r/canadaguns • u/YDpr99 • Jun 11 '26
Buy recommendations First Shotgun?
Hi all I’ve been looking at buying my first firearm and think I want to pickup a 12g semi auto shotgun. But I can’t decided I’ve seen so many options but I really don’t want to spend more than $1500 CAD on it.
I have friends telling me you can’t buy anything decent semi autos for less then $2500 but then I have other buddies telling me not to spend that much and you can get a good semi for $600!!?
Idk what to believe anymore but I feel like just under $1500 is the sweet spot I’m happy to spend that and I’ve seen a bunch of options for under that price point.
Right now what’s really caught my eye is the Beretta Shotgun A300 Ultimate 12 Gauge, 28" Barrel, 3" Chamber. But even tho it’s a good name and has a long reputation I’ve seen so many reviews complaining of having to send it back for warranty work then it becomes a good gun…
If I wanted to save a little money I also was considering the Stoeger M3000 as my buddy said for the price it’s one of the better semis you can buy. Obviously both of these options are very different.
Would love to know everyone’s opinion on these or if you see any other options fitting. I’m mainly looking for a do it all shotgun. I want to try turkey hunting some waterfowl and skeet.
2
u/Spydude84 Jun 11 '26
I have an A300 Ultima 28" 12ga and it has never had a single problem. It's eaten all the ammo I've fed it, which is almost exclusively light target loads, and not had a single failure to cycle, even though I clean it much less than the manual recommends.
This is a sample size of 1, but I've never heard of people having problems with A300s or Berettas at any sort of scale.
For clays, the A300 Ultima is the best entry semi-auto shotgun imo.
The real question: what do you want to do with it? It's great for clays, and probably hunting, but it's not a tactical shotgun.