Need 12 ga 3.5" shotgun - advice?

anyone in the market for a cheap 3.5" gun should strongly consider the way over-built russian baikal mp-153, an adjustable-gas auto for $300 that will eat any 12 ga. load and is built like a tank, puts the remington/mossberg/charles daly budget offerings to shame--weighs 8 lbs. and has extremely low recoil even with magnum 3.5 loads--they are so reliable that remington bought the importation rights and sells them unchanged as spartan spr-453's for about $50 more--go to shotgunworld forums and read the reviews if you won't take my word for it, i sold my overpriced, hard-kicking, unreliable benelli sbe after shooting one of these
 
I had the chance to fire off a 3.5inch round through my bosses Winchester SX2 and the recoil was very manageable. He told me that since he bought it, he hasn't had any problems with it. Might want to check one out.
 
I bought a 3.5" SX2 before Thanksgiving, shoot 3" Hevi-Shot over decoys, and still don't own any 3.5" ammo. I was doing just fine with an old Express and a 2.75" 1100 Synthetic, but I ran across an honest-to-goodness like-new SX2 ShadowGrass and liked the way it felt. Anyway...

I believe Browning and Winchester are running their $100 rebate on Gold Hunters and SX2's until the end of the month and it's driven the new and used prices waaaaay down. The SX3 is coming out and they're cleaning house. Used guns like mine that listed for $1215 new and sold for $1000 are going for $700 or so. The black synthetic or wood stocked models are less.

I had back surgery 2 years ago and if I wanna buy a new gas gun or two from time to time I have the perfect excuse. I think I need another SX1 - maybe one with a skeet barrel and fancy wood?

John
 
I have had great luck with my Mossberg 835. I use it for Turkeys and it is awesome. Bought it used for $150. My buddy uses the NOVA, good gun as well.
 
Well to be different go 10 gauge, I picked up a Ithaca Mag 10 this fall, used it for turkeys and got 2. Honestly I didn't think the recoil was much if any worse the 303 british I use for deer hunting. Not sure if I'm going to do any waterfowl hunting but I'm definitely keeping it for turkey.

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Mavrik
 
Wrong Impression?

I am by no means a shotgun expert. But I was under the impression that all shotguns, regardless of gauge, shot their pellets to more or less the same distance. In other words, 6 shot from a .410 travels just as fast and just as far as 6 shot from a 10 gauge. The difference is that larger bored shotguns give more pellets in the pattern.

Am I right about this or not?
 
Roy, yes that is basically true. Another advantage of a larger bore or a larger payload is you can use larger pellets that retain energy better giving you a longer effective range provided pattern density is adequate.
 
In Other Words?

So if you stood 200 yards away and someone fired a 20ga. load of eight shot at you, then someone shot a dove load out of a 12 at you at the same distance, your odds of suffereing a serious injury would be the same?

I also noticed that some folks mention using buckshot to shoot waterfowl.

In my state, that is illegal. There is the concern of safety too.

The stuff some folks post here makes me glad that some of them hunt many states away from me.
 
I bought a rem 870 supermag.
Mostly because they offered a 50$ rebate.

Other than that, I had an old steven's 12 gauge that would ONLY take 2.75" shells and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, the local shop only had 3"
so I like the supermag becuase no matter what's available, it will chamber.

Most folks don't have that problem or take what they need with them. I try to do that as well, but i've been in a pinch before and hopefully will not be again.

That being said, I seriously doubt i'll ever use the 3.5" shells. Most guns now chamber 2.75" AND 3.0" so i didn't NEED the supermag. That's where the 50$ rebate changed my mind. :D
 
835 Ulti-Mag

I love my Mossy Oak Breakup 835 Ulti-Mag.
It's flexibility is awesome, it's beautiful, and the crown-grade
Mossbergs are nice guns--they're built a lot nicer than say, a 500.
 
The best choice would be to shoot hevi-shot or hevi-steel. If you are going to shoot steel, I like shooting a 3.5 inch load.
 
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