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Lower cost 12 gauge riot guns, suggestions?

beantownshootah
A friend recently asked me about this, and I didn't have a good answer for him.

Obviously the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500/590 are the standards when it comes to defense/"riot" shotguns.

Can anyone suggest any cheaper off-brand models that might make a decent choice for home defense or a truck gun for someone on a tight budget?

Appearance and smoothness are irrelevant. He just wants something that will go "bang" every time and not easily break or wear out.

Any particular models that are really bad and should be avoided?

Smith and Wesson?
High Standard?
Charles Daly?
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • countryfarmer
    How much cheaper do you want than $100 -$150 Mossberg 500s from the pawn shops?
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  • yearofspider
    Maverick 88(made by Mossberg): http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127032300

    http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127078982

    http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=126965670

    I have one with the 20" barrel. Works just fine.
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  • quickmajik
    I had one of those chinese norinco remington 870 clones back in the day. they worked fine. I think it cost me like $175.00

    Best funtioning and priced shotgun in my opinion is the Mossberg 500. They are cheap... You could probably find one for $250.00 or less.
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  • Permanently deleted user
    quote:Originally posted by quickmajik
    I had one of those chinese norinco remington 870 clones back in the day. they worked fine. I think it cost me like $175.00

    Best funtioning and priced shotgun in my opinion is the Mossberg 500. They are cheap... You could probably find one for $250.00 or less.


    +1 on the Mossberg...they are the Chevy 350 of shotguns, you can go mild to wild on them accessory wise..and they are not bad guns for the $$$
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  • Mobuck
    You would be much better served by a solid used Remington or Mossberg than a Chinese copy. I sold a few of the Ithica 37 copies and only one of them was dependable. Additionally, if something goes wrong with them no one wants to fix them.
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  • countryfarmer
    Back around Xmas, the pawn shop I buy stuff out of regularly had Mossberg 500s for $145, they were overrun on them and needed some room.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by countryfarmer
    Back around Xmas, the pawn shop I buy stuff out of regularly had Mossberg 500s for $145, they were overrun on them and needed some room.

    Wow. I didn't know these were so inexpensive.

    Were these the "riot" style guns, or hunting type? From what I've seen the long barreled guns tend to be cheaper than the ones with short barrels and long mag tubes.

    Anyway, thanks all for the good answers.

    At $200 new, one of these low end "Maverick" guns is probably a good fit.

    Edit: Aha! You gotta love this story:

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_n6_v36/ai_11079212/

    quote:The Maverick got its start when the people at Mossberg learned that a startling number of foreign nations were planning to enter the U.S. market with low-priced slide actions, and they decided to do something about it before that end of the stateside gun market fell to outside sources the way the auto market has been impacted. Mossberg has always thought of this as their specialty, and the Maverick pumpgun is said company's way of defending its home turf. Had it not been for the impending pressure from foreign gunmakers, there probably wouldn't have been a Maverick.
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  • Wehrmacht_45
    You could always look for the store brand (sears, westernfield/wards, Coast to Coast) of the mossy 500 and saw the barrel off to 20 inches.

    I bought one at a pawn shop for 90 bucks as a backup hunting gun.
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  • gunnut505
    Big5 has a current ad for the Mossy BRAND NEW for only $275, and you can swap barrels to whatever length you want.
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  • countryfarmer
    Most of them were the longer hunting type with 5 shot mags tubes. I bought one and cut the barrel down to 18.5" for a beat around truck gun. I did pick up a Mossberg 500A for $200 there once. It had the extended tube already on it and was in like new shape.
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