Remington 1100 Sporting 12 12-Gauge, $859

More often than not, "sporting" autoloaders are separated from the field models by an expanded feature set, which usually includes a complete set of choke tubes from Cylinder to Full, tube wrench, a different buttplate, improved metal cosmetics, extended barrel lengths, and upgraded wood quality. So, for the most part, they are the same as the mainstream guns in their home stables, which made us curious about whether the sporting tag truly offered some value in terms of performance, or whether such autos were merely prettied up hunting guns.We expected to have a lot of fun finding out, and we weren't disappointed when we tested the Remington 1100 Sporting 12.

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