Hey gang I'm looking for some advice for a 12ga. for home protection only. I don't want anything fancy but I would like a reliable unit. I would prefer one with a shorter barrel.

Any advice I could get from some gun vets would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks.

Mossberg 500. Get one at Wally world with the 18 inch barrel on it. Least expensive rig on the market for a pump gun and they are extremely reliable. Take a look at their website.

http://www.mossberg.com/products/default.asp?id=3#

I would recommend visiting a few gun shops and look at the used gun racks. Last week, I found a mint condition Remington 870 Wingmaster Special Field in 12 gauge with a 20 inch vent rib barrel for $219.00. There are plenty of Remington 870 Wingmasters or Ithaca Model 37s around for less than $200.00. All the best...
Gil

Both ideas sound advice. Cannot go wrong with either choice.
SxS coach guns with 20" bbls work well too, but are slower to reload......but after two bbls of 00buck or #4 bird.....well I'm thinking that there will not be a fast reason to reload.....

There are lots of excellent used guns out there. Take care...
Oberndorf

hit pawn shops and the used rack at gun shops. Doesn't have to be pretty, just effective.

The way I see it, there are 3 basic choices to make for a pump action shotgun:

Remington Model 870
Mossberg Model 500
Ithaca Model 37

Any and all of them will get you where you want to go and they will all do it quite nicely. The one advantage the Ithaca model 37 has that neither the Remington or the Mossberg has is that it is bottom eject rather than side eject. If you are a lefty, that's something you might want to consider, otherwise, my personal favorite of the three is the Remington model 870.

Don't rule out the Winchester 1200/1300 defender. There are alot of them floating around in the low $200 range