Hacksaw,

My advice is to wait on buying a firearm. The reason is you may be able to join a loal shooting/gun club and shoot some of the members guns at the local range. This will allow you to get a feel for the particular firearms you are interested in, and aside from some money for ammunition will be far less costly than buying without knowing for sure you like the particular high dollar purchase.

While I have had no experience with the Remington 870,I have yet to meet an owner with any complaints. I do own 2 Mossberg 500s though and have had no problems with either one. I managed to pick up an extra 30" barrel that fits them. It was used and missing the front bead sight for $15.00, and well worth it. Cost another $8.00 to replace the sight. Point is there may bee some good used parts and guns in your area also.

I will agree with the other responses in that a pumpaction shotgun and a semiautomatic .22 rifle are a great pair of tools for general use. 12ga shotgun ammunition is probably the most avalible through out the USA, as opposed to 16ga or .410.

Congradulations on passing the test and deciding to buy a firearm.

Joe