OP
OP
Gun Geezer
Member
This is Texas. They weigh 6 oz here!I find it impossible to call any 12 gauge the ultimate gun for a 4 oz. bird.
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Ultimate Auto for Dove!
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OP
OP
Gun Geezer
Member
That is one beautiful shotgun. Need to buy one just to have it!Although I have plenty of 12 ga. guns, for dove hunting I use a 20. For your budget you can get a very nice gun, the Benelli Montefeltro Silver, a better shooting shotgun can't be found.
OP
OP
Gun Geezer
Member
I hear you. But the truth is, you can get a light 12 load but a 1 1/8 oz 20 is hard to find. Besides, they cost about or exactly the same per box.
Not so true of the 28 gauge. Those are pricey around here and not so easy to find. Web order is about it.
Plus, I am set up to reload 12's, but not 20's.
Tommy Van Alen
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I took a sporting clays course last fall. My instructor loaned me his Beretta A400, with the anodized blue receiver. I shot it a lot better with it than my over under.
AKElroy
Member
A light 20 gage kicks as hard or harder than a heavy 12. My Montelfeltro was a 20, and it beat the crap out of me. The 1100 is heavy, with a slow, lumbering action that just soaks all that recoil energy up and spreads it out.
I used do a couple of hunts a year in Muscogee County GA which is actually all part of the city of Columbus. I swear we had some doves that weigh 2 pounds. Big fat "city" dove that lumber in at 5 MPH with a tailwind.
And yes I have missed them.
rbernie
Contributing Member
My Monte 20ga kicks a bit harder than my 1100 20ga but we're still talking pretty tame stuff, guys - it's 7/8oz, not 1 5/8oz. In exchange, the Monte has a build quality and pattern quality that is worth paying for, IMO.
I'll probably be in the field with a 1100 20ga this year, but only because I am playing around with English/straight stocked shotguns at the moment and I recently lucked into a 1100 20ga straight stocked model....
I'll probably be in the field with a 1100 20ga this year, but only because I am playing around with English/straight stocked shotguns at the moment and I recently lucked into a 1100 20ga straight stocked model....
OP
OP
Gun Geezer
Member
City dove down south been eatin' them chitllins and dumplings and fried okra. Put on some extra weight from good livin'!
AKElroy
Member
I'm coveting right now. I remember when they came out with that straight-stocked "upland special" what, 20 years or so ago? I think it had a pretty short run. I want one.
Virginian
Member
I put a straight stock set on my LT-20. It's fun.
I think the M-1100 fits more shooters well than any other shotgun.
If fired an average amount with North American game bird limits and maintained well, it's fine.
I know that some prefer the Berettas for the VERY heavy dove shooting in Argentina. But you'd shoot more birds there in a day than in several seasons in the USA.
I've owned both an 1100 in 12 ga. and a Beretta M-391 Urika 20 ga. and both were good guns.
If I was in the OP's position, I'd look for a 20 ga. LW M-1100, but if he finds a good buy on an older 12 ga., no worries, except that the gun is heavier. If he isn't walking much, no big deal. And if he gets a chance at pheasants, the 12 ga. is the better item under some circumstances.
That said, the late gun writer Jack O'Connor told me that he mostly shot pheasants with 20 ga. guns in his later years. He mainly used Winchester M-21 doubles and a couple of high grade Beretta over and unders.
If fired an average amount with North American game bird limits and maintained well, it's fine.
I know that some prefer the Berettas for the VERY heavy dove shooting in Argentina. But you'd shoot more birds there in a day than in several seasons in the USA.
I've owned both an 1100 in 12 ga. and a Beretta M-391 Urika 20 ga. and both were good guns.
If I was in the OP's position, I'd look for a 20 ga. LW M-1100, but if he finds a good buy on an older 12 ga., no worries, except that the gun is heavier. If he isn't walking much, no big deal. And if he gets a chance at pheasants, the 12 ga. is the better item under some circumstances.
That said, the late gun writer Jack O'Connor told me that he mostly shot pheasants with 20 ga. guns in his later years. He mainly used Winchester M-21 doubles and a couple of high grade Beretta over and unders.
MCgunner
Member
I agree, to an extent. The 20 will reach out there about as far and the lighter gun will be a lot quicker close in on a tank or over the mojo. I've found with my Winchester auto, I have to back away from the mojo a bit so they ain't coming in from all directions so fast and furious. The gun doesn't swing as quick or point as quick as a light 20. But, on long passing shots, it sure swings smooth. Just kinda depents on how you're hunting, really, which is a better set up IMHO. The 20 will always work about as well as a 12 once you get used to it, though, but a heavier 12 is a little more cumbersome on those fast, close shots. I find, though, that I do about as well with either when the weekend is done.
Recoil wise, the 20 is a little lighter on the shoulder equal guns, but it tends to be chambered in lighter guns, so it's a wash to me. A good gas gun will tame either, though. The Remington 1100 is still in production and it's a proven gun. I'd tend to the 1100 for dove hunting in a new production gun, personally. They tend to fit me pretty well and shimming 'em will make 'em perfect. Only other thing I'd do to it is install a left handed safety.
rbernie
Contributing Member
Inertial - it's kind of a short recoil mechanical in which the barrel doesn't move but the inertial forces of recoil are used to unlock the bolt, after which a spring is used to cycle the bolt.
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