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Joined: Jan 2001
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I purchased one yesterday. Plastic stock, 3 inch 12 gauge, 26 inch barrel.
Purpose; to drag in and out of goose and duck blinds in bad weather and not worry about dings and scratches. I have nice over/under and vintage WingMaster, just don't want to bugger those up.

So this isn't intended to be a family heirloom. If it holds up for five or six seasons I will be good with that. I looked at several inertia guns and the cheap Weatherby looked to be the best bang for the dollar. So I am counting on Weatherby customer service should the need arise. It's packaged with a set of choke tubes including IC, Mod, Full, and a long range extended steel shot tube. It also comes with spacers to adjust length of pull, cast off, and drop.

I disassembled it right out of the box, cleaned and lubricated it. Went to the range with a box of clays, and several boxes of shells of different loads and brands to give it a test run. Started off shooting doubles with Remington pheasant loads; 1 1/4 ounce 7 1/2 shot high brass. Gun ran fine and i broke a dozen clays with the Mod choke.

Next I loaded five Federal turkey loads and broke five clays. Then I loaded five Winchester trap loads 1 1/8 ounce loads, no problem there. Those are the lightest loads I will shoot in a 12 gauge. If I want to shoot one ounce loads I use my 20 gauge guns.

Then I moved on to 3 inch Fast Steel # 2 and some 3 inch Winchester drylocks. No issues there. Finally, I loaded a mix of all those from 1 1/8 ounce up to 3 inch turkey loads of 2 ounce lead shot and 3 inch steel shot. These i fired down range as fast as I could pull the trigger. Not a single hiccup.

I haven't owned an auto loading shotgun since I got rid of a Remington 1100 40 years ago. So yes, the noise and movement of the action is a little distracting. Recoil is much less than the same loads out of my O/U or the Wingmaster.

I don't plan to shoot thousands of rounds on the skeet and trap range with this gun. Ducks and geese and maybe a few pheasants. Hopefully it will hold up to that use.

Next session out I will check it on the pattern board for choke - load evaluation.

If any of you have one of these guns and are not embarrassed to admit it, I'd be interested in hearing your experience with it.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
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1oz loads should shoot just fine in it. You may find they pattern the best.


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Embarrased? Hell no! I own an Element Upland model 12ga 26" barrel and its an excellent shotgun, I consider it as good a gun as my Benelli's just not as pricey....Mine has been an excellent gun, machining is first rate along with fit and finish, it's lightweight, shoots straight and has never failed to function perfectly so whats not to love? I have been very impressed with the ATA and Retay brand Turkish made shotguns 👍....Hb

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I installed the cast off spacer on the gun and checked it on the pattern board yesterday. The full choke tube at 20 yards is dead on point of aim. The IC choke at 35 yards was centered and pretty even. Then I shot a round of skeet with light target loads. No issues there. Today I purchased a Carlson's turkey choke. I like #6 plated lead shot so I got the 0.660 constriction.

Next session will be checking patterns and loads on turkey head targets.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
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Excellent! Keep us posted 👍....Hb

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Put the truglo turkey sights on today. Sighted them in at 15 yards. Those close birds are easy to miss. Impressive patterns with that choke tube.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
Patrick Henry 1775
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Today I got around to checking the long range steel choke tube that came with the element. From 43 yards I got 61 to 69 pellets inside a 30 inch circle with Rio Blue steel 1 1/4 ounce BB at 1400 fps. Kent Fast steel 1 1/8 ounce of BB at 1560 fps gave 54 to 62 pellets into a 30 inch circle.

The Rio Blue steel gave the most evenly spread patterns and with less felt recoil. Do you think those will work for big Canada geese in the decoys?

I plan to try some Heavy Metal shot at 40 yards for use as the third shot in the magazine. Any suggestions?


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
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Those will do just fine. I used steel BBs on geese over decoys for many years.

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Well, I cut one each of those shells open and counted pellets.

The Fast steel 1 1/8 ounce load has 80 pellets. Those are smooth, round, and consistent in size. The powder looks like crap, round flakes like red dot, all clumped together as if it had gotten damp.

The Rio blue steel 1 1/4 ounce load has 85 pellets. consistent size but a little rougher finish. The powder looks good, little gray square flakes that look much more processed.
The wads in both loads are good quality with long cut petals.

Now that I know the pellet count I can see that choke is a tight full on the pattern board. My pattern paper is 36 X 36 inches and each one had 71 pellet holes on the paper.

I also put some new lipstick on that gun. In place of that bright green fiber optic front sight, she now has a nice, silver, round bead. Like a wingshooting gun ought to have. And that gray stock, gone. No more. She now wears a nice formal basic black dress.

Since the Rio Blue Steel patterned best I am going to snag a case of that.
Will be trying some of the heavy shot stuff latter and checking patterns with my duck loads of #3 steel. Might want to use one of the more open choke tubes for the ducks.

Last edited by prairie dog shooter; 06/25/20.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
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Finished pattern testing today. Heavy Metal BB loads pattern the same as the Rio Blue Steel. I will have to try them on birds to tell if those will be any more lethal or effective.

Winchester Dry lock and Winchester Super X #3 loads both patterned well. At 30 yards that Long Range Steel choke is just too tight for ducks in the decoys. But the pattern was well centered. The IC and Modified tubes produced very good patterns with both loads.

The gun, loads and choke selection are ready for waterfowl. Now I just need to decide which lay out blind to get and add a few more canada decoys to my spread. Then we will see how it works in the field.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
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The element is working well on the ducks. Mallards, pintail, and teal in the decoys with the mod choke and #3 steel. I took a spill and the element went into the bottom mud. It cleaned up fine. That is exactly the reason I don't duck hunt with my double barrels. The Canada geese should be here soon. Looking forward to the dry corn field shooting.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
Patrick Henry 1775
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I experienced my first issue with the Element in the duck marsh yesterday morning when the bolt handle fell out somewhere in the water. I'm sure it happened while I was shooting. Using a house key to open the bolt when the chamber was empty, I was able to finish my morning hunt. The gun cycled and fired fine as long as I didn't fire that third shell. In that case, I had to open the bolt to load the chamber.

As soon as I got home I called Weatherby customer service. He explained that I needed to be sure the bolt handle "snapped fully into place" when assembling the gun. Hell, I know that from decades of shooting an 1100.

Any way, he shipped a new bolt handle via over night shipping. Lo and behold it just arrived at 3:00 pm. I just now installed it. This new part "snaps into place" defiantly and decisively. Unlike the original bolt handle, which pushed in fully but didn't seem to lock or "click" into place. Be that as it may.

So, hats off to Weatherby customer service! When I needed them they came through with flying colors! I will be back in the duck marsh in the morning.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
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I shot five big mallards yesterday, letting a few teal land in the decoys unmolested. There were fewer ducks coming in today. They may be getting wary of that spot. The geese are beginning to show up but I haven't yet nailed down which corn field they are using. Cooking up a big pot of duck gumbo Saturday.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
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Hows that shotgun holding up a year later? Thinking about picking up a 20ga for my son.

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Great. No problems and I enjoy shooting it.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke 1795

"Give me liberty or give me death"
Patrick Henry 1775

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