I'd say both the Remington 870 and Mossberg 590 are great shotguns. I've fired the 870 and in my opinion, the recoil is far less than that of the Mossberg. That's really the only difference that I've noticed. I personally own a Mossberg 500 Persuader and I love it. Both the 870 and the 590 have a lot of after-market add-ons available for them. Are you looking for a hunting/sport shotgun or a tactical/home-defense shotgun? But I don't think you can go wrong with either of them. Both are used by military and law enforcement throughout the world. Mossberg does claim though that, "it is the only shotgun to pass the US Army's Mil-Spec 3443E test, "a brutal and unforgiving torture test with 3,000 rounds of full power 12 gauge buckshot". But who knows whether or not that's actually tue.
Can't go wrong with either. Just the sound of racking a shell into the chamber is enough to scare away most people. You really can't go wrong with a pistol either if you are properly trained. If it came down to it I'd feel safer with my glock 19 with gold dot hollow points than with a shotgun in a night time home defense situation. Way more nimble and agile, and between the light and laser I could drop anyone no problem with a double tap to the chest and 1 to the head mozambique style. Just seeing the red laser would scare the shit out of most intruders, or so I've been told.
not sure what happened to the pics i posted. one got deleted the other changed to some ugly hairy dude. lol whatever
anyhow, yea just lookin for something to have in an emergency (home defense) but would also be cool if it could double for a hunting trip. not like my handgun wont do the trick but its good to have options. but yeah i agree -- ive heard good things about both those guns. i heard remington made like 3 million 870s, so its gotta be a good design.
I've got a 500 that works great. Few years back , shot 3 deer all at around 150yds , and with a non rifled slug barrel, that's not too shabby. It's pretty good overall.
If you're going for HD , your main concerns should just be reliability and a 20" or so barrel. Make sure you go with 00 buck, or a slug, nothing else.