I thought about getting one of those a long time ago, but then went a more traditional route with a Mossberg 930 SPX Tactical. The only real advantage I can see to AR/AK-pattern shotguns is the potential for faster reloads. I say "potential", because it seems like the large, heavy, and bulky magazines make for plenty of opportunity for buggering up a reload. OTH, there’s no topping off a magazine tube with single rounds, and there’s no switching up ammo types mid-stride (i.e. buck > slugs, etc.) by single-loading them as needed, as one can do with any tube-fed shotgun.
Then, there’s capacity… what do you gain? It seems like most of these shotguns come with 10-round mags. I’ve seen the larger than 10-round capacity mags, but they’re gigantic and heavy. Are they really a tactical advantage? My SPX has a 7-round tube, but make it 8 if I ghost-load a round onto the lifter. That’s only 2 fewer than one of those AR/AK-pattern guns, and I can single-feed 2 more as needed.
Then what about mechanical complexity/reliability? When I compare the inner workings of my 930 semiauto to my 590 pump, it seems even more dirt simple than the pump action seems. What is the primary enemy of shotgun actions? I’d say it’s dirt. Shotguns run dirty. It’s just the nature of the beast. And the more complicated the action, the more opportunities there are for crud to hide where it can gum up the works. There are things you can do to mitigate that, but the fact that it needs to even be mitigated means added expense and or attention to detail. I got around it with my 930 by installing marine spacer tube from or3gun.com, that keeps moisture and carbon fouling from binding up the spacer. My Benelli gets around the problem with its inertial system, but it doesn’t reliably feed 2-3/4" shells of #7.5 birdshot…not enough poop to reliably cycle the action.
So that was my inner Fudd.
Hey, if you want one of those AR/AK-type semiauto shotguns, by all means get you one. I’m just explaining why I consciously decided against it.