Shotguns-semiauto-12

These two companies make largely unheralded shotgun models purportedly earmarked for the competition clay market. We test them to see if we'd pay their steep prices.

Winchester's new Super X2 12-gauge auto-loader series is designed to go head to head in the marketplace against well-established marques like Browning and Beretta. Price-positioned at MSRPs ranging from $725 to $938, the X2s come in a variety of finishes, ranging from the 3-inch chamber field models with walnut stocks to the 31/2-inch black synthetic and Mossy Oak Shadow Grass camo guns for waterfowlers. But these new products seek to enter a field crowded with quality guns, so we wondered how the new Winchester guns would stack up against their prime competitors—and also against history.

Toward that end, we acquired two X2s for evaluation, a 3-inch 12-gauge field gun, $725, with a walnut...

[IMGCAP(1)]We have wondered why gun makers dont do more of what boat makers do nearly every day: Pop a hull and closely duplicate your competitions best product. Of course, its intellectually dishonest and sometimes illegal to do that, because, designs, like any other intellectual property-are supposed to be owned by their creators. But the reality is that a good-performing boat will soon see clones of itself on the water, with only small degrees of design separation in inconsequential areas.

Certainly, the same process happens in gun manufacturing, and were we not worried about getting our asses sued off, wed mention a few egregious cases that weve noticed here and there. A much m...