Dedicated sporting clays gun

[WRO]

So I’m considering getting a dedicated sporting clays gun, budget is up to 4k. I really like berettas but will consider others.

No turkish guns.


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[Blockcaver]

I prefer my 12 gauge Beretta A400 Xcel Black 30" sporter with a Kick-Off. It is very soft shooting, comes with adjustable stock shims to change the drop and cast to get it to shoot where "you" look. Comes with nice extended chokes and costs only about half or your budget. Mine has been totally reliable over the past 3.5 years I've owned it....more reliable than various O/U Beretta, Browning, Blaser and even a Longthorne belonging to guys I shoot with frequently.

 

[Dos XX]

Used Guerini?

Caesar Guerini Summit Sporter 12ga 32" (319) PSA East - Pacific Sporting Arms

Pre-owned, in very good condition with minor handling wear, Caesar Guerini Summit Sporter 12ga. Features factory extended choke tube 32" barrels with flat sporting rib. Choke have been reworked by Eyster to optimize pattern. Highly figured right hand Sporting stock with adjustable comb and...

pacificsportingarms.com

Used Rizzini?

FAIR Rizzini CRX9 Fossari Sporting 12GA 32" (099) PSA West - Pacific Sporting Arms

Pre-Owned FAIR Rizzini CRX9 Fossari Sporting 12GA with 32" factory choke tubed barrels, parallel sporting rib. Blued action with factory removable, selective trigger. Perazzi style lockup. Factory adj. comb sporting stock with factory adj. comb, right-hand palmswell and schnabel forearm. Overall...

pacificsportingarms.com

 

[Loco4dux]

Browning citori 725 sporting with the adjustable comb has been a good clays gun. When I was younger competing I shot 391’s with much reliability and success. If I was to get back into it I would probably step it up to a Zoli etc etc.

 

[Dos XX]

Used old school Perazzi? The porting might turn me away from this one, but I can't swear it would.

Perazzi PERAZZI COMP1 12 GAUGE 27 1/2" O/U BARREL SPORTING SHOTGUN-PREOWNED at Giacomo Sporting USA

 

[Kurts86]

You can get a basic Beretta 694 Sporting for just over $4k if you look around. That would be my suggestion.

 

[Macintosh]

Basic beretta O/U with 32” tubes would be my vote for a new gun. Reason being it is designed with completely replaceable wear parts, has great aftermarket support for stocks, barrels, service, etc as well as proven track record under high-volume use, and it’ll hold resale value well. I also would not shy away from used for some of the above reasons, although guerini or rizzini could be better used value in some cases.
That, or if used is an option I’d look awful hard at finding a used perazzi. I’ve owned a good number of clays guns, and nothing in the sub $10k range that Ive ever used was even close to matching the handling of a perazzi. Budget would be a stretch, but it’s the sporting clays equivalent of buying swaro binoculars. I still kind of regret not buying a mx12 with 34” fixed-choke barrels from a friend when he offered—I stocked it for him, and despite his gargantuan length of pull and the long tubes that gun was the fastest-handling heavyweight gun I have ever laid hands on, that thing was like a dream.

 

[Dos XX]

Perazzi's are awesome. I bought a used single barrel trap gun that was made in 1979. It is my favorite gun. The link I posted above to the Perazzi is a link to Giacomo's. He is considered a Perazzi expert. I think he may have worked at Perazzi. He us expert in knowledge of the gun and working on them. There are several other places that know the Perrazi's well, too.

Giacomo put an adjustable comb on that trap gun. It looks as good as any factory job, and they used really stout hardware. When it comes time for a rebuild, it will be going to them.

 

[WRO]

Perazzi's are awesome. I bought a used single barrel trap gun that was made in 1979. It is my favorite gun. The link I posted above to the Perazzi is a link to Giacomo's. He is considered a Perazzi expert. I think he may have worked at Perazzi. He us expert in knowledge of the gun and working on them. There are several other places that know the Perrazi's well, too.

Giacomo put an adjustable comb on that trap gun. It looks as good as any factory job, and they used really stout hardware. When it comes time for a rebuild, it will be going to them.

Problem with use gun it that I’d have to put new longer barrels on it, and perazzi barrels aren’t cheap.


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[Macintosh]

? What barrels are you wanting? Most of the relevant perazzi’s I see already have 32” barrels?

 

[Bluefish]

With that budget, you are really looking at entry level o/u, should be about $3k. Either a beretta 68x or a browning 725. Both are good guns and will last you your lifetime. Which one really depends on which fits you better. Brownings are straight stocked and berettas have cast off.
All the beretta 68x’s are the same action, you just get nicer wood and engraving as you spend more.

 

[WRO]

? What barrels are you wanting? Most of the relevant perazzi’s I see already have 32” barrels?

The one he posted has 27” fc barrels


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[Macintosh]

Gotcha, yeah, shorter barrels have fallen out of favor. If you look for a while you’ll see ones with 30-34” barrels come up for sale fairly frequently. One linked below with 30” at your price range. Could be worth a call to Giacomo sporting, they do factory service for perazzi and might be able to steer you into something over the phone.

Perazzi MX8 12ga

Perazzi MX8 12ga for sale online.

www.gunsinternational.com

 

[Dos XX]

Gotcha, yeah, shorter barrels have fallen out of favor. If you look for a while you’ll see ones with 30-34” barrels come up for sale fairly frequently. One linked below with 30” at your price range. Could be worth a call to Giacomo sporting, they do factory service for perazzi and might be able to steer you into something over the phone.

Perazzi MX8 12ga

Perazzi MX8 12ga for sale online.

www.gunsinternational.com

A used MX8 would be amaze balls. I have considered trading my Guerini o/u trap gun for one.

 

[Macintosh]

Sir, I have considered trading my liver for one.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

I shoot at Big Sky Sporting Clays in Polson MT.
For the blue course, I shoot my 40 year old 20 gauge Citori with fixed chokes Improved/Modified.
For the red course, I shoot my 40 year old 12 gauge Citori with invector chokes Skeet2/Modified
Both are 26 inch barrels which was popular in the 1980s for skeet guns.

 

[TxLite]

A few years back I purchased a Browning Citori CX for this role to be used during industry shoots and networking events. I’m not great at clays, I got twice a year or so and usually score low-mid 80’s but I enjoy the hell out of it. I like the Browning but find that it takes more “work” to get down onto the stock properly to get a good sight picture looking straight down to the bead. After a day of clays my cheekbone is usually sore from it.

I recently purchased an a400 extreme plus for duck hunting and figured I’d take it out for our most recent clay shoot. The shotgun had never been fired before but functioned 100% for the 100 light target loads provided. It was night and day how much better it fit me and was overall a pleasure to shoot. I ended up breaking 90 and would gladly take an a400 excel over my Citori any day.

It might not be as sexy as an over under but it’s a fantastic shotgun for sporting clays.

 

[yfarm]

Rarely shoot sporting clays, usually some type of fundraising event. Have shot with a very experienced clays shooter on my team, says the cycle time of an automatic is a serious disadvantage. Was looking at a Beretta 1301comp as a replacement field gun for an 1100 special field and noticed cycle time advertised by Beretta as a sales point. Comments?

 

[TxLite]

Rarely shoot sporting clays, usually some type of fundraising event. Have shot with a very experienced clays shooter on my team, says the cycle time of an automatic is a serious disadvantage. Was looking at a Beretta 1301comp as a replacement field gun for an 1100 special field and noticed cycle time advertised by Beretta as a sales point. Comments?

I have a 1301 tactical and it’s awesome. It shares the same Blink gas system as the A400 which is a very accomplished clays shotgun. The issue I’d have with the comp for sporting clays is the 24” barrel.

 

[11boo]

I’m tagging along in this thread to learn.
Only did clays once, and shooting 2 courses in one day taught me even clays loads hurt , but it was so much fun I couldn’t stop.

That’s my only shotgun on the utv. Yeah, the M2 with rifle sights. I’m getting an O/U.