The Stoeger website indicates the gun will not cycle a load lighter than 1 1/8 oz or 3 1/4 dram.

"The Stoeger Model 2000 fires everything from 1-1/8 ounce field and target loads to the heaviest 3” waterfowl loads without adjustments."

http://www.stoegerindustries.com/firearms/stoeger_m odel_2000.php

This is a great gun and very affordable
I purchased this gun in max4HD earlier this year for the incident waterfowl season.

When new it did need heavier 1 1/8oz loads to cycle but after a few hundred rounds it cycled down to 7/8oz fine.

I did quite a bit of trap shooting in the months before opening weekend to get my eye in and put 750-1000 rounds of 1oz 2 ¾” shells through it.

On opening day it performed perfectly grunting through over 200 3” 1 1/8oz shells.

I would have put about 3000 rounds through it now and it still performs without fail.

I did however put glue on the small screw that is part of the ejection mechanism to stop that falling out and tightened up the stock bolt. The camouflage does wear off quite easily as well.

A great looking gun which does what it should. It is excellent value for money and a perfect entry level duck hunting gun. The inertia driven system is great if you want an easy gun to clean. I don’t think I will go back to a gas system after using this gun.

I bought my Stoeger 2000 Turkey Camo Model with 24 inch barrel last year, fired about 200 rounds at targets during the winter then finally got to use it with the modified choke for field geese over decoys last week. In three days of shooting so far I used 1oz 2 3/4 to 1 1/4 oz steel 3" loads to bag 63 geese and a few ducks with 94 rounds, plus another dozen or so finishing shots for runners. All loads cycled perfectly and I was very surprised at how clean all parts were after hunting...very little debris in the bolt or trigger mechanism and the barrel cleaned easily. The only initial thing that bothered me slightly was the bruised shoulder I felt after the first day when nearly all shots were at high flying geese and because of very warm weather I was wearing only a shell cotton camo jacket. I am comfortable with the gun now and did not notice any problems from recoil after the first day out. I appreciate the comments concerning parts so will be very careful to inspect my Stoeger at every cleaning to see that all small screws are tight! So far I am very impressed with this semiauto and will give it a lot more testing over the next few weeks when the northern flocks come into central Saskatchewan. I would like to see more information from Stoeger on their website regarding some of the isssues raised in comments above and how they will help with fixing such problems.

I've used mine for 3 years, mostly for hunting. It has been flawless! Not one jam or failure to feed. I am not careful with it at all, so it gets very dirty, and still works every time. They need time and use to break in. The bolt release button needs to be pushed a couple hundred times to get so it pushes easier. You MUST read your owner's manual before you do anything with this gun and follow directions. It is very easy and simple to take apart for cleaning. I buy and sell shotguns, but I'm keeping this one!

Probably the worst shotgun i have ever used! It worked great for the first year i had it, but last January when i was cleaning it, a pice inside the chamber fell out! Later i found out that this pice makes the Gun eject shells. apparently a small screw on the side of the gun fell out and the pice of junk fell out! VERY disappointed!!! i talked to the guy who sold me it...he said that a LOT of people had problems with it and told me to get a new one and get it tightened Extra tight....i never got around to doing that.....the other thing that went wrong with my Stoger 2000 is the Camo wears off VERY easily! and the barrel is made out of a CHEAP steel and my choke MELTED in the barrel so im stuck with MOD in the barrel ......i bought the gun new in 07 and now it sits in my room ...the only good thing about it ...is the way you clean it...it never jammed or anything but it is just made out of shitty quality!!

Read the owner's manual. Page 6. The 2000 is rated for 1 oz loads.

I regularly shoot 7/8 oz loads in mine. No problems.

I didn't like the old model but the New Model is OK with a Limbsaver.

Have fired countless brands with no problems. Have allow many to review/shoot my m2000, and everyone loves it, and some have even purchased one. The M2000 could sell for lots more. Every firearm MUST have correct cleaing. Tested with 1000's of rounds, would buy another.

i love the gun never jammed double safty comes with 5 choke tubes doesnt have a bad kick and never cleaned it

Boy this was a tough one for me...I really wanted the Stoeger. I have several gas operated models (Rem / Beretta / Browning / Mossberg) in all gauges, and wanted the intera drive. I was very disappointed in the "performance" and the abundant recoil of the gun, not the handling and the "sight picture". I had deep cycling problems with the gun even with 3inch shells. I have learned that I created much of the cyling issues of the gun by adding recoil reducing weight ( and gun balance) to the gun. Although the additional weight made it a real nice gun to shot, reilibilty went into the toilet. I sent it back to Benelli and they replace several parts, and they removed my recoil management. Well, thats when I really disliked the gun....kicked like a mule.....very disappointed, very uncomfortable to shot. And was told by several gun techs that when you add weight to the gun....in many cases that they seen, it will simply not operate, including Benellis. I did put back half the weight, and even with 1oz loads (but screamers at 1300 ft/sec)...the gun operated well, and with reduced recoil. However, in future puchases I will return to gas operated shotguns. I certainly will not purchase a 1500.00 Benelli with the same system, and yes I do understand that the Benellis are different gun. And if I need another "mud gun" I will return to Mossberg.

My son-in-law and I each got a Stoeger 2000 this past Christmas and we took them both out the first day (w/o cleaning) to shoot clay targets. My gun had a few firing and ejection problems, but overall worked fairly well. My son-in-laws' gun had problems on just about every shot. It either misfired or had trouble ejecting the shell and we eventually got fed up and just bagged his gun in favor of mine. When we got home, we did a good cleaning and oiling (of both) and since then we have shot hundreds of rounds at our local clay shooting club with almost no problems between the two guns. At most we have had 3 or 4 ejection problems and no misfires. While we have only had this model for a few months, we are both very pleased with the purchase. Our initial problems are well behind us and can most likely be attributed to:
1- A need for a thorough of cleaning and
2 - Possibly a short break-in period.
Overall, it’s offers good value for the money and we are both confident that this gun will deliver many years of successful hunting and clay shooting.

Save your money and buy a quality shotgun. I just sent it back for repairs for the 3rd time and am hoping they send me a new gun so I can sell it and buy an Extrema or SBE. It misfires a couple of times on each box of shells. I have tried about 5 different brands of shotshells and it doesn't seem to matter. Nothing like pulling up on a fatty greenhead and hearing click. Since it takes about 4 months to get it back after sending to Benelli I have yet to really test it out on ducks. Even if you have to wait another year to stash away cash it is worth it. I guess you get what you pay for. I will not make that mistake again. Maybe I got a lemon and a replacement would be fine, but I'm not going to risk it.

My stoeger 2000 hasn't jammed once through all of my duck hunts. I like it

I've owned a stoeger 2000 for 5 years I love it. It went through hurricane Katrina 6' of salt water but, don't try to order any parts for it. I can not believe for a multi million dollar operation they have a half ass company selling repair parts. I tried to order a mag. cap with a stud in it for a sling 3 months later I forgot I had ordered it I called and cancelled. I tried to order a recoil pad, same crap. We were duck hunting a month ago my buddy found what looked like a gun part laying on the bed I told him to thow it on the dash someone will figure out its thier part, well it was my part. I was lucky enough there was a gun shop near where we were duck hunting and I had the part. The gun shop replaced the screw and only charged me 5 dollars. It is the part that kicks the empties out. One screw holds it in. I have a friend who warned be about this problem but I didn't know exactly what he was talking about. He hated his. Another friend of mine bought a stoeger because I told him I liked mine. The following week after I had to get mine fixed my buddy wasn't so lucky he lost the screw and part that kicks the shell out. His gun is not even a year old. Two weeks after I had touble with my gun I met some other friends of mine duck hunting he has a stoeger also his gun wouldn't shoot, the firing pin was hitting the shell but not hard enough. Seems as though they need to work some kinks out.

if it stars to miss fire you can take apart the bolt and grind down the inertia spring just a little which causes the fireing pin to shoot out a little more then its fixed

After 1 year of shooting it start miss firing occasionally, now half of the time, it won't fire even after thoroughly cleaned. It is a piece of junk. Will never buy it even just for 99 cents!!!

Smooth. Reliable. Cheap.

I've had the black synthetic '2000' for 2 1/2 years. I now have a barrel for pheasant & doves & rabbits; a barrel with a great turkey choke, and the cantilevered rifled barrel for deer, mounted with a Tasco ProPoint Red dot. My freezer is full of pheasant,chukars, doves and venison (and a few rabbits). I love the gun for upland game. Its light and reliable in any weather. I just limited out this deer season - dropping a 250lb 8 pointer with one Remington Platinum Tip at 75 yards from a single tree stand. The buck was way to my right on the tree line, so I had to shoot him leftie - and I'm a rightie. One shot perfectly placed. I could not have made the same shot with my Browning Mag. I am a huge Stoeger 2000 fan. Perhaps the made in Turkey issue has leveled out. I strongly recommend the gun - hard to beat for the dollar. Use quality ammo, keep it cleaned - except after you zero in for deer season. I can't wait to take it out again.

evbutler....couldn't agree with you more. I had the original camoed version, it broke in half. The receiver cracked across the top, the bolt holding the butt stock came through and half of the gun fell to the ground (loaded) while I was holding the butt end in my hand wondering why my gun got so light suddenly. Anyway, Stoeger took the gun (in the middle of duck season for weeks and weeks and weeks) and finally just shipped me a whole new gun, boxed, chokes and all...warranty, etc. Anyway, back to evbutler's comments: The new version's sites and rib are much better, slightly higher and I can shoot the living daylights out of birds. I always liked the winchester suepr x3 because of the raised rib, but the "slightly" raised rib on the new 2000 is a marked improvement, and made me a better marksman, no pun intended. Now, for all the bad things about the gun: The ejection mechanism has a small screw that will fall out on all guns eventually. Call stoeger, they are backordered on the screw which means you need to crack open your desktop computer and steal a few very small screws from the motherboard or somewhere else (off the hard drive mount) and replace. Stoeger will tell you to put gorilla glue on the bolt, my response to them last time was "why didn't they do that in the factory?? derrrr". Also, the part M14 extractor is very sensative...do not drop the bolt group when cleaning, you will break off the Extractor. If that happens, another call to Stoeger in the middle of duck season (my current dilema). Finally, part number G10 latch spring...have an extra one on hand and make sure absolutely nothing gets between that and the receiver housing. As you slide a shell into the magazine, that part can be easily snapped in half if gunk is between it. Don't tell me to clean my gun, I hunt in muddy salt water refuges and there's absolutely no way to keep a gun clean when the boat bottom has mud, and there's nowhere to hide from it and the rest of the debris that goes with duck hunting. Just try your best to keep this gun clean and have a few spare parts around and you'll be able to keep these things going and shoot the heck out of birds.

I have owned many shotguns, Pumps, Autos, O/U and this shotgun is my favorite for Duck hunting, Turkey hunting and also shooting trap and skeet. I made a few adjustments, as far as adding a little lead weight to the butt stock, new limbsaver recoil pad. Yes there is a break in period, but after shooting around 200 rounds, this guns cycles fast and smooth. Remember, every shotguns pattern is different, and likes certain types of shells. So with that being said. During your break in Period, make sure you pattern your gun to see where it shoots. I know that My Stoeger 2000 likes the Winchester Xpert Loads, and Hevi-Shot loads, Kent loads. The New Black Cloud loads didnt pattern very well for me. But they do make Specifically designed Blackcloud Chokes for it. I dont see myself needing another shotgun for a while. However, I am going to buy another one or two to put in my safe for later.

Purchased the 2000 in July and waited for opening day of Dove season in Central Texas. Fires the Winchester XX loads, but misfires with the Remington SurShot. One major problem - I can't seem to bring down a dove with this shotgun. Does it shoot higher than the bead ? Other than that it is an awesome shotgun - feels great - beautiful camo - great ejection.

Bought mine July '08 to get ready for the dove & quail season, 28" 12Ga synthetic, $470 out the door with fees, not bad. Mind you I live in S.California with mild dry climates, never gets very cold like the other reviewers were mentioning, I have yet to experience a jam (knocking on wood). Besides a couple misfires that I reloaded up again, the gun is working flawlessly, cheap shells I take it as firing pin seems reliable enough. I've put a good 5-600 3-1/4 DRAM shells through it, it fires fine. 4 out of 5 stars for the pretty good finish, not as nice as a Benelli, but who cares, you're gonna go out and hunt with it, sweat, mud, dirt, dove guts everywhere. Reliable action, great inertia-driven gun for the money...!

I bought mine from Gander Mt brand new and had it jam waaaaaay too often. I found also (the hard way) that the firing pin had a burr on it. I used 3-1 oil at first and found it gooped it up badly. Now it's rem-oil and I manually cycled it a bunch. no problems since, but having to guard the receiver through thick cover gets old, since it doesn't take much to bump it back and get a missfire. It's a good blind gun, especially if you strip it, rem-oil it, and cycle the hell out of it before season. Good machining, thin camo on the stock rubs off too quick. Its definitely worth what you paid for it, but I still don't have my faith restored in it.

i have had this gun for 1 1/2 years and put 150 rounds thru it every weekend prob 6000 or more rounds so far love the gun. every one that trys the gun loves the gun. i bore cleane every other time dismantel and clean every other time. I bought this gun on the way goose hunting and out shoot all my frends that trip.this year i bought a slug barel for it and shoot deer with it. it shoot within three inches at one hundred yards

Bought a Camo version for my 14 year old (I have a Beretta 391). Since I wasn't sure how much he would use the gun, so I thought $439 at Dick's was a good price. After reading the post of turkeyhunter, I spent about an hour doing a thorough cleaning before we took it out. Went through a box of 25 Federal "cheap" shells 1-1/8 oz., 3 dram, 7-1/2 with no problems. Took it apart for cleaning and inspection afterwards, and got the rest of the cosmoline off of the moving parts. Looking forward to going out in the next day or so. BTW, will probably buy a Limbsaver, the 14 year old skinny kid had a bit of a time with the recoil - the 50 year-old was just fine.

I recently purchased a 26" model 2000 as a combo turkey and waterfowling shotgun. after a thorough stripdown and cleaning, and several hundred rounds, I am impressed. This shotgun cycles everything from 2 3/4" high brass to 3" turkey loads like a champ. Last weekend I took a large PA gobbler, and can't wait until duck season. It seems to me that any reliability issues stem from shooters who don't take the time for innitial cleaning, which is mandatory for any new firearm.

Recently purchased a Stoeger 2000 with a 26" barrel. I was amazed at the reliability and accuracy of this gun mine patterned best with Remington 3" mag nitro turkey #4 shot these rounds are deadly up to 50 yards. The gun came with 5 chokes to include the Turkey choke thats pretty much $100.00 worth of chokes and the Turkey choke shoots great patterns from 20 to 50 yards. I believe the key to the reliability is the initial cleaning because this gun comes from the factory loaded with cosmoline and the break in process. I would recommend this shotgun to anyone that asks.

I have recentely taken back up, after a 4 year break, sporting clays. I purchased a 2000 and went out and fired over 100 rounds my first day out. I cannot beleive how light the recoil was and how quickly i transfered over from my 1100. Plus it was nice caring arround this light gun all day. Great gun, Great Buy!

This my first semi auto and it has been a pleasure to shoot. The misses I had at first havediminished due to solid practice. It is a very good shotgun for the price.

Bought the gun for a Christmas present and I barely had it out of the box before the gun was jamming and bolt not going back all the way up. Out of five times fired, it jammed twice. We sent it back to the company and have not heard or seen anything from the gun and it has been over two months. Would not suggest buying one, unless you would like to take a chance on wasting your money and time.

My 14 year old son would not leave me alone till I got him a semi auto shotgun. I wanted him to save up and buy an 11-87. He saved up and found this Stoeger 2000 which he could afford, WOW what a good gun. It cycled right out of the box every shell we've put thru it from 1oz 2 3/4 to 1 7/8 oz 3" Turkey loads. He loves it and can shoot it pretty good (better than I can). For the price I think it's a really good gun.

I came across the site and read the comments and I can't believe some of what I am reading. I have owned a satin walnut for 5 years and shot thousands of rounds through it. I never modified anything. When I bought it I was told by the Shop (Milford Firearms in CT) to clean it thoroughly and wipe off the assembly grease and oil everything down. No break-in needed. My gun also was lucky enough to have a beautiful real wood walnut burl stock and forearm. The action on the gun is the smoothest I've ever seen. No 870 can compare. Unlike simalar guns the action doesn't cause the gun to launch forward after the first shot. It has no kick at all. For Caseymills, If you "Lost... 50 birds" it can't be the guns' fault, but user error. The gun doesn't need tuning. If its not functioning properly you are doing something wrong. I take care of my guns and they take care of me. Just clean it well every few times you shoot a bunch of shells and the action before or after you use it. Don't mess with the internals, I have a hunch that those who do are having the problems. It is a fine gun, and I have shot them all. The only advatage with the Benelli is the ability to go 3 1/2" shells. Oh and I have never heard any gunsmith say anything negative about a model 2000, go figure.

had for nearly a year. BEWARE Camo wears off pretty quick, check out any used one and it will show. Also, fireing pins could be a little longer, and EVERY spring needs stretched to make the gun function. Save money and get an 870, I have lost, around 50 birds because I cannot fine-tune the thing. Stoeger's warranty is crap unless you want to talk on the phone for about an hour, and then send ur gun to the shop for a month or two. I shoot almost every weekend, and you MUST clean it every time you shoot it. I am very dissapointed, and although it seems like a nice gun... it is not, ask any gunsmith friend you have, they will tell you it's for people who shoot 10-20 times a year, will NOT live up to an avid hunter. now i am stuck with a stoeger no one wants to buy... 400$ gun, offered 200 for trade in, not even a year old....

I've had two for a year now and both have had about 1000 rounds run through them. No jams, no feed problems and no complaints from me or my son about the gun kicking too hard or the stock not being made right, lol. If you want a very good semi auto shotgun that functions well and is dependable, this is the gun for you.

Meaning no offense Evbutler, but maybe you mount the gun wrong because I've had no complaints from anyone and my 130 pound wife shoots the same shotgun. ;)

I recently bought a Stoeger 2000, and am quite happy with it. Didn't hurt my wallet and gets the job done. I mostly hunt in swamps and harsh conditions, and have never had the weapon jam on me...fired close to 1300 rounds...

Perhaps after 50 years of shooting, you just got old my friend...definately not a weapon for old timers and pretty ladies...for the rest of us young and fit men who work a hard days job and don't have daddy buying guns for us...this is the semi-auto made!

The Stoeger Model 2000 available in 12 gauge synthetic or wood stock has been licensed by Benelli to be produced in Turkey where new CNC machinery and cheap labor keep the price low (around $379). It lacks the Benelli Comfort Tech and is not machined as finely as the Benelli but has the same "Rotating Bolt" Recoil Operated Action. It shoots 2 3/4" and 3" shot shells. Internal/removable chokes come with the shotgun.

I like it. You can't beat the price for a semi-auto shotgun. There have been a couple of times when it hasn't cycled after a shot, but it's been rare in 2 year's use. I can't complain.