New shotgun on a budget.

I bought a weatherby pump a few weeks ago. Really solid gun. Looks good. Beautiful wood on it. $400 bucks. Downside is not many aftermarket bells and whistles. Uses invector/win choke system. Haven't patterned it yet, but overall first impressions are good. You can always grab a synthetic one too if you're worried about dinging it up.
 
The new Versamax are getting pretty affordable..

..however if things haven't changed in the last year or two they are absolutely ####. I shot 25 rounds through mine before it fell apart and I returned it and bought a Be...
 
As a first shotgun I'd forgo a semi and the extra cost.
If you go with a Remington 870 pump you have model options, walnut vs synthetic options,multiple barrel options, accessories out the ying-yang.
For $1000.00 he can get the 28'' barrel for bird and the deer barrel for the obvious and get a low power scope for deer/turkey. He'll probably have enough left over for a few hundred shells as well. As a first gun it can cover a lot of hunting scenarios.
 
Hammerdak said:
As a first shotgun I'd forgo a semi and the extra cost.
If you go with a Remington 870 pump you have model options, walnut vs synthetic options,multiple barrel options, accessories out the ying-yang.
For $1000.00 he can get the 28'' barrel for bird and the deer barrel for the obvious and get a low power scope for deer/turkey. He'll probably have enough left over for a few hundred shells as well. As a first gun it can cover a lot of hunting scenarios.
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That's good advice but the Italian guns just look pretty :
 
Actually bcook , i'm about an hour away in Delhi. Thanks for your input and offer(dig the photo by the way... "full metal jacket" i take it ?). Just looking for input right now. But since you're local to me,do you have any gun stores between us i haven't visited. I've been to Gobles and Guns and Gadgets. Besides the shotgun i'm also looking for a.243 lefty.
 
Um. The other store I frequent is santarossa's in Rodney. There's a little store in kerwood but it's hit or miss as to whether or not he's open. With shot show coming up he'll be gone for a while.

I strongly recommend guns n gadgets. They are great guys and I've bought a few guns from them. Great guys. Not to put down gobles, their selection is good. But I've gone to guns n gadgets and just shot the #### with them for a couple hours with them while looking at everything they have.

If you change you mind about a test drive, pm me. I'll grab my buddies guns too.
 
bcook21 said:
I bought a weatherby pump a few weeks ago. Really solid gun. Looks good. Beautiful wood on it. $400 bucks. Downside is not many aftermarket bells and whistles. Uses invector/win choke system. Haven't patterned it yet, but overall first impressions are good. You can always grab a synthetic one too if you're worried about dinging it up.
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dont want to be mean but my friend bought one brand new and he returned it after 3 range trips. Bought a 870 instead. This thing had some strange problems with cycling. jammed to the point that i had a hard time un jamming it. Keep your receipt. Was a nice gun but proved troublesome.
 
Hi - my name is Dale. I also have a 930 and it jammed regularly until I double checked how I loaded the tube mag....now, after many decades of experience I find I made a rookie mistake..the shells must be completely within the tube, I was allowing the shell to sit back touching the "flipper" and it jammed every time until I made sure the shell was completely forward and completely ahead of this piece - never a jam since. Hope this helps, maybe not the problem with yours but no jams since for me no matter what I cycled through it.
 
bcook21 said:
Um. The other store I frequent is santarossa's in Rodney. There's a little store in kerwood but it's hit or miss as to whether or not he's open. With shot show coming up he'll be gone for a while.

I strongly recommend guns n gadgets. They are great guys and I've bought a few guns from them. Great guys. Not to put down gobles, their selection is good. But I've gone to guns n gadgets and just shot the #### with them for a couple hours with them while looking at everything they have.

If you change you mind about a test drive, pm me. I'll grab my buddies guns too.
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I'll second Guns n Gadgets, I've only recently started going there, but they are a great group of guys, super easy to talk to, and know their stuff. Definitely worth the drive from London. That being said, I bought a Versa Max Sportsmen at Gobles last weekend and I'm quite happy with it so far.
 
magnum 3 said:
I'm looking for a little input on a new shotgun on a budget. I got to boys taking up the sport next season and at least one is set on an semi auto 12. My advice was if he is only going to buy one gun then buy a 3.5". Although i don't personally feel it's not necessary, that way he is covered for everything. That being said, I also told him the price of a higher end gun and his jaw dropped. Ya ... things like that look a lot better when the old man flips the bill. I also casually mentioned the cost of lets say a new Beretta slug barrel (that was an example because i heard they actually made one.... for a price) and that's when reality set in. So now we're looking at $1000 or less for a new semi auto shotgun that will cycle 2.75" to 3.5" shells and you can get a smooth or rifle barrel for it. He likes my 1187 premiere 3" 12ga converted to black synthetics. They come in 3.5" also but i told him that my "used gun" has shot lots of ducks , geese, grouse, rabbits and deer and until i find what i consider to be a deal , I'll shoot it. So ... It's an 1187 maybe SX 3 . A dealer tells me the new Stoeger doesn't like cycling a lot of 2.75"( ie sporting clays). What about these Hatsan Escorts. They have a 5yr warranty , come with 5 chokes and i think there is a smooth bore slug barrel. They are also are available in camo or or black. I did read that a couple people out of 20 reviews had a piston spring break and were looking for parts on their Escorts. Might consider the versa max sportsman if you can get a slug barrel for around $200. Oh and if we do settle on a 3" i read a great review on a Franchi Affiniti . We have a few months to decide so lots of input please.
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Might want to look at the Mossberg 935 as it is well under your budget, takes 3.5" shells and many people swear by them because of the overbored barrel patterning better, slug barrels are also available and you would be in to the shotgun and spare slug barrel at or under your budget new.
 
Brian46 said:
Might want to look at the Mossberg 935 as it is well under your budget, takes 3.5" shells and many people swear by them because of the overbored barrel patterning better, slug barrels are also available and you would be in to the shotgun and spare slug barrel at or under your budget new.
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IIRC Mossberg basically says that the 935 won't necessarily cycle 2.75" reliably, so this wil likely be a factor.
 
In every instance that I have seen someone shooting a Mossberg it has jammed - maybe its the loads, maybe its whatever but I would not spend anything for it.

The SX3 Black Shadow looks like it may fit the bill if your set on a semi (I believe this gun is very similar to the Browning Silver).

If you were to sway towards a pump, the 870 Wingmaster would serve one very well doing just about anything for a long time.
 
How old are your boys? I made the mistake of overgunning my boys with my own semis,pumps,sxs at a young age. I realized that when I was their age, I was happy and lucky to have a single shot(I wouldn't have been able to afford the ammo a multi-shot gun would have eaten anyways, I could only afford the Canadian Tire cheap loads for ducks). That's what I started with and worked and saved my way up from there to a pump which I used for years and became a good shot with on ducks and grouse. So, my boys each have a single shot 12ga. now and they actually like it better with it being only 5lbs and they cost me way less ammo too. The Rossi Pomba is great with 28"x3" barrel with modified choke approved for steel shot and sling swivels for $170 or so. The external hammer takes a bit of the stress off me also thinking of a kid's little curious/fidgety fingers playing with the safety button... When my kids grow up and earn their own money, the can buy what they want, or if they get too mean with their money, they can wait till their old man kicks the bucket and they'll have my guns. Just my 2 cents on the matter, hope there is a bit of wisdom in it, cheers.
 
jett said:
How old are your boys? I made the mistake of overgunning my boys with my own semis,pumps,sxs at a young age. I realized that when I was their age, I was happy and lucky to have a single shot(I wouldn't have been able to afford the ammo a multi-shot gun would have eaten anyways, I could only afford the Canadian Tire cheap loads for ducks). That's what I started with and worked and saved my way up from there to a pump which I used for years and became a good shot with on ducks and grouse. So, my boys each have a single shot 12ga. now and they actually like it better with it being only 5lbs and they cost me way less ammo too. The Rossi Pomba is great with 28"x3" barrel with modified choke approved for steel shot and sling swivels for $170 or so. The external hammer takes a bit of the stress off me also thinking of a kid's little curious/fidgety fingers playing with the safety button... When my kids grow up and earn their own money, the can buy what they want, or if they get too mean with their money, they can wait till their old man kicks the bucket and they'll have my guns. Just my 2 cents on the matter, hope there is a bit of wisdom in it, cheers.
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A 5lb 12 gage shotgun for a kid..........how do they handle the recoil?

I started shooting a 22 when I was very young, I had a 20 gage pump around age 10, A 12 gage pump shortly after that. Looking back I would have loved to have an autoloader 12 gage instead of the 20, less felt recoil and would have gotten me way more grouse as a kid. I still have the old shotguns from when I grew up, so I know what I am talking about with the felt recoil.
 
Fyn said:
IIRC Mossberg basically says that the 935 won't necessarily cycle 2.75" reliably, so this wil likely be a factor.
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depends on the load, felt recoil is also less due to the nature of the overbore.

shooting any of the full power loads as you do with steel for ducks/geese is a non issue in any length, slugs are a no no in the overbore barrel though but when swapped to the rifle barrel, All slugs other than low recoil ones will cycle
 
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