Home defense. There are special models for that... marine grades, mossberg has a home protection pistol gripped gun. A simple 870 is my vote. Can snag a home defense or personal protection stock from a number of place, and still have the capabilities of a folding stock. You can even go with dual pistol grips. My recomendation would be a 870 express with a 28" rem choke barrel... Any gun can be used for clay. depending on what clay you want to shoot can make the difference. If you want a gun on some 5 stand clays, you need a 30" or longer barrel (not the ideal home defense barrel). some 5 stand, wilderness clays not so much (because most of your shots are long shots), trap definatley. skeet would be OK even.