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When it comes to semi automatics Beretta occupy the top 3 spots (meaning they're head and shoulders above) followed by Browning and Remington, Benneli come somewhere after that. Sorry but brutally honest.

 
Personally I have never handled one that beats a Remi 1100. Trouble is you need to be a mechanical expert with a bucket of spares with you at all times! A lot of the modern ones are too light or too low in the comb for my taste. Berretta 303's probably second to the Remi IMO.

 
Having used auto's one way or another since I had a pair of Remmies,  back in the 70's.  I have owned a few makes since then. If you have not shot a Benelli, can I suggest that you do. I have known a lot of people, myself included (and I have had 3), that are unable to live with the 'clunk-click every trip' mechanism. I find the gas operated guns smoother to use. As Hammie has said and I concur, the Beretta is probably one of the best, even if a bit 'over engineered'. The Remmies have really lost the plot since the demise of the original 1100's, and the 1187 in my opinion is too front end heavy, they are very ammo fussy too. The Winchesters I found to be a bit 'clunky' too, it may be the turning bolt head or the synthetic stock vibrating, but it only lasted with me for a month. The Browning, although I have not owned one, I have used a couple and they were too much like the Winchester, also one of the forends was loose. I did have a Fabarm Lion several years back and although 100% reliable, was a bit ammo fussy. It was one of the lightest auto's made at the time, just 6 1/2lbs. That gun fired 1000's of rounds without a hitch, as long as the ammo was 'pokey'. Because I was Instructing at a corporate event venue and they insisted in providing the ammo, some of which would not cycle the Fabarm, I traded it for a Beretta 391 'Field' model, in wood. That weighed close to 7lbs. so was a bit heavier but it was not so ammo fussy even if it was a pig to clean. Because the gun could have in excess of a 1000 rounds through it in a day, it required a strip clean when I got it home. Because the gun was getting knocked about, with the corporate eventing and my pigeon shooting, I hit on the idea of getting the synthetic model. I could shoot that gun superbly, but a lot of the smaller in stature and Female clients found it very heavy to use. It was over 1lbs. heavier that the 'Field' model 391. So, it went and I went back to the 391 'Field', which I have to this day. I have since added a 25 years old mint condition Beretta 303, which I had started to use for all my sporting shooting, keeping it in mint condition and using the 391 for all the roughing it jobs. WOW is that 303 easier to clean (for a gasser) than the 391 though. I can clean it top to bottom inside 15 minutes, no fancy designed pistons, no ruddy gas valves and no carbon all over the forend. Used with Hull Superfast it rarely misbehaves and if it does, I suspect it is me not fully releasing the trigger fast enough. So from a Breda in the 60's to the current Beretta's, I have owned or shot most of them and enjoyed using them, especially on the Trap layouts !

 
westley said:
Having used auto's one way or another since I had a pair of Remmies,  back in the 70's.  I have owned a few makes since then. If you have not shot a Benelli, can I suggest that you do. I have known a lot of people, myself included (and I have had 3), that are unable to live with the 'clunk-click every trip' mechanism. I find the gas operated guns smoother to use. As Hammie has said and I concur, the Beretta is probably one of the best, even if a bit 'over engineered'. The Remmies have really lost the plot since the demise of the original 1100's, and the 1187 in my opinion is too front end heavy, they are very ammo fussy too. The Winchesters I found to be a bit 'clunky' too, it may be the turning bolt head or the synthetic stock vibrating, but it only lasted with me for a month. The Browning, although I have not owned one, I have used a couple and they were too much like the Winchester, also one of the forends was loose. I did have a Fabarm Lion several years back and although 100% reliable, was a bit ammo fussy. It was one of the lightest auto's made at the time, just 6 1/2lbs. That gun fired 1000's of rounds without a hitch, as long as the ammo was 'pokey'. Because I was Instructing at a corporate event venue and they insisted in providing the ammo, some of which would not cycle the Fabarm, I traded it for a Beretta 391 'Field' model, in wood. That weighed close to 7lbs. so was a bit heavier but it was not so ammo fussy even if it was a pig to clean. Because the gun could have in excess of a 1000 rounds through it in a day, it required a strip clean when I got it home. Because the gun was getting knocked about, with the corporate eventing and my pigeon shooting, I hit on the idea of getting the synthetic model. I could shoot that gun superbly, but a lot of the smaller in stature and Female clients found it very heavy to use. It was over 1lbs. heavier that the 'Field' model 391. So, it went and I went back to the 391 'Field', which I have to this day. I have since added a 25 years old mint condition Beretta 303, which I had started to use for all my sporting shooting, keeping it in mint condition and using the 391 for all the roughing it jobs. WOW is that 303 easier to clean (for a gasser) than the 391 though. I can clean it top to bottom inside 15 minutes, no fancy designed pistons, no ruddy gas valves and no carbon all over the forend. Used with Hull Superfast it rarely misbehaves and if it does, I suspect it is me not fully releasing the trigger fast enough. So from a Breda in the 60's to the current Beretta's, I have owned or shot most of them and enjoyed using them, especially on the Trap layouts !
Click to expand...
i have a remmy 1187 with a 28" light contour barrel and it handles beautifully but it does spend  most of its life broken.

 
Don't discount the Benelli until you've tried it. I bought a Supersport several years ago, it never missed a beat and was beautifully engineered....however in one of those moments of madness we all have I swapped it for a Beretta A400 Xcel....huge mistake.

I had a catalogue of problems with the Beretta, failure to cycle, cocking handle taking chunks out of the receiver finish to name a few...it was such a horror story GMK swapped it for another new one in the end. 

Needless to say it got swapped for another Supersport not long after and I've not had a problem since. 

The Supersport is relatively light for a sporting gun at about 7-7.5 lbs compared to the Beretta at about 8lbs, plus its inertia operated as opposed to gas, so with the Benelli you can feel a bit more recoil than you do with the Beretta....but it's not a massive difference. 

Plus the Benelli is a doddle to clean unlike the Berettas which are the opposite...

I know you could consider this a minor thing, but if you can take both guns apart and take a look inside...the Benelli is beautifully engineered and put together both inside and out...it feels 'quality'...the Beretta I had showed visible weld seams, rough edges etc....not surprised it wouldn't cycle to be honest.

There's no denying you do see a lot of Beretta semis around at shoots, but having owned a Benelli I'd never personally use another semi for clays.  

 
Went a couple of year ago with Mrs jasper to Coleys open day.tried fabarm Winchester browning and a couple of different Beretta back to back. Got a Beretta A400 Xcel. She has now shot around 5000 shells through it. It very reliable. Doesn't like 65 mm case fibre wads but that's it. She has done pb's at sporting and Skeet with it . smooth as you like and in the back to back testing it handled the best...she did put a  thread up in the guns section about the journey. Should still be there. Title A400 Xcel.

Page 4 , guns section.

 
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Hands down, Beretta. It is by far the most popular semi auto for clays and for good reason.  It's got the low recoil advantage of a gas gun, it's ultra reliable and highly accessorized.   Benelli is a great field gun, but not a good choice in regards to clay shooting being that it's an inertia gun and tends to be fussier about ammo.  Also, there are limited accessories and modifications that can be done to it. 

 
My vote would be beretta391. But I haven't much experience with others. Apart from a friends a400 the a400 was fine apart from it had the kickoff system way to much movement under recoil for my liking. If your thinking about the kickoff system take it for a test drive first I hated it 

 
Virtually all my clay shooting over a period of thirty years was done using Beretta autos starting with a 302, followed by a 303 which I kept for a few years before graduating to a 391. 

The early 391's had a problem with twisted cartridge carriers which was easily cured.

 I then changed to a later model of the 391 but for my final years of clay shooting I used the modern version of the 303, the Outlander.

This gun was the only Beretta auto that actually broke on me.It had a one off breakage that even the importers GMK hadn't seen before but it was fixed by GMK and the dealer I used in 48hrs under warranty.

From all this you can see that I would recommend Beretta auto's and from this experience with my time over again I would keep the 303 as I and a lot of other users think was the best auto Beretta ever made.

Vic.

 
My farther has a Browning B80 and thats been excellent the last 25-30years ive seen him use it and it was the first 12bore I shot with ! I wont let him part with it and would buy it off him in a heart beat.

Interestingly some parts are stamped: PB Beretta, apparently the gun was a joint venture between Browning and beretta.

ATB

Matt

 
salop sniper said:
My farther has a Browning B80 and thats been excellent the last 25-30years ive seen him use it and it was the first 12bore I shot with ! I wont let him part with it and would buy it off him in a heart beat.

Interestingly some parts are stamped: PB Beretta, apparently the gun was a joint venture between Browning and beretta.

ATB

Matt
Click to expand...
Yes it was.

 
Iggy said:
Don't discount the Benelli until you've tried it. I bought a Supersport several years ago, it never missed a beat and was beautifully engineered....however in one of those moments of madness we all have I swapped it for a Beretta A400 Xcel....huge mistake.
Click to expand...
I did exactly the same. Don't know what it was about the Supersport but I just seemed to point it and it hit the clays. My A400 is a nice gun but I just don't have the same affinity with it

 
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