Shotguns

The Burris FastFire line of red dot sights is known for quality at a low price point. The same is true for the latest addition to the line—the FastFire III. It is practical and perfectly functional and comes in around $240. The 8 MOA dot version is ideal for a shotgun, and I we’ve beaten the hell out of this one, and I’m here to say that the FastFire can handle the abuse.

Many experts agree that the 20 gauge is not only sufficient at the distances most likely to be in play in a home defense scenario– many feel it is a better choice than the traditional 12 gauge. The Escort Gladius 20 gauge shotgun is a purpose built defensive weapon, and is well appointed to serve in that role.

What attracted me to this gun for testing and evaluation is its compact size, light weight and super quick handling. You can think of it as a shotgun carbine. The Beretta 1301 is compact, fast, and agile.

We all love to dicker about what kind of gun is right for home defense. The truth of the matter is that much of what is “right” is determined by individual circumstances. What kind of home are you trying to defend? What is in this house? What is outside of it? This is where we typically begin. But there’s more. I think one of the most important considerations has to be who will be relying on the firearm in question? And to that end, we’ll be looking at some alternatives to the traditional 12 gauge. Today, we’ve got a Mossberg 500 Special Purpose 20 gauge.

The primary design idea behind the Browning Citori 725 Feather is, you guessed it, light weight. My evaluation sample was a 12-gauge Feather model with 28-inch barrels. It weighs in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces. If you compare to the equivalent Field (non-Feather) model, the 28-inch barrel model weighs just about a full pound more at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. That adds up over a day in the field. Imagine taping a can of lima beans to the Citori 725 Feather, and now you’re carrying a standard weight over-and-under.

We’re going to get a bit philosophical with this one. Winchester, one of the nineteenth century’s most iconic rifle makers, a company that revolutionized shotguns at the turn of the twentieth century, is still making guns. It’s alive and well, and making a play for a bigger part of the market. If you are looking for a new scatter-gun, and you’re working on a budget, Winchester has a gun for you.

With the rising popularity of hunting and multi-gun competitions, shooters are looking for anything that can give them an edge. When it comes to the shotgun, keeping the weapon fed while negotiating complex courses of fire—speed of loading—s often decisive. Surprisingly, while you almost never see one used in competition, John Moses Browning’s Auto 5 shotgun may be one of the fastest loading semi-automatic shotguns of all time. Now Browning has reintroduced the A5. From the outward appearance, it looks as though they started making it the old Humpback again, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. While the new A5 is a faithful homage to the original John Browning design, the actual function has completely changed.

By Sam Trisler https://www.browning.com/customerservice/ownersmanuals/index.asp History There are a couple of good stories about John Moses Browning and the work it took for him to get the Auto 5 made. As with most of his long-gun designs of that era, Browning first took it to Winchester. They had a long working relationship at the time, one [...]

We are so lucky to live in this time when precision machinery and quality materials allow for the production of affordable guns that give up little to their higher-priced brethren. Imported by TriStar Arms from Turkey, the new ATAC Raptor Turkey gun is a great example. As an extension of the company’s low-priced Raptor series, it delivers solid performance and dependability on a proven action.