Semi-auto for pheasants.

magic_tree

I am about to buy a second shotgun soley for game and vermin. I have an u/o for clays but its far too good to bring into the field. I am thinking of trading my s/s as I want a change. I want a semi-auto because I will be mostly shooting vermin and pheasants with it.

A few lads in my gun club seem to frown on the semi-auto when out for pheasants and Im just wondering what everyone thinks? Its not a safety thing as I have been shooting since 16 and almost have o.c.d when it comes to making sure my gun is safe.

declan1980

magic_tree wrote: »

I am about to buy a second shotgun soley for game and vermin. I have an u/o for clays but its far too good to bring into the field. I am thinking of trading my s/s as I want a change. I want a semi-auto because I will be mostly shooting vermin and pheasants with it.

A few lads in my gun club seem to frown on the semi-auto when out for pheasants and Im just wondering what everyone thinks? Its not a safety thing as I have been shooting since 16 and almost have o.c.d when it comes to making sure my gun is safe.

I have a semi auto for the exact same reasons, but never had anyone say anything to me about shooting pheasants with it. I can't understand why there would be a problem with it, sure to be realistic even with the semi, you'll never get off the third shot at a bird because they'll gone to far

garv123

I use a pump action and dont find it bad out shooting pheasants. The weight of them aint an issue at all.

As declan said you'll rarely get the third shot off anyway. If i miss with the first two he deserves to survive for another day.
The extra shot is handy for shooting over a pond of if a few birds get up in the one spot.

you'll probably have to spend a few quid or research semi auto makes first though as some tend to jam. Cant be anything worse than birds breaking and the gun jamming

charlie10

i have a semi auto for game and vermin and o/u for clays ,but like shooing the odd 100 bird shoot with the repeater

Alchemist2

Let them frown.... do you think about what ppl might say when you put on a diff set of clothes each day... i have an A400 as well as a sxs and went to a partridge shoot last year took the semi, nothing said, only too happy to be getting the money... if you want one go get it if it makes you happy and feic the begrudgers;)

garv123

Do some of the lads you mentioned in your club dress like this?

charlie10

:Dha ha brill:D

hedzball

Gonna be using my 887 pump this year..

Ghetto ass busta crows an bahunnys in da feeeld's...


Got some frowns about the gun..

But in the end of the day its shooting the same loads as anyone else..




'hdz

magic_tree

Thanks for the feedback lads.
I have been talking to some of the lads in the gun club and I was saying that I was thinking of changing to a semi for game and vermin. I got responses like "ah a semi?? theyre only for messers" and things like "you cant shoot pheasants with a semi its un-sporting" the usual kinda snobbery .
In all honesty I wont be putting more than 2 cartridges in it anyway when after pheasants because of crossing ditches/gates etc.. Less time to unload and less to fiddle around with.

hedzball

magic_tree wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback lads.
I have been talking to some of the lads in the gun club and I was saying that I was thinking of changing to a semi for game and vermin. I got responses like "ah a semi?? theyre only for messers" and things like "you cant shoot pheasants with a semi its un-sporting" the usual kinda snobbery .
In all honesty I wont be putting more than 2 cartridges in it anyway when after pheasants because of crossing ditches/gates etc.. Less time to unload and less to fiddle around with.

Dont knock it till ya try..

Been shooting a 1951 bsa for years..

went from that to a remi 887.. Mad for the yoke so I am..

I dont see how its un sporting.. by time ya get round to 3rd shot there long gone..

Same with the pump.. sure by time I get to my 2nd shot a sxs or o/u has blown 2 barrels!

snipe02

garv123 wrote: »

Do some of the lads you mentioned in your club dress like this?

if i saw myself in those id kick my own ass

not a fan in semi autos but ive never own 1 so cant say i wouldnt like one its the loading and unloading at every ditch or fence that would put me off but the way i see it is i dont need anyones approval as to what gun i use its my choice if someone has a prob with your gun its there prob not yours

marlin vs

garv123 wrote: »

Do some of the lads you mentioned in your club dress like this?

FFS garv where did you find that picture.

Chiparus

http://www.beretta.com/Long-guns/Competition-guns/Break-open-semiautomatics/index.aspx?m=82&idc=24

?? acceptable in company?

garv123

thats me on the right with the comb-over


You don't have to unload a semi/pump at every single gate or ditch..
If you are hunting with someone allow them to get over the gate and hand the gun over to them.. or be the last to climb through a ditch with the barrel facing behind you. You can also just remove the first round and dont put another one into the chamber.
They aren't as bad as people make them out to be.

cz17hmr

Every guy has his own preference. I have used sxs, a pump, semi and o/u. I have now gone back to a semi bought it last week. Got a beretta al391 ulrika. Looking forward to getting going when the licence comes through. Go for what you want not what others tell ya

Grizzly 45

As said Feck the Tweedy hidebound traditionalists and their comments.;)

I've shot semi and pump since I started shooting many moons ago and have shot just about everything with them.If you go across the pond to the US,you are considerd somwhat quaint if you use a DBBL.The semi and pump are one of the most common guns in the US.
I have used a semi in Hungary over the last two years on driven pheasent shoots with a nine shot mag.And glad I did too...there are so many birds coming over,that unless you have a set of doubles and a loader and the two of you are synched in as a team.Which takes years of practise to achive properly,you are going to be very busy with your two banger loading and firing,whereas with the semi you can pick and choose the birds knowing you have the capacity to deal with plenty of good shots.

My best sofar has been a double double of four birds ,four shots,four seconds.Last being shot as the first was hitting the ground.Somthing I could not have done without a semi.

Now,lets dispel some myths that keep persistently cropping up about both pump and semi.

Myth 1..They are unsafer than a traditional double.
Not true,any gun is dangerous if you dont know how to use it safley,and the semis and pumps are no more or less than a DBBL.Once the chamber and battery havent got a round in them,and the battery is locked back they are as safe as a broken double.
On some models there is a magazine cutoff that blocks the mag from feeding out further shells into battery,a useful feature,and also saves you having to unload the entire mag when crossing obstacles.
In fact,if you understand the guns working mechanism properly there is NO need to unload the mag as well!!Just rack back the slide and remove the shell from the gun,and obviously you WILL have the saftey on...it is now as safe as a double.It will take five concious movements on your part to get the gun to fire once the shell is removed.The secret is LOCK BACK, REMOVE SHELL.The gun is now out of battery and its supply of ammo is broken

Myth 2..They are more difficult to shoot.
Not so,it comes from people not understanding HOW to shoot them.
Some people dismount from the pump to work the slide!!!WRONG!! You stay mounted on the gun and work the slide while aiming and firing.

Myth 3 They are more complex to use.
Well,if you find driving a car complex or operating power tools complex,you would find this complex.:)

Myth 4 They are unsporting..
The big one,and usually put about by people who just like to live in the past.But ironically drive the most modern of flash high powerd cars!:rolleyes:
Sporting is a concept and everyone has a different view of it.If you were to do a time test of a semi hi cap Vs a well broken in loader /gunner with a set of doubles,you would find the semi a very poor loser.A double team can keep up a rate of fire that will outmatch a semi any day.However I do hope you have time and money for that,as a good loader was considerd an inheritance piece in some fammlies passed on from father to son,or as long as the poor ol gun loader survived in his Lordships service!:rolleyes:

This whole idea of the unsporting pump /or semi comes from the late 19th century[and should have stayed there] of the market wildfowler,who shot wildfowl for the markets of America and Europe and used high cap pumps for this,or failing that a punt gun.There had always been a serious rivalry between the "shore poppers"[sportsmen] and "goose men" who made a living from their guns.In fact it goes back to around the 18century,if you were to read diary of a wildfowler by Col Peter Hawker,you would see the nobility and the commoners having the same spat about sporting or not.But in this case it was the double fowling piece Vs the double barrel punt gun!!The double punt gun being used by the nobility in most cases.

As the professional wildfowler 's trade waned and sporting shooting became more a hobby,the high cap of the guns became a symbol of spite and derision.Until world war one where the" trench broom" became an effective weapon of war used by the Americans.So of course like the bolt action in the early years of the 20 century it was derided as "dashed unsporting" and a "confounded American invention."[ But was good enough to be issued to the RIC and Auxies and Black & Tans for shooting at us uppity Paddies in the 1920s:eek::rolleyes:]
In short it is an archaic view that has no place in the 21st century.

Myth 4 They are gangster/Rambo guns.
Whatever a Rambo gun is..I dont know..My libary and the t'internet gives me no clues.:p.Gangster guns,well in that case so is the double,as it has been used by both the right and wrong side of the law since the first fowling piece was cut down to be a bit more handier in the wilds of the frontiers of the American Continent,to the not so as made out to be wild west.As has the revolver,rifle and any other firearm.They can all be classified as gangster guns as bothsides of the law have used them.
To classify an inanimate object as being used exclusevily by a certain group reeks of ingnorance and stpidity.

To finish.The pump and semi are just natural evolutions of mankinds inventions and fasination of firearms.Wether you put two or twenty two shells into the gun is irrevelant.If you can hit what you are aiming at and kill it cleanly or knock the steel with it,that is all tha matters in the end.

It is you personally and your conciousnes that decides the morality and sportingness of the guns use.If you think it should only come out of two barrels one at a time or out of one barrel eight times,it is up to you.
Not to somone elses previved notions of whats right or wrong
So long as you do it safley and sanely is all that matters in the end.

rowa

Don't forget the pump/semi is 3 or 4 inches longer for a given barrel length compared to the double gun , it may be an issue depending on the terrain you shoot over.

Grizzly 45

But you can buy various barrel lengths and for different purposes for a pump or semi alot easier than for a double!:p:p

The Big Fella

A semi auto is very handy in a hide shooting crows as there easier than an o/u to reload. I loved my semi for that type a shooting. I now have an o/u and you cant beat it for rough shooting unless you havea sxs.:D

pheasntstalker

i have a browning b80 semi for duck,pidgeon and crow glad i didnt sell it after and use a sxs for pheasents,love em both only time i had trouble with the semi jamming was when i put light 28grm 71/2,s in it

doyle61

Use a Browning gold fusion myself, best fitting shotgun I've ever put to my shoulder. As the lads have said your never going to get the third shot off. The thing about safety, well it's the nut at the butt really isn't it. Go with whatever you like and feck the begrudgers

cavan shooter

I would say that the bad press that semis got in relation to pheasants, ducks etc stems from the behaviour of lads more so than the gun itself.

Nothing sounds as bad on the first of Novemberas to be rambling through the fields when oft in the distance you hear a BANG! followed by another Bang! THEN BANG,BANG BANG in quick succession.

I shoot a beretta semi for all my game, I have only ever fired two shots out of it. It goes back to the first time I bought a "repeater" and my Dad said that if it takes more than 3 shots to shoot a pheasant give up shooting.

Mr.Flibble

garv123 wrote: »

Do some of the lads you mentioned in your club dress like this?

They'd be barred from any posh shoot of mine.

Not wearing ties.


Also, the one on the left is a Scientologist.

dodderangler

Not to start an arguement but in my opinion if you shoot at a pheasant and miss first two you don't deserve the 3rd and should be ashamed to shoot at it with the 3rd
Bird deserves to live if that's the case

Double Barrel

Those dudes look like girlie men, ..... thanks Arnold.

I am partial to two barrels and single shots, but here's an auto I can live with.

Grizzly 45

Looks like a Cosmi Anconia???
The most expensive,every bit handmade Italian semi shotgun out there??It breaks like a dbbl same as that Bereatta yoke that cant make up its mind wether it is a semi or DBBL .:D

Double Barrel

A Cosmi for sure Griz.
The Beretta was developed to conform with International Competition Standards. Its a single barrel that fires 2 cartridges or a SBF2C. :rolleyes:



The Cosmi semi auto has a unique pivoting break open action, loads cartridges into stock chamber from inside of receiver, 8 shot mag. with 3 shot option reducer. Boehler Antinit steel barrel, plum blue. All internal parts are mfg. from special chrome-nickel steel.

"Fucille Cosmi break action semi-auto shotguns have been in constant production since 1938 except for five years during WWII (1940 to 1945). During that time they have produced less than 8000 guns. Made with the highest possible quality production techniques and superior quality materials, Fucille Cosmi shotguns are truly unique. The eight round magazine in the buttstock gives the gun better balance than any other semi-auto shotgun made." http://www.cosmi.net/

Grizzly 45

And a steal at about a start price of 9 K upwards!!:D

No matter,it would be still classed as a "shotgun used by an utter Cad!" As it is still semi,and note it has an 8shot capacity too,but thats the Italians for ye!They like their semis with high capacity.

OK Cosmi trivia time...Name two famous leaders of both East and West in the Cold war era who were hunters and used Cosmi shotguns??