Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Abilene, Texas
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    Quote Originally Posted by ianb1116 View Post
    Tristar's are absolute junk. look at the reviews, dead triggers, dead hammers, loose grips, etc.

    I had a stoeger condor for about 2 years. That little thing ate everything without the bat of an eye. Great beater shotgun. VERY heavy though.

    If it were me, I'd seriously consider the CZ Drake. I own a CZ 912 and it's been very good. Just look at the reviews: http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-drake/
    CZ also has the Mallard, which can be picked up for about the same as the ATI/Tristar/Stoegers. It's been discontinued and retailers haven't been able to clear them out because they're dual trigger, which is not in vogue anymore. In reality, it's more a preference thing than a actual performance issue, for a new shooter just learning, you can probably adapt just fine.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    lewisberry, Pennsylvania
    (York County)
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    35
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    I have a mossberg silver reserve and my buddy has a silver reserve II. We both drop about 150 to 250 shells most weekends and they're both going strong.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Grove City, Pennsylvania
    (Mercer County)
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    [QUOTE=Pete D.;3501068
    Well, one thing is pride of ownership. There is a cachet to possessing fine guns like Perazzis and Kreighofs. There is also durability. A serious shooter may put 20,000 shells a year through his gun. The "better" guns are made to take that kind of use. Even the "entry level" Browning BT-99 has been called a million round gun.
    Can you outshoot someone with a $10K Trap gun with your 870. Yep, happens all the time. There is a reason, however, why the champions....shooters like multi-gold medal Olympic shooter Kim Rhode (Perazzi/Beretta), shoot high end guns and not 870s.[/QUOTE]

    As an avid Trap shooter I don't consider the BT-99 an "entry level" priced gun....I still shoot Trap will the BT-99 that I purchased in 1970 and I could not give a round count on that gun; During the Trap Season I shot on the weekends and two night a week. I recently bought BT-99 Golden Clays with Adjustable Comb that's fitted for me....at over 4 grand this isn't entry level
    The oracle is in. Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill!!

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Sweet Valley, Pennsylvania
    (Luzerne County)
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    77
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    1,322
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    Yes a $4000 gun is not entry level. The basic no extras BT-99, however, is not a $4k gun, not nearly.
    Pete

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    North Hills, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
    Posts
    237
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    A few thoughts:

    One can use a semi, a pump or an o/u for all clay games and hunting. One does not need a Browning, Beretta or Kolar. Dedicated trap guns have a different pattern (example 70% of the shot pattern above the point of aim, 30% below) than skeet and sporting clay guns. Not bad or good, and one can shoot skeet with a trap gun (unless it's a BT-99 or similar single shot). You need to know your POA versus POI and adjust to the game.

    Sporting guns are typically heavier than field guns A long day in the field with a heavy gun diminishes the fun factor. Likewise, the recoil from a light field gun can be an influence after 100 rounds of clay games. This comes down to personal choice. Shooting lighter loads for clay games lessens the recoil so I started with a field gun for everything. YMMV

    Pump and Semi for clay games means picking up the shells after shooting (depending on the club). When shooting Trap with a semi or pump a shell catcher is a good idea, ejecting a a shell at another Trap shooters Krieghoff tends to irk some folks.

    Some lower priced O/U are Turkish guns, you will find folks that love em and those that hate em. IMHO the quality varies resulting in the polarization of opinion. Consider buying a used gun and shooting it first, may help find one of the good ones.

    If you become addicted to a sporting game, you will likely want a gun optimized for that game. That's when it may make sense to buy a Browning, Beretta etc.

    I started shooting skeet with a Remington 870 pump, doubles were a challenge but the gun really didn't limit me. I became more involved (read addicted) and bought a Browning o/u. The Browning misses birds exactly the same way the 870 does: there is a nut loose behind the trigger.

    Shoot what you got, even on a bad day you get to make big noise and smoke.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
    (Chester County)
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    32
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeStull View Post
    A few thoughts:

    One can use a semi, a pump or an o/u for all clay games and hunting. One does not need a Browning, Beretta or Kolar. Dedicated trap guns have a different pattern (example 70% of the shot pattern above the point of aim, 30% below) than skeet and sporting clay guns. Not bad or good, and one can shoot skeet with a trap gun (unless it's a BT-99 or similar single shot). You need to know your POA versus POI and adjust to the game.

    Sporting guns are typically heavier than field guns A long day in the field with a heavy gun diminishes the fun factor. Likewise, the recoil from a light field gun can be an influence after 100 rounds of clay games. This comes down to personal choice. Shooting lighter loads for clay games lessens the recoil so I started with a field gun for everything. YMMV

    Pump and Semi for clay games means picking up the shells after shooting (depending on the club). When shooting Trap with a semi or pump a shell catcher is a good idea, ejecting a a shell at another Trap shooters Krieghoff tends to irk some folks.

    Some lower priced O/U are Turkish guns, you will find folks that love em and those that hate em. IMHO the quality varies resulting in the polarization of opinion. Consider buying a used gun and shooting it first, may help find one of the good ones.

    If you become addicted to a sporting game, you will likely want a gun optimized for that game. That's when it may make sense to buy a Browning, Beretta etc.

    I started shooting skeet with a Remington 870 pump, doubles were a challenge but the gun really didn't limit me. I became more involved (read addicted) and bought a Browning o/u. The Browning misses birds exactly the same way the 870 does: there is a nut loose behind the trigger.

    Shoot what you got, even on a bad day you get to make big noise and smoke.
    This makes the most sense. I did very much the same. I started with an 870, moved to a Turkish CZ912 semi, then to the Brownings (Cynergy CX and 325 Citori).

    This way, you find out what you like and don't like before dropping serious coinage.

    My opinion? If it's got to be an O/U, I'd look at the CZ line or Yildiz. The Yildiz will likely have to come second hand as they're only sold locally at Academy Sports but plenty pop up for sale on shotgunworld.com.

    The CZs have about 80/20 track record by my accounts: 80% see the value they offer at a level of acceptable quality whereas the other 20% will tell you that any O/U under $1k isn't worth it.

    FWIW, I shot a Stoeger Condor and that little beast of a gun never skipped a beat. I do mean beast though..almost 9 lbs and very front heavy.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Scranton, Pennsylvania
    (Lackawanna County)
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    I own 2 Stoegers 12 & 20 both field guns and I'm looking to buy their competition O/U next . . . I have about 30K rounds thru my 12 ga and never missed a beat or didn't fire. Like the above post says they are a beast. They are now made by Benelli.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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    119
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    244564

    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    I picked up a CZ Mallard recently, absolutely love that gun.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    New Castle, Pennsylvania
    (Lawrence County)
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    Default Re: Best affordable trap/clay o/u

    I've shot my share of perfect rounds of skeet, but sporting clays is a different beast.

    First off, a well fitted stock and gun.....no matter the cost (cheap or expensive)....will outshoot a poorly fitted one. A well fitted gun need not be expensive, though. Stoeger often has shims to change the drop of a stock and you don't always need an adjustable cheek piece to get a nice cheekweld for snap shooting.

    While an auto can do the job well, for sporting clays you can't ignore the advantage of being able to have two different chokes in an over under. After fitting, it will give you the best competitive advantage and, technically, be faster than any autoloader (I didn't used to care until I found myself outrunning the trigger on a lot of my 3 gun shotguns).

    The best advice is to try a lot of guns or at least be able to hold and mount them.

    Lycansomeoneisthinkingdirtythoughtsthrope

    I taught Chuck Norris to bump-fire.

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