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Semi Autos - Which one?


RogerH
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Well it seems as though its probably down to either a Beretta or a Benelli now, but having read up on the Winchester I think I'll have to add it to my short list in place of the Fabarm.

 

Then there's the Remington. I have good experience of the 870 in the 80s and 90s and found it to be bullet proof, but none of the 1100 semi.

 

No one has really mentioned the Browning either, is that because they are krap? They do seem to be cheaper than the direct competition - are they made in Belgium or Japan?

 

Perhaps they are made in Turkey at that price I dont know... I have never seen one in the flesh and there don't seem to be too many on Gun Trader.

 

So I am going to try and get round a few shops and at least handle as many as possible with a view to buying in the New Year. Gun fit of course will have to be the over riding factor in any case.

 

Many thanks for all the replies to date.

 

Roger

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I have owned about a dozen different makes of auto and shot considerably more.

 

A shooting mate has a Beretta Teknys Gold which jammed on every outing - he has stopped using it. Older Berettas seem better made, with sturdier parts,

 

Graham - who runs Gundeals - is a good mate and I have used his Benelli - reliable, well made, but too much recoil for me.

 

Fabarm - best put togther auto I have owned, but that was 20 years ago.

 

Winchester X2 - best value for money of the lot.

 

Remington - had quite a few - best handling auto by a mile.

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I own a teknys gold sporting and a super black eagle 2.

 

Very different guns.

 

The Beretta did have an issue with failing to feed the second shot. Changed teh carrier and has not missed a beat in 2000 shots. However,it is a great clay gun at 8lbs, but way to heavy for field use.

 

The Benelli is a great field gun and useless for clays ( doesn't like 28g shells).

 

 

If I had to buy just one gun, then I'd try an M2.

 

Otherwise Teknys for clay and SBE2 for fiels and fouling

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I have a beretta 391 and can't fault it, had one jam first day i owned it, it's 4 years old now touch wood it hasn't missed a beat, i have recently put 100 21g shells thru it on a skeet range and it cycled them no probs, only thing i would say is go for a synthetic stock as the wood stock does mark very easy. I have shot duck on the foreshore, pigeon,pheasants and clays with it great gun and it was cheap when i bought it £810 new, unfortunatley prices have risen quite a bit since then!

 

PS I have 2 mates who have changed from Benelli to Beretta recently.

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i had a benelli montefeltro, i reckon benellis are one of the best semi autos - very lightweight, the recoil wasnt too bad, not too pricesy compared to others, and imo very pointable guns.

 

the only thing was it hated 28g 7.5's with a passion, refused to cycle the 2nd shot half the time, and i also found that it needed alot of cleaning to keep it working right, a full strip down and clean usually after 3/4 days hunting or after every day i had it at the clays :rolleyes:

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i had a benelli montefeltro, i reckon benellis are one of the best semi autos - very lightweight, the recoil wasnt too bad, not too pricesy compared to others, and imo very pointable guns.

 

the only thing was it hated 28g 7.5's with a passion, refused to cycle the 2nd shot half the time, and i also found that it needed alot of cleaning to keep it working right, a full strip down and clean usually after 3/4 days hunting or after every day i had it at the clays :good:

 

This is not a very good advertisement for Benelli :rolleyes:

 

I would not put up with that sort of hassle, that's why I shoot an Urika2 :o

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This is not a very good advertisement for Benelli :rolleyes:

 

I would not put up with that sort of hassle, that's why I shoot an Urika2 :o

 

:hmm:

 

and thats why i got rid of it and now use mossberg pump actions ??? B) :lol:

 

na dont get me wrong, it was great for rough shooting, easy to carry all day, etc, but it let itself down bucketfulls when it came to clays - only i had the mossberg with me at an informal competition i was at at the start of the year i would have crashed and burned :good:

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I have aBenelli M2 & shot thousands of rounds with it, it will cycle 28g 7.5 felt wad clay rounds all day without a problem, it also works with 24g but does have trouble with 21g loads.

 

The thing about the inertia system is in order to function you need to "get behind" the gun a little, if your very soft shouldered & you allow the gun to move you to easily under recoil then the gun can sometimes fail to cycle properly, I see it happen mostly where shooters try to hold it quartered away as you would a rifle, get a more straight/square on stance & the gun will work better for you.

 

N

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:good: Theres always a browning silver or the browning fusion gold, I owned a silver for years, superb piece of kit, never missed a beat, cycle anything down to 21g.I have fired the gold fusion wich is the silvers replacement and its every bit as good and has a rib for clays etc...theres one for sale on the airgunbbs.Virtually no recoil and superfast firing speed.

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Edited by Evil Elvis
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Franchi Raptor is a great gun and mine never missed a beat, quite soft recoil if that's what you want but the barrel started to rust as soon as it went anywhere near the foreshore. I px'd it for a Benelli M2 and up 'til now it's been faultless, it is light to carry, hard wearing, doesn't mind getting covered in mud, cycles anything i've tried from 28-42grm etc. and is very pointable. I would say it might be best to try for fit as with any gun though :good:

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I have had a number of autos over the years so feel fairly qualified to answer this question lol!

 

Remington are at least 20 years behind with their technology plus Edgar Brothers are less than useless when it comes to getting well.... anything! They were however a good gun in their day.

 

Had an SX3 and it went back after 25 shots, barrel was heavily pitted due to not being chromed at all, Browning refused to swap it!!

 

The only decent Browning auto ever built was athe B80 which Beretta built for them, all the modern ones are built in Portugal and feel flimsy and tinny!

 

Had a friend that bought a Fabarm and irt worked and shot well, he did however get well and truly shafted when he part exchanged it!

 

Had loads of Berettas, 303 remains the best, AL30 was good, have had 3 0r 4 AL391's and only one of them worked faultlessly, got tittsed off with all the cleaning, very rough bolt action, constant jams etc.

 

Now have and love a Benelli Supersport and this is IMO by far the best semi auto on the market and I would never touch another 391 now I have this

 

To answer all the Benelli haters......

 

1. An inertia operated auto is going to have some level of recoil so if it has a wooden stock put a Kick-EEz on it

2.The comfortech models are very low recoil

3.The guy with the the Montefeltro saying it wouldn.t cycle 28 gr 7.5's is utter tosh, saying he had to clean it all the time is even bigger tosh!! There is nothing to clean inside one and if it wouldnt cycle those shells it would almost certainly be a broken recoil spring.

 

The chances are that if you buy a Benelli you will never need another auto!!

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The chances are that if you buy a Benelli you will never need another auto!!

 

HG

 

The PSG guys both here in the UK & certainly in europe are firmly in the Benelli camp, no other gun has proved as reliable as them up to yet & we shoot many thousands of rounds per year of birdshot, slug & buckshot.

 

What sorts the wheat from the chaff is the constant ammo changes during a match, shooting slugs & then moving to the next stage which may be birdshot has caused many a problem for a "gas gunner" lead builds up on the gas parts when shooting slugs & then the light birdshot rounds fail to cycle the gas guns after unless you clean it, which is a major pain in the butt in the middle of a competition not to mention a dirty job.

 

However the Benelli can handle the same situation with ease because all the fouling goes out of the barrel & no gas or gunk can get back into the gun to stop it working, so with the inertia system there is a lot less to go wrong & a lot less to clean also with the comfortech stock on its a pussycat to shoot.

 

Dont tell everyone though because we still need people to buy our old gas auto's, or we wont be able to sell off all the other mistakes we bought over the years up until we found the Benelli.

 

:rolleyes:

 

Merry Xmas

 

N

Edited by neil smith
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