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Need some opinions on shotgun

familyman15

familyman15

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Looking for an affordable o/u for trap and skeet. Id like to spend a max of $600 if possible. Been looking at the mossberg silver reserve, however reviews aren't that great, from what I've seen. Bottom line is, idc about brand, just so many companies out there I dont kbow what to look for. If you know of a brand or shotgun that fits my criteria please share. Prefer 20ga, 26-28" barrel single trigger. Thanks in advance
 
At $600.00 for an O/U there really is not much that will be very good. You could look at Savage or CZ. If you can find Lanber they make a good gun at a good price but it would probably be more around $800-$1000. I'm not sure because I've not looked in a long time. Your best bet would be to look at used. That way you should be able to get a better gun at least close to your price range.

familyman15 said:
Looking for an affordable o/u for trap and skeet. Id like to spend a max of $600 if possible. Been looking at the mossberg silver reserve, however reviews aren't that great, from what I've seen. Bottom line is, idc about brand, just so many companies out there I dont kbow what to look for. If you know of a brand or shotgun that fits my criteria please share. Prefer 20ga, 26-28" barrel single trigger. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
Check out "shotgun news". I can't remember who it was but someone in there is always selling cheaper shotguns, not sure about current selection but mine has removable chokes and is better then me at skeet

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk
 
Buy a used Browning. If you think you are going to get a o/u for $600 that will not break you probably also believe in unicorns. All the guns in that price range are junk.

In the alternative, get a used Remington 1100 with screw-in chokes.
 
sorry failed to mention, used is fine. I know its hard to put a price on a used gun without seeing it but I mean more or less. but used is absolutely fine with me. I just dont know many brands I guess.
 
familyman15 said:
sorry failed to mention, used is fine. I know its hard to put a price on a used gun without seeing it but I mean more or less. but used is absolutely fine with me. I just dont know many brands I guess.
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Although it's not a Trap gun if you must buy now and not save try to hunt down a older browning citori field gun..... the browning GTi is a good gun and can be found cheaper than most.
Also the older Charles Daley or the Miruko shotgun .....basically a browning under the miruko factory name.
Its best to just save a few more $ I shot trap with a 870 express for 3 years until I knew I was interested enough and save up some cash to buy a decent trap model browning.
 
For that price range you should consider something like a used Remington 1100 series. I picked up an 1187 Premiere Skeet for around $500 from a forum member and it gets the job done just fine on the trap and skeet fields. There is something nice about the classic build and low maintenance of an OU but that comes at a price. I also have a Berretta Silver Pigeon 1 that I got from the buy/sell here but it was around 2x what you're looking to spend. I shoot roughly the same number of clays with each. Another benefit of the semi is that you only have to buy one choke of each type where as with the OU you need to buy two for skeet and sporting clays
 
I jave a highstandard fliteking it kicks nore than id like, but manageable. Shot an 870 wingmaster 20gauge it was actually nice, and a remington 1100 12 that felt like 0 recoil. I've just been kicking around the idea of an o/u. I did see what i thought was an Ithaca on Facebook a couple months back for 325$ it was really sharp looking, but i have never seen another. I should have saved the make and model down.
 
I've done a lot of skeet shooting. Like a shit ton. I highly recommend an older Remington 1100. Buy it with either a skeet 28" barrel or trap 30" barrel. You can easily find them for $600 in very nice condition. Just make sure it's an older one. The new ones suck
 
Save up for a used beretta or miroku. I've seen used 12 ga beretta onyx 26" for under a grand with plenty of life left, but then your stuck with 26" barrels.

Otherwise you get poor steel, manufacturing, dynamics and resale.

In the interim I agree, go with a used 870, 1100, beretta 300 series, older Win sx2.

I'm not a fan of the Turkish or Brazilian guns but then there are others that really feel they're a great value. I'd take a Baikal. The cowboy action guys seem to like the stoeger sxs coach gun reliability. I'd love to buy a stoeger 410 just out of curiousity to see how well it stands up to frequent rounds of skeet. Anyway, stick with a higher quality used pump or auto and save up imo.
 
Back ~1980 I bought a used Rem 1100 Skeet gun, later bought a trap barrel for it too and shot both for many years. Served me well and possibly can be had for somewhere near $600, but as mentioned above wisest to go with a 12 gauge.
 
I had a Mossberg Silver Reserve, wasn't a big fan so I got rid of it. You can buy a brand new Stoeger over/under for $600, good luck trying to find even a used Browning in your price range. One of the trap guys at my club recently bought a CZ pump, looks like a decent gun and he shoots well with it....
 
Sig Sauer Shooter said:
I had a Mossberg Silver Reserve, wasn't a big fan so I got rid of it. You can buy a brand new Stoeger over/under for $600, good luck trying to find even a used Browning in your price range. One of the trap guys at my club recently bought a CZ pump, looks like a decent gun and he shoots well with it....
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I have heard good things about CZ, and there is a guy at my club that has one and has been shooting it a decent amount in the last 6 months with no issues though it has a double trigger.

It might help if you knew how much you might be shooting it. The needs of an occasional user for standing up to torture are different than someone who is shooting a minimum of a couple rounds a week. If you shoot a lot suddenly maxing out at $600 becomes a small fraction of overall cost. I have probably shot "only" 65-70 rounds of trap in the past 6 months and that probably cost ~$600 and that's not a lot compared to many guys at my club.
 
I always was told that the most important thing with shotguns is how well it fits you. Doesn't matter what it says on the side of it,or if you spent$10G on it: a $200 mossberg 500 that's fits you is going to break more birds than a Krieghoff that is too short for your arms.
 
PatMcD said:
I always was told that the most important thing with shotguns is how well it fits you. Doesn't matter what it says on the side of it,or if you spent$10G on it: a $200 mossberg 500 that's fits you is going to break more birds than a Krieghoff that is too short for your arms.
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At a 600$ budget you need to be flexible.......but yes shotgun fit is key.
This is why they started putting two beads on shotguns. You would mount several guns in the attempt to find the one where the beads lined up.....
This is much like natural,point of aim. As you know Pat if you fight or try to hold your line of sight your natural position will creep back in.
This is why you will see so many field guns with either no beads or just a front bead.

I was brought up with the saying.....what do you get when you look at the beads of your shotty while bird hunting........lost bird!

OP wants a 600$ O/U the only 600$ O/U worthy of buying is a used browning or Beretta field gun.
28" barrel or so....
With that you can easily modify a shotgun to fit.... shims under the recoil pad for pitch adjustment
. Adjustable recoil pads for toe adjustment and as simple as some mole skin on the comb for height and or cast adjustments.

Or after shooting trap and getting the bug you resell your 600$ gun and buy a,more appropriate trap gun.

The army MARKSMENSHIP unit had some great videos on shotgun fit for trap.....the links I had are no longer valid and I'm having trouble finding them again.
 
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Actually when it comes to sporting clays the O/U has the advantage because you can have a skeet or modified choke for the close shot and a full for the long shots without having to change your chokes out.

BostonBullit said:
For that price range you should consider something like a used Remington 1100 series. I picked up an 1187 Premiere Skeet for around $500 from a forum member and it gets the job done just fine on the trap and skeet fields. There is something nice about the classic build and low maintenance of an OU but that comes at a price. I also have a Berretta Silver Pigeon 1 that I got from the buy/sell here but it was around 2x what you're looking to spend. I shoot roughly the same number of clays with each. Another benefit of the semi is that you only have to buy one choke of each type where as with the OU you need to buy two for skeet and sporting clays
Click to expand...
 
boiler_eng said:
I have heard good things about CZ, and there is a guy at my club that has one and has been shooting it a decent amount in the last 6 months with no issues though it has a double trigger.

It might help if you knew how much you might be shooting it. The needs of an occasional user for standing up to torture are different than someone who is shooting a minimum of a couple rounds a week. If you shoot a lot suddenly maxing out at $600 becomes a small fraction of overall cost. I have probably shot "only" 65-70 rounds of trap in the past 6 months and that probably cost ~$600 and that's not a lot compared to many guys at my club.
Click to expand...

This. I have a CZ Wingshooter which I absolutely love. It's used for Pheasant hunting and occasional trap (<100 rounds/month). I would have no problem recommending a CZ shotgun for a beginner or casual trap shooter. However, if you are shooting every weekend and going through 200+ shells a month I don't know how the lower end CZs would hold up. They do make some dedicated sporting guns, which I have heard good things about reliability wise, but those are obviously more expensive and if you were going that route, you could probably get a good used or lower end B gun for not much more. As boiler_eng said, it depends on how much you are going to shoot it.
 
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Billsail said:
As a relative newcomer to shotgun sports, don't handicap yourself with a 20ga.
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I am not a trap expert so maybe there is merit to this theory but for myself I beat my best trap score the first time I used my Weatherby SA-08 20ga by a couple of clays. I think the quickness of the smaller lighter gun helped me there. And the 20ga Semi-auto didn't pound my shoulder as bad either even though the gun is a lot lighter than my 12ga O/U.
 
vickers said:
I am not a trap expert so maybe there is merit to this theory but for myself I beat my best trap score the first time I used my Weatherby SA-08 20ga by a couple of clays. I think the quickness of the smaller lighter gun helped me there. And the 20ga Semi-auto didn't pound my shoulder as bad either even though the gun is a lot lighter than my 12ga O/U.
Click to expand...

There is definitely an individual factor to what gun shoots the best. If it fits and shoots straight then it will serve you well.

Also the wrong fit or too light a 12 ga can definitely hurt your scores.
 
2 shoulder surgeries on the one the stock rests against in the past 2 years, reason I prefer 20ga. I'm lucky do get 100 rounds a month, btw. Nothing wrong with my current shotgun, i actually enjoy it. I've adjusted my lop to fit.
 

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