H&R 1871 has introduced the value-priced Excell Auto 5 semi-automatic shotgun. The price point and the quality means a lot more shooters will be able to choose a semi-auto over a pump or single-shot shotgun.

A light, but steady drizzle accentuated the pre-dawn calmness at the little farm pond as I sat waiting for the last shades of gray to give way to the colors of morning and legal shooting time. The welcome barometric low felt positively airless compared to the dry and breezy high-pressure bluebird days we'd had for the past month.

Along with the damp weather, my hopes were high that the front would also bring with it the first wave of migrating ducks and make for a good opening day hunt. Only the spirited whirling of the robotic decoy's wings disturbed the tranquility until, as if on schedule, a pair of mallards pitched in from the west to join our half dozen decoys for the morning social hour.

Scott found the Excell swings smoothly on passing shots but was also responsive enough to poke at quick-moving decoying ducks for successful snap shots. Photo by Ben Connor

As the pair of ducks crossed the brushy line edging the pond, my hunting partner Ben Connor and I stood, picked our targets, and fired the first of two volleys bringing the brace of birds to the water. It was a new duck season and I was hunting a time-proven place with a familiar friend. I was also using a new gun that has time-proven design features combined into a package that offers hunters a versatile hunting tool at a value price.

Marlin Firearms has made good use of the New England Firearms and H&R 1871 names since acquiring them in 2000. Though there is arguably a lot of product overlap between NEF and H&R, having those different names permits Marlin to offer more distinct product lines. The company is taking particular advantage of that situation when it comes to offering shotguns outside of the break-open, single-shot design for which NEF and H&R are both known.

The combination of the Excell semi-auto and a box of No. 6 bismuth handloads at a local watering hole made sure Maizie got a good workout the first few days of duck season retrieving downed birds. Photo by Ben Connor

New from NEF comes an expansion of the value-priced "Pardner" line with a variety of pump-action shotguns, and from H&R 1871 comes the new semi-automatic Excell Auto 5. There are all-weather, slug and turkey-specific guns to name just a few of the Pardner and Excell variants. If the sample Excell I received is representative of what H&R is going to deliver, then I expect Excell shotguns to not only turn a few heads on the range and in the field, but to also get the attention of some of the major repeating shotgun manufacturers.