Whats your favorite semi auto shotgun?

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zymguy

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I'll be replacing a rem 11-87 because it wont reliably cycle light loads.
What are your favorites ? I mostly grouse hunt so i value light weight, but im not going to spend (much) more than a thousand freakin hard earned dollars.
 
I've had my Benelli black eagle for about 10 years now. Love it! Never had a single jam and I don't pamper my shotguns either. They are tools that get in the water and mud.
A year ago my brother was finally ready to step up from a pump but couldnt spend Benelli money. He bought himself a Franchi, which is made/owned by Benelli for about half the price. You can honestly not tell the difference between the two except for the name. He is very happy with it also.
 
My 2 sons and I have 3 Rem. model LT20- 1100s. All 3 have wood stocks, 2 are 3" mag. and we have several extra barrels,some fixed chokes and a couple with Rem chokes. The 2 -3" mag. models will cycle with light loads with 2 3/4" chambered barrels flawlessly. These wood stocked guns can be found on the used gun market but are getting harder to find because many youth shooting coaches have found this is a ideal gun for starting the smaller youth shooters because of the guns weight and recoil.
 
LPRe: Whats your favorite semi auto shotgun?

Favorite I own is a rem 1100 20 GA,. Feels great and shoots good for me.

If I was going to buy a new gun I really like the benelli sbe II ,. Used my uncle's during dog training and it felt really good to me, no cycle problems and hammered the birds. Haven't heard him say anything bad about it. His gun before that was a 11_87 he used for everything.
 
On the cheap, my Mossberg 935 shoots pretty good and cycles good. If I could go back in time I would have got the 930 though,. 935 is made for 3" - 3.5"
 
My favorite is my Browning Auto 5 Light Twelve (nothing light about it). It is well over 60+ years old. It was made in Belgium. It has an ivory front bead sight, and gold leaf plated trigger. Also has all the inlays on the receiver. My father purchased it new and of course passed it down to me. In all the years I shot it, the only time it jammed was when we got some under powered shells. It fired them fine but because of the manual (not gas operated) ejector system it just would not kick them out. Otherwise I can't ever remember it jamming.

I would hate to think of all the game that fell to that shotgun. My father always loves to tell of when he was young and had purchased it, they were very poor. And he'd hunt rabbits and ducks before work to feed the family. He used it to hunt geese and even a lot of deer fell to the thing. My mother (who passed) would not eat any rabbits I would shoot as a kid. She said she just ate too many of them in her life. When I was younger I was a grouse, pheasant, and rabbit hunting terror. And would bring home lots of game. One season I got over 34 pheasants and 18 grouse. All to that Browning.

I no longer hunt with it. Instead I use a Steven's Double Barrel 12 gauge or a Winchester 1300 Ranger 20 gauge pump shotgun. The Browning just rests in the rack and overlooks the other rifles and shotguns.
 
Have a beretta extrema 2 in 12 guage. Works great. Salt water corrosion has not been an issue either.
 
Maybe an over under? I dont think i could ever get used to two triggers , but i probably can learn the saftey . Come to think of it, how many of the suggestions above do NOT have the sapty on the front of the trigger guard ? For me thats a deal breaker :poke:
 
zymguy said:
I'll be replacing a rem 11-87 because it wont reliably cycle light loads.
What are your favorites ? I mostly grouse hunt so i value light weight, but im not going to spend (much) more than a thousand freakin hard earned dollars.

Do you reload? Changing up the powder can certainly make a difference with light loads, if you reload.
 
zymguy said:
I do reload, 18.5 of titewad is whats not working

Its been a long time since I reloaded shotgun but, I searched for a load that although the shot was lighter, produced more pressure for target. For hunting grouse, I went the opposite way, wanting more shot in the cup, with less pressure. It just plain WORKED in the Remington 1100's and 11-87's. During my "hay days" of reloading shotgun shells, especially hunting grouse with a pair of Gordons with 1100's, I preferred Imp. Cylinder for the pattern size, but didn't want the shot to pass around a grouse. Digging through the manual, I found a 1 3/8oz load that would fill the pattern, yet the barrel pressures were no more than a heavy 1 1/8oz target load. (12ga.) I would still use that old Winchester loading manual, that gives that information. Some loads increase the pressures, thus allow the semi's to function.

Check your loading manuals and see if the charge/shot weight gives you approximate barrel pressure. If you don't have that information in your manuals, PM me with a load you want to shoot and I'll check my manual.
 
Out of all the varieties of semi-auto shotguns I have, or had, the Remington 1100 remains my favorite
 
10+ years back I bought a Browning 20 ga Gold Fusion on an impulse buy. It has been sitting NIB under my bench, boxed up. I have thought about what to do, but have mostly planning to keep it to give to one of the Sons one year. It has a 26" barrel and is on the lighter side with weight.

I was out elk hunting in CO a few weeks ago, this guy we jokingly labeled 'the hillbilly' came by camp one afternoon. He was a minimalist when it came to hunting. He was shirtless with an upland vest on. He carried a single shot 20 ga with the hammer, H&R or similar. One funny is the hosts of the camp hadn't seen a grouse in this area for over 10 years. He was asking about any grouse sightings.

I did admire his shotgun choice, noting that one doesn't need a $1200 gun to bag a grouse, should you see one. I think going back a few decades, the SS shotgun was commonly used.
 
I have a thing for semi shotties, I have had a few benelli super black eagle that I gave the kids, I prefer Browning shotguns I have a few gold hunters, a maxus, a new production A5, but my go to is a browning silver hunter, love that weapon
 
I have a Browning Gold, and a couple old Auto 5s. I've not handled/shot a new auto 5 so I can't comment. I can tell you though I LOVE the old ones, and have taken many a grouse/pheasant with them. I also like Gold, and if your state has a 3capacity limit (like KY) it would be a coin toss imo between them
 

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