Gun Dog Forum

Anyone have any experience with the Franchi semi autos? I used to hunt with my stepdad's when I was younger and it was a great grouse gun in close due to fixed IC choke. Just wondering how the newer models perform with the choke system, recoil, etc....? I've always shot 12 gauge, but I'm interested in the 20 as well. Sure wish 16 gauge was more readily available these days.

Ive got a buddy who shoots an older franchi 20ga that his grandfather gave him some years ago, in my opinion it is alot better firearm than the newer ones. the only newer Franchi that I have shot is the I-12 and its a nice gun but It doesnt have the feel of the older ones Ive used.
Jim

I suppose when it comes to auto loaders everyone is shooting Benelli or Beretta these days?

My buddy shoots an old franchi , been a good gun but he doesn't use it exclusively. He's got a ton
of shotguns. I shoot an older Browning B-80 which is basically the same as a beretta 303 and predecessor
to the 391. That said I shoot an old winchester pump more than anything.

My brother shoots an I 12 and loves it, he shoots it really well. Seems like a great gun.

I have several shotguns myself. An old 1100, 870, a Citori and an old Winchester over and under. I also have an old Winchester 1400 IC 20 gauge that's a ball to shoot, and a few others mostly suited for Turkey hunting. I'd like to have a nice upland semi auto for my collection. Any good suggestions? Doesn't matter what brand.

redman25 wrote: I'd like to have a nice upland semi auto for my collection. Any good suggestions? Doesn't matter what brand.

Beretta 303 20ga.

12 gauge Benelli Ultra-Light with the 24" barrel.....grouse to pheasant to a shot or two at turkeys(add a Kick-eze). Bit much for woodcock.
No finer semi-auto now.

20 Beretta 391 with the 24" barrel....ditto sans turkey(tho it would work there as well on some shots). The trigger group is a pain to remove tho.

Classic....Remington model 11 in any gauge...or the A-5...or the 1100...or the SX.

I had a couple of friends shoot the 303 at Registered Trap...they loved them...course they both carried two guns and had one in the rack for a spare as they shot...probably be fine as a hunting gun.

Odd how we all have different experiences. I never found a Browning gas auto that felt less than a 2X4 and an Remington 11-87 was the singularly worst gun that I ever owned....parts sheared off but many folks swear by them.

The standard Benelli Montefeltro is another nice one. It looks like they are selling for a little below $1,000, new.

I've had great luck with a Browning Gold. You can often sneak up on one barely used for a good price. They came with cosmoline on some internal parts. The instructions say clearly that it has to be cleaned off first. Of course, people didn't do it and they jammed right away and people promptly sell them. You then follow the instructions and have a great shotgun for a good price.

here is a good article on 20 auto's
http://randywakeman.com/20GaugeAutoloaderComparison.htm

I have a Franchi 48al ultralight. I love it. Bought it when I was 19. Twenty years ago. I just keep going back to it.

A good buddy of mine bought a 20 g Franchi a couple of years back because he liked how light it was. The gun does handle pretty good in the field but after less than 5 season of fairly hard hunting, the thing has completely fallen apart. The forearm is lose and cannot be tightened without sending it back to the factory, which he did and it came lose again. The manual bolt lever (not sure what the exact right term is) fell off in the field in Montana and had to be worked with Leatherman the rest of the trip. I am not sure about the older models but after seeing what happened to his, I gave up on the thought of buying one for my wife.

I always thought it was built on the same principles of the actions in the Benelli's but it must be a dumbed down version as I have never heard of anyone having this happen on one of those.

I've got to go with mcbosco on this one. My wife and I each use our Montefelro 20 ga as our first choice (but under $900, might have to take a trip to New Jersey) using our other shotgun's as back-ups. Would like to try the new Benelli Legacy 28 gauge at 4.9 pounds.

As you know fit is what really matters.

My go-to gun is a Beretta 391 20 ga., 26" or 28" barrel. It fits the same as the 303 with some improvements. I use it on upland game until very late in the year when there are more long shots at heavily plumed birds. One brother prefers either his Benelli 20 ga. SBE or 20 ga. M1. Berettas fit me. The Benelli with the higher ventilated rib fits my brother better. He doesn't like the fit of the Montefeltro with the lower rib. To each his own.

Do more of my hunting with an O/U now but I used a Franchi AL48 20 bought in the early 90s for some years and still use it for grouse/woodcock hunting. Have not had any trouble with it other than it was hard to get live shells out of it at the end of a hunt for a few years, seems to have loosened up now and that works better. I have cycled heavy and light loads through it.

Mine is the 24" version--VERY light. I'd probably get a 26" if I had to do it again but it is really slick in the woods with the 24" barrel. I've handled most all of them and my belief is that there is no lighter/trimmer feeling auto out there.

I like the older ones a lot and might spring for one in 12 gauge as a back up one of these days. They are only made in 20 and 28 today.

bossman wrote:I've got to go with mcbosco on this one. My wife and I each use our Montefelro 20 ga as our first choice (but under $900, might have to take a trip to New Jersey) using our other shotgun's as back-ups. Would like to try the new Benelli Legacy 28 gauge at 4.9 pounds.

That is a great gun, classic, proven, reasonable....a little under $1,000, I wish it was under $900.

Wish I lived in a world where a little under a thousand sounded reasonable. I just bought a used Winchester last year for 250 and it kills a bird just as dead as those 1000 ones. That to me sounded reasonable.

Ezzy

ezzy333 wrote:Wish I lived in a world where a little under a thousand sounded reasonable. I just bought a used Winchester last year for 250 and it kills a bird just as dead as those 1000 ones. That to me sounded reasonable.

Ezzy

For once something sensible out of you

I have a prewar Ithaca 37 that my grandfather bartered for a case of cigarettes and some stockings he grabbed off the docks. Now that was reasonable.

mcbosco wrote:

bossman wrote:I've got to go with mcbosco on this one. My wife and I each use our Montefelro 20 ga as our first choice (but under $900, might have to take a trip to New Jersey) using our other shotgun's as back-ups. Would like to try the new Benelli Legacy 28 gauge at 4.9 pounds.

That is a great gun, classic, proven, reasonable....a little under $1,000, I wish it was under $900.

Around here you can buy a well used 20 ga Monte for $550 to $600. It's hard to beat em for durability, ease of maintenance and handling quality afield. Very light and slim. The only thing I don't like about them is that the recoil can be very harsh with heavy loads. With field loads for upland, they shoot like a dream.

I shoot the winchester x2 and like it but it is heavy and if i had a choice i would go with the benneli inertia system. in all the semi auto's i have been around it is usually the gas systems that jam most often. if just upland hunting or do not need the 3 1/2 chamber the monefeltro is a fantastic gun. I shoot a lot of waterfowl and upland and i only shoot 1 gun. i recommend most of all to pull all your options up to the shoulder and find the one that fits.

Before I went more traditional and switched to O/U's and a SxS I shot mostly all autos. The 2 best I ever owned were an older model 2 3/4 inch fixed choke 12 gauge Remington 1100 that I bored out to IC with a choke bore and a Baikal semi auto in 12 gauge. The old 1100 was only capable of shooting 2 3/4 shells but it was light and the Baikal took about 500 rounds to break in including heavy field loads, buckshot, and light loads but it was indestructible but heavy.