I have a Franchi Instinct SL that is quite light and handy. Mine is in 20 gauge but the 12 gauge version doesn’t weigh a whole lot more from what I remember. I personally don’t bird hunt much but this gun would be very easy to carry all day. Mine has 28” barrels and it balances and swings really nice. I haven’t shot anything heavier than target loads so I can’t say for certain how bad heavy loads would feel. I do know from deer hunting with slugs is that recoil is never an issue during the hunt. I dreaded sighting those slugs in but never noticed anything when shooting at a deer. Hope this helps.

Good luck.
John

 

I also hunt with a Franchi although mine is an older Alcione model in 12 ga. The keys for me was a weight at around 7lb, a nice fit off the rack and lively handling. There is no need for a pheasant load to be more than 1 1/4 oz of #5 lead shot or faster than 1300 fps. If one has to shoot steel or other non-tox those specs will need to change some.

 

I am a Browning Citori fan. They just seem to fit for me. I think the 12 ga offers more versatility if you decide to shoot more than just pheasants. 28" barrels are my preferance for a field gun for pheasants. I do not believe the Citoris have any cast to the stock. My buddy is a lefty and I can shoot the same gun as him with no problem. Like what is said above, a standard pheasant load is 1 1/4 ounces of lead at 1330 fps. The limit on birds is 2 or 3 a day in the states where we hunt. Recoil should not be an issue when hunting. Even steel 3" 1 1/4 loads are usually 1400-1450 fps. I doubt you will shoot a box a day. Do not buy the 2 3/4" 1 1/2 ounce 1400 fps upland loads, those kick.

 

I hunt with a Ruger Red Label, it is on the heavy side, but so am I. I have had it for over 30 years and it works just fine. If I was buying another now, I would look for something lighter. 26 inch barrels will work just fine. I usually shoot skeet and improved choke. I have even shot skeet/skeet without any problems. I hunt SD and you want something fast. I see no need to mess with these new fangled super high velocity loads. 4 or 5 shot at medium velocity will work just fine.

 

I've only been to South Dakota once, but, I've found that a light twelve gauge semi auto is best and was recommended...my limited experience.

 

I went with the Rizzini Light Luxe. I can't stand a field gun over 7 lbs, and my budget was under $2k. I like the Browning lightweights better, but not within the budget. Buddy has a Franchi SL, and I do feel the extra money for the Rizzini was justified based on build quality. My gripes with the Light Luxe: The laser engraving is over done, and the stock is built like a log. A "lightweight" gun should be 2 3/4" and have svelt lines. I assume they beefed the stock because it's a 3" gun.

 

A Cynergy 20 gauge is the best you can do for the money.

 

1 1/4 oz of No.5 lead shot going 1220 fps is a bedrock solid load and will be forever.
The thing about a 12 gauge is the versatility. Non-lead shot is a real thing. Bismuth isn't what lead is, so being able to throw a little more or a little faster is a nice option. So is having something to go out with in case a pal wants to show you duck or goose hunting.

The thing to consider is that if you reload, tungsten shot makes a 28 gauge like a 12 and isn't horrifically expensive. Factory ammo costs more than a trip to the vet.

You seem to really want an over and under, and if that's what the heart wants, that's what you should get. Try to get the weight under 7 pounds. If you need a new buttpad, the new sorbothane based pads (Kick-eze or Limb-saver) really do seem to soak up some recoil. The material is what's called "non-newtonian"... the molecules in the "rubber" convert compression into heat energy. It doesn't bounce, it absorbs. Maybe it's just psychological but it seems to make a difference to me, certainly over a hard plate.

I was at the range last month doing some pattern work.
I shot a 20 gauge over and under with 7/8 oz of factory target load. Then I picked up my gas operated semi-auto 12 gauge shooting 1 oz target loads. The guns weigh exactly the same, they both fit me very very well.

There was NO CONTEST in terms of my shoulder. The 12 was far softer shooting.

Its true that if you don't treat a Citory like a boat paddle, you can hand it down to your grandkids.

On the other hand, there are very nice gas operated semi-autos that weigh less, kick less, and cost less. Sometimes it's okay if your gun only lasts 40 or 50 years.

Next season, I will be carrying a 20 over and under (and side by side) for those days when I am not hotly intent on pheasant dinner. Some days, it's just nice to go for a walk with the dog and if a bird gets away, well, that's okay.

I also have a lovely pump gun to carry, because some days the sun is shining and my dad carried one just like that. I might not even shoot it, and that's okay.

But if the wife is going to get on me because she really wants pheasant later that week... 12 gauge gas operated semi automatic all the way.

 

It would be a great help if you told what your budget for this project is.

That will weed out a lot of suggestions, and potentially give you some ideas you hadn’t thought of.

 

LifeofRiley,

I recommend the Browning 12/20 Combo gun, my brother Kurt owns one and knows how to use it. He uses it for both Pheasant and Grouse. The guns are not cheap but they last for ever, he also shoots Clays with his quite often.
Further I recommend you purchase a great SXS L.C. Smith double gun, that weighs between 6 & 7 lbs, I do all my hunting with these guns, my O/U guns are strictly for shooting Clays, they do not get used very much any more.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

 

I tried a lot of different guns but it’s the Citori that always gets taken on pheasant hunts now. And it’s a 12 gauge.
Well that and a 12ga Ugartechea 30 but that’s not an o/u.

 

I'm sorry I forgot to mention a budget, but I'm in the range of $2,000 to $4,500. I already have a clays gun, cxs 30" 12 ga. , a duck gun 28" M2, and a gas upland gun l4s initial hunter 26". I'm just always in the position to buy a new gun. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

Definitely check out the Berettas. I have 5 Beretta field grade O/Us in various gauges. All great pheasant hunting guns.

 

I have Zoli Pernice in 12/20 and Beretta 486 in 12/20. All are a joy to use, particularly the 20s. The 486 20 SxS is amazing in the field. I have two excellent 390s that gather dust now.

 

Maybe something like the attached? I have no vested interest in the gun or the seller.

This one for sale right here on Shotgun World seems like it would do very nicely and is an elegant gun. Good luck!

Shotgun Forum

A forum community dedicated to Shotgun owners and enthusiasts including the Remington, Beretta, and Mossberg shotguns brands. Come join the discussion about optics, hunting, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!

www.shotgunworld.com

 

You should be able to find a Beretta with a left hand stock in that price range. Don’t be afraid of a used one. They are hard to wear out.

 

Although I know I could go subgauge, I'm leaning 12 due to the ballistic superiority.

What ballistic superiority?

 

As you know many books have been written on the subject of the performance of various gauges. I realize any gauge can shoot a pellet out just as fast as the next, and that there are many factors in shooting besides gauge. So I was thinking along the lines of a 12 gauge due to better pattern density, less deformed pellets, etc. I think it's clear that if a gunner does his homework and finds a good load for his gun a 12 is going to outperform a 20. Now I would look at a 16, but I remember a certain thread on here where you were saying there's no good factory loads for one.

 

Check out the Citori Superlight Feather in 16 gauge. It was a Shot Show Special in 2019 so a little hard to find. I have one and it is a great pheasant gun. Weighs 6 pounds even. All shells are hard to get right now but I have been able to get what I wanted in 16 gauge.

 

I have hunted wild pheasants in the upper midwest (Minnesota) for over 30 years. It's one of my passions shooting roosters over my black labs. I use O/Us exclusively. My 12 ga 687 rarely gets out of the safe. I find a 12 ga to be heavy overkill. I typically use a 16ga FAIR jubilee or my 686 20ga (using 2-3/4" shells). Anytime I go a game farm, which is pretty rare unless I am training pups, I shoot a 28ga.

I find the 16ga with 28" barrels shooting 1-1/8oz @ ~1300fps #6 (or late season #5) to be about the most ideal gun I can imagine for wild pheasants--light enough, yet not whippy and a has a smooth swing. Plenty of pellets and velocity to fold roosters. You do not need 1500fps+ loads. If you need to take 45+ yard shots, stop. Change the way you hunt.

For 16ga factory loads, I like Golden Pheasant or Federal blue box. The GP are slightly faster and plated.

I personally wouldn't buy anything based on today's ammo availability. It's still not normal. Buy a gun for the long term

 

I forgot to mention, you can order the FAIRs with a left-handed stock.

 

I would look at The Upland Gun Company’s RFMs. They are custom built shotguns to your spec, you choose the barrel length, stock dimensions, left/right handed, ejectors/extractors, chokes/choke tubes, wood grain (they will actually send you pics of wood blanks), and the engraving. They are made in Italy by RFM, a new brand to the US but has been around for almost 60 years. I currently have two of their SxSs in 16 and 20 gauge and they have been awesome shooters. I carried the 20 gauge most of last bird season and was able to harvest grouse, woodcock and pheasants with it. It handled 3 inch bismuth very comfortably.

How it works is you “build” your gun on their website then submit it with your contact info. This will give you a ruff price and a starting point. They will then call you and go over everything you could possibly do to the gun and help make decisions if you are unsure. Then if you decide to go through with it you give a deposit and the order started, turn around goal was originally 3-4 months but since Covid it’s more like 6ish.

As I said I have two of their SxSs and love them, I’m so happy with them I’ve ordered a 28/410 combo that I’m waiting on. I’ve shot a demo of one of their O/U set up for sporting and it shot very well, I had no problem hitting my average number of breaks on our sporting clay course compared to my 692 black.

Price wise they will fall right in your budget depending on options, but you can easily blow away the budget too if you want.

 

For me, it's hard to beat a 20ga Citori Lighting w/ 28" barrels for all upland work. I have one of each (12 and 20 gauges) in that configuration and use the 20ga mostly for upland work.

As far as pheasant loads are concerned, a 1- to 1 1/4-ounce load of #6 or #5 lead at moderate velocities (1150 to 1250 fps) will handle pheasant shooting just fine at reasonable (out to 40 yards) shotgun distances with the #5 lead load taking that a bit farther with the right choke.

For steel pheasant loads, a 1- to 1 1/8-ounce load in the 1300 to 1400 fps range with #3 or #2 shot works just fine on pheasants if it's choked for the distance of your shots.

Here are a few of my 20ga pattern numbers with some pheasant loads and chokes that I use to give you an idea of how they might perform.

Patterns from a 20-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels and Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

20 GA 2 ¾” RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 oz #6 lead (233 pellets) @ 1200 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 147 (63%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 168 (72%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 146 (63%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 163 (70%)

20 GA 3" RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 1/8 oz #5 lead (190 pellets) @ 1220 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 140 (74%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 149 (78%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 138 (73%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 147 (77%)

20 GA 3" WINCHESTER DRYLOK SUPER-X STEEL LOAD
1 oz #3 steel (145 pellets) @ 1330 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 114 (78%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 123 (85%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 106 (73%)
40 YARDS – LF / pattern 110 (76%)

20 GA 3" REMINGTON NITRO-STEEL MAGNUM LOAD
1 oz #2 steel (118 pellets) @ 1330 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 101 (86%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 105 (89%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 99 (84%)
40 YARDS – LF / pattern 102 (86%)

Hope this helps, good luck!

 

I have a Mossberg over/under 20 I bought new 4 years ago. It certainly isn't a Citori, but it gets the job done. I have shot many grouse with it and my fife killed her first couple with it also. I added a fiber optic bead and it helped getting shots on target. It is dependable and looks great. It feels decent and fight OK. For the money.

 

Hi Riley,

No suggestions for a gun here as I feel my "experience" with o/u's doesn't preclude me to advising you on which way to go.
I'm learning quite a bit, though, reading through this thread.
However, I did want to comment on Pete's post (#9) concerning butt pads.
Pete wrote:
If you need a new buttpad, the new sorbothane based pads (Kick-eze or Limb-saver) really do seem to soak up some recoil. The material is what's called "non-newtonian"... the molecules in the "rubber" convert compression into heat energy. It doesn't bounce, it absorbs. Maybe it's just psychological but it seems to make a difference to me, certainly over a hard plate.
If you don't have much experience with butt pads past the good ol' red Pachmayer rubber pad, let me tell ya a little story....
NOT psychological at all, Pete.
Back in the late 80's, I got a 20 ga. break action H&R single as payment for helping a guy move some furniture for a few minutes.
I picked up a box of Peters rabbit and squirrels and tested out the pattern on the gun.
The kick really surprised me, as I had grown up shooting my brother's Stevens/Savage 94 16 ga. (which had the Pachmayr butt pad).
It had the hard protective butt plate and I figured I needed the pad.
However, life got in the way and obtaining that pad became a distant memory.
Fast forward about 6-7 years and a friend and I decided to check out an impromptu "gun range" I'd found near my house.
He had just picked up a little 9mm pocket auto (I wanna say it was a Raven, but don't quote me) and I brought along my shotgun.
We found "point blank" was about the longest range you wanted to shoot that 9 at. Accuracy was "Minute-of-sheet-of-plywood" at about 20 feet.
So we turned to the shotgun.
I had about a 1/2 box of clays left so we just hand tossed them and used up the rest of that box of Peters shells.
By the time we were done, we were both so sore we vowed never to shoot that gun again (my friend told me the next day, he had an actual welt on shoulder from shooting it).
I was still having a hard time understanding what had happened, because of my past experience with my brother's shotgun.
I decided to measure the stock and found out it was short. 13 7/8" (supposed to be 14 1/4"!).
So what was happening was I wasn't able to tuck the gun into shoulder. Instead, it was just short enough that it touched my shoulder.
Without being able to tuck it in, it would slam my shoulder on every shot, thus the painful experience.
It appeared no one had messed with it, so I chalked it up to a "Monday morning" or possibly "Friday afternoon" stock and it just happened to make it past the inspectors (it happens).
I went to my LGS and started shopping pads.
Almost got the Pachmayr, but then spotted this interesting little item.
A Winchester Limbsaver.
The price wasn't too bad (under $15), so I decided to give it a try.
I immediately noticed the pad did 2 things for me....
1 ) It was thick enough to not only make up the difference between the stock's actual length and what it should be, but it also lengthened the LoP just enouh to fit it my particular dimensions well enough that I could really tuck it in nice and tight without having it catch on my armpit or clothing.
2 ) The material is a really wonderful shock absorber. This isn't just a rubber pad. It really is something quite different.
I now feel I could spend the entire day lighting off full-house 3" rounds, field after field, without any discomfort to my shoulder.
SO, if you ever feel like any of your guns is a bit of a hard kicker, GET THE LIMBSAVER.
It really is worth the money and you won't be sorry.
Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

 

I bought a Browning Citori 625 Feather 12 gauge with 28" barrels as my first pheasant gun. Thought I liked it until I actually hunted with it in SD. When taking the safety off as a bird got up I would accidentally switch to the top barrel at the same time quite often. Another issue with the Brownings is called trapping the trigger. When this happens you end up with a dead trigger for the second shot. If you do not come all the way off the trigger with your finger this will happen from time to time. I have shot many, many different guns and I operate the trigger the same way on all of them. This only happens with Brownings that I have shot. It is still a problem on the 725 models. I have seen it happen to a buddy on a sporting clays course a few times. Google it and you'll find some info.

So I sold that gun and went without an over/under for a few years. Then the Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon III (2020 version I believe) came out and I jumped on that. It shoots well and I will be taking it to SD for the first time this Fall. I did take it on a small quail hunt last Fall. It shoots well. Since nobody named it specifically I thought I'd mention it. Good luck!

 

Riley -- I'm also a lefty and hunt with a 20 ga 725 field. I love it and can carry for hours without fatigue. I hunt pheasant over pointers and do well with ⅞ oz of #7.5 shot in the lower barrel, 1 oz of #6 up top if a second shot is needed. If you will be flushing pheasant, then I can see your desire for heavier loads.