Shotgun recommendation.

[Kilerham]

Originally Posted by Al the Infidel

Get a Rem auto 870 or 1100.

Best advice


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[JTJ]

Last year I picked up an older New Haven 600 which is a Mossberg 500 12 gauge with a 28" SelectChoke barrel for $100. Wood stocks and in very good shape just not drilled and tapped. Plastic trigger guard is in perfect shape. Mossberg 500 barrels fit. The SelectChoke will cover any hunting situation but is kind of ugly. Purists hate them for looks not function.

[James Cottrell]

I use doubles mostly but my rainy day upland gun is 1941 vintage Ithica 37. Still hard to beat.

[Jeepergeo]

Check Stoeger. You get a lot of gun for the money.

My son has a Stoeger Supreme O/U in 20 gauge and that gun is not only beautiful, it is quite capable at taking pheasant, turkey, quail, and clay pigeons.

You could easily pay $400 more from a mainstream brand and still not get as nice of gun as the Stoeger.

[ohiohunter2019]

Originally Posted by Jeepergeo

Check Stoeger. You get a lot of gun for the money.

My son has a Stoeger Supreme O/U in 20 gauge and that gun is not only beautiful, it is quite capable at taking pheasant, turkey, quail, and clay pigeons.

You could easily pay $400 more from a mainstream brand and still not get as nice of gun as the Stoeger.

I have a 20ga Stoeger and the forend has come loose several times and now is very loose. Other than that it’s ok.

[dlong]

There has to be a Bennelli or Franchi in that price range.

[M2HB]

Benelli is a fabulous shotgun.

For value I would look for a slightly used Remington 870 with a ventilated rib and different screw in chokes. You should be able to get one that is slightly used for under $400. Maybe the current craziness will affect that but hopefully not.

[Vee3]

Originally Posted by M2HB

For value I would look for a slightly used Remington 870 with a ventilated rib and different screw in chokes. You should be able to get one that is slightly used for under $400. Maybe the current craziness will affect that but hopefully not.

Their bottom of the line $350 "Express" model that I linked to in post #5 has those features. I've had one for ~30 years. Ugly bead-blasted finish and I changed the wood to a walnut Police stock, but mechanically it's the same as other 870's.

[dlong]

Originally Posted by dlong

There has to be a Bennelli or Franchi in that price range.

Forget that idea. Didn’t realize how expensive they were. Maybe a used one??

[Nick7274]

You really can't go wrong with a Remington 870 or 1100, Mossberg 500 or my personal favorite the 930.

[TrblShtr]

Originally Posted by dlong

There has to be a Bennelli or Franchi in that price range.

I bought a Franchi Affinity in 12 ga. for around $700, but that was 5 years or so back. The inertial action shoots trap or field loads with equal reliability. A big selling point for me is Franchi provides shims in the box to adjust the cast of the stock and I added the extended recoil pad so it's as though I have a custom fitted gun at an off the rack price. Edit to add I see advertised an Affinity, 28" barrel, 12 ga. with black synthetic stock (same model as I have) for $749.

My Browning BPS Field has been with me since 1991 and has taken hundreds of pheasants. The standard LOP is a little short for me but ends up working well during late season hunts when wearing more layers. On warmer days I just take a little more time to line up my shot and the birds don't move after I return them to the ground. The box says "Field" but the gun has highly polished walnut furniture, an engraved receiver and very deep, polished bluing. I believe current production has satin finished wood, a plain receiver and matte blued metal. Some folk don't like the bottom ejection but I got use to it quickly enough.

Of course one can't go wrong with the Mossberg 500/590 or Remington 870 models. I have a couple Mossy's that are configured for home defense but have shot them enough to trust their function without hesitation.

When I was in high school my brother let me use his Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight for three years. That was my favorite shotty of all time and I was very disappointed when he eventually sold it to someone else after I had expressed interest. Oh well, he's still a good guy and I've moved on.

[sach7581]

I prefer older stuff to new. Old Ithaca 37 with slam fire. Good enough for Viet Nam. I use the riot gun version for home defense, too.

[Old Schoolr]

I am amazed at what I see shotgun-wise in used gun racks at gun stores. Some really nice 1950's - 1980's pumps & autos. Many have had rubber recoil pads &/or external chokes added & are not "collectible" but still usable. The big thing in shotguns now is it's got to be tactical; "Fudd" guns sit in the rack a long time while the plastic stocked riot style guns sell.
I picked up an Ithaca 37 20 ga. for (IIRC) about $350 a few years ago. The butt was slightly shortened & an Ithaca pad added & there is a lot of bluing wear from the previous owner carrying it afield. But it works fine & after seeing what current production Remingtons look like I'm OK w/ the money I save by buying an old gun.

ETA: I wonder if people advocating Remington firearms have bought one new in the last decade or two. The few people I know who have are sorely disappointed in their quality decline. The skeet & clays range near me had gone over to Beretta rental shotguns due to reliability, I used to always see 100's used for rentals & classes.

[Kestrel4k]

A while back I thought that the Rem 870 Express checked off all the boxes re: features for the dollar; turns out that the new ones I looked at felt like they had a handful of gravel in the actions. :-/

Will stick with my two older (70's) 870 Wingmasters and my mom's ~1962 M37 Ithaca.

[rc.]

Yeh, Remington's Express Models are of questionable quality. I have an 870 Defense with the mag extension and it's OK but if I was to buy a gun like that again.... It would be a mossberg 500 equivalent.