Are cheap semi auto shotguns worth the cash?

You want hunting or "tactical"??

Stoeger (owned by Benelli)

TFB TV just made a two video about cheap gun and cheap setup, in main role - turkish semi-auto shotgun. I would say James made very good point



If you think about it - semi shotguns are, from technical complexity view, on similiar level as semi auto rifles. So which other rifles are in same price cathegory? Would you build one for same use as intended shotgun?

At least i wouldnt buy no-name shotgun, get some well-known brand

Btw, i think Nutfancy made review about Citadel Warthog

out of 50 or so people i shoot the clay games with their are not but a few who use them and they seem to have problems with them from time to time. most of the shooters use mid to upper tier price wise and they work well. with my own semi auto,s mid tier and my o/u,s upper tier, in the last 10-12 years of shooting three times a week when weather premiting i can count on one hand the number of problems i have had in fireing tens of thousands of rounds.

I had one of the Stoeger clones of the Benelli M1/M2 for a couple of years. It performed perfectly for me during that time. The only reason I sold it was because I ran across a used Benelli at a good price. I owned both guns for about a year and while I never had the 1st issue with the Stoeger I always found myself reaching for the Benelli. I just couldn't see keeping both and was able to sell the Stoeger for more than I paid.

But these were hunting shotguns. If I were looking for something inexpensive that absolutely, positively had to work I'd buy one of the better "inexpensive" pumps. Even then I can't recommend a "cheap" pump. An 870 Express is as inexpensive as I'd go. The Browning BPS, and Benelli Nova, the older Winchester 1300 that was USA made, as well as Mossberg 590 seem OK too. Will throw in the Ithaca, but it ain't cheap. Can't recommend Mossberg 500 or Maverick though.

Just for kicks I picked up a Citadel Warthog the other day.

The "Cylinder" choke will not screw in because the outside diameter is too large. The inside diameter measures .719" so it's not really a "Cylinder" choke, closer to skeet or I/C. The full choke has four large burrs at the mouth where the choke wrench inserts. They protrude inward toward the center of the barrel. They are about 1/16" of an inch long and could possibly cause a barrel obstruction. The QC for their chokes leaves a lot to be desired.

The receiver and trigger group had a lot of grit in it from the manufacturing process. I cleaned all of that out and oiled every moving part before taking it to the range to break it in.
At the range I had the modified choke installed and started out shooting 2 3/4", 1-1/8 oz, 3 DR. EQ, 1200 FPS, Remington Gun Club target loads. I loaded it up and started shooting. Two out of the first first five rounds failed to eject. No big deal on a new gun you're breaking in. I shot the rest of the box and every round after that fed, fired and ejected properly. I tried some of my homemade 3/4 oz reduced recoil loads next. All of them would fire but wouldn't eject properly. This didn't surprise me and I think they would feed and eject properly as the gun gets more broken in.

It is a lot lighter than I expected so it would be easy to carry around all day but you'll pay for that weight reduction in felt recoil.

Aren't M4s more like $2k plus? Kinda unfair comparison for the lower end autos compared to an M4. Anyway, id rather pay more for a trusted name. I do shoot a plain old black synthetic stock Beretta A300 Outlander and do very well in sporting clays for someone that really hasn't been taught how to shoot it, just went and shot. My coworker shoots with me and he would bring his Mossberg 500 pump, after a few shoots and using my Beretta he decided he wanted an auto and he was partial to CZ. He bought a CZ 1012 Interia gun, about the same cost as my Beretta. Though I'll say his isnt a true CZ anyway, says right on it, made by Huglu in Turkey. It's light and has fired every time, though it has not been any better than my A300, in fact the last outing when he was manually working the bolt it wouldn't go into battery on his CZ unless he pushed forward. Seemed like the recoil spring got weak or because he hadn't ever cleaned his and was suspecting it was getting too dry. It cycled all the usual rounds though just wouldn't work well manually working it. My Outlander never got a decent cleaning til a 1k rounds thru it, just once in awhile id take a gun wipe and wipe the chamber and ramp of residue and run one of those cleaning shells thru it. Even when I finally broke it down to clean it better all I did was wiper what I could do with a wipe and cleaned the gas system a bit, no barrel cleaning. Ran another 200 rounds thru it. The only ammo it wouldn't cycle was the mini shells, didn't have enough load with the bird shot and buck shot shells, but I fired one round of a mini slug and it ejected fine. The lighest loads I've run were Winchester Xtra Lite, which were 1145 fps and 1 oz loads and the gun ran perfect on those.

If it were me, id follow the motto "buy once, cry once"

I have found the G2 TriStar series to be a decent gun for the price. It isn't as slick as my Beretta(s), but it cost me a fraction of what my Beretta(s) cost me. SO far both the G2 Silver in 20 ga and my 410 Bronze have performed flawlessly. They are the same basic design as the A400.

To answer the question asked I would say yes for hunting semi’s. I have no experience with tactical semi’s but would answer no to the question asked.

Also how cheap is cheap? I have a dedicated turkey semi that was sold as such, but it’s nothing but a tactical shotgun with a camo finish. It cost around $550.00 new. I trust it, it’s been flawless.