I’ve been traveling the shotgun road since I’m 14.

After my single shot at 14 I went to 870’s, then to 1100’s and 11-87’s.

When I began shooting registered skeet I bought a Browning 525, then a Beretta 682 Gold, then a Perazzi and finally a Krieghoff K80.

I also have a couple of Beretta 687’s small gauges for birds.

The Browning’s are great guns. Heavy and will last the average person many years. They are barrel heavy. Swing like a tank. But they are a entry level gun. I had one 525 that was a factory lemon that was taken back by Browning. My son still has one that has an honest 50k rounds thru it. The triggers suck.

The Beretta’s in quality are a step up I believe. But they are a totally different gun than the Browning. Lighter feeling in the barrels the have a livelier feeling overall. Mine had trigger problems. Was worked on by all the major shotgun trigger guys and was not finally fix until after I replaced it. Trigger is just ok.

Perazzi is a major step up in Quality but are very expensive guns. Mine was bought at a shoot when my Beretta was fucking up. Like the Beretta they swing fast and are nimble handling guns. The wrist cracked on mine from having the stock bent. I would never do that again. Trigger is excellent.

Finally the Krieghoff. Much like the Browning it is barrel heavy and swings like a tank. I have come to the conclusion that I like my target guns heavy and my hunting guns light. I love my K80. I have Bavarian grade wood and a super scroll receiver. I upgraded the receiver last year. Trigger is fantastic. It never had to be repaired but I have brought it to Krieghoff in PA for an annual several times.

I never owned a Kolar but shoot with several people, especially in Florida, that own them. They have nothing but praise for them. My observation is that they handle much like the Krieghoff.

It sounds like you want a quality gun. If I were you I would handle as many guns as possible even shooting as many as possible. Then buy exactly what you want. You will never say you bought too good a gun.

I like my K80 so much I’m buying a K20 for hunting with the same wood and receiver.

Life is too short to not have the gun you want.

I had 80+ long guns at one time. I reduced it to 40 something and I’m struggling to get it lower. I’d like to be in the 20 something range not counting handguns. I want quality over quantity.