Sidearms & Scatterguns Jack of all trades, master of none - Which Shotgun?

[SoVa]

21” M2 fits the bill for me. I was a pump gun guy until I built this one. I usually run it with an extended Light Modified choke. No issues reaching out on clays. Hold 8+1+1 with a ghost load and the Nordic 5B extension tube.

View attachment 7512686

wow, that is an awesome looking scattergun

 

[WGOMF]

Remington 870 Turkey guns in 3" came with a 21" VR, RC barrel. The 3 1/2" Turkey guns came with a 23" VR RC barrel.

Not sure about the supermag 3.5" but the 3" came a few ways. Special Purpose Synthetic, Express, & Express synthetic. The earlier ones were very nearly identical on the inside. Wonderful hunting, or casual clays guns. Folks put too much into needing longer barrels. Unless it's Geese or Trap, longer barrels aren't much needed.
The 21" will serve in the field. And, it crosses over to a riot gun easily. Not quite as handy as a 18" but allows for 1 or 2 more rounds worth of tube extension. Win, win.
I've got enough 870's that I don't need to cross over or convert. But if I had one, it would be a 21" Turkey.


Auto? M1 or M2 Benelli, hands down in my experience.

 

[2/319th]

The Benelli is tough to handle for 100 rounds of clays, with shells to function the gun. No one tell you that Sportng Clays is a 100 shots per round, game? Most folks shoot two rounds a day.
You are describing a need for entirely different guns for each game.
The closest single gun to do it all is the Saiga or similar, box magazine fed AK style 12ga. The 3 gun, is the Saiga style all the way, with mags. It can hunt using 3 round mags. You would need a smith that can fix them, to function correctly and at 100%.
The Saga is what the Russians use with the horizontal striped T shirts. There used to be a vid of Spez using the Saiga. It is a bad motor scooter.

 

[TheBigCountry]

The Benelli is tough to handle for 100 rounds of clays, with shells to function the gun. No one tell you that Sportng Clays is a 100 shots per round, game? Most folks shoot two rounds a day.
You are describing a need for entirely different guns for each game.
The closest single gun to do it all is the Saiga or similar, box magazine fed AK style 12ga. The 3 gun, is the Saiga style all the way, with mags. It can hunt using 3 round mags. You would need a smith that can fix them, to function correctly and at 100%.
The Saga is what the Russians use with the horizontal striped T shirts. There used to be a vid of Spez using the Saiga. It is a bad motor scooter.

 

[brianf]

View attachment 8263785

There is nothing bigger and clunkier than saiga shotgun mags.

Never mind that it shoots like it looks

What I can say is that my brothers 20ga (faster than my 12) is the fastest cycling shotgun I’ve ever seen

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I’m so glad Ivan revived this dead thread to praise the POS that is the Saiga 12.

I shot sporting clays many times at bull run with my M4 and slayed.

 

[91Eunozs]

For a true do all shotgun, you've gotta go pump. I love my autos, and the new ones are pretty ammo incensitive, but a pump will run anything as long as you can pump the fucker. From that point, I think the 500, 870, and supernova are a matter of ergos and aftermarket stuff. I've had/have the 870 and a nova, and I like the nova a bit better just because it seems a bit more refined, Ive used it more, and I shoot a bit better with it. I think the 500 is a little easier to build into a mad max super trooper Instagram gun though.

Thread necro here, but from what I’ve read and seen, semi-autos are far more reliable than pumps.

I also remember watching a documentary for one of those places that rents machine guns, etc, and they talked pretty extensively about firearm reliability…and they specifically went into the long-term replacement cycle for pump vs. Semi-autos.

Would love to be enlightened if the opposite’s true though. No dog in this fight, except for general curiosity.

After growing up with, and owning several pump actions (870s and Mossy 500s), I personally only have semi-autos now…a couple Berettas for birds, and a JM930 for a backup to one of my ARs for HD.

 

[ToddM]

The vast majority of "reliability" issues with pumps is user error, almost all of which fall into short stroking the action. That said, it is a real concern, where an O/U or semi-auto is just press the trigger till it's empty. I can't count the number of guys I've seen have issues with pumps hunting or shooting say doubles trap etc. If you practice though those issues are minimal, most people don't shoot a shotgun much so a pump if you don't use it frequently, may not be a great idea. Bird hunting in ND I've seen all 3 types freeze up but it's much less common with an O/U and in those almost always related to not using cold weather grease/oil. Same is true for getting grass/cattails, etc. into an action and having issues, basically never impacts an O/U.

Recoil operated semi-auto's tend to have more issues with light loads, but they also tend to be more reliable with mid to heavy loads. Gas based semi-autos tend to have less recoil, and can be more tolerant of a wide variety of loads, but it's not always the case. In my mind this comes back to the idea that no one gun is going to do everything great, I'd almost rather have an adjustable recoil/gas system where I can tailor it for light to heavy loads than one that tries to do everything but doesn't handle really light/heavy loads well and you have option to adjust it.

I have nothing against pumps, shot a ton of birds and clays with 870's and a BPS, but unless I needed to run very specialized ammo, or just wanted a cheap gun to tuck away somewhere for the zombies I don't think I'd buy one today.

 

[502Chevelle]

I have nothing against pumps, but when you see someone in a match short stroke one, the resulting jam is a nightmare. Everyone says a match isn’t real life, and I agree, except you are shooting under stress and pressure in both cases, and in real life, the stress and pressure will be even more. It’s bad enough trying to unfuck a jam with your squad watching. I can’t imagine it while trying to protect my family.

 

[stefan73]

Funny, I have a Roth Performance (hot rodded Benelli M2), a Benelli M2 and a Benelli Super Black Eagle III. Knock on wood but I have not had any issues with light loads.

 

[ToddM]

Interesting, my M2 and especially my M4 both choke on really light loads, say something like lighter 7/8 oz and even some lighter 1oz trap loads. Heavier 1oz and 1 1/8oz, or hotter bunker trap 7/8oz runs ok. That said they are both quite old, so it's possible if not highly probable there have been updates since. Doesn't really matter to me I never use either with light loads it was just an experiment when they were new.

 

[stefan73]

Interesting, my M2 and especially my M4 both choke on really light loads, say something like lighter 7/8 oz and even some lighter 1oz trap loads. Heavier 1oz and 1 1/8oz, or hotter bunker trap 7/8oz runs ok. That said they are both quite old, so it's possible if not highly probable there have been updates since. Doesn't really matter to me I never use either with light loads it was just an experiment when they were new.

I have ran Winchester skeet loads from walmart in 6, 7, 8 all 2 3/4", Federal in the same weights and even some of those cheaper ones you find at wally world aka walmart. Never had an issue. I clean after every outing and use the factory lube/oil since it seems a lot thinner then a lot of the lubes I have..
I have my one Benelli M2 from when I lived in Alaska and I bought that around 2012 as a bear gun for blue berry picking with the family (that was the excuse for the wife ) .

My Roth came with two recoil springs, one for standard loads and one or light loads.

 

[ratton]

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