Well, I got broke into a year ago and lost my Remington 870 I've had for 28 years. Time to get a new shotgun. I love to hunt ducks, but do a little upland and skeet shooting. I'm seriously looking at a Benelli Double Black Eagle. Any thoughts?
Getting a new Shotgun
- Thread starter Deepfork
- Start date
I know Benellis are the bomb and all, but I have always had a thing for some of the old Ithaca shotguns.
My all around 12 g shotgun, the one I have used for skeet shooting with friends and for bird hunting is an old early 70s model Ithaca XL900 semi auto made by SKB of Japan for Ithaca. I only see one on Gunbroker as of now. Not really anything expensive, and it's a gun my dad bought for me back when I was about 13.
It's smooth as hell and it never fails me. Handles everything I throw in it. The one on Gunbroker is at $399 for a starting bid, looks like new.
Just throwing that out there, I'm sure you are looking at something a bit more substantial and new.
I have shot next to guys with really expensive shotguns, they usually end up shooting my Ithaca and loving it. I've got a 1949 Model 37 Ithaca pump 16 gauge...I love it because it does a couple of things...it ejects from the bottom and I can hold the trigger and slam fire it, emptying the gun on a single trigger pull while working the action. Again, another gun that I inherited from my dad.
My all around 12 g shotgun, the one I have used for skeet shooting with friends and for bird hunting is an old early 70s model Ithaca XL900 semi auto made by SKB of Japan for Ithaca. I only see one on Gunbroker as of now. Not really anything expensive, and it's a gun my dad bought for me back when I was about 13.
It's smooth as hell and it never fails me. Handles everything I throw in it. The one on Gunbroker is at $399 for a starting bid, looks like new.
Just throwing that out there, I'm sure you are looking at something a bit more substantial and new.
I have shot next to guys with really expensive shotguns, they usually end up shooting my Ithaca and loving it. I've got a 1949 Model 37 Ithaca pump 16 gauge...I love it because it does a couple of things...it ejects from the bottom and I can hold the trigger and slam fire it, emptying the gun on a single trigger pull while working the action. Again, another gun that I inherited from my dad.
Here's some of my shotguns. The top one is my Winchester Marine 1300 (gift from dad), then a Mossberg bolt action 185D 20 gauge (dads bird gun from the 50s), then my Ithaca that I talked about above, and finally my Savage model 24 .357 magnum/20 gauge (one of the first guns I bought for myself after really getting back into guns hard and heavy).
I sometimes wish I hadn't scoped the Savage when I shoot the shotgun barrel...but then I hit a quarter at 50 yards with the rifle barrel and I remember why I left it on there...
I'm in the minority, but I prefer an over/under for most of my hunting.
I did take a Browning Citori on a duck hunt in Lousiana a few years back and got a little bog water on the barrel. The water had burned through the bluing by the time we got back to the lodge so I would buy a more duck specific gun if I were to get more into duck/goose hunting.
I don't have any advice on a specific weapon but you might think about a shotgun that it is easy to change barrels on for upland and duck hunting. That way you can trim a lot of weight off the shotgun for when you're walking. I did that with a Browning BPS shotgun I had years ago. Also, the Browning BPS ejects and loads from the bottom so it is ambidextrous. Also, that also means spent casings are ejected into your blind/boat which makes collecting them easier.
Just some thoughts I had.
I did take a Browning Citori on a duck hunt in Lousiana a few years back and got a little bog water on the barrel. The water had burned through the bluing by the time we got back to the lodge so I would buy a more duck specific gun if I were to get more into duck/goose hunting.
I don't have any advice on a specific weapon but you might think about a shotgun that it is easy to change barrels on for upland and duck hunting. That way you can trim a lot of weight off the shotgun for when you're walking. I did that with a Browning BPS shotgun I had years ago. Also, the Browning BPS ejects and loads from the bottom so it is ambidextrous. Also, that also means spent casings are ejected into your blind/boat which makes collecting them easier.
Just some thoughts I had.
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I have an old Mossberg bolt just like yours in 410 that was my first gun. Love that little thing.
Neat ain't they? I have all the little choke tips and wrench for it as well. I think I have two of the 2 shot magazines. They don't list as bringing very much at auction and for sale, but this one at least seems to be a solid old gun, it makes clays a challenge swinging that bolt. My brother has a nickel plated Mossberg .410 from about the same time period that's bolt action.
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