would immediately miss the clays. I had a lot of fun and now have a new addiction to feed.

When I was 18 I bought an old Mosin Nagant with bayonet in decent shape but really dirty from a Pawn Shop for $50. I cleaned it up really well and got a great deal on some surplus ammo and had a good time shooting it. Since that wasn't the best weapon for home protection (I was always told a handgun was the way to go) so when I turned 21 I took it to the local gun shop and they took an even trade, my Mosin Nagant for a new in box Hi-Point .45 pistol. I bought a box of 20 bullets (for considerably more per bullet than I had payed for the ammo for the Mosin) and I shot it every now and then but much less than I did with the Mosin. Now to the point, I have worked in a state prison for 6 months and was just talking to a coworker recently about how the only gun I had was the Hi-Point .45 for self defense to protect my family from intruders into my home. He then began to "school" me on why a shotgun would have been better...inexpensive, some can be customized, inexpensive ammo, different shells for different needs, able to use buck shot to do damage to an intruder without as much risk of penetrating further than you intended and doing unintentional damage to my family or house, he said the sound of pumping the shotgun is about as scary a thing as an intruder can hear and may even cause them to flee the house. I did a lot of research and went to Walmart (the local gun shop was closed) to see what they had. My research said to get a Mossburg 500 or a Remington 870 and then I could get replacement accessories/parts to customize it in the future if I decided to do so. Walmart had a Mossburg 500 12ga (he just said it was "the standard") brand new for about $265, I liked it pretty well but the barrel was quite long. They had a Remington 870 12ga (again, he said it was "the standard") for $305, but they were out of stock at the moment so I didn't get to hold it. However, when he asked what I wanted it for and I told him primarily for self defense inside my home, he recommend the Stevens 320 12ga which they had for $200. I held it and it felt fine in my hand but not quite as good as the Mossburg...however it seemed a little easier to handle though due to the shorter barrel. What shotgun would you recommend for someone in my shoes wanting it primarily for home defense while keeping it under $400 new? What I would ideally like to do would be to trade in the Hi-Point (plus $100 or less cash to boot) towards a good used shotgun. What shotgun would you recommend for this? And final question, what type of shell would do the most damage to an intruder while limiting the penetration into walls and thus the risk of accidentally hurting a loved one or causing unnecessary damage to my home while intending to take down an intruder? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hey, New on the forum and thought I would introduce myself. I'm a Swedish competition shooter in IPSC handgun, rifle and shotgun… but mainly a rifle shooter. I am a very active competitor both in Sweden and internationally (over 50 matches in my two active years) and put a lot of time into my guns… building and tweaking for optimal results. I work as a tattoo artist since 20 years back and also do a lot of design work. Looking forward to a lot of interesting topics and posts. //Mikael "St.Michael" Schelén instagram.com/st.michael facebook.com/platinum.ink.tattoo.co

I’ve been happily shooting my JM Pro for monthly outlaw and 3GN matches since April 2012, @ ~2,500 rounds. Once I added the Nordic shell follower I have been trouble free. Well almost. In May 2014 I had a failure to feed (shell kicked up on the lifter but stuck at the chamber entrance) near the extractor, but I figured it was a dirty gun. Cleaned the gun up and it shot fine in a practice session. Since then I am experiencing 3-4% of Federal Multi-purpose (Walmart) failing to chamber. Occasionally I can bump the bolt handle fwd and it chambers, but sometime I have to rack clear and re-rack to load the next shell. I thought it was the Federal (which admittedly has some weird crimps recently) until one Winchester AAs and a few Remington STSs didn’t chamber. I pulled the barrel during a match and found a tiny (1-1.5mm) spur near the extractor on the inside of the chamber. I cleaned that off with a knife during a match and the gun ran fine for the next 9 shell stage. I polished it after the match with Mothers and a dremel. Punched 9 shells through it (including some that has previously failed) and it ran fine. Next match, one failure (Federal multi). At my last match it had one failure (Federal multi). This weekend I tore the gun down to clean it I found that the “bolt guide pin/stub” (no idea what the part name is) on the barrel extension was loose and could be rotated. See photo -- I called Mossberg and they returned my call the same day. +1 for CS. I explained what I was experiencing and asked about a weak recoil spring. The female CS rep said the recoil spring should be fine, but that pin could be the problem. She said it’s welded/soldered in, but should not fail in 3k rounds. Despite being out of warranty (2 year limit) she offered full replacement of the barrel. I lobbied for repair vs replacement and she said that was possible. So after 2,500 rounds I kinda know where my shot, slug and buck are going to hit. The gun fits me well and I am lothe to roll the dice on a new barrel, new patterns, new POI with slugs, right? For now I have blue locktite in the pin, but it may go to Maverick Arms in TX in December for some factory TLC or I may get a local smith to silver solder it. I’ll keep shooting and checking it. If it stays put and my FTFeeds go away we’ll all be smarter.

I was looking around and thinking about picking up a used Benelli M1 or M2 to set up for 3 gun. I was on Nordic's website and it looks like they share a magazine extension and bolt handle, Which leaves me with a few questions: 1. Are other parts (stocks,barrels,etc) interchangable between the models? 2. Were there any major issues with the M1 that were fixed by moving to the M2? 3. For $700 or a little less for low mileage looking M1's does it seem worth it or just get the M2? Thanks in advance for you help