Best over under in the 1k range

I would look for a used Browning or Beretta with choke tubes. Might take a bit of looking but worth the wait. I was able to find a nice Beretta ultra light 12 gauge for $875.00 last year:-)

Ryan
 
I have two browning citori 20 gauges and they are the bomb. I think I picked up one of them used for around $1000 a few years back.
 
Where are you guys finding the citori's for $1000? They seem to be about double everywhere i look
 
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I got lucky and a guy at my church had a lightly used Browning Citori that he sold to me for $800. It's a 12ga and I wanted a 20ga but for that price I couldn't pass it up.

Prior to getting that deal, I was looking at a TriStar Trinity. They seem to have pretty good reviews and are about $750.
 
I would second the red label CZs are also very nice. But it all comes down to what fits you. At 1k they all go bang, with shotguns you can pay a lot for pretty.
 
$1000 is kind of an odd place for O/U shotguns. It's generally above Turkish import level and below the Browning/Beretta level.

I've owned a couple of CZs and while they are good guns, all mine have been a bit oversprung. Hard to cock on open and heavier triggers. I find that kind of annoying in a hunting gun so they got sold. Not all of them are this way, so I recommend getting one in-hand before you buy it.

The Browning's and Berettas are great guns and I highly recommend you save a bit more money if that's what you want. A few years back I was set on buying a Franchi SL for my desert quail hunting addiction, which is their light weight alloy framed gun. Great 6# 12 gauge gun in the $1,400 range. I did some serious introspection and recognized that I am just not all that nice to my guns. So I ended up buying a light-weight Yildiz for $430. It's become my go-to bird gun for about 4 years now. Weighs a tenth of a pound more than the Franchi and fits me well, uber reliable, and a thousand dollars less for those times when it falls off your bumper in the rocks or you slide down a rocky slope chasing Mearns. One of my hunting partners has a Beretta Silver pigeon. Great gun too. Like $2200? Doesn't fit me at all. Point is get some guns in your hand and see what works for you.

Aside from the guns mentioned here. The Weatherby Orion is a good one. It's one of the better Turkish import guns. The Winchester 101 field grade that is sold through Cabela's and Bass Pro is another good one roughly in your price range. Have another buddy that has the latter. Really nice gun for the money. They were supposed to be a lower grade wood than the standard 101s, but his looks really nice. It's about 3/4# heavier than my ugly Yildiz (about the same as a Citori Lightning or a Silver Pigeon), but shoots about the same as mine.

If you find something like a Citori or a Berretta you really like that's more than your budget, by all means save some more $$. If you've ever left a gun sitting on your bumper while taking care of an injured bird dog, and then drove off with the gun still on your bumper, spent an hour and a half looking for it, and found it in the bottom of a cattle guard a mile and a half away, consider a Yildiz or a Tristar. 😁
 
Ruger red label is a good one.


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love my old red label but she's about wore out. its the old one with the blued receiver I would avoid the ones in the 4000 serial numbers. I tried to get parts or any service fro mine through ruger and they said nope no longer taking care of the old ones.
 
Thank you for all the thoughtful responses. I live in nevada and on almost all my bird hunts I'm walking through some pretty nasty stuff . I was looking into the cz ultralight and starting thinking that for just a little more money I may be able to get a much nicer gun.
 
Look at the Franchi Instict. Right around your price and made by benelli.
 
Charles Daly is not a gun manufacturer but an import vender that has changed hands many times over the course of 100+ years.

Charles Daly’s made by Miruko are nice guns BUT since they have been out of production since 1970s parts are going to be a problem. They use flat springs and are very difficult to find. Even though Miruko makes the Browning Citori parts are not interchangeable with the CD.

I think you would be better served looking for a good, used Citori.
 
Save a little more money and get a Beretta, Browning or Winchester 101. If you stumble across a SKB, they are worth a look. I like the Franchi, but they don’t fit me well. Best to handle a bunch and see what fits YOU, fit trumps brand name.
 
You can find them, some times there's unknown deals. Sauer sx5 and sx3s were made by zoli, the other sauers by b.rizzini and cesar guerini before they had a name in the industry in the US. Great guns that can be bought sub 1k..

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