oneounceload
member
A Beretta 3901, or the newer replacement, the A300 Outlander will run about $600 and last you several lifetimes with minimum maintenance. This is a gas gun, which will help mitigate some of the felt recoil, it comes with shims to allow a much better and closer fit - which is crucial with any shotgun - comes with chokes, and just works.
In the clay games, the O/U reigns supreme - absolutely, no questions asked. But a small and growing segment (about 25% now) use a semi gun, especially for sporting clays. The semi of choice (99.5%) is one of the Beretta gas guns; even being used by several champions. No pumps, no Remington semi, no Chinese or Turkish - Beretta. Get it properly fitted with the shims, take some lessons, and there is no reason you can't finish in the top tier as well. I use an O/U - and have for over 20 years - but I am really lloking VERY hard at a Beretta A400 gas gun to give my Browning a respite.
Why? I bought my wife an A400 Xplor - the field model - for her to shoot sporting clays. On a whim I switched the shims for me (LH guy here), and was smoking targets at the local 5-stand/FITASC set up we have. AND, it worked with my light 3/4oz reloads. Not bad for a gun designed to shoot 3.5" goose loads, eh?
The other thing is simply this as well - the better gun you buy to start with, IF you then decide it isn't for you, you will be able to get a higher % back when you sell it;
that being said, the cost of the gun is NOTHING compared to ammo and targets over the long run. My O/U, bought new at a closeout wholesale price, was $1000 about 18 years ago. Over that time, I have spent over $100,000 on targets, ammo, reloading, gas, etc........
Read me sig line before you buy and realize, it really is a true statement
In the clay games, the O/U reigns supreme - absolutely, no questions asked. But a small and growing segment (about 25% now) use a semi gun, especially for sporting clays. The semi of choice (99.5%) is one of the Beretta gas guns; even being used by several champions. No pumps, no Remington semi, no Chinese or Turkish - Beretta. Get it properly fitted with the shims, take some lessons, and there is no reason you can't finish in the top tier as well. I use an O/U - and have for over 20 years - but I am really lloking VERY hard at a Beretta A400 gas gun to give my Browning a respite.
Why? I bought my wife an A400 Xplor - the field model - for her to shoot sporting clays. On a whim I switched the shims for me (LH guy here), and was smoking targets at the local 5-stand/FITASC set up we have. AND, it worked with my light 3/4oz reloads. Not bad for a gun designed to shoot 3.5" goose loads, eh?
The other thing is simply this as well - the better gun you buy to start with, IF you then decide it isn't for you, you will be able to get a higher % back when you sell it;
that being said, the cost of the gun is NOTHING compared to ammo and targets over the long run. My O/U, bought new at a closeout wholesale price, was $1000 about 18 years ago. Over that time, I have spent over $100,000 on targets, ammo, reloading, gas, etc........
Read me sig line before you buy and realize, it really is a true statement