I got a chance to "ride Shotgun" on a trip to Cabella's in Columbus yesterday. A gun newbie buddy bought a Savage/Stevens 320 shotgun at a sale price of $199.00
Most of you will have seen it by now but it was the first time for me. It's got an 18.5 inch barrell\, 5 shot tube, and an AR style pistol grip stock with sling slot and a nice soft recoil pad. It has a front bead sight and the receiver is not drilled and tapped like so many are these days. Chambering is 12 gauge 2/34 or 3 inch. The safety is a cross bolt type. The slide release is on the left side behind the trigger guard.
We ran a box of bird shot through it while brutalizing some tin cans. It is not as smooth as my 870 and I just don't like the slide release (not sure that's the right term, sorry) but it does aim and point nicely. Combat loading from underneath seemed easy and intuitive. The pistol grip helps that a lot and we added a cheap nylon saddle. Buddy was not used to a pump and did short-stroke it but we discussed that issue and it only happened once. There were no malfunctions other than that.
Overall, I'm a big fan for the money. I prefer my departed Mossberg 500 but that was a $400 dollar rig. If you don't need to hang your espresso machine on a tactical rail, you have what you need for home defense for two bills.
Anybody else have one of these?
Most of you will have seen it by now but it was the first time for me. It's got an 18.5 inch barrell\, 5 shot tube, and an AR style pistol grip stock with sling slot and a nice soft recoil pad. It has a front bead sight and the receiver is not drilled and tapped like so many are these days. Chambering is 12 gauge 2/34 or 3 inch. The safety is a cross bolt type. The slide release is on the left side behind the trigger guard.
We ran a box of bird shot through it while brutalizing some tin cans. It is not as smooth as my 870 and I just don't like the slide release (not sure that's the right term, sorry) but it does aim and point nicely. Combat loading from underneath seemed easy and intuitive. The pistol grip helps that a lot and we added a cheap nylon saddle. Buddy was not used to a pump and did short-stroke it but we discussed that issue and it only happened once. There were no malfunctions other than that.
Overall, I'm a big fan for the money. I prefer my departed Mossberg 500 but that was a $400 dollar rig. If you don't need to hang your espresso machine on a tactical rail, you have what you need for home defense for two bills.
Anybody else have one of these?
