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Quick Question: Slimmest Autoloaders


onebarrelonedog

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Hello All. I am lucky enough to be shopping for two shotguns at the moment - one for myself and one for the lil' lady. I've been looking for very slim autoloading shotguns that allow even the daintiest of hands an adequate grip on the foreend. After a trip to Gander Mountain, where I handled and shouldered many a shotgun from, I believe, every major manufacturer, I've come to the decision that the slimmest guns are the Benellies. I suppose this is due to the lack of a gas system in the foreend.

 

Before I go and focus more on them, however, I was wondering if anyone else had a different opinion. If there's another slimmer autoloader out there, we may be in for another trip to the local shops to check one out.

 

Sincere thanks for any suggestions.

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I now own and have owned, almost an embarrassing amount of shotguns over the years, with my Special Field Browning Citori 20 gauge O/U being the one with the slimmest fore-end. However since you asked about auto-loaders, my shotgun with the next slimmest fore-end would be my Benelli Montefeltro short stock in 20 guage.

Actually, since I've owned the little Monty, my poor Browning doesn't get out in the field very often. I usually load my Monty it with the cheapest, low power rounds I can purchase and use two rounds at a time to keep the weight down on those long afternoon walks. Needless to say, a lot of Quail, Pheasents and a few Grouse have fallen to my little Monty.

The short stock has a 12+1/2 inch LOP, which may/may not be the proper length for your wife depending on how long her arms are. A normal size 20 guage Monty should have a LOP of about 14+1/4 inch which can be shortened to her for a perfect fit. All my shotguns are shortened to a LOP of 13 inches except the Monty. I find in cold weather wearing a coat and shooting vest, the Monty works just fine. :)

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