Chinese Coach Guns?

[Model12Win]

Anyone have any experience with the Chinese coach guns? Seems to be imported (not made) by Century Arms.



Kind of ugly, not as pretty as a Krieghoff, but not quite as expensive either. I have the opportunity to buy one brand new for $229.00, dirt cheap. Uses would be range fun and plinking, purely recreational. I've always been drawn to side by side coach guns but for whatever reason never picked one up. This one is so cheap it's almost a why not?

Does anyone know the quality and durability on these guns? Do they break often, are they to be avoided? Any thoughts at all, good or bad?


Thanks gang!

[Bill DeShivs]

There's not much to break on them.
I would buy it.

[AirForceShooter]

I have one
It's kind of cool and works every time.
Workmanship is lousy.
Pure truck gun

AFS

[Hawg]

A lot of people knock Chinese guns but there's nothing wrong with them. I have a Chinese Winchester 97 and it's a great gun.

[smee78]

Sounds like it would be a good fun gun, I say go for it. I had a type 97 and it was a little rough but again I knew that going into it and it shot every time I pulled the trigger.

[Fishbed77]

A lot of people knock Chinese guns but there's nothing wrong with them. I have a Chinese Winchester 97 and it's a great gun.

Same here. I have one of the IAC-imported Chinese Winchester 97s, and aside from a propensity to rust if you look at it the wrong way, it actually is a well-made, good-looking, and reliable firearm.

[Model12Win]

So you all think it will be reliable? Just looking for a fun range blaster and MAYBE if it proves to work well, keep it tucked in the closet as an auxiliary home defense piece.

PS: I see this gun has rebounding exposed hammers. Does that mean it's safe to keep loaded?

[bamaranger]

No experience with the Chinese coach guns. Some of exposed hammer coach guns had "fake" hammers, (my term) in that they had nothing to do with the firing pins at all, but functioned more like a safety......can't recall the details. Don't know if the guns in question were made that way or not.

You likely won't shoot your coach gun enough to have much trouble from it, unless your one of the cowboy types. All up buckshot is pretty stiff in them. Low recoil loads help. I lacerated my knuckly on my Russian coach gun......wrapped the rear of the trigger guard with a leather lace, that helped and added to the look. My Russian gun is very poorly regulated.

One attractive feature is most coach guns break down into two( well, 3) tidy pieces, transport discreetly, and can be reassembled simply at your choosing.

[Carne Frio]

I have a Norinco Model 99, 12g, 3 inch.
It has a 20 inch barrel. It's light and very
reliable. It kicks heavy with the buckshot
and slugs.

[Bill West]

They are heavy and clumsy. Parts are impossible to get. I had a screw walk out and get lost. Eventually a gunsmith made screws and got it running. I shoot a Stoeger now but I'm a cowboy. If you remember to keep checking screws you should be OK. It actually was a reliable piece. I was the problem. I still have mine as a spare. The hammers are real.

[Model12Win]

Originally Posted by Bill West

They are heavy and clumsy. Parts are impossible to get. I had a screw walk out and get lost. Eventually a gunsmith made screws and got it running. I shoot a Stoeger now but I'm a cowboy. If you remember to keep checking screws you should be OK. It actually was a reliable piece. I was the problem. I still have mine as a spare. The hammers are real.

Very cool, thank you for the info. Did the safety reset each time you open the barrels? My Dad's Browning BSS, while a superb shotgun, would do that and it was annoying.

I see one can't get parts for these Chinese shotguns. I wonder if something breaks if Century Arms would fix it for me? I've heard horror stories about them. This might be a deal breaker, I wasn't aware that parts were unavailable.

[Bill West]

They have a safety? I never noticed.

Century Arms does have a service/parts department. I won't brag on them but they did try. I think for repairs they send them back to China. The horror stories are probably true.

I don't think it is a delicate gun. I would expect it to hold up to the use you will give it. At the price, you are not risking much.

[Tidewater_Kid]

I've had my Norinco Model 99 for over 15 years and it still works just fine. Never replaced a part. The only issue was the forend loosened up and I had to shim it.

[44 AMP]

I have had two coach guns (with hammers) over the years, the first one was a Rossi, which was a nice gun, but wound up getting traded, the second I got at least a decade ago, maybe more like 20 years, I forget now...but it is a Chinese gun.

Mine seems well made, but I can't say how it would hold up to hard use, as I have used it very little. Most of the time it lives in my wife's bedroom, for her use in emergencies. She's not very mechanically inclined, and two barrels, two hammers and two triggers is about as simple as it gets. (once you move beyond a single shot..)

My gun has nice cut checkering, but curiously, the wood is not stained where it is checkered. I find the two tone effect pleasing to the eye, but would want to finish seal the wood if I were using the gun in foul weather.

My Chinese Coach gun has a safety, as well. The Rossi did not. The safety does not go "on" when you break open the action.

One feature both the Rossi and the Chinese gun have in common is that there is no half cock position for the left barrel hammer!! At one time, I thought it was a quirk of the Rossi, but since the Chinese gun also does it, now I wonder if it isn't something common to double barrel hammer guns?? I don't know, the only double hammer guns I've ever had were the two coach guns.

If anyone knows about this, I would be interested in finding out...

IIRC I paid $189 or so for the Chinese gun (new) back when I bought it, so $229 today is a good price.

[Model12Win]

Very cool, thanks guys.

I see there are two types, the M99 with a smoother looking stock and cross bolt safety and the more blocky JW2000 (in my first post).

Wonder which one is better?

[agtman]

Huh? ...

Guess I'm not seeing the point of defaulting to a Chi-Com junker "Coach" gun when American-made options are available.

If you can't find a Stevens 311R on the used market, which was a factory-made 18" "riot" shotty (that's what the 'R' stands for) marketed to PDs and private security firms from the late '70s thru the '80s, a standard model 311 will suffice.

You can find 12ga & 20ga Stevens 311 upland "bird guns" for relatively cheap, typically with 26" dbl barrels, and any half-way competent 'smith can chop those back to 20", or even handier, to 18.1", and then re-set the bead sight - or better still, install a fiber-optic front bead.

Attached is a pic of a Stevens 311 set up in "sawed-off" configuration for serious business.

[44 AMP]

I think the point you aren't seeing is that there are no American made options if one wants a hammer coach gun.

Yes, the Stevens and many other used doubles can be chopped and will do fine, if what you want is just a short shotgun.

Myself, and I think probably most others bought the Chinese guns for their hammer gun look as much as anything, and the short barrel length is just a handy plus..

And not everything that comes from China is junk. Much is, but not everything.

Still waiting for a shotgun guru to tell me if the lack of a half cock position on the left hammer is something traditional to hammer guns, or if its just a strange quirk I found in two different guns, one made in Brazil and one from China, decades apart.

I can see the argument that it is "traditional" because with many bird guns the right barrel is usually fired first (usually the more open choke), and the left in "reserve" with a tighter choke, used if the first misses, when the range is longer, so the left hammer could be down without any serious loss of speed.

But is that really the reason???

[agtman]

I think the point you aren't seeing is that there are no American made options if one wants a hammer coach gun.

Okay, ... what's magical about having exposed hammers on a coach gun?

And not everything that comes from China is junk. Much is, but not everything

Where hard-use working firearms are concerned, 90% of ChiCom built guns are short-term junkers. Once they break, implode, or whatever, you're screwed.

[Hawg]

Where hard-use working firearms are concerned, 90% of ChiCom built guns are short-term junkers. Once they break, implode, or whatever, you're screwed.

Never had one have you?

44 amp I have an old Lancaster and neither hammer has a half cock but you can't push the hammers forward and make them touch the firing pins.

[briandg]

I bought a stoeger, I love that silly thing. Durable and easy to shoot. Points naturally. All I ever do with it is shoot silhouettes. I set a couple large targets out and tap them from a rest position, and can get them both in about a second.

Once there was a set of steel at my range, set out at 100. I decided to check it out with 00 shot rounds, just like I do at the thirty yard I normally shoot at.

I rang the steel with almost every shot. If I ever find myself with a pair of villains facing me at 100 yards I can certainly give them a boo-boo.

[agtman]

I bought a stoeger, I love that silly thing. Durable and easy to shoot. Points naturally. All I ever do with it is shoot silhouettes. I set a couple large targets out and tap them from a rest position, and can get them both in about a second.
Once there was a set of steel at my range, set out at 100. I decided to check it out with 00 shot rounds, just like I do at the thirty yard I normally shoot at.
I rang the steel with almost every shot. If I ever find myself with a pair of villains facing me at 100 yards I can certainly give them a boo-boo.

Yep, I've seen a few of the Stoegers. Brazilian-made and generally they got good reviews.

See, e.g.:

https://www.americanrifleman.org/art...ger-coach-gun/

[briandg]

Mine is nickle with rather nice walnut, it has laser checkering, and just in general a pretty smooth and nice gun.

Don't waste time shooting slugs. it makes a lovely noise and it's lots of fun and will probably wipe a bad guy off of the earth with a single round, but gee, it's not regulated to shoot slugs. the are not too accurate. I wondered if it would be worth getting rifled choke tubes, but again, it's just for fun. I don't think that I want to dump slugs through it in an urban setting.

[Model12Win]

I'd prefer hammers. I know all about the Stevens 311R and the Stoegers.

Neither is safe to keep loaded by the bedside.

[Hawg]

I use a Norinco 97 riot gun. A lot easier to handle and holds more rounds plus it can be slam fired. It's also very dependable.

[44 AMP]

Thanks for the info about your hammer gun, Hawg. It doesn't fully answer my question but its something.

I've had a 97 (actual Winchester), not crazy about them, they bite all too easily. Good guns except for that, though.

I've got a chopped model 12 for a riot gun. Everything the 97 is, and doesn't ever bite!

Still, good as they are, they aren't coach guns. Remember where "coach gun" comes from, riding shotgun on a stagecoach!!!

This means double barrel, short, and hammers, to me. and 12 or 10ga

Although, I would love a .410 coach gun, they're just so cute!