What Happened to the Love for the Shotgun?

[Dump1567]

I've been a Shotgun fan for years & own countless. I recently picked-up this nice classic wood Mossberg 500 dating to 1985.

As I've got more shotguns than I need, I decided to sell off one of my Remy 870 Police Magnums. I went to GB to get a feel for prices, and they are giving Police Magnums away for $150 to $400? I don't think I've ever seen prices so low. But at those low prices, I might as well keep mine.

I know a lot of you have respect for the Shotgun & carried them for years in your Cruisers.

Is it just the Police trade-in Shotgun market is too saturated, or is the Shotgun just not as appreciated as a defense weapon as it use to be?

 

[Echo40]

As far as I know it never left.

It's still widely acknowledged as the go-to, multi-purpose firearm for Home Defense, hunting, CQC, and more.

The fact that law enforcement isn't carrying them as much anymore and that the market is flooded with police trade-ins means nothing. I mean, the same thing happened with .38/.357 revolvers, 9mm Luger pistols, and most recently .40 S&W, yet those are still widely used by civilians as well. Just because law enforcement drops something doesn't mean that its mainstream popularity is diminished, regardless of what doom-saying armchair commandos and mall ninjas might have to say.

 

[fmflorida]

I think the saturation of the market is one issue.

I also think that most people who buy shotguns buy them as a "do everything" gun. So after they have 1......they dont really see a need for a second or third or more.

I know a lot of guys who are into pistols....or rifles...or both and after you have 1 12ga there isnt a whole lot of "different" types. I understand you have other gauges/set ups (pistol grip and so on) as well but to me.....After you have one...maybe 2.....Unless you hunt/shoot competition having more is *unnecessary* for my purposes.

So I think thats why the prices are so low......saturated market and not a lot selling.

 

[armorer951]

No love lost here.....I still like the shotgun as an option in many situations, and have wondered why they are not used as much by officers these days.

One of the things that makes the shotgun more of a "burden" so to speak, is that even though you have a tremendous amount of firepower at your disposal in each and every round fired, you still have to account for, and are resposible for each one of those projectiles.

 

[NYlakesider]

Over 45 years ago I gave up shooting skeet. I was heavily involved in pistol and that took most of my time.

Starting last summer I decided to take it up again. Having fun but certainly not up to my skill level when much younger and shooting NSSA.

Always like the shot gun and I have 3 Defensive types, 2 skeet OUs and 1 hunting semi auto..

 

[oink]

There's an old S&W riot gun behind my bedroom door. A few others around too.

 

[spad124]

Gee, I must be behind the times. I’m still acquiring shotguns. I seem to gravitate towards 870s, particularly Wingmasters. But my favorite is a 1960 870 TC trap gun. It’s just deadly on trap clays with its trap/full choked barrel. Then there’s the semis for target and hunting, and one lone 20ga O/U.

 

[model17]

Shotguns

Every gun owner should have at least one shotgun!

 

[Sevens]

I’ve never cared much for shotguns, which is at least a little odd because for two years in high school, I shot skeet twice a week, so 8 rounds of 25 birds per week for a couple of years. I certainly enjoyed shooting skeet and the camaraderie that went along with it, but as far as shooting goes, I look forward much more to handgun shooting and I did more of that.

After high school, I hardly did any shotgunning and these days (in my late 40’s) I’ve gotten knee-deep in to chasing all my favorite handguns and I shoot many hundred rounds monthly and shotguns make up 3% of my gun collection and I’ve never actually purchased a shotgun, all have been gifts or inheritances.

At this point in my firearms journey, it seems quite clear that I’ll never be a shotgun guy and as I’m not a hunter, I can’t see any good reason to choose a shotgun when it comes to any task or the pure enjoyment of shooting.

 

[Rayfan87]

I've been thinking about adding an O/U to my collection recently. My only problem is to keep it in my budget the one I'm looking at is a fixed choke sonI would have to have it tapped, already have a set of winchokes for my 1200 so it would be set for those.

 

[Sixgun100]

I agree with a lot of the above comments:
-The market is saturated with Police trade-ins. Every PD here in South FL has replaced the shotgun with an AR variant. Good time to buy a shotgun.
-An AR has become the long arm weapon of choice for most (not me).
-Once you have a good shotgun, Folks don’t seem to accumulate more like other types of firearms.
I’ve posted this many times before, but upon retirement, I could have taken a Glock or my duty shotgun. Here was my choice:

 

[CH4]

I haven’t paid attention to what’s going on in the shotgun world, at least not to the extent I follow Smith revolvers, but I know tactical shotguns are the big rage. My company is having a hard time delivering enough of our VR 60/80 and 100 shotguns to satiate the current demand.

I have many shotguns, mostly O/Us including, a Perazzi MX8, Browning’s, Winchester 101
Grand European and Pigeon Grade trap, 870s and a S&W 3000.

I just picked up this little doll to fill a hole in my line up.

 

[Jessie]

I don’t know why it’s so but I like it because, I too, saw a very low priced police 870 that could have been the same for around $320.
I will grab the next one I see. This one slipped by.
If someone is going to have too many guns of one type, I see no downside to the type being a combat shotgun.

 

[ajgunner]

Not long ago while digging in the safe I discovered that I actually had 10 shotguns---all of them 870 Wingmasters. I thought about it and decided to sell a couple of them off. 1 was full choke 30" and the other modified 28", both in 12ga. Both brought me $350 each with not much trouble.

At the start of the summer I got back into trap shooting after about 25 years. Trying to gather a group of friends every 3-5 weeks for an evening of fun. Really tougher than you would think---everyone is busy with something it seems.

I also discovered that trap shooting is currently RED HOT as a High School sport. I have enjoyed several conversations with young guys and gals at the range because they shoot on the same nights. I was surprised to learn that 2 local boys and 1 local gal all placed at the state level and got to go to the nationals competition. While the 2 boys placed just under 200, the young lady as a junior took the national title for female High School trap shooting. I watched her at practice 2 weeks ago shoot 24, 24, and 25 shooting 3 rounds in about 20 minutes. Just guessing but I would say she might just barely make 5 feet, and maybe 100lbs dripping wet. She was not only impressive to watch but also quite pleasant to talk with. The kids that are involved all seem like fine upstanding young folks. Similar to kids involved with FFA, they look you in the eye while talking, and actually engage in a conversation. I have shot 7 evening since June, and have yet to see a single cell phone being used on the range or even while waiting between rounds. How often to you see that with a group of teens these days. On any one of those nights I would guess there is 15-30 young shooters representing 4 different area high schools. They all seem to enjoy what they are doing despite the current **** they have to put up with with the liberal administration at their schools. One mentioned in casual conversation at school one day, that he was marked as a "high school shooter" and often any sort of "gun talk" on school grounds would land him in the office to be brow beaten by the principal. Sometimes I wish my own son was still school age just so I could mess with the administration and lack of media coverage these good young shooters deserve. They all wanted to know "just how old is that 870". My old faithful has seen literally 1000's of rounds over the years. I told them I bought it in the mid 70's as one of my first firearms purchases. One commented about how smooth it must be while noting the total lack of blueing on the slide. I offered to swap for a round but all declined. When I was in High School I was on the rifle team, but we didn't have a trap team at that time. Really nice to know that it has taken hold and seems to be growing.

 

[SAFireman]

I don't think that shotguns are dead, yeah there are M4-geries everywhere - it is like barbie for boys But at the end of the day, just about every person that I know has at least one shotgun, and they can & will use it for defense.

I love the riot pattern guns, but I have the realization that pretty much any shotgun will do the job, and sometimes, NOT looking all tactical is a good thing.

Here are two of my favorites - Winchester Stainless Police and a Winchester 10ga lever action.

Sorry - I didn't have a picture of them separately, so there is some other junk to filter through....

Now, I have mentioned it before, but I don't have a picture of mine.....but the Remington Model 11 (courtesy John Moses Browning) shown here with a Texas Ranger, further affirms the defensive purpose of the shotgun.

 

[Daniel Howe]

My Grand Father bought a Remington A5 12 gauge back in the 30's. Its mine now and my favorite shotgun. I have a Stevens 355 in 20 gauge that has never been fired. I would like to find a 10 gauge pump but I'm not sure anybody even makes one.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I Have 22 Shotguns:
**8 O/U's**
1-Superpose 12 gauge
1-Superpose 20 gauge
1- Citori 425 12 gauge
1- Citori 425 20 gauge
1- Citori Superlight 20 gauge
1- Citori Superlight 28 gauge grade VI
1- Citori Feather XS 28 gauge
1- Citori Feather XS 410
**5 Pump**
1-870 12 Gauge
2-97's 12 Gauge
2-500's 12 Gauge
**4 SxS**
2 12 gauge
2 20 gauge
**2 Autos**
1-390 12 gauge
1-391 20 gauge
**3 combo guns**
3- over 20 gauge

I spend a lot of time shooting Sporting Clays, and some time Cowboy Action Shooting.

Ivan

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I've been a Shotgun fan for years & own countless. I recently picked-up this nice classic wood Mossberg 500 dating to 1985.

As I've got more shotguns than I need, I decided to sell off one of my Remy 870 Police Magnums. I went to GB to get a feel for prices, and they are giving Police Magnums away for $150 to $400? I don't think I've ever seen prices so low. But at those low prices, I might as well keep mine.

I know a lot of you have respect for the Shotgun & carried them for years in your Cruisers.

Is it just the Police trade-in Shotgun market is too saturated, or is the Shotgun just not as appreciated as a defense weapon as it use to be?

Most people like hunting/skeet and Clay shotguns. They get a lot of use. Most have little use for a sawed off shotgun. Handguns fill our need for defense and pleasure.

 

[Rob613]

Shotguns were my first love.

My grandfather gave me his mid 50s Wingmaster for my 10th birthday, my first real gun. I grew up in a no rifle hunting county in NY so shotguns were what I knew growing up.

Have a safe just for shotguns but my favorite to shoot right now is my Henry 410 lever action.

 

[Jessie]

Just consider it. Would you feel bad about having a combat shotgun in a gunfight?
Only if I was the one facing it