New Shotguns of SHOT Show 2025

Unlike the rifle and handgun market, truly new shotgun introductions tend to be the exception rather than the norm at SHOT Show. Last year manufacturers overwhelmingly offered niche spins on their existing products, with lightweight upland models and optic-ready receivers for wingshooters. In a continuation of that trend, this year many gun companies are retooling familiar models based on customer feedback, which means more options in a the platforms you love, and some real deals (if those budget guns can deliver on performance). We’ll add more hunting, clays, and tactical guns as we dig them up. In the meantime, here are the new shotguns of SHOT Show 2025 that have caught our eye, in no particular order.

Retay Air Control Extreme (ACE)

Key Features

• Choice between standard and humpback receiver
• Action: Inertia
• Gauge: 12, 20, and 28
• Barrel: 26- or 28-inch
• Capacity: 3+1
• MSRP: $1,049

Retay has introduced a new inertia gun that it’s calling the Air Control Extreme, or ACE, which is the result of 15 tweaks to the company’s Masai Mara autoloader. Some of the changes are those you’ve come to expect from modern semi-autos, including oversized controls and a cut-out loading port. But Retay says it also reduced felt recoil in this gun by about 30 percent by pairing a proprietary “Airy” buttstock pad and a soft comb pad. At first glance the see-through pad looks a little like the gimmicky heels on Nike Air shoes, but the looks are besides the point if it delivers. Other upgrades include tweaks to its Inertia Plus bolt design, better light load cycling, and a drilled and tapped receiver. You can also choose between a standard slope-backed receiver or the slightly higher humpback model (called the ACE Type R), which are otherwise identical. Like many other shotguns updated for this year, it’s compatible with the Benelli Crio Plus choke system. Retay says the ACE line will be available this summer.

Weatherby Element II

Key Features

• Action: Inertia
• Updated with oversized controls
• Tool-less disassembly of inertia spring
• Enlarged reloading port
• Gauge: 12 and 20
• Finish: Synthetic, wood, camo
• MSRP: $669 to $799

The 2.0 version of Weatherby’s Element is another modern update to a familiar platform, with — wait for it — an enlarged reloading port and oversized controls, namely the charging handle, safety, and bolt release. The Element II comes in a black synthetic, a black synthetic with anodized receiver, waterfowl, and upland models. It’s also compatible with the Crio Plus choke system from Benelli.

Benelli SBE 3 Advanced Impact

Key Features

• Redesigned bore contour and chokes
• Claims up to 50 percent greater penetration, better patterns
• Action: Inertia
• Gauge: 12, 20
• MSRP: $2,999 to $3,199

Last year Benelli debuted its Advanced Impact, or A.I., technology, which refers to a bore redesign (paired with extra-long A.I. Crio choke tubes) that was nearly a decade in development. The new tech promises up to “50 percent greater on-target penetration” at 30 meters compared to a regular bore, but it was only available in select Performance Shop Ethos models last year and we weren’t able to get our hands on one to test due to availability issues.

Happily, Benelli has rolled the tech into four new Super Black Eagle 3 models as well as an Ethos Upland version, and reps say they’ll begin shipping between April and June of this year. The SBE 3 A.I. is available in 12- and 20-gauge models with 28-inch barrels, Optifade Timber, an anodized receiver, and the company’s proprietary BE.S.T. finish on the barrel. Or you can get the same options with Cerakote receiver and barrel finishes paired with either Realtree Max-7 or Bottomland.

Field testing the Ethos A.I. models was “phenomenal,” senior marketing manager Cristie Gates told us last year, with pellets often passing completely through birds without tearing them up. “One goal is to make average ammunition so much more effective,” Gates said.

Although the initial debut of the A.I. models had enlarged barrels (imagine the thickness of a 10-gauge barrel on a 12-gauge), the SBE3s with A.I. barrels weigh the same as their non-A.I. counterparts.

Benelli Nova 3

Key Features

• Integrated receiver and buttstock 
• Shorter cycling stroke than original Nova
• Available in Tactical and Defense pumps
• Magazine cutoff button
• Action: Pump
• Gauge: 12 (3-inch)
• Capacity: 4+1
• Weight: 5.9 pounds  
• MSRP: $529 to $749

Benelli has upgraded its rugged Nova pump by introducing the third generation of the model. The major upgrade is what Benelli is calling its new Poly-Mod platform that integrates the receiver and buttstock into one piece. The upshot is a rigid design and a cycling stroke that Benelli says is 14 percent shorter than the original Nova. Other updates include more texturing and aggressive ribbing on the fore-end, M-LOK attachment points, and flush QD cups. There’s also a Nova 3 Hunting series that comes in black, Realtree, or Mossy Oak options, with  IC, M, and F Mobil choke tubes, a vented rib with red bar sight, and a drilled and tapped receiver for optic installation. That model runs $529 to $629.

Browning Citori 825 Field

Key Features

• Low-profile engraved receiver
• Fire Lite 2 Mechanical Trigger
• Grade II/III walnut stock
• Gauge: 12
• Available in 10 models, including field, clay, and sporting
• Weight: 7 pounds 4 ounces (26-inch)
• Barrel: 26- and 28-inch
• MSRP: Starting at $3,950

Although Browning technically introduced the 825 this fall, the O/U is worth mentioning here. The latest addition to the Citori family, the 825 has a low-profile receiver compared to its predecessor, the Citori 725. Browning also made some adjustments to the action with a transverse-mounted, full-width hinge pin the company says improves strength and life of the gun, as does a tapered locking lug and recess. The Citori 825 is available in 10 different versions, with emphasis on sporting clays and traps, but the Field model is the one wingshooters will be most interested in. It includes Browning’s Invector-DS choke system.

Beretta 1301 Mod 2

Key Features

• Stiffer chisel stock
• Beefier, heat-shielding hand guard
• Gauge: 12
• Capacity: 7+1 advertised (6+1 tested)
• MSRP: $1,899

The Beretta 1301 Mod 2 we tested this supper, before it got updates to the Chisel stock and fore-end.

There are a few small but essential updates to the wildly popular Beretta 1301 Mod 2 that we tested last year, which only makes it more appealing. During testing the folding stock occasionally collapsed when we didn’t want it to, which has been corrected in this latest iteration with a strengthened knuckle. The fore-end also sports a machined aluminum hand guard (with aggressive texturing) made by Aridus Industries to protect your offhand from a searing-hot barrel. The new fore-end gets warm, but never hot, as our shooting editor John B. Snow experienced when he shot it this week (he compared it to a handwarmer in cold weather).

Palmetto State Armory 570

Key Features

• Modular for at-home configuration
• Accepts 1-inch mini shells
• Front hanger system accepts Glock front sights
• Sold as a full gun or receiver only
• Action: Semi-auto or pump
• Available in late 2025
• MSRP: TBD

Palmetto State Armory has taken the trend of incorporating customer feedback to a whole new level with its annual Shot SHOW customer poll. Last year PSA introduced the 570 as one of a bunch of new concept guns and asked customers to vote on which models they wanted to go into production. This 570 shotgun proved to be a crowd-favorite thanks to its modularity, which allows you to configure it however you like at home with just about any aftermarket 870 furniture. The front hanger system, which accepts Glock-style front sights, isn’t permanently attached so you can adjust your barrel and magazine tube lengths. And after listening to customer feedback since its debut design, PSA updated the 570 so it can now accept 1-inch mini shells. The company expects the gun to come to market this fall. You can see this year’s PSA concept guns and vote on them here.

Stoeger M3000 and M3020 Turkey Edition

Key Features

• Optic-ready with a cut receiver (M3000) and Pic rail (M3020)
• Action: Inertia
• Gauge: 12 (M3000) and 20 (M3020)
• Barrel: 22 inches
• Capacity: 4+1
• Comes with extra-full turkey choke
• Includes paracord sling
• MSRP: $699

Stoeger is rolling out turkey specific models of its long-standing M3000 and M3020 autoloaders, which include full-camo finishes, extra-full chokes, and the optics-ready options turkey hunters consider standard these days. The M3000 receiver is factory-cut to handle adaptor plates with an RMR or Burris footprint, while the 20-gauge comes with a Picatinny rail for mounting red dots.

TriStar Arms Raptor II

Key Features

• Action: Gas
• Gauge: 12 and 20 
• Barrel: 28-inch (12 gauge) and 26-inch (20)
• Weight: 7.1 pounds (12) and 6.9 pounds (20)
• Finish: Wood, black synthetic, Mossy Oak
• Compact model available
• MSRP: $489 (black, camo) to $559 (wood)

This budget semi-auto has been upgraded from the original Raptor with ergonomics and handling in mind. Those additions include a sleeker stock and forearm, a cushier buttpad, and a fiber-optic front sight. Tristar also supersized the handle and bolt release. They’re dirt cheap for a semi-auto, and if it holds up to hard use, this bare-bones shotgun will still be a good deal.