Need a Winchester 101 #513059493 for my sons birthday...

[Joebklyn]

The wife has authorized me to spend $1700 or so on "her" baby boys 16th B-Day. He wants a Browning Citori 625 like his friends. That ain't gonna happen. You don't give someone who just started driving a Maserrati. Plus my pockets are'nt that deep. I was thinking of a Winchester 101. I like the adjustable comb but I think I can get a cheaper version of the 101 w/o it. I can have a gunsmith install/modify the stock with something from Brownells. However, my problem is that all of the online dealers I've seen are out of stock. Anybody have a dealer with one in stock? Thanks Joe

 

[ShowMe2]

Joebklyn,

The FN-built Winchesters have been around for over 10 years now with many versions that have come and gone. I don't know which specific model you're looking for, but Zander's out of Baldwin, Illinois has the Sporting models in stock with either a 30" or 32" barrels. Zander's is strictly a wholesale outfit selling to "dealers" only so you'd probably have to get a dealer to order it for you.

I've been shooting one of these guns (Platinum Sporting) with 30" barrels over 2 years now and really like it. As a long time Citori fan, after using the Winchester, I would never buy a 12 gauge Citori again. IMO they're a best buy in the 12 gauge O/U market.

The one valid criticism is their light weight for a target gun. Mine weighs exactly 7.5 pounds. I don't have any problem with the recoil, but if you do, adding additional weight is easy.

 

[homers]

try CDNN, IIRC they had Winchester 101's for about $1,000.

 

[oneounceload]

If it doesn't FIT, it doesn't matter what the brand is. Perhaps a trip to the gun club where he can try a wide variety besides his friends' 625s to see what else can work. 101s have been known to have fit issues for many folks - by the time you add all of the gizmos to try and make it fit properly, you'll have as much in it as a version that might do better out of the box - without upsetting the balance