Fifty years ago--1960--the Gun Digest devoted fewer than a dozen pages to American-made shotguns. Today, the shotgun section is 40 pages long, and it packs in far more guns per page.

Looking back, the wonder is not how few choices were available in 1960. No, to me, the wonder is that almost all of those guns are dead, gone, and forgotten. With one or two exceptions, such as the Holland & Holland side-by-side in the "imported gun" section, almost everything has changed.

And wonder of wonders, by and large the change has been for the better. We have more, and better, and finer shotguns now than we had in 1960. As a hidebound traditionalist, it is a surprise even to me that I would write that.

Another interesting fact is that almost all of this increased choice today comes from offshore. We still have American-made shotguns, but we have vastly more imported ones than we did then, and you now see these imported guns everywhere from the trap range to the duck blind.

Broadly speaking, the biggest change from then to now is the wide popularity of the over-under, mirrored by decreased interest in pump guns. There were few side-by-sides left in 1960, and there are few now (at least readily affordable ones). The other design that has come on strong is the semiautomatic, and it is fair to say that in 2010, most shotgunners use either over-unders or semiautos, with everything else trailing the pack.

How did we get here? What designs were the most influential? What guns--not thought of in 1960--came along and shaped the way we shoot today?

Given the rise of the over-under and autoloader, it is not surprising that I picked three O-U guns and one autoloader as having a particular impact. The fifth gun is a side-by-side, influential not because of the tidal wave of similar guns it provoked, but because it caused a shift in American attitudes that led to a whole new class of gun.

Browning Citori 625 Field

Browning Citori
It is fitting that Browning should claim the first spot because, since the 1920s and continuing to this day, the famous Browning Superposed really defined over-unders for American shooters.

The Superposed was John M. Browning's last design, and it was produced for a half-century at the FN plant in Belgium. The quality was unvarying in its excellence, the workmanship was superb, and it was made in some fabulous high grades. By the early 1970s, however, labor costs in Europe had driven the cost of the Superposed (and all other Belgian-made Browning firearms) out of reach of most shooters.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Browning designed a new, simpler over-under to replace the Superposed--the Citori--and moved production to Japan, where costs were low but quality of machine manufacturing was high. In 1975, the first year it was listed in Gun Digest, a Citori Field grade cost $325, while a Superposed Grade I was $780.

Eventually, the Citori was offered in a wide range of grades and styles, but the basic Field gun became the standard and provided an entire generation of Americans with a solid, affordable over-under at a time when prices of everything were going wild. And, with a taste for over-unders firmly established, the Citori inspired an ever-increasing number of models from other manufacturers.