Nobody ever accused me of jumping to conclusions, so after a year of research (okay, not continuously, more like resumed), I bought a 12-gauge Stoeger coach gun supreme.
Very sweet look and feel. I'll take it to the range this week and look for optimum patterns around 7 and 15 yards. Should be fun for skeet and trap too, with right barrel improved cylinder choke optimized at 30 yards and left barrel modified choke optimized at 35 yards.
Never shot much with shotguns, but Google research convinces me No. 1 buckshot is primo home defense load closely followed by 00 buckshot. For skeet and trap (actually informal foot launcher at farm) will use No. 8 birdshot (Winchester AA low noise low recoil target load).
Should be fun.
Actually, thinking about previous home defense setups, I'm amazed I didn't go 12-gauge shotgun years ago. Probably the world's most used and versatile gun as well as among the most lethal. Main thing is double barrel is ultra safe and easy to load and use even in the darkest of night and worst of situations.
I had a little 410 Mossberg home defense shotgun but I could never get as confident with pump loading and safety.
Incidentally, TopShot by HeadGames is a great computer shooting program that helped me do okay first time I shot real skeet.