Favourite Waterfowl Shotgun
- Thread starter BigBraz15
- Start date
Well, I handled quite a few guns and did plenty of internet shopping. Went to the local gun store today and was going in planning to go out with the Weatherby 18i that was on sale. Ended up spending a bit more and walked out with a Beretta A300 outlander. Shouldered much better and points very nice. Hopefully the weather cooperates this week and I can try it out.
We shoot skeet in central Alberta all winter, but we did lose four days due to the weather this year. But the last month has been record turnouts.
Lots of opinions.I have shot a few makes.In gas guns the Beretta AL390 was best by far.The best inertia gun was the Benelli Vinci I used for about 3 seasons and SBE II.
I found a mint original Black Eagle (3”) in wood and used that last year, it is superb and the metal work puts the newer Benellis to shame.
I also picked up a new Franchi Elite 3” with a wood stock that looks and shoots fantastic, and is made by Benelli in their Italian factory for 1/2 the price of a Benelli.It is basically an M2....the parts even interchange.
I think that the ease of cleaning and the third shot for cripples with an auto make an auto inertia gun the best choice.I like the new Franchi or older Benelli best ...stay away from SBE III as they have had serious point of aim issues since roll out and its possible to get a gun that will shoot off center.
I found a mint original Black Eagle (3”) in wood and used that last year, it is superb and the metal work puts the newer Benellis to shame.
I also picked up a new Franchi Elite 3” with a wood stock that looks and shoots fantastic, and is made by Benelli in their Italian factory for 1/2 the price of a Benelli.It is basically an M2....the parts even interchange.
I think that the ease of cleaning and the third shot for cripples with an auto make an auto inertia gun the best choice.I like the new Franchi or older Benelli best ...stay away from SBE III as they have had serious point of aim issues since roll out and its possible to get a gun that will shoot off center.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I've shot many different waterfowl guns, but the one I keep on using and coming back to is my 1960's era Win M12 pump, 2-3/4" with aftermarket Hastings vent rib barrel and screw in chokes. It fits me perfectly, functions reliably and kills well with high speed ( 1500 fps or so) loads of 1-1/16 or 1-1/8 oz of steel 2's or 1's. I have shot many truck loads of geese and ducks with that gun. Multiple hundreds of birds. And I don't find the 2-3/4" chamber limiting for the hunting that I do. Over decoys, or jump shooting it is about perfect. I do not do much pass shooting, so that's where a longer chamber or bigger shot payloads would perhaps be some assistance. I like the reliability of the pump action. The only time I've had any function issues was after a long session of a few days of heavy use in dirty layout blinds in bad weather, some dirt gummed things up. With reasonable maintenance a good pump gun just keeps going. If I had to replace that M12 with a new pump gun I'd buy a Browning BPS with 28" barrel. No Remington 870 Express or Mossbergs for me thanks. Or semi autos. Ones my buddies use always seem to jam at some point.
A Browning Citori Field 12 ga. 3" 28" w/ invector chokes was the only other gun that gave my M12 any strong competition. But when the daily bag limit of geese is 20 snows and 8 canadas and the duck limit is 8 per day too, a "two shooter" sometimes feels limiting. But that big kinda clunky Citori sure killed 'em good.
A Browning Citori Field 12 ga. 3" 28" w/ invector chokes was the only other gun that gave my M12 any strong competition. But when the daily bag limit of geese is 20 snows and 8 canadas and the duck limit is 8 per day too, a "two shooter" sometimes feels limiting. But that big kinda clunky Citori sure killed 'em good.
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leveractionjunkie
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, BC
Love that pic Longwalker 
Hard to argue your choice in shotgun or logic in selecting either.
Hard to argue your choice in shotgun or logic in selecting either.
I had an A300 for about 4-5 years ... Was an amazing gun for about 2-3 years, then started the "benelli click". Finally the gun died when the inside of the receiver wore out and the barrel wouldn't stay tight anymore
Any idea how many rounds that took?
Also I thought the Benelli click was an inertia gun thing?
You will not get the Benelli click from Beretta a300 . as it does not have the inertia driven bolt with rotating bolt head . possibly the loose barrel not allowing the bolt to lock into battery . would be more inline with the a300 problem .
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Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Browning Auto 5s aren't bullet proof either.
Enthusiasts keep pushing complete spring replacement X amount of range time.
Some pump shotguns you only have to keep an eye on broken shell stop(s). Spring and or body material.
Enthusiasts keep pushing complete spring replacement X amount of range time.
Some pump shotguns you only have to keep an eye on broken shell stop(s). Spring and or body material.
True, it wasn't Benelli click, per say, but it acted the same way. Bolt wouldn't completely close and when I pulled the trigger the shell didn't go off. Did this about every 10 shots.
Wasn't much honestly ... the issue started after 2-3 years of duck hunting/skeet shooting, so maybe like 750 duck shells and 3000 target loads
Less than 4000 rounds total, that is pretty pathetic. I had more than twice that on an SX-3 with zero issues.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
My go to guns for waterfowl are a Browning Gold 3.5" that I've had for over 20 years. On day that are fine weather I bought a Fox A Grade that I take out and feed bismuth or tungsten-matrix shells. Just like taking a time machine back to the 1990s!
