Depends on the target. Different tools for different tasks. use the right tool for the job.
Regardless, target practice is always fun for me with any firearm, no real preference for one over the other, but if you’re talking clay pigeons, I’d have to say shotgun. 
When used for protection, the ideal situation is to leave your primary home-defense weapons loaded, w/ round in chamber. Depending on specific circumstances, however (young children at home, etc.), the homeowner may want to modify this a bit. In my circumstance, my primary home-defense weapon is a 12 gauge shotgun. It does not have a round in the chamber, but its magazine tube is full. We have young children, and doing this adds an extra layer of safety.
Voted shotgun. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.
At 3:00-in-the-holy-freaking-crap-AM, no less. Cluricaun and Scumpup make valid points about situational stress radically altering your physical (and mental!) capabilities, and it’s good that you have reliable advice from someone you trust; not something you can always depend upon from a garden-variety gun dealer who is, after all, trying to make a sale, and not necessarily trying to sell you what you need, can use, and are comfortabe with.
Be that as it may, short-stroking is something a person does to the shotgun; it’s not a mechanical failure of the firearm.
12GA magnum 00 Buck.
There are almost never any children in the house, so that’s not an issue. On the rare occasions that kids have been present, I unload the gun, stash it way in back of the highest closet shelf (nowhere near the unloaded ammo), and tell the parents. Overkill, but it makes me feel better and the parents in question seem to appreciate the effort.
So my only reason for keeping it loaded but unchambered is the warning and intimidation power of the chambering noises.
I like the idea of an audible warning, and vocals are out of the question; I’m a 60-year old male with a rather high pitched voice, and I know from experience that in high stress situations (impending auto collision, for example) I sound like Barney Fife on helium.
Last night I was reading about a newish Mossberg 12ga that supposedly can’t be short-stroked. Comments?
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Again, in my opinion only, the scenario of someone breaking into your house in the dead of night probably dosen’t actually play out the way that a lot of people imagine. Sure, I’d think it was easy if it was like a movie where I woke up in a dark-but-not-so-dark-you-can’t-see bedroom fully alert and not terrified where I confidently grab my scattergun and jack that nice oiled slide back and forth and the comically inept intruders who are still downstairs turn to each other with a nice “Oh shit” look on their faces before dropping my stuff and fleeing back off into the night and I look out the window and yell “You’d better run you sonsabitches!”. Maybe I run out after them and fire into the air for punctuation.
The thing is that I don’t think that’s how it goes down. Now maybe you’re a really light sleeper, I’m not. Maybe at the first sign of unknown sounds coming from the house you spring to your feet like a ninja. I don’t. I’m probably being woken by my wife because she hears something, we listen until we’re sure it’s not the wind or the furnace or whatever, we dial 911 while I fumble in the dark grabbing the gun and the both of us retreat to her side of the bed on the floor while I pray that whatever I hear doesn’t decide to come up the stairs before the cops get there. The gun goes off safe and the light on the barrel goes on. Any sounds on the stairs and I scream out something much less tough than I’d ever imagine. “Please don’t come up, the cops are on the way and I’m armed. Take what you want and get out!” in a voice probably not too different than what you described your own as.
Besides, my house was built in the last 10 years. They’ll hear my feet hitting the floor and our voices on the phone just fine. If that’s not intimidation enough already racking a shotgun probably ain’t gonna do squat else. They’re either going to run or not, that decision was already made by the intruder. If they’re not going to run then I’m going to be ready. YMMV.
I’d be interested to hear more about it, but you show me a “Can’t” and I’ll find you someone that can, and will break it within the first three minutes. Usually me. Guns are mechanical tools with moving parts, you can’t make them completely dummy proof.
You still have to admit, the mere sound of a 12ga pump going in battery will stop even Dracula himself dead in his tracks. 
If you want to deter shitbags with noise, the barking of a dog trumps the sound of a gun being cycled. Especially if the dog sounds large, fierce, and bitey.
I, personally, want to keep mechanical manipulations to a minimum if I’m woken from a sound sleep by an intruder. Accordingly, my bedside guns are a revolver and a SW M&P 40. Both of these are “point and click interface” with nothing to manipulate but the trigger. I do own a double barrel 12 gauge, but it is one with exposed hammers and I don’t see myself fiddling about with it in the midst of an adrenaline dump. If I was going to use a shotgun, I’d go with a 12 gauge autoloader, one in the chamber and safety on. Folks will tell you that autos are less reliable than pumps, and if you take that to mean that the pump will cycle anything that you can fit in the chamber, it is somewhat true. That only matters, though, if you are going to use the shotgun for many purposes. In a dedicated self-defense arm, it doesn’t matter if it won’t cycle WallyWorld’s cheapest loss-leader skeet loads; what matters is if it will reliably cycle a good proven self-defense load on which you are essentially willing to bet your life. The Benelli M1 is a top of the line (and accordingly spendy) self-defense autoloader and it will cycle a very wide range of loads. There are others that also work very well and don’t cost quite so much.
Those that mention discomfort / soreness from using a shotgun, are you pressing the stock tight enough against your shoulder? After many years of 12 ga use I’ve never been the least bit sore, even after days shooting hundreds of rounds. You might try either replacing the butt plate with a cushioned pad or at least trying a sleeve over the end. But whichever you use, snug that stock up close.
Some rifle calibers give me quite a kick but I don’t see that with 12 or 20 ga.
Sure, but you don’t have to feed a shotgun, and it won’t poop on the carpet, either. 
“Sure nice old guy at the range, I’d love to try your .416 Weatherby Magnum rifle out, thanks for the oppertunity, you don’t really ever get to see something like this in perBLAM.” <Falls nearly over backwards>
My left shoulder wasn’t right for about a month afterwards.
and a shotgun won’t dry-hump your leg either.
Rifle matches - around 5-20 rounds
Pistol matches - 18-50 rounds
Shotgun matches - 100-500 rounds
I voted shotgun.
For out and out recreation give me anything that loads from the front. If its one of the ones I built myself, all the better.
:slight hijack:
This reminds me of my BFF’s house. No guns, but three dogs, a Rottweiler, a German Shepherd mix and a 4.5 lb chihuahua. Guess which one will bark in the house?
I’d love/hate to see the intruder who broke in thinking that the only dog there was an ankle biter, only to find 120 lbs. of black and brown dog in his face and 65 lbs. of German Shepherd mix at his back.
:hijack over:
There’s probably many legal eagles out there who will successfully argue the intruder’s case in court, that the chihuahua encouraged his entry and the home owner is now liable for medical bills, expenses and punitive damages. :smack:
I Own a Saiga 20ga and enjoy it, I have a few rifles in .308 and 7.62x39 and 3 different pistols.
Now, when I go to the range I always take a rifle, more times the SKS than the .308. I enjoy target shooting at distance with either rifle.
The main reason I go to the range is to shoot my Makarov. Love shooting the pistol, for me I find the most enjoyment there. I have owned the pistol for years, have done my own custom work on it and just find much more pleasure in that, than I do with the rifles.
the 3am crap hitting the fan, the shotgun is my first choice.