I’m with gipsie in my love of Ithaca 37s. I finally put mine into semi-retirement to protect it from the harsh waterfowling conditions I hunt under and replaced it with a Benelli Nova pump. The Ithaca could take the abuse, but the original company is long gone and I want mine to last. If you visit a firearm forum, you will find that all the major brands have their fans and it is hard to say any one is better than another. A Mossberg 500 is a time-proven model that can be had cheaply, and is also American-made, if that matters to you. I also prefer pumps and doubles over a semi-auto, but that is mostly personal preference. A well cleaned semi should function reliably, but a pump almost always will, with the same being true for a double. I spent the last season hunting with a friend who had a fairly new semi-auto that kept jamming. He bought a new pump by the season’s end. But one problem with shotguns in general for home defense is that they can be unwieldy indoors. That’s why most law enforcement agencies use shotguns with much shorter barrels than would be suitable for hunting or clay target shooting. I keep a handgun safe with a push button combination under my bed. That way I don’t have to worry about hiding a loaded gun anywhere. But I’m not one of these “gun nuts” that dwells on the possibility and sometimes sound like they hope someone breaks in so they can use their gun. I’m a firm believer that an alert dog is far better than a firearm at protecting your house. A potential burglar will go on to easier pickings if he hears a dog barking inside the house, even a yapping lap dog. And I’d much rather keep an intruder out of my house than deal with him inside. But I still have the guns, just in case!
