So I was perusing the shotgun section at my local shop today, looking at nice wood/blue offerings to see what had come in on trade. Wasn't looking at semis, but my buddy behind the counter handed me the new Stoeger 3020. I hadn't even heard of it, but it reminds me a heck of a lot of my Franchi Affinity. Light weight, comes up to the shoulder well, slim forend, and just plain feels pretty OK. They had it priced at $500 which seems to be pretty good for what you get. Not as pretty or as nicely finished as a Benelli or Franchi, but plenty good for a working gun. Don't know much about Stoegers and never owned one. Thoughts?

Stoeger 3020

I think the stoeger is turkey where franchi's are Italian and on the benelli line.
I bought a franchi affinity because the dealers that stock Benelli, franchi, and stoeger seem to indicate the franchi is the better performing and strips down better too.

Hard to beat that price, but you can get good deals on Franchi once in a while. I don't think you could go too bad with the stoeger though.

It would be a great 3-gun shotgun for my kids.

I thought of my kids as well. Shop manager couldn't find where they offered a youth stock for it yet. I see on their website they have a "compact" version, but it doesn't have any details such as LOP.

I think it is so new they will be vaporware for a while.

I have seen and handled one as well. I agree it comes up nice, and feels good. They are around $550 at the shop I saw them at.
For general use I think they would be great, for hard core competition, I am not sure if/how well they would hold up.

Jesse Tischauser is running a m3000 on the pro circuit.

If that is the case, then why spend twice as much for the "B" brother?
Not saying it is a bad gun, but what corners did they cut to get the price cut in half? Does the extra cost of the the "B" gun just go into marketing, just wondering?

It is made in Turkey. I assume when he can buy 3 for every Benelli, it makes some sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBkOXD35tY

Not familar with that model Stoeger but one of my sons owned a Stoeger 2000, 3000 & 3500. All were "rough" and had feeding or extraction issues. All were sold.

I've handled, fired and hunted with Stogers, owned Franchi's and currently have 2 SBE II, 2 M2 and 1 Legacy Benelli's. IMO there is only 1 brand of recoil operated shotgun worth owning and shooting - Benelli.

For the small price difference I bought the Franchi Affinity. The Affinity is made on the same assembly line as a Benelli.The Stoeger is made in Turkey and is not the same inertia action. It is rougher and will have a lesser resale.

I don't think there is any argument that the Benelli is a better gun.