I haven't owned a nice shotgun in a long time. They were sold when my kids were born and I've been hunting with some old beaters for the past ten years.
I decided since I will be turning 40 this year and I actually have some money available that I would treat myself to a new upland gun.
I would be using this gun on Pheasants,Woodcock and Grouse.
My local gun shop was very helpful and patient today and let me handle a bunch of really nice guns. My budget is around $1000 give or take and either a 12g or 20g.
Two guns that really stood out for me were the Benelli Montefeltro 20g and the Franchi Instinct L 20g. Both guns are lightweight and shoulder nicely. The Franchi feels a bit nicer in the hand IMO though.
One thing I did notice on shouldering the Montefeltro is that I am literally just staring at the bead (no rib visible when I shoulder and aim) When I shoulder and aim the Franchi a tiny bit of the rib is visible. I am not sure how this would effect my shooting from one gun to the other.
If anyone has an opinion on these two models or other models I should consider please let me know.
Some other guns I handled were
Benelli ultralight 12g
Benelli M2 20g
Franchi Instinct SL 20g
Winchester 101 12g
Franchi Affinity 12g
Personally, I would go with the Franchi Affinity in 20 gauge. I own one and it is a sweet shooting pop gun. I don't see the need for a 12 gauge when you say "upland". The 20 gauge is lighter and slimmer. The plain-jane Affinity is $699 and $100 more for the fancy camo. Comes with a shim kit if you want to adjust drop and cast. And comes with 3 chokes.
There are only two nits I have with the Affinity: (1) The recoil pad has a dogleg in it, so it is pretty much custom ($56 for pad and insert to change LOP) as they don't sell spacers. (2) There is a detent pin for the magazine cap. Pin lives in a hole in the mag tube ring of the barrel. Pin isn't always peened to hold it captive, so it is easy to lose when removing barrel.
Great trigger. Fast and reliable cycling whether 2 3/4 trap or 3" waterfowl death-ray loads. Mine never misses a beat.
