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Worst shotgun you have ever owned?

Mine was an old aluminum receiver savage 16ga recoil operated "autoloader", a 775a model. I never had that gun function right, I was just a kid and glad to have anything/didn't know any better.
I haven't thought about it in decades, have no clue what happened to it(probably traded it) and care even less.
 
Do y'all remember the old single bar Mossberg 500? The very first ones they made before the Remington twin bar patent expired in the early 60's? That was the first pumpgun I ever bought, sometimes it would shuck shells as fast as you could work it, other times( usually on a big covey rise) it was a single shot. Just totally random. I tinkered with it for about 4 years and thought it was something with the interrupter and traded it for a double bar 500 and never had any problems after that.
 
Bought a used H &R Topper at a pawn shop in Lawton Ok. Would break down easy, first time I shot it the breach opened and the ejected shell hit me between the eyes. Hard to shoot when you had to hold your head way to the left. But what do you expect for $25.00
 
I guess I have been pretty blessed. Outside of having a Winchester pump with a stuck safety many years ago, I don't remember many problems. My 11-87 had some cycling issues until I had the gas ports slightly enlarged, but nothing major.
I currently have a Wetherby 20 ga turkey gun that I can't figure out how to load to get it to cycle all three shells. I've watched all of the videos and still can't get it to function. But, it will do two, and that usually is one more than I need. That issue is one reason that most of my hunting is now done with a 870 20 ga. I have never had an issue with an 870 with the exception of the Express models wanting to rust if there was dew on the ground.
 
Stoeger M3500. Most expensive single shot I ever owned. It was either the first or second year they had come out so maybe the problems are fixed but I'll still never own another Stoeger because of it.
 
I have a SB2 that I bought used a couple years ago that will not pattern consistently on paper or otherwise. Took it dove hunting 2 years in a row, would be better off if I threw it at them. Last year shot everything thru it I could get my hands on, I now take my 870's bird hunting.
 
rem270 said:
Stoeger M3500. Most expensive single shot I ever owned. It was either the first or second year they had come out so maybe the problems are fixed but I'll still never own another Stoeger because of it.
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Funny enough I had a 3500 for a few years and loved it. One day duck hunting the firing pin literally just fell out somehow after firing it. No idea how it happened and after I put it back it it never came out again. Was super weird how it just randomly fell out one day though
 
REN said:
Funny enough I had a 3500 for a few years and loved it. One day duck hunting the firing pin literally just fell out somehow after firing it. No idea how it happened and after I put it back it it never came out again. Was super weird how it just randomly fell out one day though
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I know a lot of people that have them and love them and like I said maybe they got the flaws worked out. But dang it ticked me off trying to shoot that gun and it only go bang once lol.
 
Huntaholic said:
Ive always heard the old timers talk about how some guns shoot "harder" than others. Way back yonder before screw in chokes, lengthened forcing cones, etc..... came into vogue, the old browning A5s were rumored to be the hardest hitting guns on the market. I scoffed at this idea and still do to a degree BUT there must be some truth to it!
My first turkey gun was a model 500 mossberg, fixed modified barrel, but it was a 3 inch chamber! I bought it at Howard Bros in Cookeville for $99 and I had to put it on layaway. Thats how broke I was. NO way I could afford a Remington 3 inch gun!
I killed several birds with it and finally managed to save up enough to buy a Remington. That was the "perfect" gun, or so I thought. 20" or 21" bbl, screw in chokes, rifle sights, monte carlo walnut stock, 3" chamber, perfect!
I set in to finding the right choke and load for it. I dont remember what I ended up with, but it patterned OK at best, but it was way better than my mossberg was so off I went to the turkey woods. In the 2 or so years I hunted with that thing I clubbed more turkeys to death and wrung more necks than the dang thing killed dead. AT 40 yards it seriously wouldnt put a #4 pellet through heavy cardboard! 2 birds come to mind even today, 30 plus years later: one I shot on top of a ridge on Center Hill, he was about 25 yards. I shot every shell in the gun at him while chasing him down, reloaded with every shell in my vest, shot those, and still had to tackle him and ring his neck.
The other bird was less than 30 and was standing beside a woven wire fence when I shot him. He spooked at the shot but got tangled in the fence. I threw the gun down and ran up and caught him before he got clear of the fence and rung his neck like a chicken as well. I then sold that beautiful piece of junk and bought an 870 super mag.
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If that's the case my 835 must hit like a cannon. They hardly even flop when I hit them. I have noticed a lot more floppage when shot with my 20 gauge or 410.
 
Can't say I've ever owned a bad shotgun, but not had that many. I currently have 2 Remington 1100s. Both from the mid-1970's. Killed my first deer with a 1 oz slug on an Oak Ridge quota hunt in 1997. Turkey hunted with it in the late 1990's.

Then it sat for many years after I bought an 870 Super Mag for turkeys, around 1999 or 2000. That thing has been a tank. Wind, rain, dust, mud, it just keeps on killing turkeys. Only issue I ever had was the collar that attaches to the slide worked its way loose and it wouldn't load the next shell. Once I figured out what was wrong, I made a wide blade screwdriver to tighten it.

About 10 years ago, I bought another 1970's vintage 1100 from my neighbor. It belonged to his 90 yr old dad who had just passed away. 24"(?) barrel, fixed IC choke.

I shoot skeet regularly with the 1100s. The 870 is a dedicated turkey gun as I put a scope on it. Recently acquired a Weatherby Orion O/U that I also shoot skeet with.

Guess I've been lucky.
 
benelli super black2. Bought it with an insurance check after I had a bunch of guns stolen in 2005. Premier waterfowl gun my azz. Put several cases of ammo through it on clays over a summer. Talk about an expensive single shot, in bad weather it would not cycle. Best we could tell water would get in the stock and it wouldn't cycle. Benelli said the barrel was worn out. I said in less that 2000 rounds? Sold that turd and bought a used o/u beretta off this site. Changes the whole game still have it and it hits hard as some others were describing. Have 3 of them now I like them that much and only other shotgun I'd consider would be something along the lines of a guerrini or better.
 
Had two and I have had a lot of shotguns, probably approaching 50. First one was a 80's model Remington 1100 20 ga., would not shoot any shell without the shell getting stuck in the chamber. Here I am in the dove field taking the gun apart using a stick to drive the shell out of the barrel. Second one was a Benelli Nova. While it shot ok, it kicked like a mule and raddled like it was about to fall apart in your hands. No other Benelli I have had, had these qualities 😄 and I have had 6 Benellis M2, Vinci, Super Vinci and all three SBE models HK/two/three. Just bought a Beretta A400 Extrema Plus yesterday, will see, love me some shotguns 👍
 
So I know this is going to sound crazy considering I own a metric $hit ton of shotguns. But I have never owned any Remingtons in my life. Currently I have about 22 all the way from the very first one my dad gave me which is an old H&R single shot to my Benelli SBE 2 slug gun. Some aren't has pretty but I have no issues with anybody them. My 835 kills turkeys DRT And all four of my slug guns two H&R USH/Benelli SBE2/Savage 212 are all really good and accurate guns once you find the right slug. Now I will say like I said in another post I have a Mossberg 535 Turkey Thug in 12 gauge that might weigh 5 1/2 pounds (I don't care what Mossberg says) that is hands down the hardest kicking gun I have ever shot in my life. I shot two or the 3 1/2" shells out of it when I first got it. It was my very first turkey gun back in 2011. I started turkey hunting late in life and just learned on my own. After two or three shots I have up. It literally hurt to shoot it, and I have shot some large guns M107 .50 Cal, Carl Gustaff recoilless rifle etc. But what I will say with a .660 Indian Creek choke would put it up against any of the fancier more expensive guns shooting lead or TSS. It's not the prettiest and it kicks like a freaking mule but it gets the job done. Oh and you couldn't pay me to shoot a 3 1/2" shell out of it ever again.
 
I bought one of my boys a Zoli to shoot clays with. The rib was bent when I opened the box. Sent it back to be fixed. Then a white residue started coming out from under the rib. Sent it back to be fixed. When I got the gun back there was a $700+ invoice stating they had gone through the gun thoroughly for annual maintenance. I refused to pay. After that there would be times that both barrels would fire at the same time.
 
Benneli SBE was my worst one. Went to Arkansas duck hunting and it wouldn't cycle anything, 3 1/2" to 2 3/4". Like others have said, it was the most expensive single shot on earth. Crazy thing is my uncle, cousin and a buddy all had them, of the 4 SBE's, 3 of us had issues with them. When I got home I traded on a new Beretta 686 and never looked back.
 
sharpshooter said:
Benneli SBE was my worst one. Went to Arkansas duck hunting and it wouldn't cycle anything, 3 1/2" to 2 3/4". Like others have said, it was the most expensive single shot on earth. Crazy thing is my uncle, cousin and a buddy all had them, of the 4 SBE's, 3 of us had issues with them. When I got home I traded on a new Beretta 686 and never looked back.
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Really I have the SBE2 slug gun and have had zero issues with it. I didn't know that the SBE platform had issues like this. That stinks and I hate it for you man, because they definitely are not cheap.
 
Benelli SBEs are very sensitive to dirty/rusty recoil springs. Have have put many in that I replaced with Sure Cycle springs. Standing them up in a duck blind in the rain allows the water to run in the rear of the receiver. One reason I like the Vincis, Stoegers or certain gas guns as the assist spring is in the front under the hand guard or in the case of a Vinci in the receiver.
 
Rakkin6 said:
Really I have the SBE2 slug gun and have had zero issues with it. I didn't know that the SBE platform had issues like this. That stinks and I hate it for you man, because they definitely are not cheap.
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The group of guys in Arkansas that we leased our pit from looked at it and took it apart too, but none of them could figure out what was going on with it either. My buddy, that never had a problem with his, always joked and said we were "cleaning them too much". Benneli's definitely aren't cheap, but I ended up spending more on the Beretta o/u and let me tell ya, I have never shot skeet, clays and birds better with any other gun. It fits me like I was born with it.
 

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