I first bought a Remington 11-87, but have had nothing but trouble with it. I just picked up my Beretta 391 Sporting yesterday, and plan to go shoot this weekend. It feels and swings very nice. I'll know more after I shoot it, but from everything I've read, it seems to be the king of gas guns right now.

Checkout www.shotgunreport.com and read some of the "Technoid" articles.

I have shot the gun a few times and it is a wonderful gun to shoot. It is definitely a smooth shooting light recoil gun. Our thought was that a 12ga with 1oz loads would probably kick no more then a 20ga with 7/8 oz and give more shot. She bought a PAST recoil pad and has had no difficulty shooting 1 1/8 loads.

While doing my research I came to the following conclusions. Lengthened forcing cones are good, porting may help in keeping the barrel down but not with recoil, back boring is of little value. I am sure others have strong opinions on this but these were my conclusions.

The 391 already has lengthened forcing cones. This coupled with the semi auto action and the weight of the gun results in a relatively light recoil gun.

We are light shooters, 100 to 150 rounds per week and shoot for fun so this gun as equipped is all we need for shooting clays. This gun does seem to be the gun of choice for many custom shops and can be bought for about $1500 all tricked out.

I highly suggest (as far as upgrades go) that you look into buying a "New American" style stock from Fred Wenig (www.wenig.com). For about $300 you can get the one thing that most everyone overlooks...a well fitting stock. I bought one for my 391 and my scores went through the roof! It truely makes a difference...you will thank me later.

Other than that, all I would do is get a trigger job. The 391 has a little bit of slack/sloppiness...but for a $100 you can make it feel as crisp as those $8,000 sporters. Forget about the backboring, porting, etc. A big waste of money in my book. The Wenig stock will take care of the recoil and muzzle jump (side-effects of an ill fitting gun).

Good shooting!

Although I have great things to say about Remingtons. My 1100 and 11-87 are fantastic guns. I have noticed them to be somewhat tempermental with light loads. Not often though. I just feel the berettas are worth the extra few hundred bucks. Not just for quality, but for looks as well.

I have done all my research and my next gun is the Beretta 391 Teknys Sporting. What a beautiful gun and the 391 line's reputation is outstanding. Now all I have to do is save the money.