Weatherby SA08 Deluxe 12g 26" MC3 - 26" Barrel, 4+1 Rounds, 3" Chamber

After reading many shotgun tests and reviews, I settled on this Weatherby SA08 Deluxe from Buds. Bud's prices and service were best in class. Delivery was fast and easy to my local FFL dealer. I have not shot it yet, but the fit and finish are faultless on this Weatherby. The stock in particular is very impressive and looks much better than in the photographs which don't do it justice. I am very pleased with the quality and price of this gun. Also with Buds. I will certainly use Buds again.

Overall, this is one excellent gas auto!! It is extremely well finished inside and out. The wood is a step-up in grade of walnut and the forend and buttstock are nicely matched in grain and color. The action is very clean working and it is an extraordinarily soft shooting shotgun. I have shot everything from 1 1/8 oz, 1 oz factory to 7/8 oz and 3/4 oz reloads. I did not think it would function with my 3/4 oz reloads but I had no issues. Everything functioned perfectly!!! Never any failures to feed or fire!!! I immediately put the stock shim in to provide some cast off and it shoots right to point of aim. The action is easily cleaned and the trigger assembly readily drops out with the removal of one pin. Trigger pull is a very light 4-5 lbs with a touch of creep which is darn good for a semi auto. Most semi autos I have shot and handled, have horribly heavy and rough trigger let offs. It is also a very light weight gun weighing just barely 6 1/2 lbs. The soft recoil was unexpected and very surprising for such a light weight 12 gauge. I got the Deluxe version and the cut checkering and finish are well worth the little extra in price. Randy Wakeman did an extensive review of this shotgun and concluded that it was a superior product especially when one considers that it sells for about 1/3 of what a Beretta or Benelli auto does. He also stated that the dual piston design that is designed so that you can tailor the bolt speed to the shells is a very worthwhile approach and will guarantee a long life to the action if used as recommended. It is really simple to change and basically most if not all 1 1/8 loads will use the light load piston, and you only need to switch to the heavy load piston if you are shooting some real high speed 1 1/8 oz or 1 1/4 and heavier loads. I like this shotgun so much I will be buying another one of these in 20 gauge. Try one-you will not be disappointed!

I bought this shotgun after borrowing the same gun in synthetic to duck hunt with last season. Fit is everything with a shotgun and the SA08 just happens to fit me very well. With the 'heavy' valve fitted it handles heavy 3" steel waterfowl loads very nicely - the gas system really takes a lot of the perceived recoil out. With this particular example I've run 300 rounds of target shells through it with the 'light' valve in place and it has cycled ALL of them, despite their being in the 1140-1200 fps range when Weatherby says you should use 1300 fps+ shells to get it to cycle. I've also run a box of 3" shells through the gun just to be sure - cycle just fine. The wood and bluing on this shotgun is really nice for the price, and between the 5lb weight and the 26" barrel it's a *sweet* field gun. Overall, these SA-08s represent great quality and superb value.

This is a great shotgun for the money! I think the quality of the wood I have on the one I received definitely merited getting the SA-08 in Deluxe. I'd recommend both this shotgun and Bud's Gun Shop.