Don,
I don't want to open that can of worms. I own two and they are among my all-time favorites. I would never consider trading either because they have a little punch to them- they are too enjoyable to carry. My theory is they tend to be lighter than a lot of similar o/u's in the same gauge and barrel length. I doubt that they kick any more than a similar weight gun in any gauge with the same loads. I also had a Beretta Golden Snipe 12 ga. that weighed a HAIR over 7 lbs. with 28" barrels. It kicked more than an 8 lb+ Citori for the obvious father physics reasons. I regret terribly selling it and if the ba***rd I sold it to would sell it back it would never get away again. I've noticed a trend that most target game shooters tend to shy away from sub 8 lb. 12 gauges too. I hate 8 lb. twelves.
My philosphy whether talking about shotguns, handguns or AR15's is this: I think there are basically two types of guns- carrying guns and shooting guns. Carrying guns aren't much fun to shoot and shooting guns aren't much fun to carry.
That being said, I also suspect short forcing cones and tight bore dimensions add somewhat to perceived recoil, but I don't want to argue that with any board members either. Some people happily argue powder burn rates and recoil impulse and the effect they have on perceived recoil. I won't.
I'll take a "carrying gun" to walk up birds. If I want to shoot more than two or three rounds of trap or skeet I would use a "shooting gun". If I plop my rear on a dove stool or in a duck blind I don't care what I use. I consider 101's to be carrying guns in general. I wouldn't buy a 7 lb. 4 oz. 101 to shoot mutiple rounds of clays, as the clay game shooters have formed a concensus, by the hundreds if not thousands, that they are "kickers" and have moved on to gas guns or 8 lb.-plus guns for games.
Last edited by Duff; 01/11/09 07:51 PM.
