Larry,
Couldn't help but notice, that at no point did you say the NID was better than a 700.
Hey, why not?
I'm not a huge fan of 700s, but, I can see the forrest for the trees, I like to think.
Best,
Ted
I guess you missed it, Ted. I pointed out that American 12's are multi-purpose guns, for everything from upland to waterfowl (especially back when they were made, when we could shoot lead) to turkeys. Brit 12's are not. They're more specific tools: Either wildfowl guns or upland guns.
And, at 3x the price, the W&S SHOULD be a better gun than a NID. And it is . . . IF you feed it the proper ammo. I've owned several 700's (as well as several NID's), and the 700 is a fine gun . . . for loads of relatively moderate velocity up to 1 1/8 oz shot, if you're hunting and not shooting a lot of them. (See Mr. Greener's Rule of 96.) I've shot multiple rounds of trap with those same 1 1/8 oz loads in a NID, and I could shoot them all day. And I could move up to heavier and faster 1 1/4 oz loads, which would not be a wise choice in the 700. It's not built for those.
What it comes down to is that the 700 is a better gun . . .for you and for me, if we're looking for a pheasant gun and if we don't see the need to shoot heavy loads. See what most American pheasant hunters choose for loads. Most would not be happy with a 700 if they were to touch off a couple Super-X's. Most American pheasant hunters carry guns that are heavier than they really need and shoot loads that are faster and heavier than they really need . . . but Ted, you and I are in a minority on that score. And even though I've written a book and a ton of articles on pheasant hunting, I don't think I've swung all that many people to our way of thinking. I feel lucky when I can convince them that they'll hardly ever need more than the old "Super Pigeon" load: 3 1/4 DE, 1 1/4 oz shot, 1220 fps. And in the case of that particular load, I can invoke names of true shotgun gods: McIntosh, Brister, Hill. And I'm still swimming against the tide.
