Favorite Upland Shotgun?

[NDGuy]

Looking to get into a Benelli Montefeltro, Franchi Affinity, or a Weatherby Element in 20ga. Anyone have experience with either of these guns?

What are some other suggestions? Lookin in that $800-$1100 range.

My local shop has a new Element in 20ga for $699. Pretty tempted...

 

[Arcola]

Love my Beretta A400, Very similar to the Benelli you're looking at. Thousands of rounds each year with very minimal upkeep. Almost negligent if I'm being honest, but it keeps going and going. The kick-off stock is great if you're shooting a lot in one day. I have no experience with the other two you're considering, but have had my share of shotguns throughout the years.

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I would think that all three would be pretty excellent guns. To me it would all come down to how it fits. I grew up shooting an 870 and the Benellis just seem to be around the same size or something so it didn't take much getting used to for me.

 

[Sawtooth]

Benelli Ultralite in the semi auto category. Light weight, well balanced and fits me well.

 

[NDGuy]

Benelli Ultralite in the semi auto category. Light weight, well balanced and fits me well.

I do like the UL but not sure it's worth $500 more than the Monte.

 

[Don Fischer]

My favorite is an AyA matador SxS in 28ga. It's like a two shot auto, it'll fire off two rounds as fast as any semi auto. The only semi auto I've ever had was a Browning Double Auto 12ga. Have shot a number of different one's but none was in the same class as that old Browning! I didn't even care for the Browning A5.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Can’t go wrong with monte for the money. They will shoot forever.

 

[Ben Lamb]

The Montefeltro if you want a semi auto. Hold out for decent wood though. They exist.

If you up your budget a bit, look at the Ethos in 20. Feather-light and swings very nice.

 

[406LIFE]

I can't say anything bad about my versamax. only time its not ideal is in the woods that are thick, but open country it swings great.

 

[MJE2083]

Montefeltro works good for me. Never had an issue with mine.

 

[BrentD]

This is my "new" favorite upland bird gun.

Have you considered maybe not buying something new off the rack?

 

[NoWiser]

I have a 20 Montefeltro and I absolutely love it. It’s a great woodcock gun but seems to have issues with grouse. I’m sure it’s not me...

 

[El Jason]

I’m with BrentD

 

[BrentD]

Beautiful!

I could no more buy a new shotgun off the rack than I could throw 10 Benjamins down the toilet. Actually, the latter would be harder.

 

[Rancho Loco]

JFC, Brent, do you ever stop offgassing?

As for the options in the OP, I've run the Affinity 20 ga. for 2 seasons, love it. I hope to take it after Chukars this year.. Buddy of mine got one also, and compared it to his Benelli M2 and he feels cheated that he paid that much for the Benelli.

 

[BrentD]

JFC, Brent, do you ever stop offgassing?

Care to translate that? Or is this just the way you offgas?

 

[Don Fischer]

This is my "new" favorite upland bird gun.

Have you considered maybe not buying something new off the rack?

Very very nice!

 

[NDGuy]

This is my "new" favorite upland bird gun.

Have you considered maybe not buying something new off the rack?

What is that? Nice gun. I have an O/U Franchi Instinct already but another break action would be fun too. I was just leaning more towards a Semi-Auto 20.

 

[NDGuy]

As for the options in the OP, I've run the Affinity 20 ga. for 2 seasons, love it. I hope to take it after Chukars this year.. Buddy of mine got one also, and compared it to his Benelli M2 and he feels cheated that he paid that much for the Benelli.

I will definitely give it a hard look. The $999 doesn't bother me if it's worth the extra features.

 

[Rancho Loco]

You can't go wrong with the Benelli. If you look at them side by side, though.. It's pretty obvious they came from the same factory. But I'm a cheap bastard and thus went for the Affinity over the M2 which I was also looking at. Is the Monte worth an extra few hundred bucks? I can't say yes.

I even got some pretty nice wood on my Affinity, if that kind of thing is important to you.