Semi auto for ducks?

[Virginian]

Like I said, I carry a spare 'O' ring in my wallet. In fact one each 20 and 12. And I am not likely to go anywhere without my wallet. The 50 year old design suits my 60 year + design just fine.
Whenever my group goes on a long distance foray, like to Canada next October, we always bring along a spare gun. Usually it's the 11-87 I sold a buddy 20 years ago now. That thing has probably killed more ducks and geese than all the others because it seems something goes wrong on somebody's gun every time. I got it soon after they came out, and just didn't like the feel as well as my old 1100. Paul had been thinking about one and he bought it in the blind, and I shot his gun until lunch. Two of us went back to town for lunch and Paul said he was going to stay in his trailer at the landing for awhile and then get back in the shore blind. When we got back he had killed two geese and an 8 point buck with that daggoned gun. He prefers an O/U, but he says he's afraid to let that 11-87 get too far away; he needs the luck. I can't disagree.

 

[ArmedBear]

I hunt with a lucky hat instead.

That way I can use whatever gun I want.

 

[Funderb]

You need a .410 single shot bolt action shotgun.
Then you can brag to every ducker you meet.

assuming you kill anything.

 

[chas08]

For atblis & Armed Bear regarding o-rings

I buy Viton o-rings at an industrial supply house called Motion Industries. I don't know if they are a national chain. The size is 021. They are about $9.00 a hundred and work fine in my 1187. The reason I feel the o-ring is no big deal is because in 20 years or so of owning an 1100 (that I wish I'd never sold) I never had one break.

 

[ArmedBear]

They can do other things besides break.

My friend, when he got to the Aleutian Islands, found that, when he pulled off his bird barrel and put on his waterfowl barrel for the trip, the O-ring had stuck to the upland barrel and he hadn't noticed. So, when he got there, there was no O-ring in the gun. He got by on single shots for a while, then spent precious time and energy tracking down a replacement.

I've had an O-ring lose elasticity. It looked fine, but didn't work right.

I'm not saying it's a showstopper. But I sure wouldn't say it's "no big deal", when you're shopping shotguns. It's a factor that enters into the decision.

 

[Pete409]

If I didn't have and couldn't find an O-ring, I'm sure I could improvise something that would make the gun work until I could get a real O-ring.

All the O-ring does is stop the gas from leaking out of the cylinder between the forward end of the cylinder and the magazine tube that the cylinder fits around.

Almost anything, as long as it isn't too flammable, would do to seal up the small gap. A couple of wraps of electrical tape should work for awhile. Faucet stem repair cord should also work for awhile. Heck, if I didn't want to leave the duck blind, I'd cut off a piece of my boot lace and wrap it around the magazine tube where the O-ring goes. The products available for emergency replacement of an O-ring are limited only by your imagination.

BTW, anyone who goes on a big hunt without taking along a backup gun deserves whatever bad luck his lack of planning costs him.

 

[45Guy]

To go that far and not bring a spare gun or at least parts is definitely bringing Murphy along. That's another reason I'm leaning toward an inertia operated gun, less to go wrong. Note I am not saying NOTHING will go wrong, I'm saying LESS. Mechanical things always fail, it's the rule of common sense, so I just want to lessen my chances of being taken out of a hunt by O-ring issues or something like that.

 

[MCgunner]

You need a .410 single shot bolt action shotgun.
Then you can brag to every ducker you meet.

assuming you kill anything.

Or, he can brag to the game warden as he checks for steel shot....ROFLMAO! I've taken ducks with a .410 when I was a kid. Shot doves with it, too. It can be done. No one I know of makes legal non-toxic in .410, though.

I don't need no stinkin' O rings. I shoot a Winchester.

 

[Virginian]

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"
Right you are. First trip with his new Super Black Eagle, it knocked out my buddy's contact lens on the first shot in the pre-dawn gloom. Amazingly three guys with flashlights and two dogs could not find it in the bottom of that blind. There wasn't even that much mud.

 

[Smitty in CT]

The Mossberg 930 is proving itself to be very reliable and there are no o-rings to worry about....

 

[ArmedBear]

The Mossberg 930 is proving itself to be very reliable and there are no o-rings to worry about....

Mossberg, Winchester, Browning, Beretta, Benelli, Stoeger, Franchi...

BTW, anyone who goes on a big hunt without taking along a backup gun deserves whatever bad luck his lack of planning costs him.

True enough. Ditto for anyone who buys a new gas-op Remington in the first place, nowadays, because he's choosing to buy a gun with a known weak point. There are plenty of other choices in the marketplace.

WRT a trip, throwing a cheap pump in the bag isn't a bad idea. But some countries, like Mexico, charge a bunch of money per gun... Would I pay more than an 870 is worth, just to carry it in a duffel bag? I'm not sure.

 

[Pilot]

But some countries, like Mexico, charge a bunch of money per gun...

Which is why I'll never hunt there.

 

[ArmedBear]

I avoid going to the place at all, any more, even though I live down the street. It has incredible natural beauty, but that's all it has. The risks can be too high for the rewards.

 

[MCgunner]

Don't go to Nuevo Laredo without at least body armor and I won't go there anyway cause I'd have to go without a M60 and a grenade launcher and I don't feel safe down there without an M60 and grenade launcher. There are fire fights involving automatic weapons and RPGs down there all the time. The news paper editor was taken out by a grenade for speaking out against the drug lords. Americans are kidnapped there. It is not a place I care to tread anymore.

Now, I'm wondering if Argentina charges more for an extra gun? That's where I'd wanna go bird hunting, anyway. On a trip, I normally do take along a spare gun, though it's usually a rifle as I'm usually after deer on trips west. But, I'd do the same with shotguns.

 

[ArmedBear]

Are you hunting on your own or with a guide/lodge?

They have "loaners", some of them pretty nice.

 

[PJR]

The problem with the 1100 is the luggage. Not for the gun but for the spare parts you might need to keep them running. My last remaining 1100 is a 28 gauge and I do an instruction session on an island a couple times a year.

I take with me two 2 o-rings, spare action bars, link, operating handle, operating handle retaining parts (spring, ball detent, plate) and an extractor.

I take these because either on my gun or on a students these are the part's that needed replacing at one time or another.

For ducks if a Benelli isn't an option than a Beretta 391/390 or a Browning Gold are my recommendations.

 

[ArmedBear]

The problem with the 1100 is the luggage. Not for the gun but for the spare parts you might need to keep them running.

Laws, sausages and Remingtons. You don't want to see how any of them are made.