number (1) they are made in the USA , number (2) it comes with a 10 round magazine , you can buy more with even some with 25 round mags , if you have more than one you can reload fast , number 3 no recoil so you are able to focus on your target and not worry about a shotgun beating you up in the process ,(4) ammo is cheap and you can stockpile , (5) the parts are easy to buy and you can fix it yourself plus the parts are cheap , shotguns are hard to find parts online i have searched for replacement parts for stevens 301 shotguns and ati nomad shotguns no parts can be found so with that being said i will choose to have a ruger 10/22 over a shotgun . also if you want to use a 10/22 ruger for self defense or any other 22lr i suggest you using cci-velocitor they are the best rounds with no jamming and they are clean burning shots , now back to the shotguns i love shotguns the single barrels but since you can't buy replacement parts to stock up they are useless because if the shit hits the fan and your shotgun breaks and your back up break over time and there is no one out there to fix it then you are screwed and you will not have a gun to protect you and your family , so with that being said i think you should think long term when buying a gun for home defense and survival , do your homework before buying a gun if you can't find extra parts for that new gun then don't buy it , only buy a gun that sells the parts you will need for the future .