My first exposure to the Remington 870 was not at a shooting range or in the woods pursuing wild game. It came when I was 10 years old, sitting on the couch at a buddy’s house watching an R-rated movie I shouldn’t have been. Point Break (1991) ...
Shotgun
History of the Semi Auto Shotgun
The semi auto shotgun is everywhere, and why shouldn’t it be? Every time the trigger is pulled, the gun ejects a spent shell and then chambers a new one. You don’t cycle it by hand like a pump gun, and it offers more firepower than an over-under. ...
Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical: Blue-Collar Badass
Mossberg has been getting a little weird and outside-the-box with its latest new firearm releases, but shotguns are still the brand’s bread-and-butter. The company’s scatterguns have been crushing it in the wetlands, the woods, and at skeet ranges ...
Bullpup Shotgun: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In the early 1900s, Thorneycroft Carbine developed the first bullpup rifle design, which placed the action to the rear of the trigger and shortened the overall length of British military rifles. It was an inventive piece of engineering, but the guns ...
Click-Clack! The Best Shotgun Ammo for Home Defense
I’ve been reliably informed by government officials at the highest level that shotguns are the best guns for home defense. That may not be entirely true, but shotguns do have a long history of serving as effective and reliable home defense guns ...
Why the Pump Action Shotgun Still Reigns Supreme
My first shotgun was a Remington Model 870 pump-action with a black synthetic stock and forearm. I used and abused that pump action shotgun for 15 years. It was dropped in lakes, tossed (unloaded) in the back of trucks, dropped, and rarely cleaned. ...
Will the 20 Gauge Shotgun Ever Replace the 12 Gauge?
You hear it all the time these days from waterfowlers and turkey hunters: “I don’t need a 12-gauge anymore.” “I’ve switched to a 20. It’s all anyone needs,” they’ll tell you. They are almost right. With the introduction of TSS turkey loads, improved ...
The 12 Gauge Shotgun: Do You Really Need Anything Else?
There isn't much one can be sure of in this world, but you can be certain that, at close range, there is no better gun than a 12 gauge shotgun for wolverines (see below). Also, for wombats, wigeons, wapiti, wobble trap, or woodcock — and that goes ...
28 Gauge: Why a Few Still Believe in Its ‘Magic’
Within the limitations of its light payload, the 28 gauge shotshell drops small game birds and crushes clay targets with authority and a soft kick. You can shoot the 28 gauge out of lightweight, scaled-down guns that are easy to carry anywhere. ...
The Bolt Action Shotgun: An American Classic That’s Almost Dead
Double-barrel. Pump. Autoloader. Reading those words likely conjures specific images in your mind, all shotguns. Maybe you see the Remington 870 your dad bought you for your 12th birthday. Or your grandpa’s A5 leaning in a mudroom corner after a cold ...
Beretta 1301 Tactical: The Must-Have Semi-Auto Shotty
In the five centuries that Beretta has been in existence, the Italian gunmaker has dabbled in just about every type of shooting platform there is. But the shotgun is where Beretta has carved out its largest niche, and the semi-automatic Beretta 1301 ...
The Sh*tbox Winchester Shotgun Folks Called ‘The Widowmaker’
Today, shooters take for granted the ease with which a semi-automatic shotgun operates. The concept has been around since the tail end of the 1800s, and it’s been nearly perfected as we approach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. With ...
Dream Guns: How We Would Spend $6,000 on One Firearm
Does anyone else have a folder of bookmarks for guns that you’ll never be able to afford but that you like to visit every once in a while, if only to live in the fantasy of owning, say, a Korth revolver or a high-end Benelli shotgun just for a few ...
The Break Action Shotgun: Why It Will Never Die
Compared to a modern semi-auto shotgun, with all its firepower, a break action gun looks archaic — obsolete, even. And it’s true; break actions have changed very little in the past 100 years. But 100 years from now, they will still be here. Break ...
The Automatic Shotgun, or Autoloader, and How It Evolved
John Moses Browning is a name that most gun enthusiasts know well. He had such an impact on the firearms designs of yesteryear that many of them are still serving sportsmen and militaries around the globe. One of Browning’s biggest claims to fame is ...
The Lever Action Shotgun: Why It’s Only Popular in Movies
The shotgun is a firearms icon, featured in movies, video games, and your grandfather’s closet as a powerhouse weapon. It is usually a pump action or double-barrel, with the rarer lever action shotgun occasionally making an ...
Tactical Flashlight: What to Look For Before You Drop the Cash
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy through these links. A tactical flashlight is an often-forgotten component in any loadout, and many people consider it an afterthought. Whether for duty use or everyday carry ...
What Makes a Tactical Shotgun ‘Tactical’?
You see it all the time — shotguns from various manufacturers, big and small, billed as as tactical shotgun. They're usually all black with a full-length mag tube, but other than that, what makes a "tactical" model different from a field or target ...
Guide to Olympic Shooting Events and What Team USA Is Up To
Shooting events don't get all the glory at the Summer Olympic Games — not the way mainstream sports like swimming, track, and gymnastics do. But if you watched the 2020 games in Tokyo, you know that shooting events are plenty of fun to watch. And the ...
Triple Barrel Shotgun: Novelty or Practical Firearm?
The shotgun market is one of the most diverse segments of the firearm industry. An over-under, side-by-side, single-shot, pump gun, semi-automatic (inertia or gas), and even the occasional lever action are all still options in the 2020s. But what ...
The Turkey Shotgun: What You Want in a Dedicated Gobbler Getter
Shotguns have a well-deserved reputation for being jacks of all trades. They are probably the most versatile firearms on the planet. When paired with the right ammo, a single good scattergun can drop everything from tiny upland quail to big burly ...
Credit Card Giants Back Away From Tracking Gun Purchases
The credit card industry has taken a huge step back from plans announced in September 2022 to use a new merchant category code (MCC) to track gun and ammunition purchases made with plastic in the United States. Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., American ...
The Over Under Shotgun Is Not As Old As You Think
The over under shotgun dominates the break-action category today. The majority of hunters and all but a very few target shooters prefer the narrow-sight picture of an O/U to the wider view down the barrels of a side-by-side. Over unders are ...
Best Selling Guns of 2022 on GunBroker: Numbers Are In!
Gun sales are a nebulous thing — they’re hard to keep track of, and that’s a good thing from a 2A perspective. Usually, we use the number of background checks run through the NICS system in a given time period to get a general idea of how many guns ...
The DP-12 Shotgun: A Wild Design That Works
Remember when you were a kid, and you used to draw all kinds of zany inventions that could never work in real life? Every so often, somebody’s bizarre contraption makes it into the real world. In the world of firearms, there might be no better ...
Vet-Owned Apex Ammo Drops New TSS Turkey Shells for Spring
Apex Ammunition is offering Mossy Oak Greenleaf Turkey TSS Blend, a new line of shotgun shells, just in time for spring turkey season. This new ammunition is available in 12-gauge 2 1/4-ounce and 20-gauge 1 5/8-ounce loads; both are 3-inch shells. ...
Hottest New Guns and Ammo from the 2023 SHOT Show!
It’s that magical time of year. The hordes descend upon the city in the sand that has no earthly right to exist: an oasis of light and sin in the middle of the desert that plays host to the hunting and shooting world — and all the coolest new guns — ...
Military Shotguns: The History of Scatterguns Issued by the U.S.
Winchester’s Model 1897 was one of the first modern U.S. military shotguns to be used in the World Wars. Called a “trench gun,” the Model 97 was a critical weapon American soldiers used to clear trenches during combat. The fighting was at close ...
New Mossberg Turkey Guns: Red-Dot Ready M500s, 835 Ulti-Mag
New Mossberg Turkey Guns: Mossberg is expanding its hunting lineup to include three new turkey shotguns from the pump-action 835 Ulti-Mag and 500 lines. These new gobbler getters are available in 12-gauge, 20-gauge, and .410 bore. The 12-gauge ...
10 Gauge Shotgun: Is There a Reason for it to Still Exist?
There are definitely a few reasons to get a 10 gauge shotgun before they're all gone, and yes, they truly are vanishing from the shotgun landscape like an endangered species. That's not to say every hunter should get one. Let's break that down a ...
