Hi all!
I want to preface this by saying I have never owned a gun before. I did some plinking with a .22 when I was a kid but I don't have any real gun experience and I am, quite frankly, uncomfortable around guns.
However, recently there have been some incidents with people breaking into cars and trespassing on my rural property. I have a burglar alarm and while that scares them off (if they set it or a car alarm off) they eventually return. They are probably meth-heads just looking for a quick score, but it frightens my wife and even some of the neighbors - many of which are single women - are also scared. Some of them are armed themselves, but when talking to them there is this sort of assumption that I, being fairly large and scary-looking guy, will help protect them if the rubber meets the road. I want to be able to help defend my community.
I don't think I'd feel comfortable with a pistol, because of the amount of practice involved to become a good shot so I am considering a shotgun. I want one with a decent magazine size and without a super large kick so that my petite wife can use it, too, in a pinch. I think my wife won't be able to use a pump action gun even though she has practiced with one and likes the idea. She is about 5'2" 110 lbs and I just don't think such a gun is for her. Price is no object (well, under $10K let's say). That led me to the M4.
Obviously we would need to practice a lot with whichever gun we choose but here are the considerations for me:
1. Reliability
2. Recoil
3. Stopping power
I like that the Benelli takes 6 rounds, has less recoil than some, and has a lot of stopping power. I also feel like, unlike a pistol, I could get by practicing with it on the order of 6 times per year for my needs. I don't want to go to the range every weekend.
Does anyone here have any advice? I was looking at the Mossberg, but it seems too hit-or-miss. The idea here is that if one of these crackheads ends up inside my house either my wife or I can put an end to it. I am willing to put time into training but I am not going to go to the range every week. I don't intend to use the gun for anything else.
Thanks for your advice!
