I bought this shotgun mostly for turkey, so I went with the 24" barrel. Depending on how it shoots slugs, it may see some use during the shotgun only season for deer. It will also see some recreational clay shooting. I don't have any plans to shoot waterfowl in the near future.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a gun expert and don't have that much gun experience. This report is only my experience with the gun, yours may differ.
Description: Gas operated semi-automatic shotgun with a 24" barrel, black plastic stock, IC, Mod, full and X full chokes. It has built in sling swivels, a vent rinb and a small single bead sight.
Initial Impressions:
For a $500 shotgun, I wasn't expecting too much. After taking it out of the box and examining it, I came to a few conclusions.
First, the finish, while acceptable for a cheap gun, isn't anything to write home about. The receiver/trigger guard seem to be painted black. The barrel has a blue type finish that is nice and even and smooth. Its black though, so I'm not sure what type of finnish it is.
The plastic stock isn't great. The buttstock is hollow and is finished in a fairly hard smooth recoil pad. the buttstock is pretty thin, but I don't have big hands and it feels pretty good. It is somewhat larger than the receiver, but doesn't look terrible. The lenght of pull is a bit short for me. The forestock fits very tight. Not sure if I like the modern shape compared to the classic style yet.
The vent rib is pretty high, and is kinda cheap looking. The choke tubes seem to fit tight, although I've only tried the IC and XFULL.
There are a few rough/sharp edges, but less than my M14S. No noticeable metal shavings or anything like that.
After cleaning and lubing, I sat infront of the TV and worked the action a whole lot, to try and smooth things out a bit before I went to shoot it.
One thing I noticed was that the gun balances just forward of the receiver, and as a result most of the weight seems to be carried by the left hand (Im shoot right handed). Most of the reviews I read said it was a heavy tank. I dont find it that heavy(its not light like my Ithaca though). I think I'm going to try and add some weight in the buttstock so it has a more neutral balance.
Firing:
I didn't have much time to shoot, and I try not to shoot too much in my back yard as the neighbor's dog goes nuts everytime I do. This is just an initial firing; I'm going to shoot a couple hundred rounds this weekend and give it a proper break in/test. I fired 25 rounds of remington 3" BB (It was on sale) and 4 rounds of 2 3/4" winchester #5 high velocity, and one 1 ounce 2 3/4" #8. Everything cycled fine except the low brass #8 federal cheap shell. It didn't eject. Note that I didn't adjust the gas system for it, and the gun hasn't been broken in yet, I was just curious.
The length of pull was kinda short, and I bashed my nose twice before slipping on a cheap canadian tire recoil pad. It helped to soak up some recoil and made the gun fit much better. I actually found the gun kicked pretty good. I was expecting the gas system to turn it into a pussy cat. I was wrong. Maybe its because it was my first time shooting 3", but it seemed like it kicked quite a bit more than my Ithaca(suprised me, but I'm not a big guy @ 155lbs, and the biggest rifle I shoot is .308). I only shot the 2 3/4" with the recoil pad on.
Thats all I have to say for now, will update as soon as I shoot it some more. Im gonna try a bunch of different ammo through it and maybe pattern it.
P.S. Anyone know a trick for getting the barrel back out? Its tight as all hell.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a gun expert and don't have that much gun experience. This report is only my experience with the gun, yours may differ.
Description: Gas operated semi-automatic shotgun with a 24" barrel, black plastic stock, IC, Mod, full and X full chokes. It has built in sling swivels, a vent rinb and a small single bead sight.
Initial Impressions:
For a $500 shotgun, I wasn't expecting too much. After taking it out of the box and examining it, I came to a few conclusions.
First, the finish, while acceptable for a cheap gun, isn't anything to write home about. The receiver/trigger guard seem to be painted black. The barrel has a blue type finish that is nice and even and smooth. Its black though, so I'm not sure what type of finnish it is.
The plastic stock isn't great. The buttstock is hollow and is finished in a fairly hard smooth recoil pad. the buttstock is pretty thin, but I don't have big hands and it feels pretty good. It is somewhat larger than the receiver, but doesn't look terrible. The lenght of pull is a bit short for me. The forestock fits very tight. Not sure if I like the modern shape compared to the classic style yet.
The vent rib is pretty high, and is kinda cheap looking. The choke tubes seem to fit tight, although I've only tried the IC and XFULL.
There are a few rough/sharp edges, but less than my M14S. No noticeable metal shavings or anything like that.
After cleaning and lubing, I sat infront of the TV and worked the action a whole lot, to try and smooth things out a bit before I went to shoot it.
One thing I noticed was that the gun balances just forward of the receiver, and as a result most of the weight seems to be carried by the left hand (Im shoot right handed). Most of the reviews I read said it was a heavy tank. I dont find it that heavy(its not light like my Ithaca though). I think I'm going to try and add some weight in the buttstock so it has a more neutral balance.
Firing:
I didn't have much time to shoot, and I try not to shoot too much in my back yard as the neighbor's dog goes nuts everytime I do. This is just an initial firing; I'm going to shoot a couple hundred rounds this weekend and give it a proper break in/test. I fired 25 rounds of remington 3" BB (It was on sale) and 4 rounds of 2 3/4" winchester #5 high velocity, and one 1 ounce 2 3/4" #8. Everything cycled fine except the low brass #8 federal cheap shell. It didn't eject. Note that I didn't adjust the gas system for it, and the gun hasn't been broken in yet, I was just curious.
The length of pull was kinda short, and I bashed my nose twice before slipping on a cheap canadian tire recoil pad. It helped to soak up some recoil and made the gun fit much better. I actually found the gun kicked pretty good. I was expecting the gas system to turn it into a pussy cat. I was wrong. Maybe its because it was my first time shooting 3", but it seemed like it kicked quite a bit more than my Ithaca(suprised me, but I'm not a big guy @ 155lbs, and the biggest rifle I shoot is .308). I only shot the 2 3/4" with the recoil pad on.
Thats all I have to say for now, will update as soon as I shoot it some more. Im gonna try a bunch of different ammo through it and maybe pattern it.
P.S. Anyone know a trick for getting the barrel back out? Its tight as all hell.
