Looking at buying a semi-auto 20 ga.

H

hawk-i

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I've been wanting to pick up a nice light 20 ga. semi-auto for a while now, for all around hunting and a little clay shooting.

I'm liking the feel of the Franchi Affinity 3.0 but haven't had any experience with this brand, reviews look good.

How are they working out for those that have one or know a buddy that has one?

thx
 
My buddy likes his and it seems to run fine with skeet loads. I prefer the Beretta a400 20ga myself. They come with shims to adjust the stock angles for a better fit
 
I might be the guy brybenn is talking about. The gun runs fine but does not like Challenger shells right from the start. Cycles Top Gun and Gun Clubs without a hiccup. Also cycles Federal slugs without a problem.
 
I run an SX3 and my wife an A400. Both are very reliable. No experience with the Franchi but I'm sure it would be a good reliable gun. I've never heard anything negative about them. Most of todays autoladers are pretty reliable until you start looking at the Turkish made stuff then it's a crap shoot.
 
The franchi is ok for the price point but if you plan on shooting even a little bit of clay target sports you know what to buy the $’s are more but you get a life time of trouble free shooting.
45 years in the retail firearm industry
12 years warranty work for 3 major manufacturers
35 years of full time gunsmithing
Not internet regurgitation hands on experience
Just saying
 
maynard said:
I might be the guy brybenn is talking about. The gun runs fine but does not like Challenger shells right from the start. Cycles Top Gun and Gun Clubs without a hiccup. Also cycles Federal slugs without a problem.
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You are that guy. I've never seen you try the challengers in it so I was unaware of that but I've yet to see it stop on the skeet field with the loads you're using
 
maynard said:
I might be the guy brybenn is talking about. The gun runs fine but does not like Challenger shells right from the start. Cycles Top Gun and Gun Clubs without a hiccup. Also cycles Federal slugs without a problem.
Click to expand...

Now that you've had one for a while, would you buy one again?
 
I brought the Franchi to use as a rain gun for skeet, but found that I even shoot it on sunny days. I also have a Beretta 391 in 20 ga I shoot equally poor scores with either gun. Lol. Mine has the black plastic furniture so I have no problems hunting with it.
 
I honestly prefer the SX-3 as a semi auto, but even the Mossberg SA20 seems to be fairly reliable for the people shooting them at our skeet field. Then again, none of our members have a lot of rounds on a Mossberg. I have zero experience with the Franchi.
 
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I have an older affinity not the affinity 3 in 20ga. Bought it slightly used. It doesn't like the 7/8oz at 1200fps and below. The challenger at 1330fps is fine. Plus all the heavier stuff. Probably not a skeet gun for that reason? I have no experience with skeet. Great light gun for hunting. I don't know about the click thing though. Maybe a light load issue?
 
I have a Browning Silver 20 gauge. Its been awesome. Zero issues. I wish they still made it with the nice blued barrel because I would order up a matching 12 gauge.
 
maynard said:
I might be the guy brybenn is talking about. The gun runs fine but does not like Challenger shells right from the start. Cycles Top Gun and Gun Clubs without a hiccup. Also cycles Federal slugs without a problem.
Click to expand...

I've had trouble with challenger 20ga shells in the past in a Pardus turkish 20ga that wholesale was clearing out back in the day. The shells i had seemed to have kind of a waxy coating and the rim was sloped a bit more than other brands and i had the extractor slip off the rim and fail to eject.
If i went back to remington, federal, etc it would work fine and if i used one challenger shell every 3 or 4 shots they would work fine, i assume the waxy coating was building up and causing it to slip.

I can't comment on the frenchi but i've used both the pardus and a Charles Daly 20ga semi and it cycled everything fine.

Like the other guys said if i were going to be shooting clays regularly i would go for a bit better gun, but for carrying through the woods occasionally shooting at a bird and the odd round of clays the turkish guns work well enough for the price. You more have to go off of the brand/support, at least the sa-20 (or weatherby SA-08 20ga which is pretty much identical) have the mossberg warranty support if there's an issue. Some of the other random turkish brands have next to nothing so you need to take that risk into account.
 
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