The Winchester SXP was the first shotgun I purchased after my Gun license showed up in the mail. It was not an easy choice to make being that it was my first firearm. So many choices in that price range. All coming in at just a hair under 500$ Benelli nova, Remington 870, Mossberg 500, Browning BPS and so on.
The SXP was the one I went with as it felt the best against my shoulder. The flatter stock design along with a very neutral cast made a perfect fit. It does have a fairly short length of pull at just 13 and 3/4", but for whatever reason it does not feel short. It was also the second best price at just over 400$
I purchased the Camp/Field Combo which included an 18" barrel off the Defender and a 28" barrel with 3 invector+ chokes. A matte black finish and synthetic stock makes a great all purpose gun.
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The speed pump action is great, soaks up a lot of the recoil and on occasion, ejects the shell without any effort on your part. Many have complained about the Remington 870 being a little ammo picky, but the SXP with eat up anything you put in it's 3" chamber.
Recoil is very low on this gun, even using 3" magnum turkey rounds. This is mostly to do with the very flat stock design along with the back bored barrels and inertia pump. The Inflex recoil pad does an excellent job at evenly distributing the remaining recoil against the shoulder. You can shoot this gun all day and never feel a thing
The stock is very comfortable and does not cause irritation after extended use. The forearm is a little sloppy and almost feels cheap in a way, but has not caused any problems as of yet. The flat butt stock makes it a great beginner trap gun. I got my first 50 straight in trap with it 2 months after buying it.
I would say that the major let down to this gun is the choke tubes that come shipped with the gun. They are just plain old Browning Invector Plus flush fit chokes which are considered by most to be some of the worst factory chokes ever made. I replaced mine with Winchester Signature Series chokes and noticed significantly better patterns and much cleaner breaks on the clay fields.
This gun has served me well getting into the shooting sports and has not had any failures in the 9000 or so shells iv'e put down the pipe. One thing that has happened to it though, is that after about 8000 shells I noticed a wear mark on the hammer, not a big deal and has not caused any problems, just something to be aware of when purchasing an SXP.
not the best picture but it clearly shows the wear mark right in the upper part of the hammer.
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Overall, the Winchester SXP is a great gun at a great price, I highly recommend the Camp/Field Combo if you can find one, The chokes should be replaced as soon as you can to achieve the best possible patterns. Recoil is limited making it ideal for women, young shooters, and small framed people. And lastly, this gun is extremely easy to clean and maintain.
I hope this review helps people interested in the SXP get a better idea of what this well priced gun has to offer. Please leave feedback on how I can improve my reviews in the future.
The SXP was the one I went with as it felt the best against my shoulder. The flatter stock design along with a very neutral cast made a perfect fit. It does have a fairly short length of pull at just 13 and 3/4", but for whatever reason it does not feel short. It was also the second best price at just over 400$
I purchased the Camp/Field Combo which included an 18" barrel off the Defender and a 28" barrel with 3 invector+ chokes. A matte black finish and synthetic stock makes a great all purpose gun.
The speed pump action is great, soaks up a lot of the recoil and on occasion, ejects the shell without any effort on your part. Many have complained about the Remington 870 being a little ammo picky, but the SXP with eat up anything you put in it's 3" chamber.
Recoil is very low on this gun, even using 3" magnum turkey rounds. This is mostly to do with the very flat stock design along with the back bored barrels and inertia pump. The Inflex recoil pad does an excellent job at evenly distributing the remaining recoil against the shoulder. You can shoot this gun all day and never feel a thing
The stock is very comfortable and does not cause irritation after extended use. The forearm is a little sloppy and almost feels cheap in a way, but has not caused any problems as of yet. The flat butt stock makes it a great beginner trap gun. I got my first 50 straight in trap with it 2 months after buying it.
I would say that the major let down to this gun is the choke tubes that come shipped with the gun. They are just plain old Browning Invector Plus flush fit chokes which are considered by most to be some of the worst factory chokes ever made. I replaced mine with Winchester Signature Series chokes and noticed significantly better patterns and much cleaner breaks on the clay fields.
This gun has served me well getting into the shooting sports and has not had any failures in the 9000 or so shells iv'e put down the pipe. One thing that has happened to it though, is that after about 8000 shells I noticed a wear mark on the hammer, not a big deal and has not caused any problems, just something to be aware of when purchasing an SXP.
not the best picture but it clearly shows the wear mark right in the upper part of the hammer.
Overall, the Winchester SXP is a great gun at a great price, I highly recommend the Camp/Field Combo if you can find one, The chokes should be replaced as soon as you can to achieve the best possible patterns. Recoil is limited making it ideal for women, young shooters, and small framed people. And lastly, this gun is extremely easy to clean and maintain.
I hope this review helps people interested in the SXP get a better idea of what this well priced gun has to offer. Please leave feedback on how I can improve my reviews in the future.
