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Old April 9, 2011, 07:29 AM   #8
gaseousclay
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Join Date: August 4, 2010
Posts: 1,210
Quote:
You can sucessfully shoot Trap singles with most any gun that fits you well / a pump or a semi-auto even ...but since you asked about an O/U ....

Honestly, a dedicated Trap gun / a good one - is going to cost you more than $ 1,500. One of the most dominant - dedicated Trap guns - and affordable - and still versatile for Trap Singles, Trap Doubles and Continental Trap where you can shoot 2 shells - is the Browning Citoir XT Trap with 32" barrels / but new they're in the $3,000 price range.

http://www.browning.com/products/cat...-comb-firearms

However, there are a lot of used Citori XT's out there / since its been a very dominant gun in that market for at least 20 yrs...( and I don't remember when the first XT's came on the market ) ... The 30" barrels on the XT's have fallen out of fashion these days ...and I see a few of them used / at very good prices.

Most - if not all - of the O/U's in the under $ 1,500 market have angled combs on them ( field combs ) - and they can be a real problem getting them to fit properly / and they don't shoot high enough to let you float a bird over the bead on a "Trap" gun. The XT's have a parallel comb / parallel to the rib ....and then if you go with the adj version / you can adjust the gun to fit you ...and so it hits with a 70%/30% pattern above and below point of impact or 60%/40% or whatever you prefer.

I used a Browning BPS pump gun for many years - when I started shooting Trap casually ...and ran lots of 25's with it / put a comb pad on it - to level out the comb ...until I could afford the guns I really wanted. Not that you can't shoot Trap with an O/U version of the BPS angled stock / like the Browning O/U Lightning series ( where you can find used ones in the $ 600 - $ 800 price range / made in the mid to late 80's ) ...very solid guns / and ok for casual Trap shooting as well ... ( a little light / no adjustability / but ok ).

So picking the next gun -- kind of depends on where you are on that curve ...do you really want a "Trap" gun ....or a gun you can shoot "Trap" with ...where a gun with a field comb might work for you for several years...
when I went trap shooting for the first time last Fall I used both a 12ga pump shotgun and an O/U. unfortunately, something was wrong with the pump (maybe the barrel?) and it was causing my shots to go a foot under the target. even the trap instructor couldn't hit a moving target with it. so, the instructor let me borrow his O/U, which I believe was a Browning Citori, and it felt perfect in my hands, and I managed to hit 9 targets out of 25. my friend had a Weatherby O/U that looked pretty nice but I didn't get to experience using his gun at the time. I would gladly buy a Browning but they're incredibly expensive and I don't see myself shooting trap frequently, so I can't justify spending the money.

I suppose I could buy myself a gun to shoot trap, like a Browning BPS, that way i'd have an 'all-purpose' gun that I could use for hunting as well.
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