Hunting

Shotgun Review: OL Ranks the Best New Shotguns of 2011

By John B. Snow

May 13, 2011

Is the domestic shotgun market dead? No, but the only truly new shotgun that can claim to be made in the U.S. is the Remington Versa Max, a solid waterfowl gun built on a cleverly simple gas-recoil system. Its prospects look good. The other shotguns in the field are imports, either from Europe or, in a couple of cases, from Turkey. Despite their offshore origins, these guns have been intelligently configured with American shooters in mind, though the quirky CZ autoloader might have a difficult time fitting in. Two are high-end Italian over/under guns that are a very good value despite having price tags north of $5,000. The field is rounded out by a number of semi-autos, including a couple of new 3 1⁄2-inch guns that have good features for the price and are free of any fatal flaws that sometimes go with European imports. Thank you, Darwin. Here's a breakdown of the shotguns we tested ranked in order from the highest score to the lowest score. Also see: New Shotguns 2013

Find More Results from Outdoor Life's Guns and Optics Tests: VIDEO: Best New Shotguns 2011
VIDEO:Best New Optics 2011

Gun Test: New Rifles 2011
Optics Test: New Rifle Scopes 2011
Optics Test: New Binoculars 2011
Optics Test: New Spotting Scopes 2011

We torture tested eight new shotguns in our 2011 Gun Test. When the dust settled, Weatherby and Caesar Guerini came out on top.

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