Shotgun

Shooters on tight budgets are always looking for a great deal. So, it was welcome news when Stevens announced the addition of three compact models to expand out their popular value line of 555 shotguns. Already, the flagship 555 in 12-gauge has earned high praise from shooters and outdoor writers alike for its modest beauty, solid performance and ridiculously wallet-friendly price (under $700) for an over/under shotgun. These three new compact models (in 20-gauge, 28-gauge and .410-bore offerings) only build on that reputation and provide a host of options for the sub-gauge fan.

If you’ve fired different types of shotguns, it’s obvious that recoil can be all over the map. Some load and gun combinations are relative pussycats, allowing one to fire hundreds of rounds per day with no ill effect. Others make you want to start sticking safety pins to your shirt and run for the nearest safe space. With recoil in mind, I got an itch to check out a 20-gauge pump shotgun for home defense. That brought me to the Stevens 320 Pump in 20 gauge.

Why develop a .410 fire extinguisher shotgun?

The multi-caliber Scavenger 6 is a survival rifle dream gun. It’s a stocked revolver with each chamber cut for a different cartridge. By using multiple cylinders, it’s possible to have one design fire a dozen and half or more cartridges.

Introduced earlier this year as the company’s first-ever semi-auto shotgun, the Stevens S1200 is powered using a very smooth, fast Benelli-esque inertia recoil system but comes with a very unBenelli-esque price—starting at well under $600, for a semi-auto shotgun.

There are few firearms as versatile as the shotgun. The modern shotgun is a work of engineering prowess, but one seemingly insurmountable issue has been developing a semi-automatic that can fire the full range of loads. In these cases, you usually must revert back to a pump action. But what if you want one that can do everything?

Our friends over at Henry Repeating Arms have some cool new guns set to launch in Jan. 2017.

It may be a controversial position to take, but that has never stopped me before. Gin is superior to vodka. Also, shotguns are not the end-all, be-all solution for self-defense. Especially not for new shooters.

The Remington Arms Company has been a supplier of shotguns to the United States military since before the First World War. The Model 10 and Model 31 slide-action shotguns and Model 11 autoloader were part of America’s military small arms during both World Wars. The Model 870 (M870) so familiar to shooters today has also played an important role with the United States military. Here is its story.