New to trap and skeet

I have spent some time shooting a Betty X-Trail. It appears to be a straight up Franchi Instinct L with a shorter LOP, inertia trigger and more laser engraving.

As they don't have the distribution that Franchi has (beretta group), the resale is harder, as no one knows about them.

Not having shot the X8, I would think it is a quality O/U that the Bresica region has been making for hundreds of years, and likely a Franchi Aspire....

My only real comment is that, make sure you like the sport and understand how much it costs before commiting to an expensive shotgun.

C
 
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Went to my range over this last weekend and for the first time, saw the skeet range in operation. OH. MY. GOD. That doesn't look life fun or anything. My only experience with skeet shooting so far has been with hand thrown clays. So naturally I'm hooked and want in. Right now, I only have a Mossberg pump. I don't want to spend a fortune on a new shotgun so searched for entry level shotguns and came across the Mossberg Silver Reserve O/U. Starting at $500 it seems to fit the bill. And nice looking to boot. Anyone have any experience with them? Are they any good?
 
Great Crouton said:
Went to my range over this last weekend and for the first time, saw the skeet range in operation. OH. MY. GOD. That doesn't look life fun or anything. My only experience with skeet shooting so far has been with hand thrown clays. So naturally I'm hooked and want in. Right now, I only have a Mossberg pump. I don't want to spend a fortune on a new shotgun so searched for entry level shotguns and came across the Mossberg Silver Reserve O/U. Starting at $500 it seems to fit the bill. And nice looking to boot. Anyone have any experience with them? Are they any good?
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The Silver Reserves had a terrible reputation for firing pin issues. Within 500 to 1500 shots, firing pin failures were very common, and it doesn't take long to shoot 1000 shots at skeet. I have also witnessed both barrels of a Silver Reserve go off with one trigger pull. Low priced O/U guns may be okay for the odd hunting situation, but they are an extremely poor choice for skeet or trap, as they just don't stand up to the volume of shooting. Either look for a used Browning or Beretta O/U, or go with a decent quality semi auto.
As for skeet, if you have only shot hand thrown targets, you have no experience with skeet, Once you try skeet, you will likely become addicted.
 
I should add to what Stubble said here. The Silver Reserve suffered from these issues, Mossberg also will stand behind their product and will fix them. The Silver Reserve II is the fixed version of the gun, and their have been few complaints about them. However, if you are looking for a better quality Turkish O/U, might I suggest you look at CZ, Weatherby, Akkar, ATA, or Tristar as these are some of the better ones on the market. The Khan & Armasan stuff isn't top shelf, even the Savage & Boito O/U's have had some issues.
 
Maritime Storm said:
I should add to what Stubble said here. The Silver Reserve suffered from these issues, Mossberg also will stand behind their product and will fix them. The Silver Reserve II is the fixed version of the gun, and their have been few complaints about them. However, if you are looking for a better quality Turkish O/U, might I suggest you look at CZ, Weatherby, Akkar, ATA, or Tristar as these are some of the better ones on the market. The Khan & Armasan stuff isn't top shelf, even the Savage & Boito O/U's have had some issues.
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Reading all that tells me one thing as a seasoned shooter....buy a used B gun and forget the worries. There is nothing worse than stepping on the line and having gun failure for throwing your game off. If it happens more than once or twice it starts to creep into the back of your mind wondering when the next failure will be. A quality used gun will far outperm a new sub quality gun. I know how I would spend my money.
 
the spank said:
Reading all that tells me one thing as a seasoned shooter....buy a used B gun and forget the worries. There is nothing worse than stepping on the line and having gun failure for throwing your game off. If it happens more than once or twice it starts to creep into the back of your mind wondering when the next failure will be. A quality used gun will far outperm a new sub quality gun. I know how I would spend my money.
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Not to mention how annoying it is to the entire squad when they are constantly being delayed by someone with gun issues, or ammunition issues. I can remember a few people that were always disrupting the round by fiddling with their problem guns, and it doesn't take long before it soon gets annoying, especially when it's a busy day, and other squads are waiting to shoot.
 
Everything breaks, last Sunday at our club it was a 6 month old Beretta 687, and a 3 year old Kreighoff K80 Parcours. The Beretta fired both barrels and locked up solid, couldn't be opened, even with the forend removed. The Kreighoff refused to fire the second barrel. Factory loads in both cases (Rio in the Beretta, Nitro 27s in the Kreighoff).Beretta seems more common lately for problems, at least in my neck of the woods. In the last year at our club I've witnessed, one Winchester 101(refused to fire second barrel, had to be overhauled, well worn), a Browning O/U, same issue, sometimes would double, well worn, an SKB, open on firing, Beretta, lock up(X2), Benelli Nova, jamming, right out of the box(finish issue on barrel, mine, fixed),Browning 525, new refusing to fire second barrel(required strip and clean of action), Remington 11-48 .410 shell catch in magazine broken and a Winchester Model 12, broken firing pin.

The new shooters with cheap guns seem to be just lucky I guess, none of the Mossbergs, Remington Express', Baikals, Stoeger O/U or Turkish O/U that have graced the fields have caused issues.
 
I shoot best with my 870 wingmaster. Tried several higher end over unders and trust me, I wanted to like them better, but I just simply shoot the best with the pump, so that's what I use. And as mentioned before it's a plus when out for upland and waterfowl with the same shotgun.
 
Maritime Storm said:
Everything breaks, last Sunday at our club it was a 6 month old Beretta 687, and a 3 year old Kreighoff K80 Parcours. The Beretta fired both barrels and locked up solid, couldn't be opened, even with the forend removed. The Kreighoff refused to fire the second barrel. Factory loads in both cases (Rio in the Beretta, Nitro 27s in the Kreighoff).Beretta seems more common lately for problems, at least in my neck of the woods. In the last year at our club I've witnessed, one Winchester 101(refused to fire second barrel, had to be overhauled, well worn), a Browning O/U, same issue, sometimes would double, well worn, an SKB, open on firing, Beretta, lock up(X2), Benelli Nova, jamming, right out of the box(finish issue on barrel, mine, fixed),Browning 525, new refusing to fire second barrel(required strip and clean of action), Remington 11-48 .410 shell catch in magazine broken and a Winchester Model 12, broken firing pin.

The new shooters with cheap guns seem to be just lucky I guess, none of the Mossbergs, Remington Express', Baikals, Stoeger O/U or Turkish O/U that have graced the fields have caused issues.
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How many rounds and years? How much bubba smithing have guys done to them? I have seen lots of shooters bubba brand new guns and have nothing but a pos afterward! I have a 101 that is 30 years old and must have 50,000 rounds through it between hunting and the skeet field and has never had a single hiccup, ever! Yes I have had a broken firing pin on a model 12 while out duck hunting too but the gun was still young at only 66 years old. I have also had the same with an 870 and it never saw 1/100th of what my 101 saw in total rounds. I'd like to see a Silver Reserve or some Turkish gun stand up to thise years and numbers. I have bought almost new semi's from guys who claimed the guns didn't cycle reliably only to discover they had not cleaned the factory packing grease from them and after I did so had guns that were as reliable as they were designed to be. I think alot of gun issues stem from A) the owner and B) the quality of manufacture/materials. B is easily controlled, you run better odds with quality. A is something beyond my control except for my own guns.
 
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I have been very fortunate as far as shotguns go. I have owned well over a dozen Citori shotguns, and the only one that ever gave any problem was my XS Skeet. It simply refused to fire a few times one day with only about 500 rounds through it. I removed the stock, removed a small piece of grit from the mechanism, and not a problem since. The other guns have been flawlless. I recently had an issue with a batch of very hard Fiocchi primers in my 28 gauge, where four or five primers out of the flat had to be struck a second time to fire , but with the other lots, and with Federal ammunition, it has been flawless.
 
The Beretta had about 500 rounds through it before it failed, sent out for warranty. The Kreighoff most likely is in the 7-8000 round range. No bubba work on either. I've seen a new Caesar Guerini Syren that had to have the lower barrel choke tubes threads chased right out of the box in order to put the choke tubes in for the first time, and apparently that's actually common on Caesars. Everything can and will break. Fit and finish on alot of the newer Berettas haven't been spectacular, really vinyl wrapping a stock on a $8k gun because you're too cheap to supply a nice piece of wood? My Akkar has 4000 rounds currently through it, with no signs of wear, 1 FTF, which I'm chalking up to Federals quality control on the the latest flat of Top Gun I bought. My Benelli jammed out of the box. No offense, some of the better values on a brand new gun under $1000 are going to have a made in Turkey or BPS stamped on it. I have member who has been shooting a CZ Mallard for going 10 years, regular skeet duty, which is still new new condition, tight, fires when he pulls the trigger, and probably has 10k rounds on it. Not everybody starting out can afford to buy a Rizzini, Caesar Guerini or a DT-10 starting out. If somebody wants to come to my club and start with a Mossberg 500, H&R Pardner pump or an 870 Express, I damn well won't turn them away.
 
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Maritime Storm said:
The Beretta had about 500 rounds through it before it failed, sent out for warranty. The Kreighoff most likely is in the 7-8000 round range. No bubba work on either. I've seen a new Caesar Guerini Syren that had to have the lower barrel choke tubes threads chased right out of the box in order to put the choke tubes in for the first time, and apparently that's actually common on Caesars. Everything can and will break. Fit and finish on alot of the newer Berettas haven't been spectacular, really vinyl wrapping a stock on a $8k gun because you're too cheap to supply a nice piece of wood? My Akkar has 4000 rounds currently through it, with no signs of wear, 1 FTF, which I'm chalking up to Federals quality control on the the latest flat of Top Gun I bought. My Benelli jammed out of the box. No offense, some of the better values on a brand new gun under $1000 are going to have a made in Turkey or BPS stamped on it. I have member who has been shooting a CZ Mallard for going 10 years, regular skeet duty, which is still new new condition, tight, fires when he pulls the trigger, and probably has 10k rounds on it. Not everybody starting out can afford to buy a Rizzini, Caesar Guerini or a DT-10 starting out. If somebody wants to come to my club and start with a Mossberg 500, H&R Pardner pump or an 870 Express, I damn well won't turn them away.
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I could care less what people choose to shoot with, as long as they aren't constantly having issues with it , and it disrupts the squad that they are shooting with. A firearms or ammunition issue now and then isn't a huge problem, but some people are constantly disrupting the squad because of issues. As well, it costs the club money when we have to throw an extra five or ten targets every round for some people, because of their issues.
 
Ok, found another I was hoping to get some opinions on. I saw a Tristar Upland Silver Hunter 28" for $579. Reviews online seemed favourable but curious as to what you guys think?
 
Probably closer to 4-8 boxes. If it turns out to be something I'd be into in a big way, I'd absolutely want something better. I'm just wondering if it would be a gun one to test the waters with? Always wanted an o/u to boot.
 
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