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22 hours ago, bowhunter-tw said:

My main gun now is a winchester 1200 with a 31” barrel, full choke. I think a 28” O/U will be what I go after, still not sure 20 vs 12. Hunted this weekend with a 20ga 26” 870 express and did pretty good with quail. The less recoil is nice but thinking the added range and wider spread might be nice with the 12. Especially if I decide to use it for dove also. Im not in a rush to buy so I think I will keep an eye out for a model you mentioned above.

You can always buy lighter loads for a 12.  The smaller frame on a 20 is nice to carry but ballistically a 12 is gonna be more versatile.  While it’s true you can get 1 1/4 oz 3” 20ga loads if you wanted a heavy pheasant load, a long skinny shot column is not as efficient and won’t put as many pellets on a bird as a shorter fatter shot column.  You can get 7/8 oz low recoil 12 loads that would have exact same recoil as a standard 20 load. 

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3 minutes ago, yotebuster said:

You can always buy lighter loads for a 12.  The smaller frame on a 20 is nice to carry but ballistically a 12 is gonna be more versatile.  While it’s true you can get 1 1/4 oz 3” 20ga loads if you wanted a heavy pheasant load, a long skinny shot column is not as efficient and won’t put as many pellets on a bird as a shorter fatter shot column.  You can get 7/8 oz low recoil 12 loads that would have exact same recoil as a standard 20 load. 

Ive never heard of 7/8 oz 12 gauge loads, are they hard to find?

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13 minutes ago, bowhunter-tw said:

Ive never heard of 7/8 oz 12 gauge loads, are they hard to find?

Not usually.  Of course right now everything is hard to find.  Usually about $6-8 a box.  

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Quail hunting has been a big passion in my life.

Bottom line for me - 20 ga gets it done just great and all a 12 enables is missing with more authority.  The pellets are going the same speed out of either gauge, just more launched with the 12. (Yotebuster is right about longer columns, but I don't shoot much beyond regular old 7/8 or 3/4 oz loads).  If I need a 12 for ducks or pheasants that's what I use.

My preferred setups are a 28" barreled O/U or 28" SxS.  I'm a pretty big guy though so the 28 helps smooth me out.  Longer barrels are in vogue these days so if you find a good 26" and it works for you save a few bucks and go for it.  There's no effect on the shot pattern.

I hunted years with O/U and was very effective with it.  Now I use a SxS and am more effective in the field with it.  Busting clays is still better for me with O/U.

When you pick up a shotgun, fit is everything.  And I have certain guns that feel "alive" in my hands while others feel clunky.

Most used O/U field gun for me is a Sig/Rizzini TR30 (made by B. Rizzini, same design as the C. Guerini's you see).

Had a Beretta 686 Onyx that was a great gun.  Sold it to a buddy when I upgraded to the Rizzini.  He still hunts with it.

Have an (old style) Citori featherweight that also has "the feel", and lucked into a decent deal on a Superposed 20 ga 2 barrel set a few years back.

I haven't held a turkish made O/U yet that had that refined balance.  Pretty clunky other than the Kimber Valier from years ago.  But that was a higher dollar gun.

OP, I'd recommend that you try a few out if you can.  As mentioned elsewhere pushing up closer to $1500 or so really puts you into a higher grade of gun, especially in a well cared for used gun.  Very hard to wear out a well made O/U.

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3 minutes ago, JiminAZ said:

Quail hunting has been a big passion in my life.

Bottom line for me - 20 ga gets it done just great and all a 12 enables is missing with more authority.  The pellets are going the same speed out of either gauge, just more launched with the 12. (Yotebuster is right about longer columns, but I don't shoot much beyond regular old 7/8 or 3/4 oz loads).  If I need a 12 for ducks or pheasants that's what I use.

My preferred setups are a 28" barreled O/U or 28" SxS.  I'm a pretty big guy though so the 28 helps smooth me out.  Longer barrels are in vogue these days so if you find a good 26" and it works for you go for it.  There's no effect on the shot pattern.

I hunted years with O/U and was very effective with it.  Now I use a SxS and am more effective in the field with it.  Busting clays is still better for me with O/U.

When you pick up a shotgun, fit is everything.  And I have certain guns that feel "alive" in my hands while others feel clunky.

Most used O/U field gun for me is a Sig/Rizzini TR30 (made by B. Rizzini, same design as the C. Guerini's you see).

Had a Beretta 686 Onyx that was a great gun.  Sold it to a buddy when I upgraded to the Rizzini.  He still hunts with it.

Have an (old style) Citori featherweight that also has "the feel", and lucked into a decent deal on a Superposed 20 ga 2 barrel set a few years back.

OP, I'd recommend that you try a few out if you can.  As mentioned elsewhere pushing up closer to $1500 or so really puts you into a higher grade of gun, especially in a well cared for used gun.  Very hard to wear out a well made O/U.

Couldn't have said it better! 👍 

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Appreciate the complement OutdoorWriter.

Also I'd add for the OP, if you buy a quality used gun yes you will tie up a few more bucks but you'll have no problem getting your money back out of it if it doesn't work out for you.

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Good advice all around. I think I am going to keep an eye out and wait until a nicer used gun pops up instead of going new turkish made. Not in any hurry so I will just keep looking. Thanks for all the suggestions

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17 hours ago, JiminAZ said:

Appreciate the complement OutdoorWriter.

Also I'd add for the OP, if you buy a quality used gun yes you will tie up a few more bucks but you'll have no problem getting your money back out of it if it doesn't work out for you.

From 1970 to 2003, I used a 20.ga. OU for everything, including geese, ducks & turkey. My first one was a Charles Daly that I traded in 1976 or so, and the last was a Browning Citori I acquired in 1980 and sold in 2003 to finance a trip to Africa. Never felt undergunned with either of them. This is a FL Osceola circa the mid-1980s with the Citori against the tree. 

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And I bet when you traded/sold those guns you likely made a few bucks.

 

My boys have shot a lot of ducks with 20 ga steel loads (which are hard to find) and surprise! - #2 steel killed them just fine.

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31 minutes ago, JiminAZ said:

And I bet when you traded/sold those guns you likely made a few bucks.

 

My boys have shot a lot of ducks with 20 ga steel loads (which are hard to find) and surprise! - #2 steel killed them just fine.

Actually, the trade for the Daly was one of the worst I ever made. I was living in SW Colo. at the time and had little use for a shotgun. So I traded it with a buddy for a motor-drive Minolta camera body. At the time, value-wise it was a push. That wasn't the case a few years later, however. Because the camera required all slow-to-make manual settings, I rarely used it. Thus, the camera also became trade fodder, but I don't recall what I got in return. 🙄 Today, the daughter of the friend -- now dead -- I made that trade with nearly 50 years ago is still using the Daly. She's a retired NP ranger and lives in Holbrook.

When I hunted geese with the Citori in southern Illinois, I also used #2 steel. Worked fine as long I surpressed my urge to flock shoot rather than picking out a specific bird. 😂 It also did well on turkeys in Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Alabama, Ohio & S. Dakota. 

I did make money on the Citori when I sold it on Gun Broker. 

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5 minutes ago, Red Rabbit said:

Ruffs in Flagstaff had a nice 20 gauge Weatherby Athena about a week ago.  I do not know if it has sold.

Was it the Japanese or Italian version?

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8 minutes ago, Red Rabbit said:

Ruffs in Flagstaff had a nice 20 gauge Weatherby Athena about a week ago.  I do not know if it has sold.

I love that store.  It’s been there as long as I can remember.  I bought a few guns from that place.  Red Rabbit, do you remember when it was a grocery store as well as a gun store?  I can remember gallons of milk, pornography, and booze and cigarettes for sale.  I always thought a good name for the store would be Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

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2 minutes ago, Saguaro said:

I love that store.  It’s been there as long as I can remember.  I bought a few guns from that place.  Red Rabbit, do you remember when it was a grocery store as well as a gun store?  I can remember gallons of milk, pornography, and booze and cigarettes for sale.  I always thought a good name for the store would be Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

I moved to Flagstaff in '91.  I recall guns, cigarettes, liquor and water dogs.

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