AUTO SHotgun opinion

[Reliabilityman]

What is the best automatic shotgun between browning gold, benellie, and winchester models around the 1200 dollar range

[BigV]

Reliabilityman, I assume you are referring to Semi Auto loading shotguns. Here’s my $.02 worth.
I have owned Browning, Benelli, Winchester and Remington auto loading shotguns.
Remington for the price would be a top choice. Both the 1100 and the 11-87 are hard to beat in terms of reliability for the price.
As for the higher end auto loaders my pick would be the Benelli Super Black Eagle. It is light weight and cycles almost effortlessly with minimal recoil. It shoots 2 ¾”, 3” and 3 ½ “shotgun shells without any modifications to the gun. Takedown for cleaning is fast and easy.

[billindenver]

+1 Vote for the benelli. Check Gunbroker.com and you should be able to come across one in there in your price range. If not, look at the M1, M2, montesomethingorother as well. They drop you down to 3 inch shells though, other than that..same same.

Bill

[JWT]

Another + for the Remington 1100. Doesn't meet the $1200 price but for less than $1000 you get a very reliable, well built, semi-auto.

[George1965]

I don't know about the others as i have never owned one of them. But i know Remington is a top of the line gun for the money. I have three of them and love all of them. Long lasting and dependable guns

[pjn003]

please dont call them automatic shotguns, and in order to reccommend one we would have to know what you are going to be doing with it.

[ebutler462]

+1 for the Remington automatic, either 1100 or 11-87.

Some politically correct people don't understand that we have always called semiautomatic "automatics". It saves a couple of syllables and means the same thing to us shotgunners.

It really doesn't matter what you want to do with the gun. The Remington automatic is ready for whatever. Take the extra coin and stock up on ammo before it gets too expensive.

[dalegribble]

I am leaning towards the Winchester SX3. I believe they say it is the fastest semi auto, 12 shots in 1.44 seconds. Supposed to be a very light recoil also. MSRP ranges from $900 to $1500. Less expensive than many. They look impressive to me.

[classic095]

Remington 1100,, I own 6. My Trap model goes back to 1979 over 200,000 rounds through it and never a problem..

[SR420]

IMHO, the best AUTO~loading shotgun is Benelli.

Mine is a pre ban HK/Benelli M1 Super 90 :cool:

[plom]

remington! lots of spare parts for no $, lots of aftermarket equipements and as good as a benelli for half the price. :) I have both and can't find a difference in term of reliability and quality.

[BigJimP]

My recommendation is the Benelli - with the comfort tech stock system so you'll need it in a synthetic stock. I think Benelli's most versatile semi-auto is the super sport II but it's retailing for about $ 1450 now. But it has the comfort tech system, a lot of adjustablility for fit and comes with 5 chokes.

The Benelli is light and quick / and it shoots a lot cleaner than any gas gun like the Browning, Winchester, Beretta or Remington - and too me that's significant for reliability. When it comes to a light semi-auto I like it in a
30" barrel to help on the swing characteristics and gives you a longer sight plane.

[USAlx50]

winchester sx3.. I'm in love with mine. Only put about a case of shells through it so far, but it has yet to have a firing or fail to feed problem. Kicks less then a benelli, faster then a bennelli, and was more reliable then 3 of my friends benellis this hunting season. The finish is also very tough compared to that of my 870, and it handles very nicely.

I Paid $800 brand new for a 3.5" version. Paying $650 more for a SBE2 seems like a pretty bad decision to me.

[Reliabilityman]

Thanks for the replies. There seem to be a lot of Remmington Autoloader (Thats Semi-Auto for correctness) fans out there. I had never looked into the Remmington before. I should also explain why I am looking into getting this type of shotgun. My families history has never had one in the arsenal. Over/unders, side by sides, single shots, pumps and even a bolt action seem to take up all the spaces in the gun racks.

I was introduced in the last couple of years to the fun of dove hunting. The first season I used an old spanish made over/under 12 gauge that was my grandpa's. It is a nice gun, but after 3 days of shooting my shoulder was about ready to fall off. Everyone in the group had gas recoil semi autos and they were doing fine. I tried my 12 gauge pump the 2nd season and had the same end result. Sore shoulder.

The next season my buddy let me use one of his Browning Gold's. Nice gun, but by the third day it was fowling up to only be a singe shot on occasion. The gun needed to be taken down and cleaned to properly function as an auto loader (Semi). The things that were important to me in a gun from the experiences I have had dove hunting are this:
1) Fiber Optic sites are great for picking up dove in the morning sky
2) Speed loading option is important, (on the browning gold after three shots, I could insert a shell in the magazine and it would autmatically chamber). This was important to me because the doves would come in droves and after I dropped 3 :D, there were more to shoot when they flew over. My over under gun does not have ejectors, and therefore took much longer to unload and reload etc.
3) Gas operated systems seem to soak up a ton of recoil as compaired to a fixed barreled gun. More fun for all day shooting.

I guess I passed over looking at the remington because of it's price. I guess I will check this out again.

[bclark1]

+1 for the winchester crowd. can't speak to the SX3, but it's supposed to be an upgrade to the SX2. which i don't think can be beaten for my purposes. i've heard from more than one person that the benellis are safe queens and the SX2's do the leg work. mine is chambered in super-mag, but has never hiccuped on dove loads. i got to give it a good test this fall jump shooting waterfowl in a swamp for the first time. no dogs, just my buddy and i in waders a month or two ago. i also hadn't cleaned the shotgun since before spring turkey season, put at least a couple hundred down the pipe on trap since. anyway, long story short, it was a messy, messy day. tripped on sunken timber a couple times. gun never acted dirty though, shot fine all day. i get it home and i'm rinsing small sticks and stones out of the action and trigger group. i for one couldn't ask for more.

[phil0411]

I have four Remington's and all are excellent guns. The key to keeping a Remington reliable is keeping it clean. it is an easy job so there is no excuse for leaving one cruddy.

I really love my Remy's but the highest quality and one of the softest shooting autos ever made is the Winchester Super X Model 1. Not only is is build like a tank with ALL machined parts, but it will reliably cycle just about anything you stuff into it. I almost hate telling people how good it is because there is a chance they might see a prize Super X 1 and buy it before I can!

Phil

[ammo.crafter]

Remington G-3 is an excellent shotgun. I use my 20ga for both birds hunting and sporting clays.
Felt recoil is nominal.

[Fisher]

The Winchester SX3 has my vote. I just picked up one in the deer barrel version. It is an impressive gun for the money.

My wife purchased a new Sx1 for me back in the 70's. I hunted everything possible here in Ohio with that gun. I couldn't tell you how many rounds have gone through it. It was my only shotgun for hunting, skeet shooting and all around target shooting for 30 years. The reason I am telling you this is that I still have it in my gun safe and it's still going strong.

I think the Remingtons are a close second and deserve a look see too. For the money, either one of these guns are a bargain and won't let you down.

Jim

[45Dave]

You forgot one...Beretta. The 391 family has worked in sub zero weather shooting pheasants/duck hunting in some of the worse weather to on the sportclays course running 300 or more rounds in a day with no problems. They are easy to clean, work and you can pick them up for the price you mention to much less. Oh...we also played around mixing loads from 3 inch mags to 2 3/4 light loads ( 7/8 ounce loads) and the darn gun just cycled all of them. On the mag loads they felt darn soft compared to other semi's.

Not too often you find people who have shot/owned and hunting with the Beretta complain or have problems not to mention you can do minor adjustments to the stock to help it fit you better.

Ok..my 2 cents worth.

[PT-92]

+1 for the 1100-87.

-Cheers

[hoytinak]

add one more for the Remington 1100....had mine for years and love it