What's your favourite shotgun ?

private fraser

Well-Known Member
I've noticed how folk can have some nice guns in the cabinet but their favourite is often the Baikal (or similar) that they can take out with no worries about fine wood or engraving.
I'm no style guru in this dept and my favourite is my Mossberg 500...it's the only shotgun I have :)

So,what's your favourite shotgun and why ?.
 
A Beretta Silver Pigeon 1 Deluxe. It's a great all rounder that never looks out of place. I use it every week for clays and it gets a few outing during the season as well as having seen off its fair share of pigeon. It should cross the 30,000 cartridge mark this Sunday but it still looks and feels like new. The fact that it was my first ever shotgun also helps. My bargain gun is an old sable ejector sbs that I bought on here and whilst I love it dearly, it is a little uncomfortable on the shoulder after a round of clays. Good for walked up shooting though.
 
had the big names most very nice then won a 687 sold the rest and its won be more pots and dosh and glass than all the others nut on the butt ££££ don't mean a thing don't get me wrong do like a nice browning or kayman 4lux but this old girl still can hold its own and it don't mind wire fence n' mud or marsh
 
For game, Winchester model 23 pigeon grade.

For pigeons etc my old Remington M1100.

For wildfowling my Kestrel 10 bore.
 
Mine's a Lanber sporter I bought second hand for £260 in 1997, I've tried a £7000 Miroku and couldn't hit anything with it.
 
Any that Red-Dot has no further use for and may wish to furnish me with FOC!

K
ps: Relaxed about the standard of engraving.
:D
 
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12b Silver Pigeon S. The go to gun for me. Can do everything and isn't out of place in a hide, on a peg or wherever.

12b Sabatti Alpen Eagle (Italian, but same action as a Browning Medallist but a bit more suave and has side plates). Actually a nice gun to shoot. Deputises if the Silver Pigeon is crock (but it never is).

12b Silver Kestrel sidelock SxS ejector. Looks posh but isn't. Light so gets used for those days where there's more walking than shooting.

12b Beretta Xtreme semi auto in black. Has 3 1/2" chamber and is excellent for wildfowl. Big loads don't give me a bruise because of all the gubbins to stop it that Beretta put in.


And the winner is.....The Silver Pigeon. Anything I want to do with a shotgun, this feller will do it.
 
The thing with a shotgun is it needs to fit you. You would not buy shoes that were too big or small, yet people buy shotguns that don't fit and expect to shoot well.
I had a safe full of shotguns O&U, SBS, semi auto but changing guns all the time had a detrimental effect on my success. I sold the lot some years ago, bought a Berretta EELL fixed choke, had it fitted and have not looked back. The gun comes out no matter what the weather or where and what I'm shooting as it won't shoot anything looking nice stuck in a safe.

ATB 243 Stalker
 
I also like my 20b Beretta Silver Pigeon, I bought it from Jamross a couple of years ago, he said I'd love it and he was right!! I shoot RC Sipes through it and don't feel under-gunned next to the 12s on my shoot. I had to learn to push it through the bird rather than let the weight of a 12 take itself through the bird but it can knock down good birds with less weight to carry and easier on the shoulder. I love it so much that I've sold/am selling all my other guns except one back up 12b BLNE.
 
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I am a timber slut and fortunate to have the choice of some beautiful guns of 12 20 & 28 guages in O/U and SBS but if i was only allowed one gun it would be my C12 Browning twenty. Light to carry and with modern loads it can outperform the bulky twelves and it is so fast on the swing too.
 
Gp greener, why? Because my dad bought it in the 1958, and it has been used by myself and my brothers, and will be used by my grandkids, I have had berettas, AYA,s Brownings etc, but this is the only shotgun I have left.
 
Lanber Sporter (12b)... because it works (seriously I have invested in more expensive shotguns and this one is the one that works the best). It was my first shotgun, as others have said it is all about fit with shotguns. Just refinished the stock, first one I have done and look forward to doing another!
 
Singapore riot shotgun made by Greener, once its swinging it wont stop and the choke is so tight its leathal on Hare days, plus no one else has ever seen one before, love it.
 
Merkel 201E is my game gun and i have a soft spot for my Remington 870 Wingmaster. Great for duck shooting with its 30" barrel or boar with its 20" slug barrel.
 
My favourite was a little 16g SxS BLE English gun by H.Clarke and Sons with thick scroll engraving and carved fences. It was no.2 of a pair and it fitted me like a glove and could outperform any 12g I've had. I only sold it because a guy on one of our shoots was looking for something that he could use to introduce his growing son to shooting and I fancied a change to an over and under. I wish I'd never sold it.
 
Beretta 686 20bore game gun, 26 inch barrels and open choked.
I had one years ago and like an idiot I sold it, regretted that for the last 25 years.
But last year I found a really nice one second hand, 1986 model and still boxed.
Wont be selling this one in a hurry.

Neil. :)
 
My Beretta 686, bog standard, 28'' fixed choke, cos it just does the job well, looks good and need no more thought than point and shoot.
 
Easier for me to pick my least favourite - an ancient belgian single barrel .410 that's so cranky you never quite know where the shot is going to go!

Favourites are:

Webley & Scott 12b single barrel (32") full choke hammer gun - the first shotgun I ever bought.

BSA 12b 30" db (s by s) - My first double barrel shotgun. Been repaired so many times, barrels thin and pitted, sometimes goes bang when I pull the trigger...and sometimes doesn't! Went through university with me. Despite all it's faults it's the one shotgun gun that actually fits and feels right.

Another 12b 28" db (s by s), Spanish, "Model Hunter" - inherited from my father.

And last, but by no means least, the wife's db folding .410 - the number one "go to" shotgun on this farm.
 
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