Hope this already hasn’t been done 100 times before but I am only a few months old to these forums. I have gotten a very recent interest in sxs’s, purchased several books, received many catalogs, been on the net many nights until 2AM, read a lot of gun reviews, and read many forum threads.

It appears that a very large number of you love sxs’s, have a lot of experience in this area, and like sharing your views in these forums. It’s Sunday, have gotten 18" of snow here south of Buffalo, NY, the fireplace is cranking out the heat, so why not relax here and post a new thread that I was thinking about it this week.

If you had the following budget, and could only spend that on one “new” sxs, what make/model would you purchase if you were in one of these price point categories, and in a few short comments why (appearance, quality, available bores, maker reputation, origin of manufacture, etc).

Under $1,000

$1,000 - $2,000

$2,000 - $3,000

$3,000 - $4,000

Base it on prices that you would pay if you spent time diligently searching stores and the net for sales and deals, “not” on MSRP. I haven’t gone higher since there are many great guns above $4,000 but few of us have that kind of money to spend.

I would also be interested to hear what type of % premium you would really pay for a new sxs made in the States. I see a lot about the desire to buy made in America in these forums, and chastising USA brand gun manufacturers for outsourcing production, but it appears to me that at the end of the day ideals go out the window for available cheap pricing and immediate availability at the store/internet.

By the way, just so you know where I am coming from in terms of owned sxs’s I have spent $2,800 in the past couple of months for two guns, the first was a Weatherby D’Italia 20 GA for $2,300. This was my first sxs and I liked the fiddleback stock on this one, the wood to metal fit, the Weatherby name, the Fausti Stefano website (and the visual appearance of the Italian sisters who manage it) but I haven’t even fired it yet and don’t know if this was the best choice at this price point based on what I have read since then. Second sxs just a week ago was a new Armsco branded Huglu Ringneck 28GA that I bought at the local Gander Mountain store. But even though I had read the negatives on Huglu and Turkish made, I succumbed to the 28GA scaled frame and a $519 sale price for my very first 28GA. Haven’t fired that one either yet.

Think I may post this same thread on the other shotgun forum site as well just to see if there are any differences in the type of viewers, but it just may be the exact same group on both forum sites.

Dave