Worth saving up?

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somethingbenign

somethingbenign

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Was window shopping my local Scheels and saw they had a Stevens 555 16ga on sale for $450. Been dreaming of a double barrel 16ga for awhile now and they would get me something now. They also had a Franchi Affinity SL for $1.5k that I was saving up for. I know economy doubles are persona non gratia but at that low of a price would it be worth it to pick up or should I wait what will likely be another year for the Franchi?
 
Loved my Franchi Renaissance that I had; extremely well designed and built. I would save my money for the Affinity SL as a year from now the price will probably have risen on them and you'll come up short because of the money you spent on the Stevens 555.

Save and wait. It will be worth it in the long run.
 
Personally I’d rather own three $500 guns than one
$1500. Basing this on my own disposable income situation and the fact that I’m a shooter and own many guns. I’d certainly feel better falling in the creek or swinging on a bird and wacking a tree limb with the $500 gun.
In the end it boils down to individual wants. Just saying.
 
bannockburn said:
Loved my Franchi Renaissance that I had; extremely well designed and built. I would save my money for the Affinity SL as a year from now the price will probably have risen on them and you'll come up short because of the money you spent on the Stevens 555.

Save and wait. It will be worth it in the long run.
Click to expand...
If I got the 555 I'd probably be skipping the Franchi and saving up for a Beretta or one of the other $2k+ guns. The Franchi does feel more comfortable and natural to shoulder than the 555 so gun quality aside that alone is making me hesitate. I'm leaning towards saving up but a new gun now is sure tempting.
whughett said:
Personally I’d rather own three $500 guns than one
$1500. Basing this on my own disposable income situation and the fact that I’m a shooter and own many guns. I’d certainly feel better falling in the creek or swinging on a bird and wacking a tree limb with the $500 gun.
In the end it boils down to individual wants. Just saying.
Click to expand...
This is part of my thoughts too. I want to try waterfowl with whatever double I end up getting just because and a cheaper gun would make me feel better about that. On the other hand I don't want a gun prone to doubles or not regulated to the same POI with both barrels.
 
Water fowling with a 16 gage. Call em in close. :)
My only experience, off thread here now, was one goose trip with a family friend. Drifting in a flat bottom boat on a salt water pond in Narragansett Bay trying to get close to rafts of geese. We would get within 75 or a 100 yards and the rafts, 100’s of birds, would lift off and fly a few hundred yards and set back down. The noise would awake the dead. Very frustrating. :(:)
 
whughett said:
Water fowling with a 16 gage. Call em in close. :)
My only experience, off thread here now, was one goose trip with a family friend. Drifting in a flat bottom boat on a salt water pond in Narragansett Bay trying to get close to rafts of geese. We would get within 75 or a 100 yards and the rafts, 100’s of birds, would lift off and fly a few hundred yards and set back down. The noise would awake the dead. Very frustrating. :(:)
Click to expand...
That sounds like even a 10ga wouldn't have done you much good. My wife runs a 20ga for everything so we are used to having to setup close shots. The 16ga would just be to see if I like how a double handles on the water better than my pump. If I do like it then I'd get something like the CZ swamp magnum. The next year will be year be pay off all our loans so looking forward to the future I'll have a much higher level of discretionary income hence all the plans for this gun or that gun. (Psst personally I love thread drift)
 
I almost always come down on the side of saving for better. I have bought a few new shotguns, quite a few used. I've always been happier in the end with a higher-end used gun in good shape. Never had a Stevens 555, but for what it's worth my first double was a Stevens 311 (I recognize it was a lower-end utility gun) that I bought to see whether I might like double guns. I liked it, but found after some patterning that the barrels were not regulated well enough for the gun to shoot anywhere near point-of-aim, so it went away to a guy who did not care.
 
My .02cents, when I was young I was all about quantity, not quality. Finally figured out I got more pleasure and fun out of higher quality guns. Most all of the 'cheap' guns had very little resale value, the few higher quality guns that I have sold kept their value when I resold them. This goes for pistols, rifles and shotguns. I wore out my first O/U Ruger Red Label, loved that shotgun, but they would not hold up to volume shooting, and it was considered an entry level O/U at $1100 in 1992, finally upgraded to a Beretta 682 Super Sporting with a full set of Kolar sub-gauge tubes, I bought it used and never regretted it.
 
Personally, I don’t get the price of a SxS or a O/U. The technology has been around forever, the guns are beyond being well refined, and there is zero innovation in them aside from using fancy materials. Why are they so expensive? A GOOD pump can be had in the $250 range, and a GOOD semiauto in the $700 range but a good double is still $1500+??? I don’t get it. I love them, but I don’t understand the price.
 
I guess you don’t get supply and demand. Nor the fact that many folks don’t want to “get by” with a “good” assembly line gun. Innovation is not an end unto itself, besides most popular pumps and semis are based on “innovative” early/mid-20th century designs. I certainly hope that you are not criticizing the firearms choices of others here.....

I own an Ansley Fox 12ga and a Ugartechea 20ga. I used both for ducks, geese and crane. The 20ga. is a wonderful upland game gun especially with its hacksaw choke. I also own pumps and semis, but the S/S gets the most use anymore.


.
 
WestKentucky said:
Personally, I don’t get the price of a SxS or a O/U. The technology has been around forever, the guns are beyond being well refined, and there is zero innovation in them aside from using fancy materials. Why are they so expensive? A GOOD pump can be had in the $250 range, and a GOOD semiauto in the $700 range but a good double is still $1500+??? I don’t get it. I love them, but I don’t understand the price.
Click to expand...
I believe you can get a good semi for $500.00.

The reason good O/U’s and SxS’s cost so much is because of how much hand fitting must be done. Also regulating the barrels is very time consuming if done correctly.
 
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