I'm considering getting an O/U shotgun which would be dedicated to dove, quail and maybe pheasant. Leaning toward 20 gauge (or maybe 28?) with price under $2k.
I will be the (slightly off topic) old codger that has been shooting pheasants, trap, ducks, geese, ruffies, sharptails, etc with 12 gauges since about 1972 when I blew a few of my first truly big paycheques on two Brownings: a barely used O/U Superposed and a new Browning 2000 auto with three barrels of different lengths and chokes. Used both for trap and skeet when I took it up about the same time. The Superposed was sold to my brother when he begged me for it and replaced with a much, much nicer Gran Lightening back around 1992'ish. The Browning 2000 still plugs along, doing everything I want it to do (I do have nightmares that one day it will need some small part repaired and it won't be available 50+ years later).
The glossy stocks that many find objectionable disappeared soon after I bought them at the hands of a can of rottenstone purchased from Brownell's.
Don't shoot the shotgun sports very often anymore, even though there's a large trap club well within hearing distance of our home here in Montana. But still walk many, many miles every year chasing the local cacklebirds, sharpies and quail and our newest luxury: a trip to Arizona each year before Christmas to camp and walk down the three species of quail in the area in and around Empire Ranch/Nogales. I recommend that trip around that time of the year to anyone with bird dogs.
I understand the allure of the 20 gauge hunting upland birds, and I won't tell anyone (including my wife) that they're wrong to go with a 20 gauge. But there is a reason very few competitive trap, skeet, and sporting clays shooters elect to shoot 20 gauges rather than 12 gauge. Other than weight, I'm open to anyone trying to change my mind that anything a 20 gauge can do, so can a 12 gauge (and probably better) - but the reverse is true. And a 28 gauge unless in the hands of a shotgun sniper? Forget about it; my dogs have spent too much of our day's hunting time over the years hunting down birds crippled by people hunting with us who were using 28 gauges.
My wife has a truly beautiful Browning Upland Special 20 gauge; 24" barrels and English style grip. But it is NOT the best gun here in Montana when we get to the point that the roosters are flushing wild out there, even for people who like us have very well trained pointers (wirehaired pointing griffons in our case).
Many of the hunting loads out of my 12 gauges for any and all upland birds (and recreational clay shooting) are 7/8 oz. loads... a 20 gauge can also do that. But once the birds get smarter and they're less likely to hold for the dogs, and the ranges get a lot longer, we step up the shot size, all the way up to 1 3/8 oz. loads as the second barrel out of an O/U. Along with that, the weight of shot charge to have the same pattern density with the larger sized/weight shot charges at those larger distances. This is where the 20 gauge (and even worse the 28 gauge) start falling behind in terminal ballistic performance in any given choke size.
The day will probably come when I don't want to walk those miles with even the light weight of my Browning 2000 autoloader. If so, I'll take a different route than 20 gauge: I'll put a sling on my shotgun as the Europeans seem to prefer to do and carry it slung over my shoulder rather than in my hands all day.
If I can't carry my shotgun on my shoulder, that means I probably can't carry my hunting rifle as well the same way, and I'm probably out of the business of hunting anything if I've become that frail. Unfortunately, if we live and hunt long enough, that day will come for all of us.
I'll echo what others have probably already said (and which you probably already know): whatever you choose, ensure it fits you. If you like the shotgun and it doesn't fit, a shotgun plumber who knows how to bend and modify stocks to fit can make it fit. Close to here down in Polson, the guy (or one of the guys) who does that for Browning offers stock fitting for those who want to improve their wingshooting.
