My wife and I own a 9mm Cougar, and we’re thinking of branching out either into a shotgun or a rifle. I’d love to hear some recommendations.
Any Mossberg tactical shotgun will do and an AR15 carbine.
For shotgun [home defense] a Mossberg 500, or a Remington 870. Rifle: a Ruger mini-14 in 7.62X39 or .223, or any lever carbine in 30-30.
For the stewpot, a .22LR bolt or lever [a .22 mag. as well], a Ruiger single action combo revolver [cylinders in .22LR and .22 mag
Handguns: a .357 mag revolver, a Springfiled Armory XD in .45 ACP.
I like this one myself.
http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/su16c.htm
Not terribly expensive and ammo is plentiful.
You DEFINITELY want that before you start looking at rifles.
Remington, Winchester and Mossberg all make good pumps in 12ga with anywhere from 6 to 8 round tubes.
Buy two, they're cheap.
do the beretta 9mm carbines take the same magazines as the beretta cougar? I think at least one variant does.
Mossberg 500, Remington 870
What would the new gun be used for?
Couple of these.
http://www.maverickarms.com/pages/88security.htm
You can find then cheaper. Made in Texas
Everyone should have several firearms because no one gun can do everything you need it to do. You have a pistol. Get another, preferably just like it so you don’t have to relearn how to shoot it.
Also, get a shotgun. A Mossberg or Remington 870 are great, inexpensive shotguns and you can get a ton of accessories for them to make them into a good hunting gun or a great home defender.
Get a rifle you are comfortable with. If you just don’t like the AR-15, get something less expensive like a Yugoslavian SKS. They can be had for $250 or so and you can get high cap mags for them. These are great for hunting deer or unloading on a bad guy. The 7.62X39 is a medium power cartridge and they are still pretty cheap.
Start with a shotgun before a rifle. Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 are both great shotguns. They’re cheap....you can buy one of each.
What rifle you choose will depend on what you want to use it for and the maximum distance you envision engaging targets at.
If you haven't bought one yet, you can get a Mossberg 500A (12 Gauge) at Walmart for around $210 (wood stock and forearm). Mossberg offers a composite stock and forearm for this gun that will run you about $60-$70 combined. An 18.5" barrel is about $80. You can also pick up a pistol grip for about $15. So, for about $400, you can have a gun for hunting/target shooting with your choice of wood or composite stock/forearm or a gun for home defense with 18.5" barrel and a pistol grip. Barrel changes on the 500 are quick and it takes only a couple of minutes to change out the stock (forearm takes a little longer).
Rem 870 or Mossberg 500 are the standards for a pump shotgun.