I'm looking for a new semi auto 12 gauge to do a little bit of everything with. Will mainly be used for Dove, turkey and sporting clays, but hopefully will one day go out for some duck hunting. I know the magnum chambers can have problems cycling 2 3/4" loads from what I've read. Some of the ones I've checked out so far are the weatherby sa08, stoeger m3000, and m3500. Dont know a whole lot about shotguns but would like to keep it around 4-600. Any advice/ reviews or other reccomendations are appreciated. Thanks
I bought the twin of the SA08 and love it so far. Very very hard to find the SA08 anymore. Academy has them as the ATA CY. $400 well spent on a Weatherby
you can also buy the Weatherby Element for $600. I bought both this summer. Looking back it was probably wasn't necessary but dammit I just wanted both lol. And I got the Element $250 off bc seller made a misprint. I couldn't pass that up
I’d take a look at the Franchi Affinity. Mine has seen use on the skeet field, calling crows, calling coyotes and turkeys. Has ran everything from light target loads to heavy coyote and turkey loads and everything in between without a hiccup. Relatively lightweight and handles very well.
Im actually a remington man, for the most part. But i have used a winchester x2 since they came out, now have had a x3 for a long time. If you could find a used one, but bottom line is , i guess whatever feels the best to you, in your price range,
I’ve got a Franchi Affinity in 20 gauge. No complaints here but I only use it for Turkey and squirrels.
Shotguns are a "touch" item...the fit and feel is important... For an all around shotgun (does that include deer hunting with a slug barrel ???), IMO there are only a few options: 1. Winchester SX series combo (comes with a 26" vent rib barrel threaded for tubes and a 24" rifled barrel with both cantilever and rifle sights) 2. Remington 1187...big green has more barrel configurations than you can shake a stick at...the rifled barrel will be 21" and can be had with EITHER a cantilever for scope mounting (DSM) or rifle sights (DRS)... 3. Mossberg 930 combo...26" vent rib field barrel with tubes and a 24" rifled barrel that I believe is cantilevered... All three of my choices are 3" chamber which works fine for everything save Canada Goose and turkey for those brave 3 1/2" shell people... I am personally moving to a 20 G combo youth shotgun for my all around tool...duck and goose hunting are not really on my serious agenda...but I love turkey hunting and deer hunting at Ft Knox...
I was in the market for a semi 12 a few months ago and after a lot of reading and contemplating, I finally went to kygun so I could get my hands on some and get a feel for them. I came home with a weatherby element. I’ve not got a bunch of rounds through it yet, maybe 100. They were all low brass Winchester white box and haven’t had a malfunction yet. That was a concern of mine since it is a inertia gun, but seems good to me.
The ATA CY is the same as the Weatherby SA-08. The Element is the same as the ATA Neo....all made by ATA
I'm a huge benelli fan and have an M2 that I have really enjoyed. I will say that I am not a fan of recoil and shoot ultra lite AA loads in mine when shooting clays. I use the lite AA loads for doves. The Franchi models were new at the time that I bought mine, but I would give them a hard look today.
