What semi 12 gauge do ye recommend!!

PippaSpaniel

Hi all i am thinking of purchasing a semi shotgun12g and wondering what ye recommend for me!! i do alot of game shooting i presently have an u/o and a pump but would trade up the pump for a semi. I will be looking for a light weight shotgun and preferably a european shotgun.I would be happy to hear yer suggestions!!

poulo6.5

PippaSpaniel wrote: »

Hi all i am thinking of purchasing a semi shotgun12g and wondering what ye recommend for me!! i do alot of game shooting i presently have an u/o and a pump but would trade up the pump for a semi. I will be looking for a light weight shotgun and preferably a european shotgun.I would be happy to hear yer suggestions!!

hi pippa, as you know i just changed to the pump gun but if i was ever going to change it would be for a browning maxus
http://www.browning.com/products/interactive/firearms/maxus/

Boiled-egg

If ya want to go new, if it was me I'd go for a beretta explor lite or if you wanted a Non european then maybe a maxis. But having said all that there are piles of great value second hand s/a shottys out there. I ended up with an old fabarm and I'm thrilled with it. The semi adds another dimension to wildfouling and I wouldn't be without it. Just my opinion, best of luck with the potential purchase.

Cass

Beretta, ALL THE WAY.

An AL391 Urika/Teknys. About €1100 new.



or depending on your budget the Stonecoat model. Between €1,750 - €1,900 depending on dealer.




If you haven't guessed i'm a huge Beretta fan.:o

PippaSpaniel

Beretta are the busniess alright!! my friend has one and he has no complaints!!

Cass

As soon as i could afford one i bought one. Since then i've owned a few both O/U and semi auto. The simple reason i like them is no matter the model every single one comes up to my shoulder perfectly.

No other make suits me aswell.

johngalway

Not my Baikal if you want lightweight anyway

See if you can feel up a Benelli, came right up to my eye perfectly.

PippaSpaniel

I do alot of woodcock shooting and would be out all day and a good light shotgun that comes up quickly to the shoulder. And i hope to do a bit of pigeon shooting this year aswell.

terminator2

beretta extrema 2 , BTW i shoot with an beretta ultralight
deluxe , a beautiful woodcock gun

PippaSpaniel

A baikal single barrel my first shotgun!!My intro to hunting happy days!!

doyle61

I have a browning gold fusion myself and yesterday at the GC annual clay shoot the lads couldn't get over how light it is.............and how well it fires and most of these lads fire Barrera (silver pigeons). One thing I don't like about Barrera semis is the safety at the front of the trigger guard and I prefer the browning for loading. Benelli would be a fine light gun aswell

.243

dont rule out a fabarm,i manged to get a left hand ejection that was gas operated
http://www.fabarm.com/en/products-xlr5-prestige.htm

4gun

Go with the beretta,

if your only ever going to buy one shottie

Hunter21

Three letters for you- H&R "Harrington & Richardson" few mates have em in semi auto. Gun dealer I know well says he can't keep them in stock, sold 6 in two weeks and he's a small set up out in the sticks. They are a great gun! I'll buy one soon at €600 there a complete steal!!! Will take all loads easily and eject 28g clay shells no problem. Are chambered to 3' magnum and are not that heavy of a gun either.

I know there not beretta but for half the price of a new beretta I think there better value. 1200 for a semi is madness! A double barrel fair enough.
If you want the contact details for the dealer that sells then let me know, he'll let you test it out too.

Cass

Remmy, Baikal, Lanber all make a good quality semi auto for less than Beretta money, but you know the old saying you get what you pay for.

A few months back a mate bought a Stoeger against my better advice. He had the money for the Browning or beretta, but as would any person seen a brand new gun for half the price, and the ability to buy it, and have a nice lump of change in his back pocket.

Shortened version is the gun has been back to the dealers twice, reparied twice, and now he is awaiting a replacement, new, shotgun. So between cost, loss of shooting, frustration etc he told me he should have just bought the fecking other one.

Not that Beretta or any of the top end makes are fool proof either. My mate had a Benelli, left side ejector, that broke his heart since the day he bought it. However when you pay that little bit more you can expect less grief, better quality, less hardship.

Yes some makes are more expensive simply because they are a brand name, but in all fairness they have spent a hell of a lot of time earning that reputation, and its as damaging to them if they keep getting returns for repairs. Plus they can invest that money into R&D to build a better quality gun.

I know cost will nearly always rule the decision, but in instances where cost is not the main factor always go for the best you can afford.

Not being snobbish. right now i couldn't afford a box of cartridges. Just my opinion.

steelfixerking

If you are doing alot of rough shooting i would look at a lanberr, great gun in my opinion. I bought one ten years for a steal of a price and it got nothing only abuse,never let me down once and it will fire anything out from 28g clay cartridge to 3 inch 56g magnum .

Hunter21

This isnt a personal dig at you Ezridax But H&R are not one of the biggest gun manufacturers in the world because of luck but because there parent company is Remington. Both Remington and H&R firearms are extensively purchased by law enforcement agencies and military in the US and the rest of the world, even if my buddies didn't have H&R shotties, I'd still highly value them very highly even so miles ahead of stoeger, krahl, or any of the other makes in this new price category. H&R was acquired by Marlin and now Remington own both. As far as I can see Marlin and H&R are made to fit into a different market to Remington with regards to pricing but are equally made with the same high quality and R+D. Just my two cents.
Again this isn't a personal dig at you.

Cass

Hunter21 wrote: »

This isnt a personal dig at you Ezridax ........................Again this isn't a personal dig at you.

Not sure whats giving you the idea i took anything you said as personal. You made a point and i'm replying only. You're putting your point across and i'm doing likewise.

Nothin personal involved.:cool:

But H&R are not one of the biggest gun manufacturers in the world because of luck but because there parent company is Remington. Both Remington and H&R firearms are extensively purchased by law enforcement agencies and military in the US and the rest of the world, even if my buddies didn't have H&R shotties, I'd still highly value them very highly even so miles ahead of stoeger, krahl, or any of the other makes in this new price category. H&R was acquired by Marlin and now Remington own both. As far as I can see Marlin and H&R are made to fit into a different market to Remington with regards to pricing but are equally made with the same high quality and R+D. Just my two cents.

In that price category maybe they are best. However comparing them to Beretta, Benelli, Perazzi, etc is pointless. They don't come into it. Yes people will always have a favorite, and mine happens to be Beretta. My mate loves his brownings, and has had about 6 over the years. Won't look at anything else, and thinks anything else is a POS.:rolleyes:

Even comparing Remington to Beretta is not the same. Berettas start at the €1,100 mark for their cheapest gun, and go up to €3,600 for their trap UGB. Remmy don't come close in my book.

Now about Remmy being the most popular/largest, etc. Well look at the country they are made in, the main buyers of Remmy, and its easy to see why. With easy access, no licenses required, 350,000,000 possible customers and one of the largest armed forces in the world all buying American made Remmies why wouldn't they be the most popular/largest.

Its the same debate about barrels. People saying Bartlein are best, or Kreiger, or True-Flite. Fact is whichever is most plentiful in America will been seen as the best due to sales. I gurantee if more companies were based there we wouldn't have some of the names we do as the worlds best/leading sellers.

My apologies, just after noticing how far of topic this thread has gone because of ramblings.


To get back on point. Depending on the OPs intended budget, personal choice in make/model his options can be narrowed down. If his budget is say €600 then you choose from makes in list A. If the budget is €1200 then list B, and so on, and so forth.

At the moment i think Pippa is simply looking for recommendations and a budget has not been set - yet.:D

Hunter21

We are both just stating cases for two different price ranges Ez.. Lol. Hopefully Pipa spaniel isn't scared off this thread now.

As always Ez you made some very valued points, one point stuck out clearly Remington being so big because of America, very true sure over there they pump millions into marketing to get across to everyone.

At the end of the day if I did have the cash I'd go way and buy a Beretta Explor light with kick off pad for 1200 even tho I said in an earlier post 1200 was mad money for a semi. But sure when we all have money we buy the dearest and the best- something I can't do at the minute

What about the new Winchester sx3 or whatever it's called? Any good does anyone know?

wildfowler94

Hunter21 wrote: »

We are both just stating cases for two different price ranges Ez.. Lol. Hopefully Pipa spaniel isn't scared off this thread now.

As always Ez you made some very valued points, one point stuck out clearly Remington being so big because of America, very true sure over there they pump millions into marketing to get across to everyone.

At the end of the day if I did have the cash I'd go way and buy a Beretta Explor light with kick off pad for 1200 even tho I said in an earlier post 1200 was mad money for a semi. But sure when we all have money we buy the dearest and the best- something I can't do at the minute

What about the new Winchester sx3 or whatever it's called? Any good does anyone know?

My uncle has one of them sx3 in black syntehic give is dogs abuse on the boat shooting ducks in all weather and ive near heard of it or seen it jam shooting pigeons with 28grms 7.5 and cycles no bother easily cleand and broken down too.

PippaSpaniel

Ezridax wrote: »

Beretta, ALL THE WAY.

An AL391 Urika/Teknys. About €1100 new.



or depending on your budget the Stonecoat model. Between €1,750 - €1,900 depending on dealer.





If you haven't guessed i'm a huge Beretta fan.:o

I tried the Al 391 Teknys today at the duck was happy with it, only i brought the wrong choke and i was limited with the longer shots:(
Lesson learnt!for the next outing!!

PippaSpaniel

I must have a look at the Beretta Xplor light. What price range is it in??

kerryltz

I just bought a Browning Maxus this season and i am delighted with it can carry it all day like a O/U. It comes up nice and looks nice in the camo look.

vixdname

I had a Ceasar Guirinni 12 gauge in semi-auto (I cant remember how to spell the name correctly !!) but I couldnt fault it and was just a nice handy weight.

cavan shooter

Ian Jameson in Mount Nugent has a sight of second hand semis and mossberg pumps. I got my Beretta 391 urika second hand for €800, so while a new one is in the thousands a good second hand one is good value. Even older Beretta 303 and 301 are around for 450-500. Again dont rule out the Brownings, Webley or even escorts. Some nice Franchis on the go.

meathstevie

If I was to buy a semi ever again I would be buying my time and keep an eye out for a good FN-Browning A5. They come in 1/2 choke fixed nearly all the time and will fire and eject just about anything 2 3/4 inch. The gun will be as old or probably older than me but those things were built to last with the best of tools and raw materials.

I know Beretta, Browning, Franchi, Remington and all make excellent new ones with all sorts of recoil reducing features and hard wearing synthetic stocks, light strong alloy receivers etc etc but to me the A5 is legendary.

Farmlife

I bought a Beretta A391 last week, first ever shotgun and i love it, nothing to compare it to, but for what it's worth i feel its a great gun to shoot

PippaSpaniel

I agree with you its a great shotgun i shot a few woodcock with it today it comes up quick!!! i would like to see an ultra light semi first then make my choice!

Farmlife

I did shoot a Franchi semi auto too which was nice to shoot and felt a lot lighter than the Beretta, but (although made by Beretta) i still wanted to go for the more known name

cavan shooter

meathstevie wrote: »

If I was to buy a semi ever again I would be buying my time and keep an eye out for a good FN-Browning A5. They come in 1/2 choke fixed nearly all the time in will fire and eject just about anything 2 3/4 inch. The gun will be as old or probably older than me but those things were built to last with the best of tools and raw materials.

I know Beretta, Browning, Franchi, Remington and all make excellent new ones with all sorts of recoil reducing features and hard wearing synthetic stocks, light strong alloy receivers etc etc but to me the A5 is legendary.

The A5 is a gem I know a lad picked up a rough one for 150 then put a lot of tlc into it. The whole barrel recoils. I saw one on a shelf somewhere I cant remember right now.