Recovering Handgunner...
Greetings fellow Shotgun Enthusiasts!
Shawn from Kansas City here. I am a Recovering Handgunner. For the last 30yrs, I've been all about handguns. The only shotgun I owned was a Remington 870 SuperMag. My Brother-In-Law took me TrapShooting out at the Kenmore Gun Club in Washington and I WAS HOOKED!
My BiL invited me to their annual Dove Hunt in Eastern Washington, but said I needed to come ready to shoot some birds. I came home, bought a Winchester SXP Upland Field and found a shooting coach who loved the fact that I didn't want to be a competitive clays shooter...I wanted to be an Upland bird hunter.
After a lot of stink-eye from the old guys at the gun club about my flying shells from the SXP, I traded a never fired, new in the box 1950's Cowboy Colt at a local gunstore for a vintage 1971 Remington 1100 12g. I'm sure the shop owner got the better deal...but I got utility over a cool cowboy pistol that just sat in the safe. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that shotgun...and the LPGWorks knockdown kept the stink eyes at bay while I learned the nuances of a semi-auto.
Because of my emphasis on Upland, my shooting coach was able to do all kinds of fun bird hunting drills with me. Low Gun to Mount on the Trap Field. Standing out in the middle of the 5-Stand and he gets to randomly pick targets. Sitting on a bucket Sporting Clays. All were extremely helpful in getting me ready for my first Dove hunt.
The Dove Hunt was a blast! We only harvested 45 birds...but herein lies the challenge with a middle of the week opener, and being the only folks on HUNDREDS of acres of wheat field. There were no other hunters to drive the birds around...AND...Eastern Washington had a very hot summer so they had to cut the wheat beginning of August. Weeds and sage brush had started infiltrating the fields.
I've been steadily selling handguns to fund my shotgun addiction. That Remington 870 SuperMag? I replaced the synthetic stock and forend with a laminate stock and forend, added a 28in barrel...Now I have a Wingmaster SuperMag (🤣)
Now, I'm getting ready to head out on my first Pheasant Hunt to North Dakota with my trusty A400 Upland Field and my Winchester 101 Upland (btw...if anybody knows anybody who has the Maple version and is looking to sell...reach out to me).
Until next time...
Hey Shawn, welcome. Awesome to hear about your journey as an upland hunter. Let us know how you like that A400 when you get out to ND for pheasants. When are you going? I will be hunting ND in December.
Steve Gould We'll be at the Coteau des Prairies Lodge ( https://cdplodge.com/ ) for 5 days of Pheasant Hunting. I am excited to see how the A400 does...I've got it choked LM just out of convenience. So far, I have LOVED it for Doves. I'll also have my Winchester 101 Upland...but I think with all that field walking, the A400 is the much lighter option...plus 3 shots is always better than 2.
Shawn, that’s awesome. I love the A400 series. I am thinking about getting an A400 Solo next. I made my friends husband buy her one as her first shotgun ever… 1. Because of the A400 and Beretta reputation, and B. Because selfishly I wanted to try it out, haha. Both of us have yet to try it out, but I did just give it its first out of the box, break-down cleaning so she is ready to go.
Lauren Roach I think you are going to love it! It runs really clean and cleaning the piston is pretty easy...just soak it in some brake fluid and copper brush it. I enjoy how light it is, and that Kickoff Recoil Mgmt System is legit! Perceived Recoil with the 12g is somewhere between pillow and marshmallow! We'll see if that changes with #5 and 1400fps.
Thanks. I do have every single A400 (upland, xcel, xplor, xtreme plus), but I was looking at the new solo (The proclaimed end all, do all, be all). Curious how that holds up to the new AX800 Suprema. The AX800 looks cool. I went to look at it and though it says its hi-tech polymer receiver claims it will withstand the test of time, to me it looked too toy-like for a $2600 gun. I was expecting, I guess more "gusto" per se for the "hi-tech" polymer. But that is just me. If anyone else is reading this and has both the AX800 and the A400 Solo, let me know your thoughts. Is the price difference worth going with the AX800??? Steve Gould, if you are reading this, maybe a shotgun showdown, or comparison show could be put in order???
Shawn Riedel, I went the opposite way with my 870 Express. Sold the handsome OEM laminate stocks and put on a full length OEM synthetic fore-grip and Magpul SGA butt stock to allow better overall fit. Adjustable length of pull and changeable combs, with the 4 barrels I have, and all the after marker parts and accessories available out there = endless combos. Eventually a set of Boyd’s laminate stocks will be back in the collection. What’d you go with?
Tom Carnahan Nothing fancy. Just a set that a friend at KB5 Gun Parts Room ( KB5 Gun Parts Room ) had. I wanted a "guest" gun for when I take newbies out to the gun club for some Trap or Sporting.