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!