Well buddy, after shooting both myself you know I like the Cynergy better. The Fabarm is gorgeous tho. Maybe keep both and I will buy the Cynergy off you in a couple of years when I can afford it. Or you can give me a payment plan ha HA.
Two O/U's - I can only keep one - help me choose!
- Thread starter canucklehead
- Start date
- Handling - it's quick in my hands and has good balance. Feels a bit barrel heavy, but balances about 1/2" in front of the hinge.
- Chokes tubes - I already have a full set of 6 extended choke tubesI bought for my Citori, but kept them when I sold it - (SK, IC, LM, M, IM, F), and they are easy to change and indentify. I also own another set of 4 'Diana' grade extended chokes, so I have PLENTY of choices.
- Cast - it's almost neutral, and I'm a lefty, so any cast for a righty is not ideal.
CONS
- There are not many.
- Safety is a little on the stiff and small side.
Fabarm
PROS:
- Fibre optic front sight - I never really used one on a shotgun before, and I must say I really like it! I was much quicker on-target and could pick up the red dot quite nicely. I'd actually like to try a green insert if possible.
- Saftey and barrel selection is much nicer on this gun! The safety has a nice wide spot for your thumb, and the click-off is much more crisp and defined. The barrel selector is like a 'paddle' within the saftey, and the whole safety doesn't move when you switch barrels. It looks nice, and works nicely too! As long as you figure out what * vs ** means. The Browning is labelled O and U.
- Handling - again, very quick in my hands, and I think marginally faster than the Browning. I think the forend feels slimmer and seem to be able to bring it on target from a high-ready somewhat quicker (I practice all my clay shooting from a low or high ready - premounting is lame). Feels less barrel heavy, but it balances at almost the same point as the Cynergy.
CONS:
Again, not many.
- Stock cast - this might be the deal breaker for me. It has a fairly significant cast for a RH shooter. I found the recoil to be slightly greater than in the Cynergy (I think it's lighter than the Browning), and I'm not sure if that's part of the stock cast. My cheek and shoulder hurt like hell last night, but I guess I can't give all the blame to the one gun.It points well, and I don't notice it in my sight picture.
- A small hitch with the locking lever. If you push it over 'just' enough to unlock it, and then break it open, it won't close properly. You can alieviate by opening the lever totally to the right (which I always do), but is a small annoyance. I believe Claybuster aluded to this issue in his review of the Axis.
- When the action is broken open, there is a small bit of spring resistance preventing the gun from fully opening in the open position, depending on the angle at which your holding it. Hard to explain, but it made it difficult to get the shell in the lower barrel (the most common one to reload) unless the action was totally open. The rim of the shell would blocked by the top of the receiver. I'm sure most people know what I'm talking about, but I can't describe it well.
I really WANT to like the Fabarm a little more, as I think it's a bit more ###y and unique than the Browning. I also generally prefer the looks of the Fabarm.
So, after than long and winding post - any comments/ideas?
OK, so I only left the parts in above that I have anything to comment on. I'll go through them in order:
-Handling: for me, how it feels in my hands is second only to how it mounts/fits and whether I can hit things with it.
- Chokes tubes - IMO, the cost of choke tubes should not affect your decision too much. You can always add them as you need them, and most of us come down to liking a few favourites anyways.
- Cast - I'm a lefty too, and I was very worried about this when shopping for a gun. In the end, it turns out that for me, a cast-for-right gun actually mounts better than a cast-for-left gun. So all that I"m saying is that don't *assume* that one cast fits you better than the other- you're doing the right thing by just using the guns and seeing what fits/feels right/crushes clays
CONS
- Safety is a little on the stiff and small side. - for me this is CRUCIAL. I hunt with gloves often, and there is nothing worse. In fact, when I had narrowed down my own choice to a Franchi and a Beretta, the nice big safety on the Beretta played an important role in my decision. there is nothing more frustrating and few things less dangerous than a finicky safety!
Fabarm
PROS:
- Fibre optic front sight - dont' let this affect your decision. I like them too, and you can get any variety of magnetic or permanent ones if you want
- Saftey and barrel selection is much nicer on this gun! See above about the safety. I don't care much for barrel selectors, but good anyways
- Handling - again, very quick in my hands - sounds like a better fit for you, but with only one outing it's hard to tell for sure I guess.
CONS:
Again, not many.
- Stock cast - no way to tell from your soreness of course. If it feels and looks (sight plane) good that's the main thing. About your cheek though, try a bunch of dry mounts with each and pay attention to whether the Fabarm is knocking you any more firmly on the cheek when you mount it.
- A small hitch with the locking lever. \I know exactly what you are saying. Stoegers do this as well, and it IS a pain. You DO get used to pushing the lever all the way over, but it's still a pain once in a while when you do not. If it's anything like the stoegers, the two locking pins stay sticking out and you can damage them and the top of the chamber when clsoing the gun in this case. For me, this would be a fairly serious issue.
- When the action is broken open, there is a small bit of spring resistance preventing the gun from fully opening in the open position, depending on the angle at which your holding it. Again - I know exactly what you mean. This is mostly just a sign of a good tight gun, and will probably ease with time. My beretta does that too. Even though it's not ideal perhaps, you do get used to it, and for me, it's not a huge deal compared to the issue above because the consequences are just an annoyance, as opposed to potentiall damaging your gun.
I really WANT to like the Fabarm a little more, as I think it's a bit more ###y and unique than the Browning. I also generally prefer the looks of the Fabarm.
-I won't lie to you - for me, some of the great pleasure of owning shotguns are their beauty. Here also, thinking back to my own dilemna between the Franchi and the Beretta, I liked the looks of the Franchi a LOT more than the plain-jane Beretta that I ended up with, but in the end I just could not get past the tiny little safety and the fit was better with the Beretta. Moral: looks count, but for me, they don't trump practical issues.
Good luck! From the variety of opinions on here, sounds like whenever one you put up on the block in the E E formum you'll have some interest!
-DW
