Shotgun suggestion

[PIRANHA]

I have a Remington 1100 Express that I have used for bird hunting since I was about 12 and I still have it and still use it. It is an amazing semiautomatic 12 gauge. And super accurate.

 

[Mack C-85]

I've been happy with my Browning Golds....

12 ga 3 1/2" Hunter
12 ga. Fusion
20 ga. Fusion

 

[El_flasko]

I'm a Beretta fan, would look for a deal on an A400 variant might find one close to your $1k budget, it's as sleek and smooth handling as the Benelli inertia driven guns, but has the light recoil and reliablilty over a broad range of loads of a gas gun. Excellent craftsmanship, lightning fast action, and probably the most reliable gas system around, recoil with heavy loads is tamed greatly with a kick-off model. Obviously you should handle and shoot several and see what works for you.

I was going to say essentially the same thing. Also like the new Remington V3.

 

[Bisleyfan44]

The Stoeger is ALOT of gun for the money. Solid choice of you don't want to go Benelli. One other point, I really don't think there's a whole lot of benefit to the 3.5" guns. There useful capability over a 3" gun is pretty slim. Hell, in all honesty, I use 2 3/4" for nearly everything and don't feel disadvantaged at all. I don't hunt geese though. JMO

 

[fabsroman]

The Stoeger is ALOT of gun for the money. Solid choice of you don't want to go Benelli. One other point, I really don't think there's a whole lot of benefit to the 3.5" guns. There useful capability over a 3" gun is pretty slim. Hell, in all honesty, I use 2 3/4" for nearly everything and don't feel disadvantaged at all. I don't hunt geese though. JMO

There are two things that a 3.5" gun will do. On a moving target, it will provide you with a tiny fraction more room for error. On a target that is standing still, it will deliver more pellets to the target area. Way easier to get a lot of pellets in a circle at 40 yards using a 3.5" shell versus a 3" shell. End of the day, I don't think it will really matter all that much IF the owner does the owner's part and is on target and knows the range of the gun.

One other consideration is that you can use larger pellets in a 3.5" shell without sacrificing pellet count.

I shoot a 3.5" gun, but my dad has killed plenty of geese and ducks with a 3" o/u, as have I before buying the 3.5" gun. 3" will get the job done, but 3.5" will never have you worrying if you would have gotten that bird with a 3.5" gun. lol

Now, a 10 gauge 3.5" gun is a completely different ball game. With a 10 gauge, there is one heck of a difference because of the gauge of the shell, not necessarily the 3.5". This all centers around ballistics and how pellets perform while in the air.