Good point. I don't think your wrong. But that's not all there is to it.

Technically, as I understand the term, any firearm that has a rifled barrel is a rifle. Colloquially the term rifle has been applied to any long-arm. If that isn't close enough it might be remembered that most Remington 870 have a removable choke inserts and it is possible to use a rifled choke. Does this make it a rifle, a demi-rifle or just a rough stand-in for a rifle.

Of course a shotgun is not so much historically different than a musket. Many of the early muskets were loaded with multi-part loads. Early rifles were sometimes loaded with double slugs. Does that make them shotguns?

I suspect that while armament experts and historians use tightly defined terms things aren't always quite so simple in actual practice.

I realize recommending a shotgun to a guy requesting feedback on a rifle purchase misses the mark on some counts. But the part about "buying my first" seemed more important. And IMHO a quality 12ga pump shotgun is a very good choice for a first long-arm.

Certainly no firearms battery is complete without at least one shotgun. No other arm is quite as capable, adaptable or all around useful as a shotgun. The shotgun can do it all well. If not perfectly. If I had to select one firearm without knowing anything about what I was going to face I would go with a shotgun, a mix of shells and a couple of choke tubes.

Paul810 makes a good point also. A mix of a good .22LR and shotgun make a capable combination. But if I couldn't afford the money, bulk or complication of having two guns I would go with just the shotgun.

Another consideration is that shotguns don't draw attention. People are more familiar with and comfortable around shotguns. Irony being that in terms of effectivness and deadly effect at moderate ranges, on anything from squirrels to grizzly bears, a 12ga beats most normal long-arms.