Both Remington and Mossberg make an 18" short barrel 12 gauge intended specifically for home defense. Remington's cheapest model is the Synthetic that you can get in a 4 shot model or a 7 shot one. Mossberg's is called the Persuader. Any of those can be had for between $300 and $350. Winchester and Federal both make a "low recoil" shell that has a little less kick. Both weapons could easily be wielded by a woman. Range time will make it easier for her to use and become familiar with the kick and machinations of proper use.
coupla questions. first- it seems that many of you own more than one gun, not only that but more than one long gun and more than one hand gun. is this the kind of thing that once you get one and are comfortable with firing a weapon, you get the urge to have others? with the wife being due in just over a month, she has mentioned a couple of times that she'd like to have a gun in the house. price is most definitely an issue. i don't know that she'd want to use it, but if i were to get only one gun, would you recommend one that i know she can shoot if necessary, or one that may be too much for her but has the knockdown power that I would want?
Actually Mossberg has a cheaper shotgun - the Maverick 88, their cheaper version of the 500. They cost less than $200.
I'm sure this has been mentioned, but you can get a trigger lock for a handgun. If you have to fire a shotgun at an intruder, evern rock salt, you're going to mess up a lot of stuff in your house. I'd recommend a semi-automatic handgun (the sound of the slide action makes for a nice warning to intruders). I have a Walther PPK. It's light, compact, and is a .380 grain, which packs a lot of punch. Also, if you have a handgun for self-defense, make sure to use hollow point ammo. If you fire it inside, hollow points will stick into the first object hit, rather than going through a wall or piece of furniture and hitting something on the other side.
