- Stay away from the lower end guns like Savage 311, and the slew of Turkish imports. Their first weakness will soon be found in the trigger parts which are not hardened as they should be. When they fail, and if shot much they will, you will have a heck of a time getting them fixed.
Mark,
Lots of well-represented info, but I must take exception to the above statement. While it may be true of the Turkish guns - with which I have no experience - it certainly is not true of the Stevens guns, which are among the more robust out there; I've seen many that were
rode hard and put up wet that are still functioning as intended. And even if they're not, they're easily fixed.
Fin
+1. Putting a 311 in the same category as a Turkish gun isn't right. 311's are tough guns. Most were way more abused than any Fox, Parker, LC, etc. They are butt ugly, plank like, finished like a tool, but parts not hardened properly? I don't believe that for a minute. Something tells me that the Stevens Tool and Die Co. knew a little sumthin-sumthin about properly hardening steel. I've owned several 311's over the years, they've all been zero problem guns, even the 311 I bought for parts at a gunshow for $45, it looked to be a total trainwreck cosmetically, but it still worked. And I wasted my $45 cause I never needed to tear it apart for parts, none of my other 311's ever broke.
For a starter SxS shotgun, the 311 is a good choice, its what I started out with and used for many years. My 311's digested untold thousands of wally world promo loads. Back then I was shooting skeet and trap 3 nights a week and the only shotguns I owned were those 311's, I knew nothing of "low pressure" ammo, I shot what was cheap and those Savage/Stevens 311's took all that abuse and never hiccupped, none of them were loose, off "the" face, etc. I owned two with single non-selectable triggers (including the "trainwreck" gun), the single triggers were simple, robust and worked. I've never heard anyone having any sort of problems with the double triggers.
If its a higher quality gun that you seek for a bit more money, listen to Mr. Hallquist advice, plenty of very nice continental guns out there that are priced right.
Dustin
