Originally Posted by mrbb

My question here would be how serious do you plan to get on waterfowl?
and what loads do you plan to shoot
2-3/4"-3" or 3.5 inch??
and are you wanting a gun that will hunt other things?

or be a strictly a waterfowl gun
dedicated to steel shot and likes?

I mean I will never say I was a Die hard duck/goose hunter, but I have traveled a lot of places chasing them and hunting them

But I simply used a shotgun I already had and just made it work
none of the geese or ducks i shot I think noticed LOL

I simply used a rem 11/87, and has a extra barrel camo coated, and a good choke ( forget what exact model) that gave me good patterns with the round of my using!

then if I wanted to hunt other things with same gun, I was just swapping barrels

but I think you can do this to about any gun you like, as long a sit cycles your round of choice
so many options on chokes these days, one can make things better by swapping them to match your load!

I would want a gun that fits ME better, than buying one that is claimed to be a better so called waterfowl gun?
thing one might want in a dedicated waterfowl gun, would be a durable finish
which again, can be added to a gun you already have if wanted

when you get into more true dedicated design 3.5 guns, the price tags rice up and like most higher end guns, they tend to work well, but fit is more what is an individual deal maker or breaker
so, its about going and handling them and see what you like best

all the top guns from brand name makers are GOOD shotguns these days!, many models have been around a LONG time due to this reason

NOW if your not sure what a GOOD fitting shotgun is or means
I'd suggest going to a GOOD gun shop that has a good shooting instructor that can show you , while your there while holding different guns to see and know what and where things are off , so you get the info and understand it better

but everyone has what they feel is GOOD for hem when shouldering things

basically I tell folks, see how things feel when you shoulder gun with your eyes closed and then open them, after settled in
where are sights, where is your hand on stock, shoulder on stock, cheek on stock, finger on trigger, safety?

the more things that line up for you the better fitting the gun maybe is for you!

keep in mind that when shouldering guns in shops, make sure your wearing like clothing you will be hunting in
as layers of clothes can sure change how a gun fits you!

I would also suggest this,
when your buying a HIGHER end shotgun, its worth yourt time and $$ to find a GOOD shop that knows shotgun and fitting of them

there are shops that cater to HIGHER end shotguns, and stock hundreds if not thousands of them in stock(I know of a few, but none in your area) think places that cater to sporting clay and skeet shooters on a larger level!


but going to a shop like this, that has tons of high end over under/side by sides
you tend to get more knowledgeable folks on shotgun fitting!
not to mention you get top FEEL the differences in designs in shotgun stocks!

when I had my shop, I sent a LOT of buyers to a shop about 5 hours away from em to go see and handle and select a gun that fit them
some DID buy there, MANY came back to me and I ordered the gun for them!
as honestly, many shops that stock THAT much high end inventory, have HIGHER price tags than I did on same guns!
so, I never was scared to send a customer to another shop,
the customer typically won, they got to learn and handle guns they were considering before buying, making sure it fit and they wanted it
they also got to see a selection of guns, most never even knew existed
and then came back to me to buy an save $$$ and got the gun of there dreams or one they just wanted that fit like a glove!

if you have any GOOD sporting clays courses near you, many of them places have good on sight shops that sell and know how to fit a GUN to you!
or know of shops that can
over just a basic gun shop/smith!

Originally Posted by kellyguinn

Same thing happened to the Stoeger. It would go click and strike the primer but very soft. The round would go off but not all the powder would burn and the wad wouldn't make it out the barrel. Wonder if its a flaw of the inertia system? I gave it a good cleaning and didn't have anymore single digit mornings and never had another problem. Even took a spill in the thick mud in Cali and still worked well after rinsing it off in the marsh lol.

Originally Posted by Fogie

...thats a shell issue, not the gun.
Soft strikes in the cold is usually oil on firing pin has thickened..don't oil pins
But the primer went off so....did you get your shells wet?

Originally Posted by RedneckGeek1

In my case, it wasn't soft strikes. The firing pin had no issues functioning. It was the bolt actually freezing to the point of not cycling. In essence I had a very expensive single shot.

Originally Posted by archeryrob

Any gun and any choke will work as long as you pattern the gun and try different ammo. I use a biakal MP-153 and used to be sold on Hevi-steel B's but once I patterned it I found out why I missed a lot of ducks. I found Kent #1's pattern great in my gun and factory chokes and I use BB's for resident only hunting.

You don't need an expensive gun or after marlet chokes, but you need to pattern them to see how they are shooting various loads you put in them.