Can I tell much of a difference? Shotgun advice please

[Cleveraction]

Hey all! I have a spot left in my gun cabinet...I want to scratch that itch. I don't have a shotgun and am thinking about a 12 ga. I looked at some O/Us but am leaning toward a pump/semi. For my uses... a little waterfowl, upland birds, clays and maybe slugs to 100 yards I am wondering if I will be able to tell the difference at price points. Here is what I am looking at from low to high in terms of price (all with wood furniture).

Win SXP field $400
Rem 870 $500
Weatherby Element $625
CZ 1012 $640
Franchi Affinity 3 (though someone mentioned there is a plastic trigger guard? ugh.) $899
Beretta A400 $1300

I have one child (8) who has shown no interest in shooting so far, so while the Beretta could be more of a pass down I am not sure that will be a reality. The CZ/Weatherby seem to be in the sweet spot and look nice (and I was kind of hankering for a CZ when I bought my Savage BNS-SR .22), but will I be able to tell any practical diff between that and the 870? This will probably be my least used long gun, but I want something reasonably nice. If you guys have thoughts/experience with any of these I would love to hear it.

Thank you!

[GFK]

I paid $440 for my Benelli Tactical Nova, about $40 more than I wanted to paid for a shotgun. My goal was home defense. But, deer hunting was a thought. Nonetheless, I am happy with it. I thought about a semi-auto. Yet, it cost more than I was willing to spend. However, I have shot a semi-auto, and it was sweet: low recoil and not pumping.

[BigAl52]

Hey all! I have a spot left in my gun cabinet...I want to scratch that itch. I don't have a shotgun and am thinking about a 12 ga. I looked at some O/Us but am leaning toward a pump/semi. For my uses... a little waterfowl, upland birds, clays and maybe slugs to 100 yards I am wondering if I will be able to tell the difference at price points. Here is what I am looking at from low to high in terms of price (all with wood furniture).

Win SXP field $400
Rem 870 $500
Weatherby Element $625
CZ 1012 $640
Franchi Affinity 3 (though someone mentioned there is a plastic trigger guard? ugh.) $899
Beretta A400 $1300

I have one child (8) who has shown no interest in shooting so far, so while the Beretta could be more of a pass down I am not sure that will be a reality. The CZ/Weatherby seem to be in the sweet spot and look nice (and I was kind of hankering for a CZ when I bought my Savage BNS-SR .22), but will I be able to tell any practical diff between that and the 870? This will probably be my least used long gun, but I want something reasonably nice. If you guys have thoughts/experience with any of these I would love to hear it.

Thank you!

Ive been in your area for 4 months. I bought a CZ Redhead Premier 20ga over and under. Nate at On Point Armory FFled in for me. He mentioned he had a few of them himself and I would really like this gun. You might check with him on a shotgun. I do really like the gun and I am thinking about buying the target model. Been shooting skeet at the Corpus Christi gun club a couple times a week. Going tomorrow.

[JEBar]

at one time or another we've owned 12 gauges with about possible every action .... the reality is, being designed for their action to take part of the shotgun's recoil to operate their actions, semi-autos will have considerably less felt recoil .... for that reason, my go to shotgun is a Remington 11-87 .... you can pick up a very good preowned one in the price range you have mentioned ....

[Cleveraction]

Hey all! I have a spot left in my gun cabinet...I want to scratch that itch. I don't have a shotgun and am thinking about a 12 ga. I looked at some O/Us but am leaning toward a pump/semi. For my uses... a little waterfowl, upland birds, clays and maybe slugs to 100 yards I am wondering if I will be able to tell the difference at price points. Here is what I am looking at from low to high in terms of price (all with wood furniture).

Win SXP field $400
Rem 870 $500
Weatherby Element $625
CZ 1012 $640
Franchi Affinity 3 (though someone mentioned there is a plastic trigger guard? ugh.) $899
Beretta A400 $1300

I have one child (8) who has shown no interest in shooting so far, so while the Beretta could be more of a pass down I am not sure that will be a reality. The CZ/Weatherby seem to be in the sweet spot and look nice (and I was kind of hankering for a CZ when I bought my Savage BNS-SR .22), but will I be able to tell any practical diff between that and the 870? This will probably be my least used long gun, but I want something reasonably nice. If you guys have thoughts/experience with any of these I would love to hear it.

Thank you!

Ive been in your area for 4 months. I bought a CZ Redhead Premier 20ga over and under. Nate at On Point Armory FFled in for me. He mentioned he had a few of them himself and I would really like this gun. You might check with him on a shotgun. I do really like the gun and I am thinking about buying the target model. Been shooting skeet at the Corpus Christi gun club a couple times a week. Going tomorrow.

Just missed you! We moved up to Hill Country in June. Hope all is well in Corpus and glad you are enjoying the Redhead!

[Rifletom]

Cleaveraction, both the Weatherby Element and CZ 1012 are inertia operated semi's, where as the Beretta a400 is gas operated. Gas recoils even less than inertia guns. If you're good with the a400 price, that is the one. Doubt you'd be disappointed. Really, no flies on any choices, maybe the 870. Older 870's, yes all day; newer one's, more than likely a hard pass. Hope this helps a little.

[North Country Gal]

Back in my bird hunting days, I learned the hard way the importance of gun fit with a shotgun, so unless you have experience with a certain model, try to inspect before you buy.

Back in the day, I owned and shot every pump gun there was, but the one that worked the best for me was the 870. Then I tried the 1100 and fell in love.

CZ double shotguns (made in Turkey by Huglu for CZ) are pretty guns, but be double sure to inspect before you buy. Triggers can be very heavy and actions are sometimes very stiff and hard to open. Finish can sometimes be spotty. A Browning they are not. At this price point, reliability favors a pump or autoloader. This from experience.

[Rifletom]

Back in my bird hunting days, I learned the hard way the importance of gun fit with a shotgun, so unless you have experience with a certain model, try to inspect before you buy.

Back in the day, I owned and shot every pump gun there was, but the one that worked the best for me was the 870. Then I tried the 1100 and fell in love.

CZ double shotguns (made in Turkey by Huglu for CZ) are pretty guns, but be double sure to inspect before you buy. Triggers can be very heavy and actions are sometimes very stiff and hard to open. Finish can sometimes be spotty. A Browning they are not. At this price point, reliability favors a pump or autoloader. This from experience.

This is some very good advice. Thanks NCG!

[Cleveraction]

Back in my bird hunting days, I learned the hard way the importance of gun fit with a shotgun, so unless you have experience with a certain model, try to inspect before you buy.

Back in the day, I owned and shot every pump gun there was, but the one that worked the best for me was the 870. Then I tried the 1100 and fell in love.

CZ double shotguns (made in Turkey by Huglu for CZ) are pretty guns, but be double sure to inspect before you buy. Triggers can be very heavy and actions are sometimes very stiff and hard to open. Finish can sometimes be spotty. A Browning they are not. At this price point, reliability favors a pump or autoloader. This from experience.

Thanks for the advice, I did look at https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-redhead-premier/ but it sounds like the higher end stuff gets me past my price points in a hurry. If this pulls a little duty as home defense I wouldn't mind the extra capacity. I appreciate your thoughts! Why do they always seem to quit making the stuff we like the best?!

[GFK]

$500 or less:

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-s ... -less-500/

[Travlin]

I bought an 870 in 1968 and the more I shoot it the smoother it gets. Outside of keeping in clean inside and out it has had no parts replaced.

[Rifletom]

I bought an 870 in 1968 and the more I shoot it the smoother it gets. Outside of keeping in clean inside and out it has had no parts replaced.

Exactly. That's why I mentioned the older ones are better. The newer ones, what with Remington's woe's of late, are suspect. The Tristars mentioned have smoe pretty good semi's[G2 Vipers] and pumps. Worth a look.

[daytime dave]

I would recommend a Mossberg 500 combo. I bought one years ago. It's a solid gun that came with a bird barrel with interchangeable chokes and a rifled slug barrel with a scope.
If they still offer that package, I'd recommend that to you. Mossberg hasn't had any quality issues that I'm aware of. They just make good shotguns that work.
The 930 semi-auto is also a solid performer. I don't know about the new 940, but I assume it's fine too.

[GunnyGene]

I have 2 12gauge HD shotguns as shown below. A old Mossberg 590 Mariner, and a recently acquired IWI TS-12. Both are well suited to HD, although they may not be appropriate depending on your location and abilities. 7+1 and 15+1 respectively (2 3/4 shells). Be aware that any shotgun for a close encounter needs to be aimed, not just pointed in the general direction of the target. The Henry .410, or other similar guns, don't lend themselves to that requirement. The objective of HD is not to just scare somebody, but to take them out of the fight.

[Shakey Jake]

I haven't been in the shotgun realm for years. I can tell you that my 870 is a great all-around pump gun. My wife's skeet gun is a 1100 in 28ga and she shot the hell out of skeet clays years ago with it. I think prices for the used ones are outrageous. You might find a good one in your LGS or pawn shop though. My skeet gun was a Citori O/U and I really liked it but they're pricey now. Let us know what you come up with.
Jake

[markiver54]

I don't know much about the newer 870's as Tom suggests, however, I've had mine since about 1976 and can say it has served me well. I bought it for pheasant hunting back when I lived in Illinois. Mine has th 28" vent rib barrel and a 3" magnum chamber.
Don't know about now, but it used to be "Hastings" made a lot of different replacement barrels. They swap out in seconds making it a very versitile gun.
It was introduced back in 1950 and several million have been sold since. You can even get an 18.5 inch rifled barrel for it and will accept a red dot optic.
It has been referred to as " The gun that always worked". It's the best selling shotgun in history.

[GFK]

I agree with the others. I was looking for a Mossberg or maybe a Remington. But, came across a Benelli. I do like the wood look. Yet, I liked the ghost ring setup as well. So, I went with the ghost ring. It is easy to take down and has a feature that allows for changing a round in the chamber without clearing the magazine (like I would require that). I have only had it for about 1 year. However, I foresee many more years.

Nova-1Rev.JPG

[Cleveraction]

I would recommend a Mossberg 500 combo. I bought one years ago. It's a solid gun that came with a bird barrel with interchangeable chokes and a rifled slug barrel with a scope.
If they still offer that package, I'd recommend that to you. Mossberg hasn't had any quality issues that I'm aware of. They just make good shotguns that work.
The 930 semi-auto is also a solid performer. I don't know about the new 940, but I assume it's fine too.

The combo offers the features I am looking for, but can't find one (yet) at a retailer. Can go to gunbroker and pay a $75 premium over list (no thanks!), but I will keep my eyes peeled. I bought their MVP Precision 6.5 CM and the thing is a tack driver, though I always thought they were the 'shotgun people.' Good suggestion, thanks!

[Cleveraction]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I went middle of the road and "less maintenance" option: inertia CZ 1012... $575 + ship/tax = just under 650. Will let you know how it does.

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[BigAl52]

Congrats on the CZ. They are good guns for the money. Mine has been great