Sporting OU for field or field OU for sporting

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Which cross do you guys prefer for an over/under? Do you like to use a sporting model for both hunting and sporting or a field model to do the crossover? Thanks
 
I do not mind a heavy gun while hunting and I shoot a lot more rounds on Sporting than hunting. If I had to limit myself to one O/U, it would be a Sporter.
 
I wouldn't want to carry my sporting gun in the field for hours, and the long barrels would be a pain in tight cover, so I would go with a field gun for sporting , if I could only have one. But luckily, that won't be an issue, I will keep my light SxS for field, and my sporting O/U for sporting.
 
My 9 lb sporting gun with 31.5 inch barrels wouldn't be much fun to carry afield but a 7 lb hunting gun wouldn't be much fun to shoot a flat of shells through in an afternoon either, fortunaly I'm not in a position to have to choose. If I had to then I'd probably opt for an 8 lb sporting gun with 30 inch barrels for a compromise.
 
If forced to only have one gun, I’d go the sporting route, a low rib Beretta 686/687 sporting with 28” barrels is pretty light and svelte and makes for a decent multi purpose gun. I’d have a couple recoil pads for it, a longer softer limbsaver for the summer sporting season, and a bit harder and much shorter one to reduce the lop for hunting.
 
Beretta Xplor A400 with 28" barrel and kick-off for both (if only one). Recoil very manageable with the gas operated semi -auto action combined with an excellent recoil pad plus the kick-off system. They will cycle 7/8 oz loads reliably and have a 3" chamber if you want heavier loads...although you can do a lot with 2-3/4" ammo in the field. Also adjustable drop at the butt stock with the shims provided...from about 2" to 2-1/2" at heel in 1/8" increments, as well as the ability to set the stock for left or right hand cast.

That said i hunt with a 16 ga AYA #2, 20 ga Beretta 686 or Grulla SxS. I shoot sporting with a Beretta 12 ga semi-auto, either a Beretta 12 ga A400 Xcel Black 30" gun or AL391 Sporter w/30" barrel
 
Interesting question. I’ve done it both ways, always with a Beretta over/under and my current sporting/range gun is a 28” 687L field gun, about 7 1/2 pounds and works well for me as an all round target gun for casual range work. I normally use one of my English side by sides for hunting and some of them get regular turns on the range as well. In the past I’ve used various Beretta ( they fit me best) Sporting Clays guns for general range work about as often as their field guns, based mostly on the appeal of the particular gun. At this point in my life I see little difference in my scores between the two although I can feel a little increased recoil with the field guns. I prefer light 1 oz loads in these. Years ago when I was seriously competing I used serious competition guns.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Lots of good and interesting views. I do understand how they are different and not necessarily ideal or suited for both. I think for now though a sporting model to hunt will work for me. Maybe down the road I can get a lighter field model and have a dedicated one for each
 
What I would suggest to someone looking to make a decision is make a list of 3 features you want in a sporting gun and 3 features you want in a field gun, in order of preference. The order is important, if a light field gun is more important than a heavy sporting gun, then light wins. If they have the same preference, then split the difference weight-wise.
 
Maybe your age and physical condition should play a part in the desision. 20 or 30 years ago I wouldn't have cared if the shotgun I was carrying weighed 20 lbs and I also wouldn't have given a thought to shooting a flat of target loads though a 7 lb gun. These days though... I'm just glad I don't have to choose!
 
Falconflyer said:
Maybe your age and physical condition should play a part in the desision. 20 or 30 years ago I wouldn't have cared if the shotgun I was carrying weighed 20 lbs and I also wouldn't have given a thought to shooting a flat of target loads though a 7 lb gun. These days though... I'm just glad I don't have to choose!
Click to expand...

Haha fair enough. At the moment I’d like to think I don’t care either. And hopefully by the time I do I won’t have to choose ��
 
The thing is that really light weight guns that are nice to carry up and down hills while upland bird hunting are not usually that comfortable to shoot and thats ok if your only shooting a dozen shells a days at pheasants. The problem is that they're not pleasant at all to shoot at targets all day long so in my mind there are two ways to mitigate this. Either chose your ammo carefully to lessen getting beat up or get used to carrying a heavier gun afield.
There's a common missconception in this part of the world that you have to use really powerfull shotgun shells for everything you shoot at and for the most part it just isnt nessesary. Winchester Super Target 12g 1 oz/1180 fps loads are the lightest recoiling 1 oz target loads I can think of and will go a long way towards making a light weight gun more pleasant to shoot while breaking clays. You can get lighter loads such as the AA Low Recoil loads but they are considerably more money. I shoot a lot of clay targets and regularily switch between 1 oz and 1 1/8 oz loads and have never been able to see a noticably difference in the scores. Even in a heavy gun it's not a bad idea to shoot these light loads to delay the onset of the inevitable flinch!
 
I shoot my target gun on many hunts, for upland, not so much for water fowl. 3" mags are little hard on the body in a o/u . So for that I switch to a auto loader. But for hunting over the dog, my 30 " barrel Razzini work great I am so used to the gun it shoulders with out effort, and shoots where I look.
 
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