Columbia Basin Local said:
Ya know Cowboy, i've done some more research on both guns. Seems your right on the money about the gas systems. I wish there was a member on here who had "hands on" comparisons between the two. The 3901 seems to be the 390 system and from what i can find it is easier is to clean and less of a hassle although a little more maintenance. Heard the 391 is a bitch to clean but doesn't need to cleaned as often. Sort of a trade off? I know it should come to fit when comparing two good guns. Plan on looking at both. Anybody got something to add?
At one point I had all 3, the 390/3901 is my favorite gas system. The 391 and A300 Outlander is a little trimmer but the trade off is the gas system. My BIL bought the Outlander to the nephew for hunting.
The only thing really on the 3 that needs to be concerned with is the gas ports, the gas valves by design on all three need very little if any maintenance. The real selling point for me is the tunability(sp?), with 5 different gas springs from Cole's, you can shoot everything from the heaviest 3" field load to the low recoil target loads simply be removing the magazine cap and popping in the correct spring.
They pretty much are adjustable to the same level, the 390/3901 is a little longer in the tooth than the other 2, but not enough to make a huge difference.
The 3901 is probably the perfect shotgun in 12 or 20, the profile of the 391 and the gas system of the 390. The A300 Outlander only has one gas port versus 2 on the 390/3901/391. It can also be finicky from the factory because of that also. It also shares the profile of the 391, one reason I gave it a try. Mine was made in Italy and I never had an issue with it and I don't think the nephew has either.
There was a picture comparison between the 3901 and Outlander over at Shotgun World, but I cannot find the link at the moment.