Shotguns

Mossberg’s Silver Reserve is a line of entry-level, break-open shotguns that cover an array of sporting shotgun activities. Models include basic field over-unders for hunting, sporting guns with competition-specific features for competitive shooting, and nostalgic side-by-sides for those who pine for simpler times.

The newest generation of Silver Reserve shotguns—the Silver Reserve II—is still modestly priced, but also has some of the special touches hunters and shooters expect on higher-quality double guns. Those features include black walnut stocks with fine-line checkering and blued barrels complemented by silver-finished receivers sporting wraparound classic scroll engraving. Functionally, the Silver Reserve II line offers chrome-plated chambers and bores, dual-locking lugs and tang-mounted safety/barrel selectors as standard features. A variety of barrel lengths and stock options are also available.

Back in January the Akdal MKA 1919 shotgun rocked GunsAmerica Magazine & Blog with the most reads of any SHOT Show article the first day. It is an AR-15 style design, with an M-16 ‘esque detachable handle, and 5 round box magazine. With the tactical and 3 Gun shotgun marked filled with tradition semi-autos and the thought to be fickle Saiga, a new, light (6.5 lbs.) and quick shooting tactical shotgun was big news, especially with AR-15 controls. Six months later we finally got a chance to actually shoot the gun, which is imported from Turkey exclusively by RAAC Firearms. The MSRP is $799 and the street price is slightly under that. Out of the box, our experience with the gun wasn’t very positive, but customized for 3 Gun, the MKA-1919 is said to be a good choice, and a good investment. It is hard to recommend a gun that isn’t always reliable out of the box, but the story on this gun isn’t that simple.

You can only buy so many guns (well, not really), so lately we’ve been looking into things that make the guns you already own more effective, and also look much cooler. I ran into this rail system from Black Aces Tactical while researching another article, and I have to say, the Black Aces Tactical shotgun rail is the best in its class that I have found for this application. If you own a tactical shotgun and have always wanted to have the ability to install lights, lasers, red dots, real sights, whatever, at a mere 16 ounces and currently on sale for $179, the Black Aces shotgun rail system is something you should look into. It is available for the Remington 870/1100, Mossberg 500/590, Benelli M1/2/4, and even the Saiga.

This is our KSG. It is a 12 gauge bullpup shotgun made by Kel-Tec that holds a total of 15 rounds, 7 in each magazine tube and one in the chamber. It is outfitted with a front and rear open AR-15 type sight from Leapers/UTG, and the front sight has a laser that is activated [...]

This Escort line of shotguns from Legacy Sports International is made in Turkey by Hatsan. It seems to be modelled after the Remington 1100 and since the brand has been in the market for several years, this appears to be an extremely mature product. The guy in the video is in one of those Sportsman’s Channel shows that those of us with Comcast, Direct TV, and most other cable/satelite systems don’t get, but he seems to have used the guns in the field quite a lot and believes in the quality of them. Googling around I found no bad reviews of them, and in general all the Turkish guns have been reliable and extremely well received. Hopefully we’ll get a review gun over the coming year and test these guns with a variety of hunting loads. They seem to be worth checking out if you are in the market for an auto-shotgun, and they do make tactical as well as hunting models.

Take a look at this video on how the new Mossberg FLEX system actually works. Now you can buy one shotgun and have it perform various functions for home defense, hunting, and tactical work.

Franchi, the mid-level priced shotguns of the Benelli/Franchi/Stoeger family, is completely rebranding itself for 2012 with an emphasis on “Franchi Feels Right.” If you are looking for a truly classy Old World Shotgun that fits you and helps you shoot better, the Franchi guns are known to be a great value in a sporting shotgun.

You may already know about these two groundbreaking bullpups. The big thing for a long time on both the KSG and the RFB is getting one. Everyone wants one and they are extremely hard to get. Kel-Tec has added a whole new wing to their plant this year and are ramping up production on these in-demand guns. We hope to get one of each soon.

If there is a must have product at SHOT 2012, it is the Akdal MKA 1919 semi-auto shotgun, exclusively imported in the US by RAAC. It looks like an AR-15, but it is a super-sized version made for 12 gauge shotgun shells in both the 2 3/4″ and 3″ size.