Shotguns

GunReports.com rolls out several videos on new product introductions at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas: Included are reviews of 22 Rimfires in Tactical Platforms (4:00), Beretta U22 Neo 22 pistol/carbine combo (0:53 secs), FN Report (3:02 mins), Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 and Bodyguard 38 Special (2:08) w/integral Insite laser, and Steyr AUG A3 bullpup 223 (1:16).

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While we agree that lasers are no substitute for proper shooting techniques, we also believe that they can be a valuable tool in low light confrontations. Their continued popularity among our Law Enforcement and Military communities is also a testament to their effectiveness.

(GunReports.com)—The Department of Education has placed an official request for bids to fill an order of 27 tactical shotguns.

(GunReports.com)--The new Rossi single-shot break-open Wizard firearm allows the shooter to transfer any barrel quickly and easily without tools and shoot many popular calibers plus three shotgun gauges, two muzzleloaders, .22 rimfire and .22 rimfire magnum.

(GunReports.com)--South Dakota has become the fifth state to decide that guns made, sold and used within its borders no longer are subject to rules enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

That gun is the Winchester Model 1887, a lever-action shotgun originally designed by John Browning and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The www.callofduty.wikia.com site says of the ancient firepower, "The Model 1887 originally used black powder 12-gauge shells and 10-gauge shells, but replicas made today are often chambered for more common modern ammunition." Further, the site notes that, "The Model 1887 is the only lever-action gun to ever be featured in a Call of Duty game."

Well, yes, because the design isn't a popular choice for shotguns, with semiautos, pumps, and double-barrels being more popular products. But the infatuation with the 1887 lever shotgun doesn't stop there.

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (a 1991 sequel to Jim Cameron's original film, Terminator), a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) T-800 cyborg is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and son John Conner (Edward Furlong) from the more advanced T-1000 Terminator (Robert Patrick).

Probably the most recognizable weapon carried by Terminator Schwarzenneger is the highly customized 12-gauge 1887 Winchester lever-action shotgun. The character is seen holding this weapon (atop his Harley Davidson motorcycle) on the one-sheet posters and key publicity material. The movie gun was customized with a variety of lever handles used, such as the loop style for "swing-cocking" on the Harley Davidson.

Also, Brendan Fraser used a cut-down pistol-gripped Norinco copy of the Winchester 1887 in The Mummy Returns, most notably in the bus scene.

We understand the use of the 1887 in the Mummy movies—they're period pieces, and the 1887 fits. The initial runs of 1887s were made by Winchester in New Haven, Connecticut. They are notable for a small hammer spur at the top of the action, a solid lever, and a ball-type pistol grip on the buttstock. Most had fluid steel barrels, though some had Damascus steel and were only safe to use blackpowder. They were made from 1887 to 1901, about 65,000 in all.

Coming back to current times—in a way—the 1887 is widely used in Cowboy Action events, but perhaps most fluently by SASS champion "Gunfighter" Lassiter, aka Tom Wildenauer. Starting with an open action, he's able to load two and shoot two in under 3 seconds. Not bad for a design that few have seen and fewer have shot.

So, with all this interest in the 1887, we wanted to compare a couple of current production models to see which one we'd buy for fun shooting. Our test guns were the IAC Imports Reproduction Cowboy 1887 87W-1 lever action, $600; and the Armi Chiappa 1887 Fast Load 930.004, which we found selling under the Puma name by Legacy Sports International for $1229. Both guns have 12-gauge barrels chambered for 2.75-inch modern shells. The IAC has a 20-inch barrel with a fixed Cylinder choke and a five-round-capacity tubular magazine. The Chiappa we tested had a 22-inch barrel and was threaded for choke tubes and and came with a Cylinder screw-in tube. It had a total capacity of two because of an action modification that speeds reloads for CAS at the expense of total round count.

Here's what we thought of them:

(GunReports.com)--According to a Tulsa World story, Oklahoma could be headed for a showdown with the federal government over firearms regulation and the scope of interstate commerce.

Many of the advantages of a tactical shotgun are the same as that self-defense shotgun you might have propped in the corner of your bedroom: devastating firepower, mechanical reliability, ease of use. But your bedroom shotgun and working tactical shotguns do have differences: beefy tactical guns are ready to go on the offensive to serve warrants, root out armed bad guys, and break stuff with either lead or steel.

Of all the clay-shooting sports, the game of trap is perhaps the least understood. But the concept is simple. Target presentation is based on the taking of a bird as if it were flushed from the ground. The name trap was taken from the original mechanism, which was as simple as releasing a live bird from a box or trap placed on the ground. The practice of using live birds then gave way to tossing glass balls as targets. (We pity the persons who were charged with cleaning up the broken glass.) According to the Krause publication, the Gun Digest Book of Trap and Skeet Shooting by Christian and Sapp, the glass targets were replaced with clay "birds" some time in the 1880s. Today, the clay birds are thrown by machine. A voice-operated release system that responds to the shooters verbal command is the latest innovation.Trap is great practice for the upland hunter. But it is also a fast-action quick-draw game. The powerful pattern of the 12-gauge shotgun is preferred because the targets move quickly into the distance. An important characteristic of a trap shotgun is that it delivers a pattern higher than the point of aim. This helps compensate for a target that is rising quickly, but it also helps when the target is falling.Two features are generally relied upon to deliver a pattern higher than point of aim: A higher rib and a higher comb. A common sight picture on a trap gun is the front bead stacked above a second bead located midway down the rib. Without the presence of a mid-bead, the rib will likely appear as a ramp.To visit a big trap match and look at the competitors guns can be as enthralling as attending a custom car show. But a $10K over/under is not a necessity. Nor are some of the radical modifications to the guns one might see on match day.In this test we will evaluate three trap shotguns designed to put you into the action for much less money than even we expected. In looking for a suitable trap gun, we found that pump-action models were the most economical. We chose two. They were the Ithaca Model 37 Trap FL3712-30BTR, $995; and the Browning BPS Micro Trap 012241404, $759. Each of these guns were bottom-eject models, contributing to their appeal to both right- and left-handed shooters. In addition, we came across a single-barrel break-action model from Harrington & Richardson. This was the Topper Trap shotgun SB1-30T, $360, so we decided to give it a try.In preparation for this test we pored through dozens of instructional videos old and new. The most complete explanation and demonstration we found was on a new DVD entitled Perfect Trap ($69, from championvideosonline.com). Perfect Trap uses modern technology to put the viewer behind the gun and shows you what to look for before and after you call for the bird. The instructors are champion clay target shooters Ed Arrighi and Dan Carlisle. Their instruction demonstrates a wealth of knowledge not only about shooting trap but also how to coach a variety of shooters. After learning that Ed Arrighi had set up shop at American Shooting Centers in Houston (amshootcenters.com), we booked a few lessons before beginning our evaluation. We can attest that the coaching of Ed Arrighi opened our eyes to better evaluate each shotgun and significantly raise our scores.In trap singles competition, a single clay bird is launched from the trap house at random direction and trajectory with the shooter standing at one of five positions located 16 yards behind the point of release. The five positions are arranged in a semi-circle roughly approximating the arc between 8 oclock and 4 oclock. Figuring that by the time an average shooter sees the bird and fires a shot, the clay has likely traveled about 9 yards, we decided to pattern our guns from a distance of 25 yards. Each gun was patterned with the supplied choke we felt would be the most popular choice for shooting a round of trap. Our patterning test rounds were a popular budget-price round, a popular match-grade round, and a match-grade handload featuring AA hulls, Alliant Green Dot powder, and Remington STS primers. The budget round was the Estate Super Sport Competition Target SS12L8 load. The factory match round was Winchester AA Light Target Load AA128. Our handload was constructed using a MEC 9000E. The 9000E is a progressive loader that uses an electric motor to drive the press ($899 from Trainer Hale Supply, 830-420-4530). All three rounds were 23/4-inch 11/8-ounce 23/4-dram equivalent charges behind No. 8 shot. For our handloads, we used magnum quality shot because the BBs are harder and less likely to deform as they speed down the barrel. Each of our test guns were sold as right-handed models so we patterned from the right-side shoulder. But we contested on the trap field with both right- and left-handed shooters. How high did each gun score? Lets call "Pull!" and find out.

Of all the clay-shooting sports, the game of trap is perhaps the least understood. But the concept is simple. Target presentation is based on the taking of a bird as if it were flushed from the ground. The name trap was taken from the original mechanism, which was as simple as releasing a live bird from a box or trap placed on the ground. The practice of using live birds then gave way to tossing glass balls as targets. (We pity the persons who were charged with cleaning up the broken glass.) According to the Krause publication, the Gun Digest Book of Trap and Skeet Shooting by Christian and Sapp, the glass targets were replaced with clay "birds" some time in the 1880s. Today, the clay birds are thrown by machine. A voice-operated release system that responds to the shooters verbal command is the latest innovation.Trap is great practice for the upland hunter. But it is also a fast-action quick-draw game. The powerful pattern of the 12-gauge shotgun is preferred because the targets move quickly into the distance. An important characteristic of a trap shotgun is that it delivers a pattern higher than the point of aim. This helps compensate for a target that is rising quickly, but it also helps when the target is falling.Two features are generally relied upon to deliver a pattern higher than point of aim: A higher rib and a higher comb. A common sight picture on a trap gun is the front bead stacked above a second bead located midway down the rib. Without the presence of a mid-bead, the rib will likely appear as a ramp.To visit a big trap match and look at the competitors guns can be as enthralling as attending a custom car show. But a $10K over/under is not a necessity. Nor are some of the radical modifications to the guns one might see on match day.In this test we will evaluate three trap shotguns designed to put you into the action for much less money than even we expected. In looking for a suitable trap gun, we found that pump-action models were the most economical. We chose two. They were the Ithaca Model 37 Trap FL3712-30BTR, $995; and the Browning BPS Micro Trap 012241404, $759. Each of these guns were bottom-eject models, contributing to their appeal to both right- and left-handed shooters. In addition, we came across a single-barrel break-action model from Harrington & Richardson. This was the Topper Trap shotgun SB1-30T, $360, so we decided to give it a try.In preparation for this test we pored through dozens of instructional videos old and new. The most complete explanation and demonstration we found was on a new DVD entitled Perfect Trap ($69, from championvideosonline.com). Perfect Trap uses modern technology to put the viewer behind the gun and shows you what to look for before and after you call for the bird. The instructors are champion clay target shooters Ed Arrighi and Dan Carlisle. Their instruction demonstrates a wealth of knowledge not only about shooting trap but also how to coach a variety of shooters. After learning that Ed Arrighi had set up shop at American Shooting Centers in Houston (amshootcenters.com), we booked a few lessons before beginning our evaluation. We can attest that the coaching of Ed Arrighi opened our eyes to better evaluate each shotgun and significantly raise our scores.In trap singles competition, a single clay bird is launched from the trap house at random direction and trajectory with the shooter standing at one of five positions located 16 yards behind the point of release. The five positions are arranged in a semi-circle roughly approximating the arc between 8 oclock and 4 oclock. Figuring that by the time an average shooter sees the bird and fires a shot, the clay has likely traveled about 9 yards, we decided to pattern our guns from a distance of 25 yards. Each gun was patterned with the supplied choke we felt would be the most popular choice for shooting a round of trap. Our patterning test rounds were a popular budget-price round, a popular match-grade round, and a match-grade handload featuring AA hulls, Alliant Green Dot powder, and Remington STS primers. The budget round was the Estate Super Sport Competition Target SS12L8 load. The factory match round was Winchester AA Light Target Load AA128. Our handload was constructed using a MEC 9000E. The 9000E is a progressive loader that uses an electric motor to drive the press ($899 from Trainer Hale Supply, 830-420-4530). All three rounds were 23/4-inch 11/8-ounce 23/4-dram equivalent charges behind No. 8 shot. For our handloads, we used magnum quality shot because the BBs are harder and less likely to deform as they speed down the barrel. Each of our test guns were sold as right-handed models so we patterned from the right-side shoulder. But we contested on the trap field with both right- and left-handed shooters. How high did each gun score? Lets call "Pull!" and find out.

It is an old story in the gun business: Fancy new model gets announced; months later prototypes leak out for promotional media testing; then, finally, a year (or two) later, real guns start shipping. And so it is with Browning's Maxus, which was announced in November 2008, with some prototypes available to shoot at the January 2009 SHOT Show in Orlando, and lagging production. Originally slated for late-spring-2009 availability, early-fall delivery has proved to be the case instead—and then, only for the 31/2-inch-chamber models.

The initial offerings of Browning's new-for-2009 autoloader is the matte Stalker style and also a Mossy Oak Duck Blind camo version for $1499 MSRP, both with 31/2-inch chambers. The 3-inch versions are said to be arriving soon—again, in either Stalker matte black or camo for now.

Included in all the "Planet Maxus" hoopla, Browning has made several claims about the Maxus and touted several new features. A few of the features aren't particularly meaningful, so let's dispense with these first. The "Turnkey" quick-change magazine plug is hardly of any use in a dedicated field gun, one directed to waterfowl at that, where three shots (2+1) is going to be it.

Things like shim adjustments for drop are nice to have, of course, and were a bit more remarkable when they appeared 20 years ago. Now, they have become so prevalent that it seems more like a glaring oversight when new autoloaders fail to provide this feature. Naturally, we are glad they are included in the Maxus, but this is no different from many autoloaders. We do note that the Maxus has adjustable length of pull, with the appropriate buttstock spacers included right in the box—not an optional accessory, but already supplied.

Burrowing deeper into the Maxus, Browning has promised us not just cosmetics, but a new gas action and trigger system that moves beyond the similarly weighted Winchester SX3 Composite ($1239 MSRP) and its Browning rendition, the half-pound-heavier Browning Silver Stalker ($1179 MSRP). Rather than an afterthought, the Maxus was designed from the start to be a 31/2-inch gun, and it appears that Browning hopes the Maxus will outscore both the Beretta Xtrema2 and the stalwart Super Black Eagle II.

There are a number of shotguns against which we could pit the new Maxus, but to clean up the field and make the comparisons truly head to head, we chose to bring in an "Our Pick" from the January 2007 issue. There, we tested the Benelli Super Black Eagle II No. 10016 12 gauge, $1515, rating it above the Beretta Urika Optima and Remington 105Cti. Almost three years ago, we wrote of the SBE II, "The latest version of the evolving Super Black Eagle design is a comfortable, ever-functional hunting gun, with the capacity to shoot 23/4-, 3-, and 31/2-inch ammunition." If the Maxus could compete against the SBE II, we reasoned, then its successful launch into the world's autoloading shotgun pool would be assured. Toward that end, we acquired a Benelli Super Black Eagle II No. 10101 Max-4 HD Camo 31/2-inch 12 gauge, $1759, to compete with the Browning Maxus Stalker No. 011600204 31/2-inch 12 Gauge, $1379.

Here's what we found: