Over/Under advice

[Stein]

My son has taken an interest in shotgun shooting, last summer getting an award at Scout summer camp where he shot the highest score among both youth and adults.  He is interested in shooting some clays at the local range which has a youth league.

We also have a pheasant trip lined up in January which would be cool to have him use his own gun.

This led me to looking at having Santa bring him an O/U for Christmas.  The problem being I couldn't know less about them other than they shoot shotgun shells.  I did some research and it looks like you could spend $2-2.5k on what seems to be the low end of what many consider a quality gun - something like the Browning Citori CXS or composite.  Unfortunately that's probably double what I was hoping to spend.

He's not going to go pro, more an occasional hobby in all likelihood.  He is 6'2", so we can skip the youth model and go straight to a big boy gun.  I'm looking for something that would be home at the range and in the field, ideally something that could be used for waterfowl and subject to rain on a regular basis.  Probably more clays than birds.

Being 16 in today's world, I don't think they get all lathered up over wood grades or the level of detail in engraving.

Any advice?  I don't want to buy him a piece of junk or spend a bunch on a safe queen.

[deereman]

My son just ordered a Tri-star O/U shotgun. Most of his FFA trap team shoots these. He is only in the 8th grade so still affordable for him and his lawn mowing $budget. Our trap team has been shooting Tri-stars for quite a few years. Great gun for the $ and good warranty.

[follow maggie]

You don’t have to spend that amount of money. I bought a Weatherby Orion in 2001. It has hundreds of days in the field & lots of rounds at the range. It still locks up tight & is accurate. It cost about $1,000 & they still cost about that. And it’s a nice gun. Sometimes you can find them cheaper.

[wadu1]

Depending on your budget I would be looking at used Browning, Beretta or SKB. The Turkish and Brazilian guns don't hold up as well.  I have two Brownings that have over 500K rounds down the tubes. If you want to do a little research on this forum https://www.shotgunworld.com/

[dwtraut7]

I shoot a Rizzini BR110 Sporter and love it, prior to that I would typically use a 694 that wasn't fitted for me but I also enjoyed it.

What about going the used route? These guys always have a good selection of shotguns (and not all at the upper end), like this Browning: https://griffinhowe.com/product/browning-citori-12-gauge-09871nza13/. You can also trust them to ship it out in great working condition, they have some very good people over there.

[b23]

Price, it's pretty hard to beat the Tristar and the CZ.  The CZ's are usually slightly more money but I think they also have better fit and finish as well as maybe just a bit better trigger but neither has what I would consider a good trigger.  Trigger pull on both is on the heavy side and the reset is fairly long with the Tristar being a little longer.  The Tristar O/U are typically a little lighter overall weight then the CZ O/U but a little extra weight especially if you're using it for clays more then birds isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

I had a CZ O/U a few years ago and did some horse trading with a friend for something he had and my dad gave my daughter a Tristar O/U awhile back but haven't shot it much.  If I were in the market for a new O/U and didn't want to spend a whole lot these are two that I'd be looking at and would probably get the CZ because I think they have a better fit and finish.  If keeping cost to a minimum but still getting something that was reliable the Tristar would be a top consideration.

[jackson7]

buy used,
daly miroku, skb, citoris, lots of good guns out there reasonably priced.

[hookr88]

I have a Franchi Instinct SL in 20 gauge and love it. I think new they go for $1400-1600 now. To bad you weren’t a little closer or we could meet at a trap range for a little test run.

[shotguunar]

Are you sure you want to go down this rabbit hole The browning citori cxs would be a good choice or the Beretta silver pigeon 1  would be good if taken care of will last him a lifetime I am not sure if I wood give it a steady diet of rain or snow in the duck blind if so you might think about one of the benelli or Beretta semi autos the big question is how often is he going to shoot it?  If he shoots it a lot go with the browning or Beretta if only on he shoots it a few times a year on the clay fields you may look into one of the cheaper O&U guns you can get good or bad in any gun in any brand but the browning or Beretta is probably two of the top choices another question is if you drop 2500.00 on a quality gun doesn't mean that he can hit anything with it So my advice is to go to the gun club and see if any of the shooters will let him try out a few guns pumps, semi autos, O&U guns and see how he does

[Dhoey07]

Stoeger Condor

[Alex4200]

Something else you might consider. A lightweight gun is great for field use. A lightweight gun is not as fun when using it for multiple rounds on the range with normal loads.

[brokenvet]

You don’t have to spend that amount of money. I bought a Weatherby Orion in 2001. It has hundreds of days in the field & lots of rounds at the range. It still locks up tight & is accurate. It cost about $1,000 & they still cost about that. And it’s a nice gun. Sometimes you can find them cheaper.

 

BudsGunShop.com has them for less than 1K, ships free, you just need to pay FFL transfer fee.

[deerlick]

The citori cx is great all around gun.

[SuperX]

I found O/U hard to shoot, the extra weight in the barrel seemed to make me shoot behind everything.  It may be similar for a kid so I would have him try one for a while and see how his scores move.  it would suck if he soured on shooting trap because he switched guns.

[JWBINX]

Are you sure you want to go down this rabbit hole The browning citori cxs would be a good choice or the Beretta silver pigeon 1  would be good if taken care of will last him a lifetime I am not sure if I wood give it a steady diet of rain or snow in the duck blind if so you might think about one of the benelli or Beretta semi autos the big question is how often is he going to shoot it?  If he shoots it a lot go with the browning or Beretta if only on he shoots it a few times a year on the clay fields you may look into one of the cheaper O&U guns you can get good or bad in any gun in any brand but the browning or Beretta is probably two of the top choices another question is if you drop 2500.00 on a quality gun doesn't mean that he can hit anything with it So my advice is to go to the gun club and see if any of the shooters will let him try out a few guns pumps, semi autos, O&U guns and see how he does

Good Advice! 

[rainshadow1]

Bought a Beretta S686 Special when I was 11. (Worked for a year and my Dad still pitched in a couple bucks.) Shot that gun every season for decades, went underwater a few times, a couple times in the salt. Always cleaned it with reverence and pride. 3.5 decades after, I gave it to my son, still beautiful, still in perfect condition. He’s shot it a lot since.
    I recommend the old or the new 686 series… in case you wondered!

[dreadi]

Weatherby Orion
They have nice wood, come in 12 and 20, ejectors, glossy or matte blue.


BLACK HAMMER ARMS
07/02 NFA Dealer

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[C-Money]

This is great! I really like to hear kids taking interest in shooting sports. Your son will probably have a lot of opportunity to shoot trap with FFA, 4-H. Even high school rodeo shoots trap now. There are various youth trap shooting teams scattered around as well. One, would be the Basin Dust Devils. A trap gun will help your son be more consistent. You need to mount your shotgun the same every time, which is hard with a field gun. A target gun will aid in consistency. Field guns for trap will work, but there are target guns for a reason. So...find out when your local gun club is shooting trap. Go to the club on a practice night. As with any good club, there will be a few fellows around that will probably know of a gently used Browning XT trap, or even a BT 99. They should probably know of something for sale that is a quality target gun that could meet your needs. A trap target gun, is just that, a target gun. Tri Star would be about the only turkish made gun I'd venture to recommend. Thay have a lot of good options for trap, and they are just fine most of the time. I know a few folks that shoot them routinely, including ATA events and do well. As a rule, I would stay away from the turkish guns. Get the boy an 870 express, or a Mossberg 500/820 for hunting. Good possibility you could get a good target gun, and a hunting shotgun for under $2000, or close to it. I would advise to stay away from composite stocks for competition trap. Wood is much easier on the shooter after 100, 200, 300 rounds in a day. If your son decides trap is just not for him, you can recover the cost of the trap gun by posting it for sale at the local gun club. Its a great sport, and is one of the few sports boys and girls can compete in together on a level basis.

[Cast2Way]

@Stein - I have a 1 year old Browning Citori Composite 12 ga that I am considering to sell. I paid $2200 for it. Has about 100 rounds thru it. Has an adjustable comb.  Really nice gun but looking to reduce my inventory. It came with flush chokes but I added a set of 5 black Spectrum Invector chokes from Briley for around $400. If interested, let me know and maybe we can make a deal that works for you.

[ghosthunter]

Another vote for stoeger.

Well made tanks at a reasonable price.

[salish]

You don’t have to spend that amount of money. I bought a Weatherby Orion in 2001. It has hundreds of days in the field & lots of rounds at the range. It still locks up tight & is accurate. It cost about $1,000 & they still cost about that. And it’s a nice gun. Sometimes you can find them cheaper.

Last year I bought an older Weatherby Orion (Japanese made) from a fellow hunt-Washington member. It's mint and locks up tight. It's a 20ga, 3", 26" tubes. It's a beautiful shotgun that I would take over any comparable Turkish o/u, and the Turkish guns are really nice, now. I paid $900.

[follow maggie]

You don’t have to spend that amount of money. I bought a Weatherby Orion in 2001. It has hundreds of days in the field & lots of rounds at the range. It still locks up tight & is accurate. It cost about $1,000 & they still cost about that. And it’s a nice gun. Sometimes you can find them cheaper.

Last year I bought an older Weatherby Orion (Japanese made) from a fellow hunt-Washington member. It's mint and locks up tight. It's a 20ga, 3", 26" tubes. It's a beautiful shotgun that I would take over any comparable Turkish o/u, and the Turkish guns are really nice, now. I paid $900.

This is exactly the gun I have. I love it.

[EnglishSetter]

The sleeper on target O/U's is a lightly used Beretta 682.  These were made for competition to the Olympic level.

The sleeper for field O/U's is Franchi Instinct.

To me, Browning 20g O/U's are pretty sweet, but 12g's are a bit clunky.  I've been unimpressed with current Beretta 686's.

Though I have multiple shotguns of various flavors (brands, gauges, configurations), I still prefer an automagic in the field. 

[sticky]

I bought an SKB 505 Field in 1992 and it is still my favorite gun. Great fit and finish and shoots like a dream. They built the Weatherby shotguns for a long time up to around 2000. 


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