A good O/U on a budget?

ambishooter said:
Going back to a budget O/U, I saw this Mossberg Gold and Silver Reserve models. Made in Turkey, no mention if the Receiver is Steel or Aluminum Alloy. Any owner who can share experience on any or both models? Or shooters who had a chance to shoot and compare both?
Click to expand...

The Silver reserve had issues with firing pins, but supposedly the second version no longer had the issue.
 
ambishooter said:
What about a Winchester 101, fixed choke. Is this a decent entry level O/U for Skeet and Trap? I have seen decent pricing under $ 1K, but has seen only a few reviews. Also the Canuck series and CZ series seems to be well priced, new. Again, not sure about the reliability.
Click to expand...

Abdolutely. They are very well made guns that have stood the test of time and many, many rounds. I shot one for 32 years, it had tens of thousands of rounds through it in both heavy field loads and target loads before I sold it to a friend and it's still going strong. They are a very much under appreciated gun by many and not rightly so. I'd take one of them over any new budget gun any day of the week. This pic was taken the last season I shot this gun..2019..it had 32 seasons under it's belt at that point and well over 50,000 rounds. It's still going strong. Take good care of them, don't slam them shut like an old Cooey and they'll outlive all of us!
 

Attachments

  • 31644239-3F30-4420-9502-0F0AE078FD2E.jpg
    31644239-3F30-4420-9502-0F0AE078FD2E.jpg
    146.1 KB · Views: 318
Last edited:
the spank said:
Abdolutely. They are very well made guns that have stood the test of time and many, many rounds. I shot one for 32 years, it had tens of thousands of rounds through it in both heavy field loads and target loads before I sold it to a friend and it's still going strong. They are a very much under appreciated gun by many and not rightly so. I'd take one of them over any new budget gun any day of the week. This pic was taken the last season I shot this gun..2019..it had 32 seasons under it's belt at that point and well over 50,000 rounds. It's still going strong. Take good care of them, don't slam them shut like an old Cooey and they'll outlive all of us!
Click to expand...

a very unknown for sure for the 101 like any miroku o/u. a shame the cast is not made for the lefties.
 
The older Orion's were made by SKB in Japan and were very good quality guns but I don't believe they ever made a sporting model so that would be the Turkish ATA built gun. Generally the ATA guns are alright but I've seen enough of them (not specifically the Orion) with problems that I couldn't really recommend one.
 
Falconflyer said:
The older Orion's were made by SKB in Japan and were very good quality guns but I don't believe they ever made a sporting model so that would be the Turkish ATA built gun. Generally the ATA guns are alright but I've seen enough of them (not specifically the Orion) with problems that I couldn't really recommend one.
Click to expand...

Before purchasing any used SKB shotgun take the back stock off and examine it for cracks.

Just a word of warning.

They also have had difficulties with the inertia trigger. Especially when you get into 7/8 ounce loads.
 
The SKB side by side's, 100, 200 series, etc were commonly known for cracks but you didn't have to take the stock off to see them. Usually they would form at the scallops on the side of the receiver. Any of those guns that I purchased had no cracks and I reinforced the back side of the stock with acra glass and relieved the tight spots as a precaution. Those guns IMO have been under rated for years but like everything else the prices are rising!
I've never seen a 500 with a cracked stock but I'll take your word for it since I haven't seen a ton of them. The ones I have seen were good guns with no problems but just about any gun with inertia triggers can have problems with light loads. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 500 but I'd look closely at the stock for cracks on your advice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom