Budget Grouse Gun?

There's plenty of deals to be had, you just have to look for them!! I used an 870 12ga for the past few seasons, but I found the pump to be a little heavy...so this year I picked up an H&R Topper for $100. The gun handles great, and is considerably lighter than the 870.

If you are dead set on getting a SxS or OU, I recommend Tradex...Great deals, accurate descriptions, and fast shipping.
 
once in the odd while you'll find a side by side under 200 ....only place to look for one aside from here would be Trade Ex Canada they are great to deal with and have side by sides that are reasonably priced. I use a Stevens pump M77 12ga with 20in barrel, great fast handling gun.
 
tula said:
once in the odd while you'll find a side by side under 200 ....only place to look for one aside from here would be Trade Ex Canada they are great to deal with and have side by sides that are reasonably priced. I use a Stevens pump M77 12ga with 20in barrel, great fast handling gun.
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If you go the Tradex route, just make sure that you get 2 3/4" chambers. A guy I know got a 2.5" and had to take up reloading in those brass 12 gauge hulls. Of course he loves them and they are pretty awesome so it all worked out.

The end.
 
There is nothing wrong with the previously mentioned choices. Myself I have a 1980s made SKB/Ithaca O/U Model 500 in 20 gauge.
That thing fits and suits me just fine and is the bee's knees for boonie bashing with it's short 26" barrels.
It gets used just a little more often than the M37 Ithaca pumpgun also in 20 gauge, but not by much.
For around or slightly less than $1000 dollars, if I was in the market for any used but not abused SKB O/U or SxS, (in 20 gauge) in very good to excellent condition, you would have one heck of a gun for the money spent IMO. And an older Ithaca M37 considerably less at least by half that 1000 bucks and maybe closer to one third of that 1000 yet again!
With both of these choices you are running just about one pound lighter than most good 12 gauges. That takes on some meaning when you are hunting upland game all day long friend. On a similar topic a good friend has imported himself from the USA an older Browning Citori in 16 gauge. ($$$$!) Although I'm extremely hesistant to deviate from 20/12 gauge, I must freely admit his choice in the 16 is one nice handling shotgun.
 
tula said:
once in the odd while you'll find a side by side under 200 ....only place to look for one aside from here would be Trade Ex Canada they are great to deal with and have side by sides that are reasonably priced. I use a Stevens pump M77 12ga with 20in barrel, great fast handling gun.
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Yes, it depends on how good of a gun you want. Tradeex are great to deal with (I have bought from them) and you can get some good prices. But there is a reason for that. Read the descriptions of the gun you may be thinking about carefully as many will say a crack here or a crack there or perhaps some pitting etc. Or they may have short chambers or full/full chokes or be a lower end quality gun by a maker that many in North America sort of frown upon (not saying that's right). Ones that are better condition are of course higher priced. Nothing wrong with a gun that may have a crack or some pitting, just make sure you know what you are settling on if you go that route.
 
I would be very careful spending money on recently manufactured and competitively priced SxSs and O/Us.
Frequently they have non-bushed firing pins. If those break (get yourself some snap-caps for shotguns such as A-Zoom) the gunsmithing fees for replacing the not-user-friendly firing pins in that tight little and two barrel shooting systems, will probably buy two of those same model shotguns brand new. I never leave my SKB O/U with cocked firing pins after the hunting/shooting trip is over. And I also never snap the firing pins down on empty chambers.
IIRC, the older SxS Baikals have at least bushed firing pins.
But something like a Condor or Mossberg Silver Reserve, I don't think so.
 
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