What should I buy for my first O/U 12 GA

icyclefar

icyclefar

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I am looking for my first over / under 12 gauge shotgun. The use will be stricktly recreational trap shooting (maybe some skeet too). I've been eyeing the Mossberg Silver Sporting Reserve ($550) and have seen the lesser priced Stoegers, and Remingtons that are offered at Dicks. Any opinions?

Would love to get some opinions on what I should look at or steer clear of in the $500 range.
 
derek said:
Getting a over and under for $500 limits your options. I believe Four Seasons has that model for $450. http://www.fsguns.com/fsg_new_lg.html

I'm not a fan Mossbergs but I would like to see first hand the quality of the Silver Reserve. Looks like it could be a great starter O/U.
Click to expand...

You are partly correct about Four Seasons, they sell the basic version for $449 but the Sporting version with a ported barrel and a mid bead runs about $540 ....... I figured it might be worth the extra $90 bucks. [grin] I have handled the basic version and the fit and finish seem pretty nice, especialy for the price.
 
You might want to consider a double barrel side by side also. They can do any thing a O/U can do and their cheaper. A lot of shotguns offered today by big name companies are imports. Mostly from Russia, Turkey or Italy.

You can spend a lot of money, for the exact same shotgun. It all depends whose name is stamped on it.

Even DeHaan, Kimber, CZ, Remington and the list go's on, market foreign made shotguns with their name stamped on them. A lot of them are made in the exact same factory.

For example the Russian Baikal's that use to be sold by EAA are now sold as Remington Spartan's now that EAA only sells them just to Remington to and the price went up over a $100 dollars.
 
There have been a lot of mixed reviews of this o/u over at TheHighRoad as well. Some seem to like it while others have had some very bad luck with theirs. I was thinking of getting one of these as well, but decided to pass as I really didn't want to take the chance of getting lemon.
 
Ruger just came out recently with a side by side they call it, Gold Label. It's a little over $1000 dollars. It seems only natural, since lately there has been a lot of renewed interest in side by sides.
 
Here's my $.02

I have a Remington SBR310 with the 28" barrels. It's on sale at Dick's this week for $399.99.

smsil_spr310.jpg


Here's what'ch get:

Checkered walnut stock & fore-end Checkering is kinda rough but nice none the less.

Single selective trigger, pull trigger bottom barrel goes boom. Pushing trigger first selects top barrel then pull trigger, top barrel goes boom.

Auto selective ejectors; adjust a screw on the reveiver and the instead of kicking the fired shell over your sghoulder when you break the action open they will lift the fired shell up so you can put it in your "empties" pouch.
The gun knows which barrel you have fired and will not eject/extract the unfired shell.

Auto tang safety - Safety comes on every time you break the action open.
Love it or hate it because of this.

Chrome-lined barrels - Easy to clean.

Engraved nickle plated receiver quality similar to the checkering but it varies from gun to gun. Look at several, buy the nicest one.

They're really made by Baikal and imported by Remington.
Balance is nice, and mine points nicely. I'm happy with mine. [smile]
 
MrTwigg said:
I have a Remington SBR310 with the 28" barrels. It's on sale at Dick's this week for $399.99.

smsil_spr310.jpg


Here's what'ch get:

Checkered walnut stock & fore-end Checkering is kinda rough but nice none the less.

Single selective trigger, pull trigger bottom barrel goes boom. Pushing trigger first selects top barrel then pull trigger, top barrel goes boom.

Auto selective ejectors; adjust a screw on the reveiver and the instead of kicking the fired shell over your sghoulder when you break the action open they will lift the fired shell up so you can put it in your "empties" pouch.
The gun knows which barrel you have fired and will not eject/extract the unfired shell.

Auto tang safety - Safety comes on every time you break the action open.
Love it or hate it because of this.

Chrome-lined barrels - Easy to clean.

Engraved nickle plated receiver quality similar to the checkering but it varies from gun to gun. Look at several, buy the nicest one.

They're really made by Baikal and imported by Remington.
Balance is nice, and mine points nicely. I'm happy with mine. [smile]
Click to expand...

Does it have fixed choke bbls or does it have the rem choke system?
 
MrTwigg said:
Single selective trigger, pull trigger bottom barrel goes boom. Pushing trigger first selects top barrel then pull trigger, top barrel goes boom.
Click to expand...


Maybe a stupid Q, but does that mean to fire both barrels you have to:
1) Pull trigger (bottom fires)
2) Push trigger
3) Pull trigger (top fires)

Or:
1) Pull trigger (bottom fires)
2) Pull trigger (top fires)
3) push trigger to reverse order

Matt
 
Bugs100 said:
Ruger just came out recently with a side by side they call it, Gold Label. It's a little over $1000 dollars. It seems only natural, since lately there has been a lot of renewed interest in side by sides.
Click to expand...

The Ruger O/U is beautiful! There was a slightly used one at Hunters for $800 a few months ago.
 
My advice, for what its worth, is stay the hell away from Stoeger and while the Rugers are great guns (last forever,always go bang) the felt recoil is sharp to say the least. Try looking around for an older Browning Citori. The action is as strong as a bank vault, if you shoot one out they are not a lot of money to rebuild, and the felt recoil is not that bad (providing you have a build similar to most people). I sold the 325 that I used to compete with and shoot pump gun or semi now but having 2 choke tubes is nice as well as saving hulls. My 2 cents.
 
Rockrivr1 said:
Does it have fixed choke bbls or does it have the rem choke system?
Click to expand...

Neither, If there is one drawback to this gun this is it. You get four choke tubes with it and aftermarket chokes are availiable from Colonialarms Inc.
http://www.colonialarms.com/index.html

Matt said:
Maybe a stupid Q, but does that mean to fire both barrels you have to:
1) Pull trigger (bottom fires)
2) Push trigger
3) Pull trigger (top fires)

Or:
1) Pull trigger (bottom fires)
2) Pull trigger (top fires)
3) push trigger to reverse order

Matt
Click to expand...

To directly answer your question;
1) Pull trigger - bottom fires
2) Pull trigger again - top fires

To fire the barrels in sequence you pull the trigger twice. It does not matter which barrel you fire first. Both barrels cannot be fired at the same time with a single trigger gun.

Every time you break the action open the bottom barrel is selected by default.

Hope that helps. [smile]
 
Bought the Mossberg Silver Reserve Sporting model with a ported barrel. Fed it two boxes of shells at the club the other day and I love it. As long as it holds up mechanicaly, I think I will be very happy. [smile]
 
icyclefar said:
I am looking for my first over / under 12 gauge shotgun. The use will be stricktly recreational trap shooting (maybe some skeet too). I've been eyeing the Mossberg Silver Sporting Reserve ($550) and have seen the lesser priced Stoegers, and Remingtons that are offered at Dicks. Any opinions?

Would love to get some opinions on what I should look at or steer clear of in the $500 range.
Click to expand...

Beretta 687 EELL

oh whoops i thought it said $5000
 
Last edited:
Mossberg Silver Reserve

I purchased one of these shotguns in march of 2006. I shoot trap and 5 stand almost every sunday and put about 700 rounds through her. I went to the range a few weeks ago and loaded up the top barrel for singles and called for a bird, pulled the trigger.......heard a click.......no bang. Opened the breeech, no mark on the primer....loaded again and called for a bird....click.... no bang. Broke down the gun (after unloading of course) and the firing pin was not visible. Also the hole the firing pin protrudes through was elongated. To make matters worse, I found a hairline crack in the stock newr where the breech opens up. I brought it back to the place of purchase and they sent it back to Mossburg for repair. Good things to say about the dealer....Northeast Trading in Attleboro.....but if I had another chance to go back and reconsider my purchase.....I would have spent the money and bought a better shotgun. I particularly like the Browning Lightning....just not the price. That's my experience with the Silver Reserve....hope this helps you in your decesion.
 
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