Letter Re: Defensive Shotguns on a Budget

James:
For those that already own a sporting shotgun, you should know that riot-gun barrels can be had rather inexpensively used. Many people buy a 20-22″ cylinder bore barrel with rifle sights for deer season, then sell it later. eBay commonly has barrels selling for $100 or so, for common shotguns such as the Remington 1100, Mossberg 500, etc.

Add an extended magazine [tube] for $30, and you’ve got a pretty good tactical shotgun for about half the price of a new one. Plus you can switch it back for bird season, et cetera. – J.N.

JWR Replies: That is a great idea.  IMHO, it is best to find barrels that are threaded for screw -in choke tubes, to maximize their employment flexibility. OBTW, if you hunt around, you can even find used slug barrels that already have tritium front sights installed.  As they say on Firefly: “Shiny!”