[GoodOlBoy]

Try hunting a few seasons with a single shot 20 guage using 2 3/4 #6 cheap remington shells and hunt cat squirrels en masse. You will learn to outreload just about any mechanical reloading system. In my younger days I put the boys using 1897 winchester pumps to shame with my single shot, and I brought home at least one squirrel per trigger pull. I could empty a tree faster than a cat could lick its behind.

Also if you need rapid follow up shots to be THAT fast then I dont care what anybody says you are doing something VERY wrong. I have see two deer taken that needed a follow up shot that was legitimate, and in both cases it was 2-4 seconds AFTER rechambering before the second shot was taken. Anything faster and you are spraying ammo, NOT aiming. Considering that a badly shot animal is runing pointing a gun and firing as fast as you can chamber is a STUPID thing to do. You wounded it once, now why not take the time and do it right? Otherwise by a belt fed machine gun and go for it, because you have already ceased trying to take the game cleanly.

The only follow up shot I personally can remember taking in the last fifteen years was from my little spike buck a couple years ago. I shot him with a shotgun and he hit the ground like a sack of potatos without moving. When I got to him he was still breathing (but not moving) so I pulled my 45 and ended it rather than let him die naturally. In that schenarior haveing a full auto, belt fed, bolt action, pump, levergun would have done almost nothing for me since I didn't KNOW he was still breathing until I got to poking distance. I could have (and probably should have) just cut his throat instead, but I didn't want a last minute thrash to catch me inside the reach of his hooves.

Does that mean I am such a better shot than all these millions of other hunters who take four or five follow up shots a year? No it means I am more patient, and I ONLY take shots I believe in 100%. I have let a trophy go more than once on a shot in a heavy crosswind where I KNEW I would probably need a second shot, and I would do it again. If the wind is that heavy I am either letting him go or stalking him to point blank range.

As for the less experienced shooters it is their responsibility to be sure that they CAN kill cleanly, not just load more ammo in a gun. I refused to take a buddy of mine who was just geting started hunting two seasons in a row because he couldn't prove to me he could hit the kill zone on paper consistantly. Season three he had it down, and he took a good deer with ONE shot. If he had taken the time season 1 to practice I would have taken him THEN.

Back on topic, check into the mosseberg as well, I had read alot of great reviews on them, but I don't know what their pricing looks like comparitavely.

GoodOlBoy