anyone ever shot one of these auto 12 guages? are they worth a crap?

Tha majority consider them less than desirable but i have a friend that shoots tha 3 1/2 in. version and that thing just keeps on shootin and he's hard on his stuff to boot.

Would i own one?

I bought a New England Arms 20Ga Auto for my daughter to shoot ducks and dove. Figured at $400 I'd give it a shot. 2nd time out it slung the bolt lever. Took it back to get it fixed. Next time out, same thing.

Took it back, pretty pizzed.

They swapped me a 20Ga Daly Auto as a replacement.

Shot it during dove season last year and a few times for ducks. Last day of the season I carried it into a timber hole where all the shots would be close. 1st group in I shoot and the end of the barrel split open and throws the choke tube.

Took it back to get a new barrel.

"Sorry, no can do. Out of business, no replacement parts available."

From Wiki:

A letter from Michael Kassnar posted on the Charles Daly Website on January 29, 2010 indicated that Charles Daly and KBI were going out of business and closing their doors effective January 29, 2010.

Ended up getting the barrel cut off and it stays beside the bed loaded with buckshot. Home defense gun now.

All my guns from now on will have Beretta, Benelli or Browning stamped on them.

Stay away from Daly

Me and my two friends got stopped by the gamewarden last year and one of my friends has a charles daly. The GW asked what kind of gun it was, and we told him charles daly, then he replied "might as well use this as a club". If that helps you out. lol

bought one about 4 years back for dove season. shot it for the first 2 years probably put 800 rounds through it. both clays and dove hunting never missed a beat.

only set it down to start shooting o/u's.

for me it has been a nice little autoloader.

i think like with everything some times you get lemons.

I had to retire my Rem. 870 this year after a HARD 12 years of use. I bought the 3.5" charles daly for cheap off a friend who won it at a DU dinner at a loaner gun. It is basically a cheaper made version of the 870, but one thing I appreciate it is that it has stainless inner workings, which is nice since I hunt salt marshes, and is still easy to disassemble/reassemble in the field if need be.

I have been shooting it all season, and the only complaint I have is that it doesn't cycle 2 3/4" shells perfectly in the 3.5" chamber- which is all I shoot. So, to correct for it, sometimes (~ 10% of the time) I have to half pump again to get the shell into the chamber- which slows down my second shot, but it still works fine. For the price I paid, It is worth to own, but I probably wouldn't buy another.

My recommendation is spend the extra couple bucks and get an 870 or higher quality firearm.

JUNK .. JUNK.. JUNK.. I had a chuck D in a 12ga. Was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. It jammed all the time and failed to cycle even heavy loads. A friend of mine also had a Charles D. His was a piece of junk as well. You get what you pay for is what I have always been told.

Most pawn shops will buy them. I took mine in with a 100.00 bill taped to it and they offered me 50.00. LOL

I guess the other side of that story is the one that had a hard time unloading a semi a few days ago.