Pump Action: Kel-Tec KS7 and Mossberg 500
My personal choice for home-defense shotgun is the Kel-Tec KS7. If ever a gun were designed for home defense, it is the KS7. This bullpup design is compact, light, and instinctive to aim. Firing from the hip, it is easy to point and shoot at short-range targets.
Related: Semi-Auto vs Pump Bullpup Shotgun Showdown – KelTec KS7 & Tokarev TBP
The Mossberg 500 was designed in 1961, and since then, 11 million model 500s have been produced. It is a simple gun to learn, shoot, and maintain. The tang-mounted safety is ambidextrous, it is easy to load, and its pump action is intuitive to learn. It is a great choice for a first-time shotgun owner. In addition, it can be competitive in target shooting, a great hunting shotgun, and one of the most affordable guns out there.
Semi-Auto: Beretta 1301 Tactical and Kalashnikov USA Komrad
Aside from its high price tag, the Beretta 1301 is my choice for best semi-automatic shotgun. It is extremely reliable, fast, easily loaded, customizable, and intuitive to shoot. It is among the heaviest and longest shotguns tested.
Designed for competition, this 1301 Tactical Mod. 2 Chisel Stock model excels at fast action shooting such as 3-Gun matches. Shooting steel and clay birds requires a gun that is reliable, accurate, pointable, and fast-loading. The Beretta meets and exceeds all these requirements, making it unstoppable for home defense.
Related Review: Best Beretta Ever? 1301 Tactical Mod. 2 Chisel Stock
Is it a shotgun, a pistol or an AK-47? Based on the old Saiga series of shotguns, the Kalashnikov USA Komrad is a much-improved design made here in the USA. It is an adjustable-length pistol with short 12.5-inch barrel. Capable of accepting five and eight-round magazines or a 10-round drum, it is the highest capacity shotgun tested.
Customizable, fast shooting, reliable and compact, the Komrad was designed for competition. It is one of the heavier – and least intuitive to operate – shotguns we tested, but it is a fearsome home defender.
Over/Under: Valmet Model 112
My upland game bird shotgun, the Valmet Model 112, is a typical two-barreled shotgun used by bird hunters and skeet/sporting clays shooters everywhere. Rarely found in the USA, it was produced in Finland and well known in Europe.
Like most over-and-under guns, it has a tang-mounted safety, single trigger, barrel selector, and simple break-action design. It is therefore ambidextrous and an easy type of firearm for a beginner to learn. It is the longest shotgun we tested and has the lowest shell capacity at two.
Range Testing
All five guns were tested in Area 52 near my home in Southern Arizona, with root beer jugs and steel plates set at 7 yards – a practical home defense distance.
Kel-Tec KS7
Shooting the KS7 always makes me happy. It is a fun gun to shoot at close range, and at well under 6 pounds empty, it is the lightest of these five guns. With the bullpup design, loading and ejecting are done through the same port under the rear receiver. The sights are a simple and easy to see. Except for the right-hand safety, controls are ambidextrous.
Although I missed the first 2-liter root beer jug a bit high, I quickly adjusted my aim a bit lower and destroyed three others with quick pumps and blasts. This is a different kind of gun to shoot and requires a bit of practice with aimed shots.
Even I was surprised to hit center on the two steel plates while firing from the hip. It is hard to beat the KS7 for compactness and close-range accuracy.
Mossberg 500
The Mossberg 500 is the easiest gun tested to load, cycle, and shoot. Its simplicity makes it one of the most popular and well-known guns worldwide. Although available in different configurations, this model is limited to five rounds in its short magazine.
Although there are no formal sights, it is easy to aim down the barrel. Push rounds into the magazine tube, release the action, pump a round, safety off, and fire. I can do it fast and without looking at the gun. It is simple and easy to shoot. I love it!
BERETTA 1301 TACTICAL
Beretta has gone over the top on this version of its 1301 shotgun. Oversized controls, red-dot and iron sights, pistol grip, easy to load and shoot – it is the most versatile gun tested. I loaded the Beretta with a mixture of buckshot and light and heavy birdshot shells to test its reliability.
Hits were dead-on with the Beretta. The red dot is a great aid in aiming, as are the gun’s length and weight. The bolt hold-open works smoothly, leaving the ejection port open and ready to be reloaded fast. The pistol grip feels great and aids my control, and the competition trigger is lightning-fast. At just under 8 pounds, this is the heaviest gun tested.
KALASHNIKOV USA KOMRAD
No other gun we tested has the high round count of the Komrad. Its ability to accept and cycle 10 rounds reliably from a drum is impressive. The Kalashnikov USA manual warns that only high-velocity shells are to be used, so I used heavy-duty shells rated at 1,330 FPS. The open sights on this shotgun are adequate for the job, but I feel it would perform better with a red dot sight.
Control of this short-barreled firehouse was good due to the pistol grip and forward vertical grips, but shots impacted a bit low, causing me to hit under my aiming point. Be aware that there is no hold-open on the last shot, making reloading a bit slow. Reliable and fast, I would use the Komrad to defend my ground any time.
Valmet Model 112
For home defense, any shotgun at hand is better than none! Although not ideal, my Valmet Model 112 is a dandy hunting shotgun. Its barrels are choked, modified and full, meaning they will hold a tight pattern at 7 yards.
This gun points better than most of the guns tested and has power to blow apart 2-liter root beer jugs as well as any gun tested. It fits me better than the other guns tested. It is difficult to miss with and among the easiest guns to learn to shoot. The tang-mounted lever is intuitive to operate, as is the ambidextrous safety. Although a basic hunting shotgun, I would use it to defend my domain if nothing else were handy.
Pros & Cons
