A close friend is thinking of taking up shotgunning--trap, skeet, sporting clays--and knows nothing of shotguns.

What medium priced quality gun would you recommend?

In the classified section, Mike Dettorre started a "What gun do you regret selling..." thread.

It reminded me of the Browning BSS I had in my youth.

Yep, it was made in Japan, but fit and finish were excellent.

Anything like this made now?

Thanks,

flaco

Trap, skeet, and sporting clays all require a slightly different shotgun. But if your friend just wants to pursue clay targets informally, he can get by with nearly any decent 12 gauge that is equipped with interchangeable choke tubes.

An over/under might be a little better for targets than an auto, most particularly if he wants to reload, or to save his empties for someone who does reload.

Unfortunately, there just isn't any such thing as a "good" cheap O/U on the market. You might find a pretty nice used Beretta, Citori, or Ruger Red Label for under a thousand. The CZ's made in Turkey by Huglu seem to be reasonably functional and you might come by a new one in the $800 range.

As Stonecreek mentions, the different shotgun sports all benefit from different shotgun designs. For example, you want your trap gun to shoot "high", as all targets are shot on the rise, as opposed to crossers in skeet, and "anything goes" in sporting clays.

But, if he's new, there's no need to specialize.

What basic shotgun type is he interested in? Over/under, semi auto, pump?

As basic as it sounds, a nice Remington M870 with choke tubes (and possibly an extra barrel so that he can have maybe a 26" and a 30" for example) should get him going quite nicely in any of the games, as well as make a hunting gun (if he pursues that route) that will last a lifetime.

Any chance that you know some fellow shooters that will loan him a few different shotguns to try?

The best value for a beginning clay shooter may be a Remington 1100 autoloader. A beginner needs only a 2 3/4" chamber to be sure target loads cycle properly and a 28" barrel. IMO of course. Good shooting!!

Thanks for the replies, Gents-

My (perhaps nostalgic) sentiments for my old B-SS outweigh many practical considerations.

All you had to do was close the tubes of the B-SS and the sound alone let you know the quality of the machining.

And, as firearms are something special to me, I'd like to see him get a quality shotgun.

My tastes run to the traditional, so I'd advise a SXS or Over/Under. But I looked at the Citoris, and they're certainly out of my price range. As is the B-SS now.

Seems like they've held their own in the price department.

Anyway, I spoke to the Trapmaster at our club, and he's invited my friend up for a little instruction, and to try out a bunch of different club guns.

Sooooo much better than the sales pitch at the gun shop.

Thanks again,

flaco

I too am a big O/U fan, but for a beginner looking for a budget clays gun an auto makes more sense. You should be able to get away for about plus or minus half the investment.

The pumps are a great value, especially if he's getting into hunting or won't be serious about clays. But there aren't many pump shooters who are competitive in the clays games when true pairs are involved.

If price is really an issue it might be a good idea to look at used guns. Few people shoot them enough to hurt them.

Either a Beretta 391, 390, Remington 1100, 1187 or Browning Gold would serve him well. (In that order IMHO). Chokes are readily available for those as well as parts and people who know how to work on them.

For that description of sports I would think interchangeable chokes would be necessary.

I'm sure I'll take flack on this, but I really don't think it makes that much difference to specialize with different shotguns for different sports. I shoot a sporting clays gun for everything and have won more than my share of sporting (including FITASC, 5-Stand, etc.), skeet and trap shoots with just the one type of gun (boy, does that make the serious single disciple guys mad!). It makes a big difference to get really used to the gun but I've been able to do that with my last 3 sporting guns (but at a huge commitment of 20K to 50K shells per year! Okay, okay I guess it's an addiction. )

Hope that helps.

Kyler

flaco,
If he is not set on a new gun, I would suggest he look at a used Citori. I would tell him to look for a skeet or sporting clays gun, they can easily interchange but won't be best for trap. I shoot mainly skeet and use a subgauge tubed citori. It has full length tubes so you can shoot 20, 28 and .410 as well as the parent 12 ga out of the same barrels. You do not have to start with one with the tube sets, they can be added later. If he wants to do it competitively or his aim may be in that direction, I would strongly recommend an O/U. But there have not been any bad recommendations made here, all those guns mentioned will serve a beginner very well.

For sporting clays, he will be substantially handicapped with a pump.

I agree with Chic, and a good, used Citori is the place to start. Alternatively, Walmart sells a Beretta 390 (or 3901) semi-auto, which is the synthetic stock, stripped down version (i.e. no mag stop and only three chokes) of their 390 gun. It's something like $550, yet, it is solid, and highly functional.

When he decides to upgrade, he'll only lose about $100 on the trade on either one. JMO, Dutch.

CZ makes a nice, fairly inexpensive autoloading shotgun. I have one, love it. It works well on quail, pheasants, clays, bunnies, crows, just everything.

Brian

I'm not sure if we are perhaps looking at Flaco's post and overlooking that he said the friend "knows nothing of shotguns". What I'm getting at is that perhaps he should first begin to learn the fundamentals of shooting a shotgun - and those fundamentals are common to all shotguns. In my part of the country, Orvis has run a renowned wing shooting school where students also got the chance to use different types of shotguns. I'm sure there are schools like that across the country. Cold Bore suggested a Rem.870 (a lifelong favorite of mine including its predecessor, the Mod.31)However, as Dutch pointed out, a pump doesn't do so well in clays (I guess he had that godawful left-right station in mind!) I am saying that a rank beginner should first pick up the fundamentals and then as he progresses he can look at what he likes in particular. Right now, he can't know what he likes because he doesn't have any experience in shooting a shotgun at all. (I suspect that like most of us he will opt for several shotguns rather than make one do the work of all)

Beretta 391 - good all around shotgun sports gun..

quote:

I guess he had that godawful left-right station in mind!)

Actually, I was thinking of the "springs tightened to the breaking point" true pair launched quartering away from 15 yards, with one rising and one slightly dropping. I might as well be throwing rocks at the second bird.

And will you quit writing down you could do everything with one gun? There are WIVES reading this forum, for goodness sakes.... Dutch.

Dutch:

I was thinking of the one that has the birds coming from hard left and hard right -directly passing by each other. I couldn't handle that even with an auto! I never did much clays shooting ( I came to it late in life) but I wonder if your phrase "springs tightened to the breaking point" might not be the reason. (Hey, I'll use any excuse I can get!) (Coming off a lifetime of shooting ruffed grouse -and doing as well, if not better than many, I was more than a little ashamed of myself that I found clays so hard. Fact)

Beretta 390 / 391.

Cheap, completely serviceable, proven in the field (can you say Argentina) and has been used to win so many clays events one can't begin to count.

Soft recoiling and has tons of add-ons available in the marketplace.

1200.00 gets you a Ferrari - 450.00 gets you going - you can add-on the extras from there!

JW

The Beretta 391 with the Parallel Comb stock and 30" barrel will handle Trap, Sporting Clays and Skeet with ease...all he needs to do is use the correct choke for the specific game. I also suggest he make an effort to find the latest version which Beretta is calling Beretta 391 #2 which is supposed to be much easier to keep clean.

flaco,
check your PM

Rich
DRSS