Looking to buy my nephew a Cheap Shotgun for Duck Hunting. He wants something in Camo, of course. If it was for me, I would choose an 870, but it's for him. He's allready has an 870 20ga and wants something different.

Narrowed it down to the Winchester SXP, Mossberg 590, and the Benelli Nova. Help me out with your opinion of those three choices?

870 and Krylon.

Of those three I would go Benelli Nova.

Nova

Yup and then one!!

Dipped!

Nova

If you're gonna buy a benelli, buy a BENELLI. An SBEII. That said the Winchester SXP is a darn good gun for the money

He said "cheap!"

I personally hate the "feel" of the Nova, but like I said, it's not for me. I was heavily favoring the Winchester SXP, before I posted this. But since I'm mainly a Remington guy, that's why I asked for the Campfire survey of who used and liked which of those three choices.

Break the price down over a lifetime of memories...it's cheap that way...and that's the excuse I use

Yep. I'll buy him a much better shotgun when he graduates TAMU. His idea of duck hunting consists of him and his HS buddies puddle jumping stock tanks on farms and ranches.

Don't go getting technical and all on us now. Although, I am in agreement.

Nova with the SXP some distance behind... the Mossberg cannot quite be seen back over the horizon from the other two.

Nova at that price point.

I don't know about the new Mossbergs but mine made in the 80s just keeps on going. That gun has done it all without a hitch.

K80?

If he wants a new and something different then a Nova, Mossberg, or Weatherby?

I don't see why a 870 that he currently has won't work unless he wants a 12 gauge and I would still recommend the 870 or Mossberg over any of the others.

Yep. He wants a 12ga. Duck hunting loads for 20ga are super hard to find here in N. Texas.

Pony up a little more and buy this Beretta Outlander:

Outlander

870

I don't like it's looks much, but the Nova is a shooting' sob.

1100

Versamax sportsman or beretta a300 outlander.

Absolutely. I have seen this shotgun at work in the hands of a few freinds and it is a tremendous value.

3.5 inch shells are not needed often, but they are very useful in some scenario's. I like 3.5 inch Hevi-Shot 2's on Canada Geese. Deadlier and more effective than my old lead loads were decades ago. And the Benelli gives the option of those or shorter shells. As far as I can tell, looks to pattern pretty well but this is just based on field observations. I have not patterned one on a pattern board etc.

I'm a benelli guy, have two of them but I think the nova sux. If benelli ever made a pos its the nova. The winchester is a good pump or a mossberg pump would be my choice. I would take a mossy pump over a new 870 any day.

I got a Mossberg 835 shortly after they came out just for waterfowl hunting. It hasn't missed a beat and was under $250.00 back then.

You asked for a cheap duck gun. Here it is.

http://www.mossberg.com/product/sho...35-ulti-mag-835-ulti-mag-waterfowl/61120

I killed a [bleep] of ducks when I hunted all 60 days of season with a Maverick whatever it is, made by Mossberg. I kept it in the boat at all times and it got beat to crap on days when I didn't want to take my Beretta O/U.

Just looked it up, Maverick 88 and they sell for $186 at Academy. I liked mine so much and it took a beating in the boat, dunked, and several times as a paddle that I eventually had it camo dipped lol. Cheapest shotgun I ever had. My other duck guns are a Benelli Super 90 and my Beretta 686 so I'm not really a cheap gun kind of guy.

870

Nova. It feels odd most likely because you are used to more traditional shotguns. But the Nova just keeps working.

this, plus i really like the shell stop button especially since i rarely sit in a blind and shoot birds and rabbits, getting in and out of a vehicle often makes real handy for clearing the gun....the fact it runs every length of shell without a problem is handy for switching from rabbits to high altitude geese.....for the price its a nice gun, there are better, if i was making a defensive gun ild choose the 870 but for a cheap hunting gun that Nova is going to take alot of abuse even with zero maintenance...i paid under $300 for mine used but looking new....its plastic and feels odd, not what you envision for passing down to the grandkids but there is nothing wrong with them....

20 years ago I bought a Mossberg 500 pump in 12 gauge. I use it for all of my shotgunning needs (upland game, occasional waterfowl, turkey, and occasional trap). For the last 2 years my son has used it for shooting trap at school with a youth stock. It has never let us down.
If he likes tang mounted safeties, get a Mossy 500. If he likes trigger guard safeties, go with a Maverick 88. If camo is necessary, have it dipped or buy some camo tape.

IF he already has an 870 and wants something else I'd go SXP then Nova, but there ain't no flies on the mossberg.

I'd hit a few LGS and pawn shops. There are always decent used shotguns for sale.

Benelli Nova or Winchester 1300!

I don't have any experience with the Nova, but know many who have gone that route and never looked back. I'm an 870 guy and they can be had cheap used, so that's high on my list. The old Mossberg 500 gets laughed at a bit, but they're not bad guns either.

Mossbergs have never been equal to an 870. Ask an armorer servicing them in war to get an idea how much better an 870 is. They are worlds apart functionally.

When Winchester dropped the model 12 they stopped making decent pumps. Nothing since has come close.

The Nova is by far the best of the three listed.

An 870, 12ga. miles

Browning BPS
Franchi

Nova is a 2x6...makes a good paddle though

Mossberg

I had forgotten the great Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag. These are also terrific shotguns and can be found used for around $200. The barrel is seriously backbored and so they pattern just wonderfully. This helps to keep felt recoil down, as well.

I could (and have been) happy with just an 835 Mossberg for all shotgun sports.

That one or the Nova are good choices.

I'd go Nova or a good used auto. I picked up a used AL390 last year for cheap.

I've shot the chit out of a couple Mossbergs. You couldn't give me one.

Yep. Something to be said for familiarity with a platform.

This

Benelli Nova

Not sure about "cheap". Different for different people. For me, a BPS is about the upper end of cheap, but if he does not want an 870 (which would be my first choice), I would say BPS. Nice gun.

I'd go 870 as well, especially if he already has a 20ga. Of those listed I would prefer the SXP, but I still say 870. The Novas forend rattle bugs me to no end.

If you really want to go cheap, get a NEF Pardner pump. They are a direct copy of the 870 and I read somewhere where someone had butchered an 870 and NEF to do tests on the metal and the NEF had better steel in it.

If not opposed to an auto, a used Beretta 390 would be a good choice with a few dollars in Krylon paint.

The 870 is the most reliable, inexpensive pump shotgun that has ever been made (well, okay, the Winnie 12 was right up there with it for reliability and was built with better components, but they can't be used with steel shot). I've had my 870 for many years and have used it in some pretty horrible conditions, and it just keeps on shucking shells with boring regularity. I've never had any kind of hiccup. I can't say that for the Mossbergs that my sons have.
If he doesn't want another 870, though, no use forcing it on him. I haven't shot a Nova but hear good things. If I couldn't go 870 I'd opt for the Nova, I guess.
None of the Winchesters since the Model 12 have impressed me at all.

Not Winchester.

Nova.




Travis

This

How many times you gotta use a shotgun for a paddle before you figure out that, just maybe, there's something wrong with the way you're doing things?

When the Benelli Nova first came out, it seemed to me to be a gun that was marketed to guys who were unwilling to pay over a thousand bucks for a SBE but could still say "I shoot a Benelli." I never warmed up to em'. I love the SBE; and for a pump gun to hunt waterfowl with...I think an 870 in 12 gauge is hard to beat.

Sheeeet, I dun heard real duck hunters us the Kel Tec KSG.

My first thoughts as well, and I have a freshly cerrakoted original SBE with the H&K markings as my one and only shotgun. But, after a couple of my waterfowling freinds grabbed up a couple of the Nova's and continued thier notorious way of gun abuse with NO cleaning or maintenence I changed my tune. Nova or Mossy 835 for me if I had to give up my SBE.

Too bad Dick Cheney isn't a forum member to weigh in on this one..

The three you're looking at are all quality; for me the key to a good hunting shotgun is familiarity of the configuration.

I bought a Mossberg 500 12 ga w/ paper route money in 8th grade. Got a reloader not long after that, shot trap on a league and pretty much everything I could until I went off to college.

I bought my daughter a lovely little 870 in 20 ga and tried to hunt it but couldn't because of the safety location. A bird would get up and I'd go for a tang safety, then fumble for that trigger guard one after the shot op was long gone.

Configuration would be my #1 concern when buying a new shotgun.

I haven't bought a shotgun in many years. Mine is a Winchester 1300 and it's been a dandy. How's the quality on them in recent years?

Any one of those three would work just fine. But you've got to take HIM shopping with you to buy it. HE has to hold it, mount it, see how it feels to HIM. Something very simple and basic could be the deal maker/breaker for him on any gun - position of safety, drop at comb, length of pull, style of rib, etc. We can't decide for him.

28" barrel, multi-chokes, 3" chamber are the basic requirements.

When my grandson wanted to get on the school trap team We went through my shotguns looking for something he was comfortable with.

He tried a Browning BPS upland special, Winchester M12,Ithaca 37 and a Winchester 1200 and a beater Mossberg M500 I bought to be a truck gun.

For him the Mossberg was the one that fit him the best and he shot the heck out of it.

Let him try a few at the gun shop and see what fits him best.

Find me a duck hunter in south Louisiana where there are lots of duck hunters that hasn't done it and I'll show you someone that doesn't duck hunt.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...mp;familyName=Caviness+RD+Series+Paddles


BIG DIFFERENCE!

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=458149734

Buy a paddle.

I can tell you don't duck hunt where you wind up using your gun as a paddle because the boat you are in isn't really in water to begin with, they make special boats, motors etc...just to get there and a flimsy ass paddle ain't going to do schit if you get stuck. I carry 16 foot push pole and if you lose it - you're using your gun.

You're not going to push a 20' boat with 2-4 people on board, plus gear, decoys etc..out thru 1/2" of water and 2 feet of mud with one of those "paddles".

But you know, it's only the terminous for the largest flyway in the country and leads in the nation in ducks harvested annually.

You're not going to be able to paddle it with a paddle, but a shotgun works just fine? Doesn't really matter how big the flyway is or how many ducks are shot. What's that got to do with managing your boat right? I hunt big water and bad water in a 20 foot boat right up to the bitter end when the temps are in the single digits and a lot of the water is getting hard. I make damn sure I've got my boat set up so I don't end up using a shotgun as a paddle.

He should get a camo 870 so that he has platform familiarity.

Otherwise, the NOVA will run forever, but the controls are different than the 870 that he owns.

If he wants something nice, he could get an Ithaca 37 Magnum and have the familiarity as his 870 but in a nicer package.

My first question would be...why does he want something "different"? Gauge? The finish? Does he just want something "new"? If he's young, he probably needs something in 3.5", just so he can get that dumb idea out of the way, so I vote Mossberg. Then get him an old A5 in a few years. He'll keep that forever.

Flippin' aye...! Best advise yet. Auto-5's are the sweetest recoil shotgun ever. Every shotgun aficionado should have one. Nuthin' has the feel of an Auto-5. When that action slams shut, nuthin' sounds like an Auto-5 either. Great advice and a truly great shotgun.

I've got an 870 and a Nova plus nicer shotguns like the SX3 and a Browning but the more I think about it, it's just hard to beat the 870 and he already works it automatically he knows where things are I'd just bump him up to the 870 12 ga. Is he looking for a pump or a semi? Lot's of difference in pricing.

Get him a model 12 shooter. Best economy repeating shotgun there is. ;-{>8

Nice thing about the 870 is so much stuff is available, starting with an open-choked slug or buck barrel, seems like it can answer a number of needs and be useful forever.

I had to scratch that A-5 itch many years ago, and found I just didn't like that gun. It just didn't feel right to me for some reason, I can't even put my finger on it. Sadly, I let that gun go away. Now, I wish I'd just hung on to that classic, old humpback. I want one again. I have no problem with the 500 for the average user. IF the guy's gnna hunt it real hard though, I think he should go with an 870. There's just about every imaginable accessory available for them, and they're just a darned good gun for the price.

With what you've listed, I'd get him a Mossberg 835. They'll run forever, are reliable, pattern well, and are American made.

Only pumps I own are 870s and BPSs. My choice is the BPS by far. I've shot or handled most of the others listed. The only others I'd consider owning would be the Win Model 12 or the Ithaca 37. Had a Nova, couldn't give me another. New Winchesters and Mossbergs just feel cheap to me.

Years ago I was looking for a cheap duck gun and ended up buying a Semi-auto Escort shotgun. Much easier to shoot heavy loads all day than with a pump. It gave me absolutely zero problems. Sold it when I found a great deal on a Beretta Extrema. I still own that one, along with an A-5 Magnum.

Why cheap?

Mossberg bolt action! It'll do!

870 express. Why does he want something different than the 870???? Maverick 88?....



No truer words have ever been spoken...BINGO..

The one that fits him the best, that way he will have a better chance of actually hitting something. Shotguns are all about fit, Not just length ,but height at comb and cast or at least feel of face on comb......

Of the 3 you listed, no question, the Nova. 870s aren't what they used to be by a long shot. Mossberg, well, what's the point?

Used I'd look at a Beretta A390. Great duck gun and can be found at a reasonable price. I'd also take a look at the Stoeger 3500. Benelli guts, 3.5" capabilities, low price point.