Autoloading shotguns and waterfowl hunting just take to one another like…well…like a duck takes to water. In the November/December issue of Ducks Unlimited Magazine, veteran gun-scribe and popular TV personality Ron Spomer went to extremes testing the Super X4, the latest evolution of this fast-shooting, soft-recoiling automatic smoothbore from Winchester Repeating Arms.

“(Argentina…swarmed with ducks) doves, pigeons and perdiz.”

“The first time I hunted with Winchester’s Super X4 autoloader…it was the spring of 2016 and Winchester had had sent a bunch of us writers (to Argentina where the place swarmed with ducks) doves, pigeons and perdiz, and suitable for putting a new shotgun through its paces,” began Spomer “And that’s exactly what we did.” 

“It was tough duty running hundreds of rounds through our test guns…,” Spomer noted. “But hey, someone has to do it. And we put in all that effort…to assess what Winchester hoped would become the company’s go-to gun for American waterfowlers.”

“…Function is function, and the Super X4 has that nailed.”

“Assessing a shotgun is a subjective exercise,” Spomer reveals “Everyone judges aesthetics differently, but function is function, and the Super X4 has that nailed…. What surprised me most was the reasonable felt recoil from the heaviest loads…It all adds up to a shotgun that won’t beat you up, even when you’re shooting magnum waterfowl loads.”

“It adds it to a shotgun that won’t beat you up, even when you’re shooting magnum waterfowl loads.”

“What I appreciated most about the SX4 was its feel and handling characteristics, which I noticed on our first handshake,” Spomer concludes. “The grip and forearm are slimmer and…(at) 7 1/8 pounds…the SX handles as if it were even lighter. I discovered the SX4 would get on these fast flushing birds almost as quickly as my favorite upland gun. I respect a good 12-gauge duck gun that can do double duty in the uplands.” 

“I respect a good 12-gauge duck gun that can do double duty in the uplands.” 

If you want a soft-shooting, fast-cycling autoloader that can chase down doves and pheasants with the same ease it knocks down high-flying ducks and geese, go check out the Super X4 at your local Winchester Repeating Arms dealer today.

You can read the entire article by Ron Spomer in the November/December issue of Ducks Unlimited Magazine, or visit Ducks.org

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Original article copyright Duck Unlimited 2017. Photos are copyright Ducks Unlimited, Winchester Repeating Arms and/or used with permission or in the public domain. Review written by Winchester staff writer, Scott Engen. Copyright Winchester Repeating Arms, 2017.