Winchester 101 thoughts/opinions?

[ncrobb]

Do any of you bust clays? I’ve been shooting skeet with the guys at the rod and gun club I’m in this summer and really like it. I’ve been using a pawn shop Ithaca XL900 with a fixed modified choke. I have been thinking to scratch the over/under itch I’ve for 20 yrs and now I almost have a reason to: skeet. Anyway last Sunday afternoon we were talking between rounds and one of the boys said he had a Winchester 101 Ultimate that was a Bass Pro exclusive model several years ago. He said he had a number of chokes and that he put about 2k rounds through before he come across a deal on a Citori. He offered it to me for $650 and one of the other guys said “you better jump on that before somebody else does”. It looks like they sold for $1100 new. I know shotguns are all about how they fit you and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see and shoot it their Sunday. Just wondering if anyone here had any words of wisdom, caution or experience with the 101. Yea, I know the internet is full of shotgun boards but I thought I’d ask here instead of making a login to ask one question somewhere else.

[potatojudge]

That's a steal for a 101. No clue on the "Ultimate" version.

I'm not a huge shotgunner but my grandfather is and he competed with and still hunts with a 101. Engineer, reloader, lifelong competitive shooter and handgun hunter FWIW, his opinions carry a lot of weight because he's always been right when it comes to guns.

[jsh]

After having played around with trap off and on for a lot of years and a lot of rounds I decided it was time. I had been preached to for years about fit, and thought it was a bunch of hocus. To the point, went with a model 12 because I had never had one.
I went with some guys that have shot a bunch and are very good. I was measured up and we looked at a few. The one I liked and felt the best with was bought. The gent at the shop that measured me up said it was a perfect fit for me and would save me a lot of $ in that area.

I have yet to shoot a 25 straight with it. A few 23's and a pile of 24's, must be why it was for sale,must not had all the misses out of it yet.
So I don't laugh at the fitting anymore.

[rkrcpa]

For what it's worth, a Win 101 of today shares nothing but the name with 101's of the past. Not saying it's a bad shotgun, just saying it's not same as the old 101.

[harveylogan]

FWIW and I not trying to be a negative nellie, but I owned a 28ga that was just beautiful, acquired it from an Estate sale. Before I shot it, got a deal on a 20ga, made no sense but “the price was right” finally got to the range to shoot em either one, couldn’t hit Sh#/!, couldn’t figure out why, finally had to accepted the fact that I just wasn’t getting down on them, Tried for several months to make em work, frustrated, traded them off.

My advice; is the price most certainly sounds right but see if you could run a few boxes thru on a test run, sometimes you can do this. If you have to buy it,,, at the asking price you probably won’t have a problem getting rid of it, if it doesn’t work out.

Nice guns, just not for me.

[cubrock]

Yeah, I don't see how you can lose money if you don't like it. Give it a go.

[ncrobb]

I’m hoping to use it tomorrow if Florence doesn’t effect the weather. Looks like we are gonna have a wet day or two. I agree, I don’t think I could end up up-side-down on it.

[flyfisher66048]

I started out with a 101, and it took me to the national shooting team. It was replaced by a Krieghoff later in life. The 101 is a good shotgun, but there are better skeet guns. The 101 is pretty light, and recoil will take its toll on you. This will cost you targets over time. A good soft recoiling semi-auto is probably a better skeet gun. Although the balance of a good over and under is pretty nice.

[shorty500]

When I was an active trapshooter the original m101 was famous for recoil, especially in the diamond grade trap that we all wanted. Before I got sidetracked I tried a friends new Belgium m101, still a too lightweight of a trapgun for my tastes but was otherwise impressed