First duck hunt, now I'm shotgun shopping

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Winniepyr

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A buddy took me out duck hunting. What a blast. I used his 20 gauge and it was fine. Now I want to get my own 12 gauge. I hate buying things twice so I would like to buy a quality piece to start. Budget $650 range. I seem to be drawn to the supernova. Any other thoughts?

Thanks for reading
 
You won't be dissapointed with a supernova. I had one for about 3 years. Worked awesome, never a complaint. I recently sold it to buy a winchester sxp. The reason I done that is cause I have a sx3 and when I used the benelli it felt different. I guess I just got used to the feel of the winchester. You can't go wrong with the supernova. The best thing for you to do is go to the gun store and look at some other brands before you buy..good luck!
 
Supernova is fine for that price range.

Personally I would go for a browning BPS if I were you, I find they feel better in my hands.
 
As a new shooter, you do not yet know the most important thing about shotgun selection. What we recommend is irrelevant. Asking what "the best" is, is also irrelevant. Only you can figure out what will suit you best. Fit is everything, otherwise "the best" shotgun is useless in your hands. Even though all guns are designed to fit the average build, they each have so many different idiosyncracies that add up to guns which feel very different from each other. Location of safety, are you RH or LH, face width, neck length, arm length, height, weight, eye dominance, etc. will all play a part in how you interact with the gun.

The recoil from a pump is very different from that of a semi and from an over/under. You may not handle recoil well, who knows? Even different semi mechanisms feel different.

What I'm saying is you have to handle a lot of shotguns over time, and as you gain shooting experience you will come to know what you like and don't like. That being said, pick whatever floats your boat right now and shoot it lots. If you find you don't like it, sell it and get something else. Or go to a local trap and skeet club and ask to try out various guns (people usually are willing to let others try their guns with permission).

A Nova may on paper seem to be a better gun than say, a Mossberg 500. But you may not like the feel of it, or how it fits in your hand, or where the safety is, or how to load it, etc. You seemed to have success with your buddy's 20 gauge - why not get the 12 ga. model?
 
Grouse Man said:
As a new shooter, you do not yet know the most important thing about shotgun selection. What we recommend is irrelevant. Asking what "the best" is, is also irrelevant. Only you can figure out what will suit you best. Fit is everything, otherwise "the best" shotgun is useless in your hands. Even though all guns are designed to fit the average build, they each have so many different idiosyncracies that add up to guns which feel very different from each other. Location of safety, are you RH or LH, face width, neck length, arm length, height, weight, eye dominance, etc. will all play a part in how you interact with the gun.

The recoil from a pump is very different from that of a semi and from an over/under. You may not handle recoil well, who knows? Even different semi mechanisms feel different.

What I'm saying is you have to handle a lot of shotguns over time, and as you gain shooting experience you will come to know what you like and don't like. That being said, pick whatever floats your boat right now and shoot it lots. If you find you don't like it, sell it and get something else. Or go to a local trap and skeet club and ask to try out various guns (people usually are willing to let others try their guns with permission).

A Nova may on paper seem to be a better gun than say, a Mossberg 500. But you may not like the feel of it, or how it fits in your hand, or where the safety is, or how to load it, etc. You seemed to have success with your buddy's 20 gauge - why not get the 12 ga. model?
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I would Say +1 to this, handle, handle handle, and see what is all out there, Start by if you want a pump or a semi, and go from there, some say pump for reliability if it gets dirty cause it will. Ive got a Mossburg 500, "3 chamber is really all you will ever need, 3.5 you just beat yourself up with em with no advantage, they also cost more$. In a semi auto ive also bought a weatherby SA08, works flawless, just only downside if i want to change from #3 to a BB shot for geese it take a bit more finesse to get it out without the lifter in the way.
 
Grouse Man said:
A Nova may on paper seem to be a better gun than say, a Mossberg 500. But you may not like the feel of it, or how it fits in your hand, or where the safety is, or how to load it, etc. You seemed to have success with your buddy's 20 gauge - why not get the 12 ga. model?
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Very true. I had a Nova for awhile and it ended up being a terrible gun for me. It didn't fit me, it was too long overall so it felt clumsy and because it was too long I ended up short stroking it quite often when I pumped it. Nothing wrong with the gun, just didn't work/fit for my build. As I often have said, and as Grouse Man is saying, asking for what is the best gun for you is pointless. You will get so many opinions that how do you really base anything on so many opinions. Just because one gun works for somebody else doesn't mean it will for you. As mentioned, you have to try various guns if at all possible to see what might suit you. Today, pretty much all guns are reliable unless you get a dud.
 
I may just have an 870 in M/O duckblind cammo,
NIB mens LG M/O duckblind jacket & matching hat & matching neoprene gloves
NIB M/O duck blind neoprene chest waders
Laynyard and calls, 12 mallard decoys, all 4 sale shortly.
PM me
 
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I wouldn't buy a semi auto to avoid recoil. The best way to handle recoil is to shoot lots and get used to it. Having said that, I would NOT buy a pump gun, esp. with aluminum reciever, if I planned to shoot a lot of 3.5 inch shells. Otherwise, you will save money on a pump and learn to decide which is best for you.

Most of my personal experience is with Winchester's 120/1300/2200 pumps. I love 'em, but they have a habit of eating action bars. I have a Baikal semi-auto now that I love, but if I was starting again, I would just do like everyone says and buy a Mossberg 500, a Remington 870, or a Browning BPS. The 870s and 500s in particular are a fine-functioning gun that you can get extra barrels for pretty cheap.
 
My son works in Outdoor Retail... He told me that the number one returned gun is the Benelli Super(Nova) pumps... You might want to keep this in mind... Mostly receiver issues. I used to recommend Rem 870's as a good starter gun... But I can't do that in good conscience any longer... Rem has gutted every desireable feature out of the Express models... So my recommendation for a pump gun is the Browning BPS... It will last you decades. Another alternative is a used Rem 870 Wingmaster... Just make sure that it has a 3" chamber... Truthfully, you do not ever NEED a 3.5" chamber, even for turkeys... My turkey guns are 3.5", but every tom that I have shot could have been taken with a .410. Good luck... Waterfowling is addictive!
 
hoytcanon, your comments about 3.5 inch shells made me realize something else. A lot of the trends we see in hunting are inspired by hunters in the US and their unique circumstances, which may have no application at all to us Canadian hunters. Hunting pressure is a lot lighter in Canada and more wide-open spaces mean some of our game animals may have never encountered humans at all. Take ducks. By the time they get to the deep South, they've been shot at for months and have learned to be very wary. Those guys can't get away with anything and may only ever get long shots at birds. Hell, when I'm standing in the decoys there are birds flying over my head trying to land. We can easily kill ducks with 2-3/4" shells in a 20 gauge. But months of being hunted and many other hunters I'm sure makes hunting much more demanding as you go South. I put the 3.5" guns in that category.
 
all i know, is i have owned 1/2 dozen shotguns now, and the ones i have sold are the ones i was most excited about buying, and after shooting and shooting them, just realized they didnt fit me right, and my old H&R single shot is the one i dont seem to miss with.

so i recommend trying as many before buying, and when you do buy don't be afraid of admitting it might not be the right one, and finding the one that works for you.
 
Grouse Man said:
hoytcanon, your comments about 3.5 inch shells made me realize something else. A lot of the trends we see in hunting are inspired by hunters in the US and their unique circumstances, which may have no application at all to us Canadian hunters. Hunting pressure is a lot lighter in Canada and more wide-open spaces mean some of our game animals may have never encountered humans at all. Take ducks. By the time they get to the deep South, they've been shot at for months and have learned to be very wary. Those guys can't get away with anything and may only ever get long shots at birds. Hell, when I'm standing in the decoys there are birds flying over my head trying to land. We can easily kill ducks with 2-3/4" shells in a 20 gauge. But months of being hunted and many other hunters I'm sure makes hunting much more demanding as you go South. I put the 3.5" guns in that category.
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Believe me, thanks to Duck Dynasty, hunting pressure is greater than ever here, and the early goose season and Waterfowl Heritage day haven't helped either.

I do agree that you can kill almost as many ducks and geese with short shells. I hunt around the fringes of the season, though (think February sea duck hunt, when they've already been shot at for three months), and I don't think I'd buy another 2 3/4 only gun. I rarely use 3.5 shells though. I've bought two boxes, only for geese, and I could have likely used 2 3/4 on them.
 
tribal said:
all i know, is i have owned 1/2 dozen shotguns now, and the ones i have sold are the ones i was most excited about buying, and after shooting and shooting them, just realized they didnt fit me right, and my old H&R single shot is the one i dont seem to miss with.

so i recommend trying as many before buying, and when you do buy don't be afraid of admitting it might not be the right one, and finding the one that works for you.
Click to expand...

I would rather have a single shot I could hit with every time, than a pump I missed with. Most new guys don't get that. Sure, it's exciting to hammer a double, or even a triple, but you can kill almost as many ducks with a single if you know what you're doing, and they're more reliable and affordable. You also waste less shells. I've killed some beautiful mallards with nothing more than a 20 gauge single loaded with 2 3/4 #6. My brother in law killed two mallards with that same shell in that gun last fall, with one shot.

With a single, you can't be afraid to water swat either.

I bought a 10 gauge double for geese last winter, and used it only a couple times. I am kicking myself for not buying a single instead, because it would have been much better for my purposes.
 
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