So, I'm a member of local shooting club mostly for archery. HOWEVER, I've been shooting a few rounds of sporting clays lately. Anyone interested? I'm totally sold on it. As such, I'm looking into picking up an over/under shotgun to complement my semi-auto Beretta A300 Outlander. Anyone have any suggestions? Good, bad, ugly? P.S. I like "ugly."
I've done a course 3 times, I'd probably go more but the closest public course I'm aware of is about 90 minutes away. I've used my 870 once, a borrowed NEF Pardner pump 12 ga once, and my O/U 20ga Red Label once. I did much better with my O/U, even with it being a 20 gauge so if I shot more often I'd probably pick up a 12 ga O/U. I have no idea what'd I'd get though, there's a lot of good choices out there. Do you have a price in mind that you'd like to stick within?
Most people aren't even good enough to justify buying an over under. It's like playing tennis in running shoes and not tennis shoes. If it were me I'd buy a full choke for the Beretta and have fun or practice enough where an o/u is worth it. If you just want one there are budget guns then there are status symbol guns. Most people I know buy the citori by browning, it's nice enough but not too pricey for most trap shooters. Cheap guns I've seen and considered the stoeger or Mossberg. But I'd rather spend the same cash on a nice pump.
Ooooo I have always wanted to try it. As a kid I used to scavenge unbroken clay targets from the range and sell them to shooters (for a huge discount). I spent a lot of time at the range as my mother was a competitive shooter.
Used to shoot trap quite a bit. Had a Remington 870 T/C. It was their trap competition model. Had a gas relief recoil compensator that moved a weight inside the tube. Had to drop a shell right into the side of the receiver. That gun could shoot. Those were fun days.
If your Beretta A300 Outlander had changeable choke system I would say stick with it. but with the way clays courses are set up changeable choke system is al most a must. You can of course get away with a OU set up imp cyl and mod and very the ammo you use. I shoot a SKB 685 and like it well enough, it came with hasting wad stripper chokes, cyl skeet & skeet mod. Yildiz SPZ ME/12 about $500.00 problem is limited dealers as they are imported from turkey and most change the butt pad to some thing like a limb saver as recoil with the stock pad is felt after just a few rounds Mossberg Silver Reserve II Again about $500.00, is also a Turkish import. Good looking and only 7.5 pounds. Al
I shoot a lot of Trap and before I got into the competitive side of things, I shot a lot of skeet and sporting as well. If you want to get into it a little more serious, I would look into either a Beretta 680 series gun new/used pretty reasonable or a Browning Citori XS/ 725 type gun again pretty reasonable for the quality. I would suggest the Browning but that is kinda a Ford/ Chevy argument. The big thing is to try a lot of different guns before you buy, many people at your club I'm sure will let you shoot their gun. The only thing that will limit what you buy is your checkbook. If you have $1500-2000 you can get into quite a few decent guns in that price point. If you don't have the money to spend now, save up until you do, don't settle for something cheaper. The sub $1000 guns don't have a lot of dealer backing/ replacement parts/service areas available, and if you shoot anything better, you will realize how horrendous some of the triggers can be when comparing to something better. I would argue Boomstick about the status symbol guns. While there are some people out there shooting $100,000+ engraved guns, while I think it is crazy, it isn't my money so they can do what they want. I shoot with a lot of people, me included that can literally buy a car for what our competition guns cost. And yes, there is a quality and reliability difference between a $2,000 gun and $10,000 gun after hundreds of thousands of rounds. If you get into shooting competitively, you will see a lot of the top shooters shooting higher end guns, there are some reasons if you try one,consistency and fit are biggies. And yes, there are always the people that can win with anything you put in their hands, but they are a true rarity. One thing to remember too, is no matter how expensive of a gun you buy, the gun is always the cheapest part when you factor in shells and targets over the course of your shooting career. I shoot about 15,000 registered targets a year at roughly $25/100 targets shells are $50-90/ 250 shells options and bets add up year to year... I figure when I'm at a competitive shoot, I am about $1+ each time I pull the trigger. But, just like guns, there are always more expensive sports... if you get into talking to some better shooters or old timers, ask them about shooting "Flyers" or pigeons, now that is an expensive shotgun game. And they are still around but your not likely to even get an invite to watch, let alone shoot. If you have any specific questions or know what you want to get, let me know where in central PA you are and I can point your towards some good dealers for what you are after
