Shotguns

[jfs82]

Recently got permission from a buddy to hunt birds on his land, and his land has a lot of Turkey's and Canadian Geese (seasonally)... so now I need a shotgun obviously. I am looking for those of you who know better than I to chime in. I prefer to stay away from auto loading.

So far I'm looking at:

Benelli Nova
Mossberg 835 ulti mag turkey/waterfowl combo
Mossberg 835 ulti mag all purpose
The intro Remington and Winchester offerings?

I'm currently leaning towards one of the Mossbergs

Thanks, Josh

 

[Raghornklr]

Go shoulder them and see which fits you the best. They all handle different to different people . Proper fit will make the difference when wingshooting geese. As long as it goes bang you’ll be fine for turkey.

 

[Nick87]

^^^fit is where it's at with a shotgun. Personally Mossberg would be my last choice. I'm not a fan, they just feel cheap as hell in hand. Imo they kick more than any other pump I've shot and I've shot a lot of them. Hard to beat the reliability of an 870. The 3.5 chamber is nice but I don't feel it's necessary. I have a shot 3.5s in my gun waterfowling for years I'm currently only shooting 3" ammo anymore as I don't notice a difference in performance. It is however convenient to have it if you want it. What is your budget? I wouldn't overlook a nice used Browning bps if your trying to keep the price lower to a mossberg just my $.02.

 

[Matt W.]

I personally prefer an auto loader, and think the modern ones are good one enough to look that way via a pump. But, I get it if you that is what you want. Lots of used ones to find if a big shop is in your area...

I tried quite a few semis and debated gas vs. inertia. Of the ones I tried the Remington V3 seemed to fit the best, and gas seems to be softer shooting to me. I also preferred the 28" barrel over the 26" barrel.

I've been putting my Rem V3 through the paces since last fall. Picked it up off a screaming Gun Broker deal. Super impressed with with it. Stock feels cheap, but it takes a beating and kicks ticking and recoil is surprisingly reduced. Remington is really giving the V3 line some love with Waterfowl Pro, Compact, Turkey Pro, and Tactical versions. Mine is the plain Jane synthetic model.

 

[Redwing]

As mentioned, fit is the thing. Go shoulder a bunch of guns in your price range and see what feels best.

Regarding the Mossbergs, they do feel cheap, but they are tough and reliable.

Regarding 3.5" chambers, I don't think you need them. 3.5" turkey loads are considered torture by the Geneva Convention. 3.5" goose loads can be useful, but they aren't really necessary with decoying birds.

 

[Austink47]

A good trick for assessing fit is to pick a spot on a wall a reasonable shooting distance away, look at it, close your eyes, shoulder the gun. The ones that are right on when you open your eyes are worth a second look.

 

[Nick87]

A good trick for assessing fit is to pick a spot on a wall a reasonable shooting distance away, look at it, close your eyes, shoulder the gun. The ones that are right on when you open your eyes are worth a second look.

This^^^

 

[backcountry_hunter]

assuming they all fit you well, the nova is going to have arguably the best reputation for an all around workhorse from the one's youve listed. It's also standard as a 3.5" (not sure if the others are or not). Good friend guided from peace river, alberta to oklahoma/texas and then did the snow goose bit in spring. His gun of choice was a nova. They're ugly but in true benlli form, they simply work.

Rem 870's from days gone by were excellent. The new ones don't feel as well made but still seem plenty durable.

I'll spare the disparaging comments on the mossbergs since they seem to be popular here. IMO there's better options in the smae $$$ point Having shot and been around plenty I'd never own one.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Agree. Shotgun is all about fit for wingshooting.

I haven’t found a Remington shotgun that I was happy with in a longtime. Just still don’t think they have their mojo back.

I know you said you don’t like autoloaders but I am close to 15 years into a Benelli m2. “Ole Ben” has downed everything from squirrels to rabbits and pheasants to to quail to chukker to ducks to geese. I flirted with 3.5 inch shells and an SBE for a while but it didn’t do it for me. Back to Ole Ben. He goobles up 23/4 inch shells just fine. 3s work great but in a light gun, are not fun. I clean him once every 4-5 years if he needs it or not. In 1000s of rounds, I can only remember 1 or 2 ejection issues and once or twice he hasn’t gone fully into battery or I have pulled the bolt back a bit while walking. In any event, I can probably count the misfires and malfunctions one one hand. The team Benelli guns regularly run them over 100k rounds before retiring them. Just tough as hell and worth every penny I paid.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

Tom Knapps famous M1 went just shy of 1million rounds before retirement. Like 960,000. Pretty amazing. I'm still running a m1h&k myself after having "upgrading" to m2s I just never warmed up to the recoil garb and crio stuff.

 

[Axlrod]

The Nova I have is my fav for a hunting gun. second is Berreta 390 I also like my Browning gold 10 ga for Turkey amd swan

 

[Yotekiller]

Remington 870 is a much better gun than the Benelli Nova or any Mossberg

 

[Fatcamp]

My Nova is an extension of myself. Thousands of rounds with no problems.

The M1 is possibly the ultimate shotgun, IMO.

 

[Raghornklr]

Remington 870 is a much better gun than the Benelli Nova or any Mossberg

Used to be, when they started offering the 3.5” super mag I started to see a lot of issues in the field . Not sure if they are back to what the used to be yet.

 

[kharb22]

I would go with the Nova over all of your other choices. I would also look around for a Browning BPS for a solid pump gun as well. I used a BPS 10 for geese for a few years and liked it and currently shooting a new model A5.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[backcountry_hunter]

Not sure if they are back to what the used to be yet.

Not even close to the quality they used to be unfortunately. Sad as they were such an iconic "working mans" shotgun that still had more heirloom potential over the other offerings in similar prices. How many if us had a wingmaster passed down to us? Even the 870 expresses from the 90s and early 00's were wonderfully builtshotguns.. current production appear to be melting pot metal down and instead of CNC machines they're paying prisoners with cigarettes to do the work with a file

 

[howl]

Who does an 835 actually fit? The Nova is the best of those.

Suggest you look at guns that can be fitted by shims. Also suggest you look at a Beretta A300.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

My Nova was the second worst firearms purchase I have ever made. It fit me terribly, struggled to feed from the magazine, and rusted faster than any other piece of metal I have ever seen. I finally moved on from it, and swore off pumps all together when I had a hang fire that permitted the action to unlock prior to the powder charge detonating. When the shell did go off, the action was half open, blowing a load of powder and shot out the side of shell and through the action ejection port. Thank God I was hunting solo that day and my dog was heeled on my left side otherwise it would have been a true tragedy.

Modern semi-auto's are very very good, and the action will not open until after the shell has fired.

 

[Raghornklr]

I’d like to get another BPS ,sold it and went to a semi a few years back. Defined a great pump action.

 

[William Sublette]

Get on gun broker and buy a late 70's Remington 870 in good condition.

They're a fraction of the price of the "new and improved" crap being pushed today.


they will out last you and your grandkids.