General Purpose 12 GA Semi Auto Shotgun

[WDW]

I'm in the market for a quality semi auto Shotgun capable of handling 3" shells. I've looked at the offerings from Benelli, Browning, Beretta, & Franchi & frankly cannot decide. Each has features I like, but that one gun that has it all has eluded me. This will be used for birds, turkey, & skeet. Any recommendations? Remington & Mossberg need not apply.

[ranger]

Look at the new Stoeger 3000 (not the 2000).

[WDW]

I'm sure they're fine, but I just don't trust guns made in Turkey....surely you understand.

[LSP972]

There's a reason that Beretta dominates the semi-auto-shooting crowd in sporting clays. I think Benelli brings up a distant second place.

If I could only have one of my shotguns, for the purposes you state, it would be my 3901. Works on birds, living & otherwise, and its 26.5" barrel is short enough for turkey blinds and, in a pinch, home defense.

Beretta gas guns have a well-deserved reputation for running basically forever with little or no cleaning. I'm not familiar with the new series, but I am quite familiar with the recently-replaced 300/391 series gas guns, and they are amazing; their chief drawback being no room to extend magazine capacity because of the way the gas piston is set up.

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[DocGKR]

Definitely Beretta for what you describe.

[WDW]

I really like the A400. It's been a toss up between that and a Benelli M2 or Montefeltro. Also considering a 24" 1300 Comp. The loss of extra barrel length really isn't an issue except for the loss of sight radius given the burn rate of modern powders.

[LOKNLOD]

I really like the A400. It's been a toss up between that and a Benelli M2 or Montefeltro. Also considering a 24" 1300 Comp. The loss of extra barrel length really isn't an issue except for the loss of sight radius given the burn rate of modern powders.

I've shot sporting clays a couple times with my 21" 1300 Comp. I'd grab a A400 in a heartbeat if I wanted a more purposeful dedicated "sporting" gun.

[shootist26]

I'm not a huge shotgun guy, so to save money and space in my safe, I picked up a Beretta AL391 with 28" barrel as my one "sporting" shotgun. I use it to shoot trap, skeet, and sporting clays. I am learning how to bird hunt in the near future as well so I will be using it for that too.

Very reliable, lightweight, and shootable. I talked to a lot of more experienced people and they all recommended it as a versatile sporting gun.

[vaspence]

You can't go wrong with either the Browning, Beretta or Benelli. I like the 24" barrel length in a semiauto for hunting. My go to shotgun for years has been a 24" Benelli SBE (ducks, geese, turkeys and a lot of deer). Its a workhorse and also very close in length to my 26" barreled Citori.

[DocGKR]

My 24" 1301 is quite nice--in addition to what you listed, if you have any interest in 3-gun, the 1301 24" would be the way to go. Otherwise, the A400 is also quite nice.