Looking for a nice O/U

[wakerider017]

Hey guys,

I am looking for a very nice O/U for my dad for his birthday. He used to be really into bird hunting and sporting clay shooting years ago but ended up selling his O/U.
I recently got him an 870 to get back into it and he loves it. (He loves the sporting clays, he no longer hunts).

Anyway, I am looking for opinions for some really nice, reliable O/U's strictly for sporting clays.


P.S. My budget is about 2K

So far the Beretta White Onyx Sporting 686 has caught my eye.

[jaymce]

2K will buy you Brownings and Berettas new. The Lanbers look nice for about 1/2 that but who knows on longevity. Cesar Gurini (not sure of the spelling) has some nice offerings but they tend to run a little more.

I had a great experience with High Grade Shooting Supply, (talk to the wife she is fantastic to deal with) they have about the best prices I could find online when I made a similar purchase. CDNN has some great prices as well on Brownings right now and they may have others but you would have to call.

One of the most important things about shotguns clay sports is gun fit. You may want to take Your father with you or take him "along";) when you go looking for "your";) new gun.

[Full-choke]

Beretta and Browning are kind of the givens. However, someone that makes some very nice guns that is slightly cheaper (and under the Beretta conglomerate) is Franchi. I have a Franchi I-12 hunting gun that I love. It is super reliable, very well built and fits wonderfully. I would put that thing up hands down against my stepdad's Browning Gold any day of the year. I don't know what they have in the way of O/U shotties but you might consider.

F-C

[Lawyer Daggit]

Why wont he shoot? any problem there.


Try a Beretta Whitewing or an untralight.

It will be LOOOOOVE on first sight...

[wakerider017]

Bought a Beretta White Onyx Sporting 686 12GA 30" at Dicks today.

Got it for $1599 plus a free $100 gift card.

I am very happy with my purchase!

[Scorch]

I recommend a Browning Citori. It is the O/U all others want to be. It will last you the rest of your life.

[BigJimP]

You don't need to buy a gun that is "marketed for sporting".... many of us shoot Over / Unders designed for skeet in sporting.

My personal preference in an O/U for sporting and skeet, in 12ga, is one of the Browning Citori lineup. There are several models - the XS Skeet model, with a 30" barrel, and an adjustable comb gives it a lot of versatility and a lot of adjustability - add about 6 or 8 extended chokes and its a great present. If you don't like the XS Skeet - look at the XS Special / or consider the Browning Cynergy lineup - they have some synthetic and wood stocks - some with paralell combs and adj combs / some with field stock dimensions.

The Citori lineup today includes the Lightning models, the 525 series, the XS special, XS Skeet ( and some Trap guns XT-Trap and BT-99 which are not good sporting clays guns - they shoot too high and are a little nose heavy usually ).

The XS Skeet model comes in 12 or 20ga - and there are a few around in 28ga and .410 that were special orders. The 28ga may be a great gift as well - but only if he's into reloading or the shells get pretty expensive.

[UniversalFrost]

I recommend a Browning Citori. It is the O/U all others want to be. It will last you the rest of your life.

That's what I did.

Except got it from a pawn shop for only 600 and change and it was brand new never fired. Oh, by the way it came with 2 extra sets of barrels and the hard case.

Plus it has the extra fancy wood that is absolutely gorgeous.

Go check your local pawn shop, you will be suprised at what you can find, some times a real steal.

JOE

[wakerider017]

I really don't think I could have gotten a better deal on the brand new Beretta I got. Basically $1500 for a $2000 gun.

My Dad knows and likes the Beretta name.

[skeeter1]

You certainly couldn't go wrong with a Beretta, but you might want to check into SKBs as well.

http://www.skbshotguns.com/

I've got two of them (although mine are SxS) for ~30 years now, and they are still like new. They're very high quality shotguns, but like the Berettas, we're talking close to the $2K range here. Good shotguns don't come cheap.