Mark--- I know what you mean about the sight picture on the SX2. I like it the best. The raised rib has a lot to do with it. Also, it just feels better for me than the Browning Gold, and the Beretta Eureka (er... Urika), and the SBE.
After growing up with an 870, shooting one for 20 years, I bought a Benelli SBE, about 5 years ago. I loved the pictures, the stories about it, loved it at the store where I bought it. But after I got it, and started using it, things went south. When hunting with it, it didn't feel right. It seemed to me to shoot low. I missed a whole lot of trap and skeet with it. After a day of duck hunting, my wrist hurt. I decided the curve of the pistol grip was the cause. Then it started jamming. Light loads and heavy. (And yes, I ran about 10 boxes of shells through it). Embarrasing to get a jam on a two-clay shot in skeet or sporting clays, over and over. Even worse to jam when the first shot misses a big greenhead, and he is still hovering 30 yards in front!
During this time I picked up a Browning Gold, 3", intended for my son. I had the stock cut down. But before I did that, I took it out hunting, and shooting clays. With this gun, my wrist felt a lot better, but somehow it didn't point right. I could line it up at a stationary target just fine, but shooting at a duck or an orange pigeon was just not right. Meaning, misses.
A friend at work picked up a Winchester SX2 3.5", and let me try it at the skeet range. (I got him hooked on shooting, so that was the least he could do!) Well, this thing felt just right, pointed just right, and I got a 22 on skeet first round. At the time a personal best!
So, I sold the Benelli, bought a SX2 3.5, in Camo. It's been GREAT!
Since then, the son got big. He's taller than me now, and the next son needed something to shoot. Older son and I picked out a Beretta 391 (we liked the Browning Fusion, which seems to get no mention on this bulletin board--- why?) in black, and the youger son has to make do with the hand-me-down Browning Gold with the short stock. Poor guy.
When I shoot the Beretta 391, I get that same feeling of non-pointiness as with the benelli and the browning. But it's much closer to the SX2 in comfort and feel.
Good thing for that Beretta though. In the last 2 months, somehing has gone wrong in the SX2, and it now misfires. Pull trigger, and Click. not Bang. Crap! The primer shows a little dent. I've had it in to the gunsmith, who recommended ammo change and cleaning the hell out of it. OK, did that, took it out for pheasants last weekend, and it happened again on many types of ammo. So, the BACKUP gun saves the day.
Well, it worked, and this last Monday, Columbus day, I got 5 birds on 7 shells. The 6th bird got me---- the safety on the beretta is in front, not behind the trigger. I forgot, and the bird flew off without being chased by 1.25 oz of lead. BUT, the dog chased it down, and brought it back! So, a near perfect day.
Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to get moved in at the duck house, and Saturday is the Duck Season Opener. I'm taking the Beretta, and hoping to find time to leave the SX2 at the gunsmith.
Bottom line: these guns are all excellent, but they have differences, and one of them with work for you a lot better than the others. If you have already noticed the SX2 pointing and feeling better, then give that a lot of weight in your decision.
Also remember that the gun behaves and feels different in a hunting or clay shooting context than at a store, or on a webpage! So if you have any chance to shoot a round of trap or skeet with all the guns you are considering, go for it.
-- Quackster
After growing up with an 870, shooting one for 20 years, I bought a Benelli SBE, about 5 years ago. I loved the pictures, the stories about it, loved it at the store where I bought it. But after I got it, and started using it, things went south. When hunting with it, it didn't feel right. It seemed to me to shoot low. I missed a whole lot of trap and skeet with it. After a day of duck hunting, my wrist hurt. I decided the curve of the pistol grip was the cause. Then it started jamming. Light loads and heavy. (And yes, I ran about 10 boxes of shells through it). Embarrasing to get a jam on a two-clay shot in skeet or sporting clays, over and over. Even worse to jam when the first shot misses a big greenhead, and he is still hovering 30 yards in front!
During this time I picked up a Browning Gold, 3", intended for my son. I had the stock cut down. But before I did that, I took it out hunting, and shooting clays. With this gun, my wrist felt a lot better, but somehow it didn't point right. I could line it up at a stationary target just fine, but shooting at a duck or an orange pigeon was just not right. Meaning, misses.
A friend at work picked up a Winchester SX2 3.5", and let me try it at the skeet range. (I got him hooked on shooting, so that was the least he could do!) Well, this thing felt just right, pointed just right, and I got a 22 on skeet first round. At the time a personal best!
So, I sold the Benelli, bought a SX2 3.5, in Camo. It's been GREAT!
Since then, the son got big. He's taller than me now, and the next son needed something to shoot. Older son and I picked out a Beretta 391 (we liked the Browning Fusion, which seems to get no mention on this bulletin board--- why?) in black, and the youger son has to make do with the hand-me-down Browning Gold with the short stock. Poor guy.
When I shoot the Beretta 391, I get that same feeling of non-pointiness as with the benelli and the browning. But it's much closer to the SX2 in comfort and feel.
Good thing for that Beretta though. In the last 2 months, somehing has gone wrong in the SX2, and it now misfires. Pull trigger, and Click. not Bang. Crap! The primer shows a little dent. I've had it in to the gunsmith, who recommended ammo change and cleaning the hell out of it. OK, did that, took it out for pheasants last weekend, and it happened again on many types of ammo. So, the BACKUP gun saves the day.
Well, it worked, and this last Monday, Columbus day, I got 5 birds on 7 shells. The 6th bird got me---- the safety on the beretta is in front, not behind the trigger. I forgot, and the bird flew off without being chased by 1.25 oz of lead. BUT, the dog chased it down, and brought it back! So, a near perfect day.
Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to get moved in at the duck house, and Saturday is the Duck Season Opener. I'm taking the Beretta, and hoping to find time to leave the SX2 at the gunsmith.
Bottom line: these guns are all excellent, but they have differences, and one of them with work for you a lot better than the others. If you have already noticed the SX2 pointing and feeling better, then give that a lot of weight in your decision.
Also remember that the gun behaves and feels different in a hunting or clay shooting context than at a store, or on a webpage! So if you have any chance to shoot a round of trap or skeet with all the guns you are considering, go for it.
-- Quackster
