Semi auto suggestions

downwindtracker2 said:
I just bought an Armsan ,but I haven't got my hands on it, yet. If you look up Tristar Viper G2 reviews you will be hard pressed to find a negative one . It's a copy of the Berretta 300 series. Mine is the same one ,only with the factory name instead of the importer's. Frontier has them on sale,BTW.Weatherby imports a different maker, they call theirs Orion. CZ imports one from still another Turkish manufacturer, that gets great reviews. Not all Turkish manufacturers should be lumped in the same boat.
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I bought a left hand Armsan A612 for my nephew. Its a decent gun that works well. But it’s definitely not a copy of a Beretta
 
I certainly didn't say clone. I've read a copy of the 303 a few times, and just looking at the schematics, even I saw some similarities.I know the innards of a Winchester 1400 only too well. Gas guns are not new technology , the Remington 1100 came out in 1963 and the Winchester 1400 in 1964 . Both of these were designed to be a price point guns. The Remington being the better of the two. When did the Beretta come out ? It stands to reason, half a century later they are going to copy good designs. And Italians do good designs.

It's a mistake to lump all the products of country together, some manufacturers make garbage, a pure waste of steel, others, about as good as you will get.It pays to find out who made what.

With Weatherby and CZ as the importers you might get some back up, but you will pay a premium for it. Tristar has a great rep for service and less of a premium.. If I run into parts problems, I'll have to E-mail Istanbul . chuckle. But I saved a few hundred dollars.
 
downwindtracker2 said:
I certainly didn't say clone. I've read a copy of the 303 a few times, and just looking at the schematics, even I saw some similarities.I know the innards of a Winchester 1400 only too well. Gas guns are not new technology , the Remington 1100 came out in 1963 and the Winchester 1400 in 1964 . Both of these were designed to be a price point guns. The Remington being the better of the two. When did the Beretta come out ? It stands to reason, half a century later they are going to copy good designs. And Italians do good designs.

It's a mistake to lump all the products of country together, some manufacturers make garbage, a pure waste of steel, others, about as good as you will get.It pays to find out who made what.

With Weatherby and CZ as the importers you might get some back up, but you will pay a premium for it. Tristar has a great rep for service and less of a premium.. If I run into parts problems, I'll have to E-mail Istanbul . chuckle. But I saved a few hundred dollars.
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^^^This.

The Weatherbys are made in Turkey and are an amazing value.

I have a 20gauge Mossberg International SA-20, which I would not trade for love nor money.

Having said that, if I had the $$$, hands down, it would be a Benelli Montefeltro in 20G.
 
The Remington 1100 Sporting 28 is a great shotgun and a lot of fun to carry and shoot! (Wife laid claim to this shotgun!) Most have extremely nice wood. But as mentioned, prices are getting crazy. I wouldn't hesitate on getting a Sporting 20 if I ever get the chance (just haven't come across one...yet).
Just got my Benelli Ethos in 28 ga, but haven't had a chance to get it out and shoot it yet (took a couple of years to get my hands on one...but I saw one recently in a LGS). Has the advantage of a 3" chamber, if I can find ammo and get a chance to hunt pheasant along with Huns, as a side opportunity on my next antelope hunt. Lots of great reviews when they first were introduced. Not exactly inexpensive, but beautiful wood!
Benelli is also offering the Super Eagle 3 in 20 ga, and should be a great shotgun.
Have also read good things about the Beretta's and Franchi's.
 
I love my Mossberg 930. They make them in a 20 gauge, it's cheap, you can beat it, mine has never once FTF.
I've put 200 rounds through it at a trap tournament, threw it in the case hot and forgot to clean it. Brought it out the following weekend with not a single problem.

It's also very simple to disassemble and clean. About 45 seconds to field strip if you know what you're doing.
 
downwindtracker2 said:
I certainly didn't say clone. I've read a copy of the 303 a few times, and just looking at the schematics, even I saw some similarities.I know the innards of a Winchester 1400 only too well. Gas guns are not new technology , the Remington 1100 came out in 1963 and the Winchester 1400 in 1964 . Both of these were designed to be a price point guns. The Remington being the better of the two. When did the Beretta come out ? It stands to reason, half a century later they are going to copy good designs. And Italians do good designs.

It's a mistake to lump all the products of country together, some manufacturers make garbage, a pure waste of steel, others, about as good as you will get.It pays to find out who made what.

With Weatherby and CZ as the importers you might get some back up, but you will pay a premium for it. Tristar has a great rep for service and less of a premium.. If I run into parts problems, I'll have to E-mail Istanbul . chuckle. But I saved a few hundred dollars.
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Tristar warrenty service is the only thing worse than stoeger Canada's. Took over a year of constant complaints just to get replacement firing pins and then they sent me the wrong pins


They refused to replace or fix any of the other issues
 
TransAm1991 said:
I love my Mossberg 930. They make them in a 20 gauge, it's cheap, you can beat it, mine has never once FTF.
I've put 200 rounds through it at a trap tournament, threw it in the case hot and forgot to clean it. Brought it out the following weekend with not a single problem.

It's also very simple to disassemble and clean. About 45 seconds to field strip if you know what you're doing.
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I like the Mossberg 930/935 as well. But they don't make them in 20g, only 12g. The 20g semi is the SA-20 which is made by Armsan
 
SX3 if you can find one. Best value to performance and the best trigger on any auto ive owned/tried is a Weatherby SA-08. Highly recommend this shotgun.
 
brybenn said:
Tristar warrenty service is the only thing worse than stoeger Canada's. Took over a year of constant complaints just to get replacement firing pins and then they sent me the wrong pins


They refused to replace or fix any of the other issues
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A guy would guess that either a population of 84 million in Turkey, and a pretty strong healthy hunting culture, that this level of service would be better.
But I guessed wrong.
Turkey has arguably dome of the best wild boar hunting & a huge plus Ibex as well.
Strange.
 
I went to visit a gunsmith on Monday, asked about a few guns. He said the gun is going to be the least of your costs (speaking specifically about trapshooting).

Most people look at upfront cost instead of long term longevity.
Buy cheap, buy twice.
You get what you pay for.
Etc...
 
Trap shooting is a different kettle of fish than hunting. I'm not much of a trap shooter, to me,it's just practice with a shotgun and certainly no competition . My first time shooting a shotgun was this spring. And I've used almost a brick of primers.I tend to research fairly thoroughly.In fact I should practice more and read less. But those that are serious, talk in terms of thousands. No Turkish $1000 O/U is going to stand up to that. In that class, the cheap guns have names that start with a B. Our OP just wants an auto for hunting.
 
Bluebulldog said:
^^^This.

The Weatherbys are made in Turkey and are an amazing value.

I have a 20gauge Mossberg International SA-20, which I would not trade for love nor money.

Having said that, if I had the $$$, hands down, it would be a Benelli Montefeltro in 20G.
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Yes and no, the Sa-08 does seem pretty good for the most part but I've seen them break too.
 
I have not decided on anything as of yet. I am maybe more confused as there are manufacturers mentioned here I did not think about. Will have to look into them all. I have decided I want a 28 gauge though. Thx to all who replied it was informative to read through all the posts.
 
While you might have already made your choice, I’m going to chime in.

The first two considerations, in my humble opinion, are quality and fit. Valid arguments can be made either way as to which one comes first. Hunting is more than meat collecting, and a fine hunting gun can be a treasured companion for life. A hunting gun is one of the few personal items with which we develop a close bond. It doesn’t have to be wildly expensive to be one’s pride and joy. Quality begets reliability. A quality hunting gun may never require gunsmithing fees or ‘warranty claims’ in your lifetime. A gun built before everything got cheapened and cost-cut would be my first choice. The second-hand gun rack (and the EE) is your friend. I should also say that fit on a hunting gun isn’t the same as for a competition shooter. Most hunting guns fit me well, perhaps I’m just lucky.

Following closely on fit, is handling. Difficult to define, but it has to feel right for the kind of hunting you want to do. A lighter weight gun to carry all day, and a good barrel length to help swing on flying birds. Chances are that a quality used gun will have a proper field-length barrel already. Everyone’s body is different, so handling a variety of guns can help determine what works for you.

The two semis that I have are a vintage Browning Auto-5 in 16, and a Browning Double Automatic in 12. Both came out of the FN factory in Belgium, and are extremely well-designed and built. The Auto-5 cost me less than $300, because it takes 2 1/2” shells and the ‘market’ deems such guns as troublesome and un-sellable. It’s an extra effort to source and stockpile the ammo, but 1oz loads are perfect for any kind of bird hunting I will ever do. The Double-Auto does not care what 2 3/4” or 2 1/2” shells go through it, it works every time. I prefer 7/8 or 1oz loads, easier on the body and gun, and kills birds dead. If for some reason a third round is needed (rare on grouse), the Double-Auto loads and chambers a round in the proverbial blink of an eye.

I choose the gun before I consider the gauge. Every gauge works just fine. I don’t have personal experience with the 28, but if the gun is pointed properly, the bird won’t know the difference…

I haven’t mentioned choke, because that is not a consideration for me. Proper mounting, aiming and timing will kill the bird, not choke. If one’s main worry is an extra single-digit percentage of lead within a circle, I would argue the battle is already lost, and more effort should be made to shoot well. Versatility in choke dimensions does not fix poor wing-shooting. I don’t foresee ever owning a gun with removable chokes. I can understand opening choke if one shoots steel shot, but that’s about it.

Yeah, I’ve gotten grumpy in my old age.
 
Franchi Affinity are available in 20 ga, in multiple stock/finish options. 7 year warrenty, light weight, reliable. I've had mine for 8 or 9 years never had a single failure to feed or eject.
 
Franchi Affinity is hard to beat….it is a proven design.The gun is basically a Benelli M2 - which has been shown to be one of Benelli’s best designed and field tested shotguns.With the warranty and price of the Franchi Affinity, you can’t really go wrong- plus they come in a multitude of flavors.I have a Legacy, Black Eagle, A400, 686 O/U and the Affinity I have is right there with them in all respects…. Except price.
 
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