Do you hunt with an ugly gun or pretty gun

For years I had hunting with my pretty SXS English stock. Spent a lot of time sending it in to get the stock bent, fitted. But I just couldn’t seem to hit birds that were maximum distance. Missed every one of them. Last year went to the ugly semi auto. Right out of the box I was dropping birds stone cold at 40 yards. How about you

A 40 year old Beretta BL3 O/U 20 guage with 26 inch tubes bored skeet/skeet, and I don't miss.

I never thought semis were ugly. My SB2 looks much better than my Red Label that has been through all manner of abuse.
I use both. And I shoot neither very well.

same 30+ plus year old 20 gauge Remington special purpose 21" barrel ,shot out skeet choke . Forrest

Beretta 686 twenty guage for me but this year I picked up a Citori 16, superlight feather with a English stock time will tell.

Single shot j c Higgins 410 last 51 years and still shootsgr great
Very seldom misses and then it is operator error

12 gauge 1918 side by side Jules Gervais from my grandfather

Main two guns are a Franchi Veloce Squire O/U 20ga thats pretty for quail and a Ruger Red Label Woodside for pheasants that started out kind of pretty new and has had a rough life (cracked stock thats been glued etc)

Most days I carry a Citori White Lightning 20 guage.

Shooter 20 ga Superposed 26" IC/M. Best pawn shop purchase ever. I do miss with it regularly, but don't attribute that to the gun.

Beretta A400 XCEL

It's a fascinating question. Let's face it, there is something of tradition, and of aesthetics, in a good upland hunt. Just seems to cry out for a classic double and grandpa's old shooting vest. But if you can't hit anything with a gun it sort of defeats the purpose.
I am a waterfowler just making the transition to upland. The gun I shoot best is a Benelli Vinci black synthetic. It must be the ugliest shotgun ever built. But it is hard to find anything else wrong with it. Lighter than most over/unders, cycles light loads, etc. But god is it ugly. Just feels wrong.
Then again, I don't shoot my o/u as well. I guess most people shoot O/Us better, but not me.
I actually considered looking for a semi that was not so ugly, maybe even a 20. Maybe at least with some real wood. I looked at the Benelli ultralight, but then I read somewhere it has a fake veneer!
Having a gun that I can hit something with is crucial for me, though. I'm sure it is for everyone, but I typically hunt alone, and I am training a young versatile dog to point, and if he holds a point and then I miss, I just feel like I have really let my dog down.

Benelli Montefeltro..I think its pretty

870....

1965 Ithaca Deerslayer Featherlight Model 37 (12 Ga.). Belonged to my granddaddy. Can't hardly hit a bird but it reminds me of him so...! Took me 5 boxes Friday to get my limit with thousands of birds around. Kinda embarrassing, really.

Here ya go a nice pretty gun to hunt with!!

Who would hunt with that, not I,
Cesar Guerrini BTW

I have always preferred to hunt with my pretty ugly guns...seem to hit more with them. I leave the pretty ones in the safe.

Browning A-5 or Citori. Both are pretty guns and both shoot better than I do.

We have a couple of pretty guns in the safe. I would rather hunt with a ugly gun. I just want to enjoy the hunt, and not worry about scratching a gun.
Some people like to be a ad for Orvis. I just enjoy being in the field.

Ditto I own one pretty gun I just bought and my wife might use it once or twice a year. I may use it too.

Some of us are just old enough that the style of shotguns we grew up favoring now fit the moniker "old school". We're not putting on the dog. We grew up in a time that guns were blue steel and walnut. Upland guns were double barrels in something smaller and lighter than a 12.

My 20ga Superposed Lightning is over 50 years old, well used, but far from ugly. I like it because it’s short and light.

Ugly. I do all my bird hunting now with an old plain Win pump that has almost all the bluing worn off and some rust that won't scrub off. I have other guns I own including a Belgian Browning A-5 and a bunch I have sold over the years like a Browning BSS and a Belgian Browning Sweet Sixteen. I like using the old pump because I don't care if it gets wet, scratched, dropped in the mud etc... I only gave $89 for it when I bought it and it has never been inside a case. You can find it behind the seat of whatever truck I own at the time.

With this old pump I have shot many species of ducks, canada and snow geese, tundra swan, doves, pigeons, snipe, crows, pheasants, several species of quail, 2 species of turkey, mule deer, wild hogs and whitetail deer. It ain't purty but it puts game on the table and that is what I need a shotgun to do.

Well Said! AMEN

Ugly that may if I bang it around it doesn’t matter