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Anyone have any experience with this shotgun? Good bad? Thinking about getting it for the girlfriend.

As a general rule of thumb I try and avoid any semi auto that retails under $500. The Chinese do a lot of things well, but making shotguns isn't one of them.

Go Benelli or stay at the house

Look for a deal on a beretta 390. Will run you in the same ballpark and be an excellent gun for her.

Franchi also has a compact model in their Affinity line. Can probably be had for around $700. That would be my pick as far as bang for your buck goes.

I have a Benelli SBE II but feel like spending a lot when she is a fair weather hunter only. lol

waterfowlmaniac wrote:I have a Benelli SBE II but feel like spending a lot when she is a fair weather hunter only. lol

I'm telling ya, go Franchi. There is no such thing as a Franchi facility, they are made at Benelli's facility in Italy on the same line as your SBE II by the same people who made your SBE II.

My buddy had a franchi. He had a lot of problems w it.

Had 3 SBE 2s and 2 super vincis now. Never cleaned any of them after season starts till it's over. Never once had a single jam. Have had the receiver not shut after loading and got the infamous click a few times. But like already said they're proud of them

waterfowlmaniac wrote:My buddy had a franchi. He had a lot of problems w it.

That's because it's a stoeger, just ask woody.

BrewGUN wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:My buddy had a franchi. He had a lot of problems w it.

That's because it's a stoeger, just ask woody.

Wrong. Stoeger's are made in Turkey, as I said before, Franchi is essentially a stripped down Benelli. I've got a buddy that has a Benelli M2 that will not run if it is cold, but I promise you that any pump/semi-auto shotgun made by H&R will be hands down the most problematic shotgun you can buy.

sws002 wrote:

BrewGUN wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:My buddy had a franchi. He had a lot of problems w it.

That's because it's a stoeger, just ask woody.

Wrong. Stoeger's are made in Turkey, as I said before, Franchi is essentially a stripped down Benelli. I've got a buddy that has a Benelli M2 that will not run if it is cold, but I promise you that any pump/semi-auto shotgun made by H&R will be hands down the most problematic shotgun you can buy.

You can really promise that? My Franchi was a piece of shit. I'd put any gun ahead of it.

Eric Haynes wrote:

sws002 wrote:

BrewGUN wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:My buddy had a franchi. He had a lot of problems w it.

That's because it's a stoeger, just ask woody.

Wrong. Stoeger's are made in Turkey, as I said before, Franchi is essentially a stripped down Benelli. I've got a buddy that has a Benelli M2 that will not run if it is cold, but I promise you that any pump/semi-auto shotgun made by H&R will be hands down the most problematic shotgun you can buy.

You can really promise that? My Franchi was a piece of shit. I'd put any gun ahead of it.

Absofuckinlutely. Not to infringe on Assa's trademark, but I'm not exaggerating when I say it's about a 50/50 return rate on H&R's. They fucking blow, and I attribute the ones that haven't come back for repair simply to the fact that they are cheap pieces of shit and are likely to have never been used, or just simply don't care to come back. I don't think I've seen one of the newer Franchi's come back for repair, I'd bet I've seen 30 of the H&R's. No offense, but your single instance of a bad gun is really a moot point. Like I said, I've personally witnessed a Benelli M2 fail MULTIPLE times, and it is kept absolutely spotless. You want good gun purchasing advice? Don't purchase anything made from anyone in the Freedom Group. Remington, Marlin, H&R, Para, Bushmaster, DPMS; all once relatively decent companies, now they probably account for better than half of my returns (even more than Taurus ).

But do they also outsell the others 2 to 1? If so, the percentages work out just about right, and it's a wash.

assateague wrote:But do they also outsell the others 2 to 1? If so, the percentages work out just about right, and it's a wash.

How do you figure? To the best of my knowledge, we have never sent a Franchi back for repair in the two years I've been working there (same time frame as the newer line has been out) and we have sent a metric shit ton of H&R's. I'd bet we've sold around 20 Franchi's in that time frame, and I can promise you that if I've sold 20 H&R's, at the very least 5 of those are going to come back for repairs, some multiple times.

Buddy has a Stoeger and loves it. Has had no problems w it and we hunted in -10 temps last year. Might go with that

waterfowlmaniac wrote:Buddy has a Stoeger and loves it. Has had no problems w it and we hunted in -10 temps last year. Might go with that

They are offering a 20 gauge this year (the 3020), but I don't know if they are offering a compact option. I'm sure there would be some information on their website, I just don't feel like looking right now.

sws002 wrote:

assateague wrote:But do they also outsell the others 2 to 1? If so, the percentages work out just about right, and it's a wash.

How do you figure? To the best of my knowledge, we have never sent a Franchi back for repair in the two years I've been working there (same time frame as the newer line has been out) and we have sent a metric shit ton of H&R's. I'd bet we've sold around 20 Franchi's in that time frame, and I can promise you that if I've sold 20 H&R's, at the very least 5 of those are going to come back for repairs, some multiple times.

I was just saying that if they account for half of the returns, but over half of the sales, then it seems that they're actually more reliable, on a percentage basis. If you sell 100 Freedom Group guns and 10 Benellis, and have 15 repairs, 13 of which are Freedom Group, they're still doing better than the other, 13% vs. 20%, based on sales volume.

I really have no dog in this fight, as I'm never buying a high-dollar gun, or even an autoloader, for that matter. Just like arguing numbers is all. Just stands to reason that on a statistical basis, cheap guns will come back for repairs far more often for the simple reason that far more of them are sold.

assateague wrote:

sws002 wrote:

assateague wrote:But do they also outsell the others 2 to 1? If so, the percentages work out just about right, and it's a wash.

How do you figure? To the best of my knowledge, we have never sent a Franchi back for repair in the two years I've been working there (same time frame as the newer line has been out) and we have sent a metric shit ton of H&R's. I'd bet we've sold around 20 Franchi's in that time frame, and I can promise you that if I've sold 20 H&R's, at the very least 5 of those are going to come back for repairs, some multiple times.

I was just saying that if they account for half of the returns, but over half of the sales, then it seems that they're actually more reliable, on a percentage basis. If you sell 100 Freedom Group guns and 10 Benellis, and have 15 repairs, 13 of which are Freedom Group, they're still doing better than the other, 13% vs. 20%, based on sales volume.

I really have no dog in this fight, as I'm never buying a high-dollar gun, or even an autoloader, for that matter. Just like arguing numbers is all. Just stands to reason that on a statistical basis, cheap guns will come back for repairs far more often for the simple reason that far more of them are sold.

Yes, I get that. But my point is that with the two guns mentioned, the number of repairs for Franchi is 0. You can extrapolate that out as many times as you like, the percentage of repairs is still zero. Now I'm also not naive, and I realize there are always going to be repairs, regardless of price. That being said, I've always been in the opinion that I'd rather spend a little bit more for a gun that has a significantly better track record as a company. Regardless of numbers, I have NEVER heard (nor do I expect to) someone say that their H&R is a great shotgun. I would also be more inclined to pay more for a 90's era 870 than I would to buy a new one right now, I have that little faith in Freedom Group.

What was that Russian made gun? Supposed to be pretty decent, but I can't remember the name. I think Huntall has one.

Eric Haynes wrote:My Franchi was a piece of shit.

Which model?

Rick wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:My Franchi was a piece of shit.

Which model?

12

assateague wrote:What was that Russian made gun? Supposed to be pretty decent, but I can't remember the name. I think Huntall has one.

Baikal? I had one also

Rick wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:My Franchi was a piece of shit.

Which model?

And I guess it wasn't a "piece of shit" because the quality was great but that thing was the worst cycling gun ever. A guy I hunt with occasionally shoots the same gun and does better, but still has an issue while goose hunting pretty often.

Eric Haynes wrote:

Rick wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:My Franchi was a piece of shit.

Which model?

12

Yours wasn't the only one. They seemed a mixed bag.


(I've been keeping an eye out for Affinity reviews, just in case one of my Benellis dies or goes AWOL.)

Rick wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:

Rick wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:My Franchi was a piece of shit.

Which model?

12

Yours wasn't the only one. They seemed a mixed bag.


(I've been keeping an eye out for Affinity reviews, just in case one of my Benellis dies or goes AWOL.)

Like I've been saying, I've had very good feedback on the Affinity line. I would imagine the Intensity would follow suit nicely. I honestly can't speak for the I-12 lineup, as we didn't sell any of them where I was working while they were still in production.

waterfowlmaniac wrote:Anyone have any experience with this shotgun? Good bad? Thinking about getting it for the girlfriend.

I have one and I've had good luck with it. If they offered it in a 3 1/2" model if get one.

Juice Box wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:Anyone have any experience with this shotgun? Good bad? Thinking about getting it for the girlfriend.

I have one and I've had good luck with it. If they offered it in a 3 1/2" model if get one.

Nebraska is calling you a liar. Your gun is a piece of shit bro

Eric Haynes wrote:

Juice Box wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:Anyone have any experience with this shotgun? Good bad? Thinking about getting it for the girlfriend.

I have one and I've had good luck with it. If they offered it in a 3 1/2" model if get one.

Nebraska is calling you a liar. Your gun is a piece of shit bro

Good for Nebraska

Juice Box wrote:

Eric Haynes wrote:

Juice Box wrote:

waterfowlmaniac wrote:Anyone have any experience with this shotgun? Good bad? Thinking about getting it for the girlfriend.

I have one and I've had good luck with it. If they offered it in a 3 1/2" model if get one.

Nebraska is calling you a liar. Your gun is a piece of shit bro

Good for Nebraska

See, that wasn't so hard was it?

Seriously though. There are a metric shit ton of damn good used semi-autos out there for damn near the same money. I paid $400 for my SX2 used and I'd bet it hadn't had 100 rds through it. I picked up two (one for me, one for Jarbo) Browning Silvers for $600 a pop brand new. There are WAY better deals to be had. I said it once and I'm sticking to it, the Chinese do a lot of things very well, making guns is not one of them.