I appreciate everyone's feedback and suggestions. Went out Thursday night and Sunday to Cabela’s and Sportsman’s WH to try as many different guns as could be found - pump, semi-auto and O/U. As before, too many of them just don’t point well for me, including a very nice Beretta 391 12 gauge. Several of them had cast off for a right hander so once again I was looking down the right side of the barrel. The various Benelli semi-autos are very nice and lightweight (and spendy) and handled well but still just a bit off when mounted, I end up looking a bit over the barrel and have to scrunch my cheekbone down hard on the comb. Only found one 1100 at all, a .410 and as far as I could see it’s still built on a 12 gauge frame, at least it was far more bulky than one would imagine for that skinny barrel.
But once again, a 20 gauge 870 found at SWH fits perfectly and is definitely lighter than even the .410 1100. A natural mount puts my eye looking squarely down the center of the barrel with both beads lined up.
The most practical choice would be to stick with my tried and true 1100, it has never failed me. A couple years ago I bought a new Rem-choke barrel for it to allow more versatility than the original Mod barrel but patterning shows it shoots a tad low and right, not sure how to correct that. The fixed Mod barrel patterns are centered on the bead.
While a 20 gauge might cost a few targets that’s not a huge deal, even when I was shooting trap or skeet fairly regularly I was a 22-24 bird shooter on a good day. Been a rifle/handgun shooter 98% and a shotgun shooter 2% most of my life even though I do enjoy the action of shotgun targets. Part of what prompted me to think of a new gun is that our local rifle range which I had enjoyed immensely for several years seems to be undergoing some nasty changes due to what appears to be a power hungry, controlling petty government bureaucrat locking everything down and issuing edicts right and left. However, a really nice shotgun range is literally 60 seconds further down the road (Boise Gun Club for those in the area) so I was thinking of a bit of a paradigm shift in my shooting hobby.
I guess mostly here I was looking for justification for a new toy and a used 870 seems like a good way to try one out without too much outlay, and being so ubiquitous they are not that hard to sell should it not work out. Plus, a few years ago a fellow gave me four full boxes of various 20 gauge loads, mostly Winchester in the old red and yellow boxes, so thinking like a rifle loony I need a 20 gauge shotgun to go with them…
