By Randy Wakeman

The Guns and Shooting Online “Shotgun of the Year” for 2024 is the Weatherby Sorix: it wasn't a close call. Precious few American family owned and operated firearm companies have endured for 79 years: Roy Weatherby founded it back in 1945, and 2025 will be their 80^th anniversary. Weatherby's big move to Sheridan, Wyoming was announced in January, 2018.

Weatherby surprised everyone in March of 2024 with their Sorix announcement. Rather than waiting a year or two for the model to actually become an available reality, the Sorix was available immediately in 12 gauge, and now the 20 gauges are also available. The Sorix, though presented as a waterfowl gun, answers what most folks want in a shotgun: a shotgun that is easy to load, easy to operate, needs no external maintenance, has a drilled and tapped receiver for optics, and is CIP proof-tested with a ten year written warranty. Unlike many shotguns, the Sorix shoots to point of aim, and handles target loads reliably.

The safety is easily switchable for left-hand shooters, and the charging handle can be installed on either side of the receiver. Although I'm a right-handed shooter, I love the slit on the left side of the receiver. Inertia guns run dirty, but they don't run dry. Whenever I give the internal rails a shot of G96 or CLP, on most inertia guns your lube can run over the trigger group, the shell elevator, and into the mainspring tube.

Not so with the Sorix, for any excess lube and junk runs right out the charging handle slit on the other side, leaving these internals clean and dry. This works superbly well on the Henry Homesteader 9mm blowback carbine and it works superbly well on the Sorix. The Sorix comes with adjustment shims for cast and drop, and uses no oddball choke tubes: they are the common Crio Plus style.

Most everything about this gun is substantially better than most, from the trigger, to the safety, to the recoil pad. The machining is clean and free from obnoxious tooling marks. I have great disdain for sloppy, visible mold lines on plastic trigger groups: it is apparent some companies don't care, There are mold lines on the Sorix trigger guard, but they are on the inside where they should be and are not visible. The safety is at the rear of the generously sized trigger guard, just as God intended.

Street price on the Sorix runs about $1275, five to six hundred dollars less than other Cerakote models that often lack tapped receivers, decent recoil pads, and are poorly balanced. The Sorix proves that you do not need to spend $2000 or more for a premium, first class, do it all autoloader that is ruggedly hunt ready right out of the box. Right now, there are three distinct Sorix Cerakote styles, in 12 gauge, 3-1/2 inch 12 gauge, and 20 gauge, all with 28 inch barrels. They are all inspected, hand-finished, and assembled by Weatherby in Sheridan, Wyoming.

The Sorix has ideal weight and balance for a versatile hunting gun: just under 7 lbs. for the 12 gauge 3 inch, https://www.chuckhawks.com/weatherbysorixreview.html and 6-1/4 lbs. for the 20 gauge: https://www.chuckhawks.com/weatherbysorix20gareview.html .

I think it is the best all-weather, all-purpose hunting autoloader on the market and that makes it the “Shotgun of the Year” for 2024.