[stev32k]

I was thinking about getting a new shotgun. Mine got stolen and I kind of miss having one around. As I was looking into brands, models, and gauges and all the price differences. It occurred to me that I can't remember ever hearing of a bad shotgun. By bad I mean one that had failure to feed, failure to eject, or failure to fire problems, or one that had broken parts after so many rounds.

I don't believe I've ever heard of any shotgun that was wore out after X number of rounds. That includes single shot, pump, lever action, bolt action, or semi-auto. It also includes any gauge made 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 28, or 410.

Am I right, or are there some I should avoid?

 

[jedwil]

Have never owned a semi, so can't comment on them. Never had a problem with the pumps I've owned---Remington and Benelli.

 

[gdmoody]

My son bought some sort of Chinese import in 12 gauge that would only fire every other pull of the trigger. What a piece of crap!! I think it was Chinasport or something like that.

 

[380guy]

I have limited experience with shot guns but almost every one Ive seen have very few parts to go wrong. Im looking at a Winchester 12ga SPX Defender with pistol grip. Im also looking into the 500 line from Mossberg, probably a persuader. The price difference between those two are anywhere from 100-175 bucks. Winchester was 349.00 and the Mossberg's were 449.00-569.00(with added options)

 

[myfriendis410]

I owned a Mossberg 500 with an extremely lazy extracter. Pretty frustrating when the birds are getting up and you've got an empty stuck in the chamber. Got rid of it.

 

[380guy]

Saw 3 nice Benelli's at a lgs today. Prices were 600ish to 1600ish, two were semi auto's

 

[JLA]

Charles daly semis suck
as do the Turkish semis

the Turkish pumps have lockup issues.

cheap shotguns, low QC

best to save an extra hundred bucks and buy a Mossberg 500 or a rem 870

 

[nmckenzie]

I owned a Remington 1100 12ga. for 30+ years. Shot it with everything from Skeet loads to 2 3/4" Mags, and it never failed to work first time, every time, rain or shine. Only reason I sold it was because I was moving to Alaska, and figured (correctly) that a parkerized Remington 870 Mag might be better suited to our climate. My better half has used her 12ga. Mossberg 500 for about 25 years now, and it shows a bit, but it's still as reliable as the day it was bought.

 

[Guest]

Remington 1100 often get called 550 in some high volume shooting areas. I have a buddy in Argentina and they call the 1100 the 550 cause it only works half the time.

Of the semiautos out there it is more fragile than others. Lot of o-rings and what not.

 

[carver]

I've been shooting shotguns all my life, and like anything else, they will wear out. Good, or better made guns take longer to wear out, and cause problems. The old addage is true, you get what you pay for.

 

[LDBennett]

I've seen three shotguns fail:

*Winchester semi-auto from 20 years ago where internal parts broke and requiring repair

*Mosberg pump that started firing with the closing of the breech (end of pump cycle)

* Remington semi-auto where the gas block fell off and had to be welded back on

All three were very low usage guns.

On the other hand my Beretta semi-auto from 20 years ago has worked flawlessly. It may be you get what you pay for (??). The Beretta is a premium gun whereas the three failed guns (all owned by others) were more economy versions. The Mossberg was very cheaply made and I'd not own one. The Winchester semi-auto was all stamped internal parts. The Remington was virtually new and missed getting a good weld done at the factory.

LDBennett

 

[jlloyd73]

My 870 is very "Bad"......I had to spank him and send him to bed early yesterday........

 

[GunnyGene]

I had a .410 double once (don't remember the make) that was nearly impossible to break open. Just about had to put it across my knee to open it. Never did get it to loosen up.

 

[IShootBack]

I bought a Winchester 1300 used from a gun shop for $150 about 10 years ago. Piece of crap. A guy at the gun club took a look at it, told me what was wrong with it. I had a gunsmith look, he agreed, then fixed it for less than $100 bucks and it worked flawlessly thereafter.

I have an Ithaca 37 pump that I got (new) as my 13th birthday present. That was in 1973. Still works 100% after 30 deer seasons. It was recently retired for an 11-87.

Sold the Winchester to buy the 11-87.

 

[gvw3]

My son has an 1100 Remington trap model. Made in 1979. He shoots 100 rounds a week with it at the range. No issue if he cleans it. I have a Mossberg 535 again never an issue. I also have a Ruger Red Label made in 1989. It gets a workout every weekend. Never an issue.

Stay with Remington Mossberg Winchester or Ruger and you should be ok. Stay away from the imported stuff except Italian or Belgium.

 

[Bindernut]

A co-worker has a Charles Daly semi-auto 12ga. Made by Akkar in Turkey.
That is probably the biggest POS shotgun that I've ever seen. I helped him do a good cleaning and a couple small repairs on it but had to end the session with a "I'd use it for trading material" suggestion. Cheap cast parts and pretty soft alloys used throughout.
That one made it pretty high up on my never-buy-one list.

 

[Albtraum]

My friend has a Turkish "Escort" pump. Shot it today, no problems what so ever.

 

[carver]

I once bought a cheap single barreled shotgun just to have for those times that a buddy might need a gun to hunt with. It was light weight, and worked perfectly! But it would kick you on your butt in a heart beat! At one time I thought about using it to deer hunt with. So I had to go shoot it to see how it handled 00Buck. Three shots, and I had blood on my white T shirt at the right shoulder. Althought I don't exactly remember what did happen to that gun, I'm sure I either sold it, or gave it away!

 

[hobby_mesa]

Saw 3 nice Benelli's at a lgs today. Prices were 600ish to 1600ish, two were semi auto's

The semi Benelli is a sweet shooter. Good enough for the Corps, good enough for me.
I had a Mossberg pump that was "no good"...well, until I let someone good like josh get his hands on it .

 

[al45lc]

My Co-worker is a big Goose hunter (every weekend and holiday's in the season, and his uncle runs a guide service), he has very definite ideas on semi's and what can take the dirt and grit of gunnin' Geese in field work.
The Browning Gold Hunter doesn't get good grades, Benneli's do as well as most pumps.
But many Goose hunters want the semi's for quick follow up's and recoil reduction of heavy loads for long range.
He's back and forth on Remingtons, his 11-87 has issues, but his uncle's older 1100 doesn't, go figure.