11-87, X2 or Gold?

What about the guys in Ilion :?: :?: Really. I hunt regularly with guys that shoot Golds or SX2s and have seen them jam or otherwise malfunction several times. Especially the Gold. The safety is notoriously stiff, and a safety is a bad thing to have stick with geese belly-up at 20 yds. Also, I have seen several golds fire once or be loaded unnoticed with the bolt 3/4 closed; also bad when there're birds on the line. The SX2s, being nearly identical to the Golds (except that they're stamped, not machined) can have similar action problems. The 11-87, in my opinion, is great. My Premier is an older model, a gift from a friend, complete with "bent rib" (that is, one section is dented) from countless days in the pit; but it performs fabulously under the worst conditions you can imagine (I'm mostly a waterfowl hunter). It only screws up if I let it screw up, that is if I forget to clean it for a couple weeks of hunting (and I usually clean mine after every hunt) or let the O-ring break (there's a simple remedy to this, the 11-87's Achille's heel--carry an extra ring or two in your gun case). If you can whine about this, buy a Charles Daly--anyone who can't invest the time to maintain their gun shouldn't buy any $700+ firearm to begin with. The piston assembly is also recently improved with a new one-piece set, which comes factory installed on new guns and which I purchased after-market. The Remington will also cycle super-smooth with anything from target loads to Dryloks to HeviShot Turkey Cartridges. Durability has not proven to be problematic, either, except that a synthetic stock is a wise investment for those who take their Remingtons on trips afield. Walleye Guy mentioned barrel weight; try the Premier with the Light Contour Barrel, you should find it is balanced very nicely. All in all, if you will try the 11-87 and you know where to put bead and swing right, it will clean house for you at the gun club, in a pit or blind, or in a fencerow in pursuit of pheasant or quail, or whatever else you may plan to do with it.

I'd get the 11-87, a co-worker of mine bought a gold 3.5" 12ga
and we went to the trap range, He isn't the best trap shot on teh planet, and he was so excited because he had been shooting a Rem 870 express magnum at trap and doing rather nicely with it, he was so excited to get this new shiny gold 3.5", he couldn't hit a clay if he tried with that thing, so i grabbed it, I'm a pretty good trap shot, and i was running about 50% with the thing, it was pathetic.I love my 11-87SP 3.5", it'll even cycle really light 1oz lead loads, and it's a 3.5" gun.
one previos poster mentioned they're somewhat barrel heavy, I don't think they are particularly barrel heavy, but even if it was, i like a slightly barrel heavy gun for waterfowl, it's actually preferred, as it helps with momentum and smooth's the swing.
I wouldn't trade my 11-87SP for a gold or X2 if it were offered.
and people complain about the o-ring, those o-rings are unbelivably tough, it'd be hard for one to break or go bad, i've heard people that have shot their 11-87's 7-10 years and have never replaced the o-ring,and even if one did go bad, they'll shoot fine without the o-ring.
Outdated?
I don't think so.
Awesome gun.