This year, I've used five shotguns on the dove field thus far. They are a Fabarm Elos 2 Elite 20 gauge with a pair of factory 7/10 flush chokes installed, a Browning B-80 20 gauge with a Trulock Modified Precision Hunter choke, a Weatherby 18i Deluxe 20 gauge with a Trulock Long Range Dove choke, a Fabarm L4S Grey Sporting 12 gauge with a Fabarm extended 7/10 choke, and a Weatherby Sorix 12 gauge with a Trulock Improved Modified Precision Hunter choke. The ammo used was Winchester AA 1 oz. 1165 fps #7-1/2 in 20 gauge, and Remington Premier STS 1290 fps 1 oz. #7-1/2 in 12 gauge.

• The Fabarm Elos 2 Elite 20 gauge takes a dove.
  

What makes for an enjoyable dove gun is a shotgun that shoots to point of aim, is reliable, easy to load, has a good trigger, and shoulders and swings effortlessly. Those basic attributes knock a goodly number of shotguns out of the running right there. All of these guns are as supplied by the manufacturer with a couple of minor exceptions: my B-80 has had trigger work, and the Weatherby 18i's red plastic bead was replaced with a smaller brass bead, and the Fabarm Elos 2 Elite has a SC100 Decelerator Sporting Clay pad installed.

For those looking for an extremely soft shooting shotgun, the gas-operated Fabarm L4S Grey Sporting (7-1/2 lbs.) is an easy winner. You can just barely feel the action working with 1 oz. loads. If you are looking for one gun to tear up both busy dove fields and clays courses, this would be an easy pick. Going down the gun weight list, the Sorix 12 gauge is 7 lbs., the Elos 2 Elite 20 gauge is 6-1/2 lbs., and finally both the B-80 and 18i 20 gauges are 6-1/4 lbs.

The Cerakote / plastic stocked Sorix is drilled and tapped for optics: it makes for more of a waterfowl and turkey duty shotgun as well as dove. The Elos 2 Elite, the sole O/U represented here, is the best-looking shotgun of the group with the crispest triggers.

At one time, a shotgun that did it all was commonplace. My grandfather, Earl Wakeman, owned exactly one firearm: a Browning Auto-Five Light Twelve, 28 inch vent rib barrel, modified fixed choke. It did it all, from dove to ducks to geese to crows to rabbit to prairie chicken to pheasants: it pretty much had to. This, of course, was prior to the complications presented by low density soft iron (steel) shot.

• The Weatherby 18i Deluxe 20 gauge was surprisingly competent.
  

In general, for the dove hunting conditions around here, an autoloader is the way to go. It isn't easy to drop a triple on doves with a double gun: reloading without breaking a gun open on a busy dove field is more convenient.

Of the guns used, the biggest surprise was how well the Weatherby 18i Deluxe 20 gauge has done in the field. Made by Marocchi in Italy, it is the Weatherby version of the Marocchi Nexus One. The Winchester AA 1 oz. #7-1/2 loads remain the best available option for 20 gauge dove work out to forty yards. Using 1-1/8 oz. Remington STS or Winchester AA 12 gauge loads does give you an extra eight yards or so of effective range.

Although dove hunting doesn't get special respect in the United States due to its ubiquity, it is a great and fun way to dial in a new shotgun prior to duck and pheasant seasons with dove rumaki as a bonus. Dove hunting is also a great way to introduce new shooters to hunting. I'm the oldest of five kids. When I was five years old, I got my first shotgun: a Mossberg bolt-action .410. It generated a great sigh of relief from Mom, who could finally hang up her 28 gauge and let Dad and Randy do their thing.