I like my old Browning Lightning 20 ga. and shoot it well, but I've only used it for hunting. It's a light gun and I've done okay with it on grouse, woodcock and pheasants, but it does kick pretty hard. The light loads for grouse and woodcock aren't too bad, but the high-brass loads for pheasants are pretty rugged on me.
Never shot skeet or sporting clays with it and I expect that after 50 rounds I would be feeling it. The gun has 3" chambers and I've never fired 3" rounds in it; not sure I would want to.
Last season I committed all of my wing shooting to a GH Parker 20 with 7/8 oz loads and loved it. I shot a few rounds of SC with it including one of 100 rounds and never felt beat up afterward. I'm going to mix and match the two above mentioned guns this fall.
I have an old Franchi O/U 12 ga field grade gun and that thing really punishes you. The comb of the stock seems to jump up and knock your cheek bone to the point of making you wince. You think twice about shooting it and in the grouse woods, you've lost your chance by then.
The Remington 1100s always seemed to me to be soft shooters. Never shot any of the "humpback" models.
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