Sorry I can't help you at all with the automatic thing.
I've owned a few that I've traded for then used to trade for something else. Haven't hunted anything with an automatic since I was 6, so I don't know anything about any of them.
Good choice in GA though!

 

Thanks guys for all the replies. There all great suggestions.

So needless to say.. Let the hunt begin.... Well after x-mas that is..... :santa:

Hope everyone has a good holiday !

 

Merry Christmas and Happy new year. Let us know what you get.

 

Are you sure the problem was with the gun?

 

I wasn't gonna say it....

 

I'm positive!



The...uh...original post was meant to be sarcastic.

 

Lets see...for auto loading shotguns...

I have a 12GA Benelli M1 Super 90 with pistol grip stock and ghost sites...wonderful shooting and fun gun, but IMO its a more of a tacticle (even if it had the regular stock and long barrel) gun than a hunting gun. It cycles FAST but its also very particular about the shells it will shoot (or I should say feed).

I have a Franchi 20ga that was left to me by my uncle...nice little gun. Nothing bad to say about it but its just not outstanding in anyway either. A bit pricing for a blan gun.

I have a 12GA Beretta Teknys AL391...wonderful gun. It will shoot anything you load into it. Its a great skeet gun, a great dove gun and would be a great duck gun. The Teknys is a little out of the price range but the standard AL391 is just in there and is the same gun...just not as pretty.


I also have a Belgium 12GA Browning Auto-5. Its not the best shooting shotgun I own...its not the prettiest...its not the most expensive...but it is my favorite. The Browning A-5 is THE benchmark all auto loading shotguns will always be judged against. They are not made anymore but if you don't mind a nice used gun thats what I would get...especialy if I was only going to have one. Get the Magnum 12 for duck hunting. You can't get a clean Beligum made A-5 under $1k usually but you can get the later Japan made guns for that. The Japan guns are made just as well they just arent as collectible...so the price is lower. Also the later Jap guns have better barrels for handling the steel shot. Also one thing I can assure you about the A-5 is that it is an investment...you will not only be able to get your money back out of it but it will go up in value over the years. If you find a clean one buy it and get take the wood off and use a synthetic stock in the field...that way you wont have to worry about banging it up.

 

The more I read about the Beretta the more i'm liking the sound of it. I have talked to a few other guys on some other boards and they really like them.

Thanks RAMSS/T !

 

Go to http://www.gunbroker.com/ and shop around. The prices you can get a new gun on there is just above what dealer cost is. You can usually get one for around the same price at a gun show. Gun stores will be a little more because they have more overhead.

You cant go wrong with the Beretta...I have never had a jam or failure to feed with mine. I actually bought my Teknys Gold from a guy that bought it...shot a box of shells through it and decided he wanted a 20GA instead. He paid $1400 for the gun and I gave him $850 for it...one of my better deals in a long time.

 

I'm drooling over that Belgium Browning!!!

...And are those interchangeable chokes with that AL391?

 

Yeah...it comes with 4 chokes. Open, modified, cylinder and full chokes. The cool thing about the "Mobile" chokes that comes with Beretta is they are color coded on the end and you can see what choke you have in the gun at glance.

 

I hunt ducks and geese four days a week and guide my own commercial pits so I get to see allot of different guns, both cheap and high dollar. The best bang for your buck (no pun intended) is the Stoeger Arms 12 guage semi-auto with a 28 inch barrel. The company is owned by Benelli and all the inner parts are Benelli, side by side you can not tell the difference. Shoots all size of loads in both 2 3/4 and 3 inch, has interchangeable chokes and I think it still comes in three finishes, I have the cammo finish and it really takes a beating without any issues. Bought mine two years ago and only paid $475 for it which is great compared to $1300 for the Benelli.

Good luck.

Mark

 

I had an old Ted Williams (Sears & Roebuck Special) when I was a kid that had a dial-a-choke and a SHORT barrel. I think it was a bird gun, but a hand-me-down for deer hunting... I always wondered why I never killed much... Must have been the spread...

 

I bought a Benelli SBE and haven't looked back. It eats everything I throw at it and works just as good dirty as it does clean. For me it was an easy choice, I wanted a Left hand 12ga that could shoot a 3 1/2". The only one on the market is the SBE.

Joe

 

DogEm,

I have a Stoeger Condor O/U that I purchased back at Thanksgiving just because it was so cheap. I've taken it out several times in the blind. It's a fun gun to shoot and its dead on. Not bad for a gun I only paid 275.00 for.