@Ontario Hunter - I’ve heard good things about the reliability of Beretta 400s and from a high volume duck hunter I know that shot the 300 for ducks - it jammed frequently in cold/wet conditions. He said the 400 was much better but still switched to SBE3 and claimed it was “much better”. That has also been my experience with the SBE 1 - it is as close to a “Never jam—-rarely clean” gun as I’ve seen. I would still clean it after hunting in rain and also because most of my waterfowl are shot over tidal Salt Water. Very pleased with it for hunting but there are better guns for Clays (although the SBE is adequate and certainly “reliable”
@BeeMaa: certainly Kreighoff does and you can’t go to a shoot and Not notice the number of them. I have only heard about Kolar quality but based on their high price assume they are good - even if Not as popular yet. Beretta DT11 and their brand new model are well reviewed, Browning does Not appear to be a player with the Top shooters except for a few in Europe where they are sold with fixed chokes but the 725 is very popular at the shoots i attend …just don’t notice them used by the Top shooters but there are a number of them at every shoot…that could be because they sell for only $3300-$3800. I know I like my Browning 425 (20 years old, 30,000 rounds) and still shoot it a little better then my new Caesar but that doesn’t mean its a better quality gun —- fits like an old friend!
If I could shoot 100 strait with a Stoeger, I’d probably be able to do the same with something much better looking.
If you could shoot 100 straight with a Stoeger, you could walk on water. I watched one go full auto on the clays range a couple of years ago ... twice. Yikes!
The issues were very common for high volume shooters but the 1100 and 11-87 were two of the best of their time. Don't get me wrong, most all the top shooters were using 1100's in those days but we all had tool kits to keep them running. Shooting sports cause a lot of companies to change or they will not be used by competitors. High volume bird hunting in Argentina is also a big proving grounds for what will hold up.
I have a 20g Montefeltro that my wife uses for most of her shooting. Superb gun and I highly recommend it to anyone. The only thing I dislike is that there are too many plastic pieces.
@Ridge Runner - if You have NEVER had a problem or jam with a Rem 1100 - go buy a Lottery Ticket today because You might be 1 in 100millon. Great soft shooting guns and they ruled skeet fields in the 1970s but they did require cleaning.
@Saul my Son and I have 3 Montefeltros (2/12ga & 1/20ga). All are 20-25 years old and function flawlessly on skeet & hunting. We hunt waterfowl in Winter with them too and after 20 years I did need to replace a spring in the stock that “rusted” badly…it was an easy fix and replaced with a stainless steel spring. I don’t recall much plastic on these older guns and our stocks are wood. Here are minor problems we’ve had: I dropped and bent the vent rib (from impact) on my 12 ga (my fault). My Son put 25,000+ rounds thru his 20 ga and cracked his stock - replaced for a few hundred $$. They can break but they never jam.
Mine is wood stock, and I think the wood is exceptional. I was referring to the trigger guard being plastic, which always felt cheap to me.
Agree, plastic = cheap and Benelli did that to the Super Black Eagles too after 2000, the trigger guard on my Son’s SBE2 has some composite material that i do Not have on my SBE1 and his trigger needed two repairs in the first 7 years. I’ve heard that the SBE3 is better made than the SBE2 and think Benelli got many complaints about the SBE2. I would not hesitate to buy a good used SBE1 or Montefeltro from 1990s over a New one.
I owned a SBE2 and didn't experience any issues other than the Benelli "click" a couple of time. Of course they sorted that out with the SBE3.
Sounds like there’s a pretty decent group of AH members who frequent a couple of those ranges or courses, probably even more in the Austin or Houston areas. Might be worth trying to plan an afternoon or weekend clay shoot at some point for a bunch of AH members.
Excellent idea.
