Weatherby Orion SxS 20ga hunt season review enroute

[sndmn11]

I've been having too much fun with my bird-mutt! There's always been a part of me that is attracted to a SxS, so I snagged a loaner. Weatherby sent me a 20ga version or their Orion SxS for a few months. It comes with 5 different Briley extended chokes, skeet, improved cylinder, modified, improved modified, and full. I've killed a few training birds with it in the spring and shot some clays with it, but today I set out to pattern each choke with common loads.

Orion® SxS – Weatherby, Inc.

weatherby.com

I used a V rest in my Wiser Precision Ridge Warden and shot at 20 yards as well as 35 yards. My paper is 45" wide, and I lucked out finding a nearly empty purple spray paint in the garage.



I need to get the kid's help in marking and counting the holes. I also was curious about barrel regulation and shot a few chokes from both sides with the same load, and everything seemed on point. I think I ended up with 15-17 pattern papers shot.


My goal is to see how many different species in different states the dog and I can put down with this shotgun before I have to send it back, and then write about.

What do you want to know?



@robby denning

 

[sndmn11]

For those curious.

 

[sndmn11]

 

[Macintosh]

Weatherby has had some nice shotguns, and some not so nice ones over the last couple decades. Hopefully this is a nicer one! Stuff I’d be curious to know:
Overall configuration (its 20ga straight stock, DT’s, but basic action info, lockup system, ejectors, auto or manual safety, etc + any noteworthies here)
Where its made (turkey—made by yldiz?)
Stock dimensions and any options available re: fit…website lists a range of lengths so Im curious if thats different models, diff pads, or?, and if drops are accurate. Any cast?
Actual weight
Balance point (prob a photo)
Barrel regulation (sounds good?)
Handling characteristics relative to various other guns youd choose for the same purpose
Any issues you have
Street price
Overall impression

 

[sndmn11]

Weatherby has had some nice shotguns, and some not so nice ones over the last couple decades. Hopefully this is a nicer one! Stuff I’d be curious to know:
Overall configuration (its 20ga straight stock, DT’s, but basic action info, lockup system, ejectors, auto or manual safety, etc + any noteworthies here)
Where its made (turkey—made by yldiz?)
Stock dimensions and any options available re: fit…website lists a range of lengths so Im curious if thats different models, diff pads, or?, and if drops are accurate. Any cast?
Actual weight
Balance point (prob a photo)
Barrel regulation (sounds good?)
Handling characteristics relative to various other guns youd choose for the same purpose
Any issues you have
Street price
Overall impression

No ejectors; I wouldn't say it has extractors either.


It is made by Yildiz

Manual safety

I believe it is modeled after a Fox internally and is supposedly more robust because of that. I don't know what that means so I will be in Sheridan in a month to meet with Weatherby's shotgun line manager to take things apart and learn.

Regulation seems fine, I expected something noticeable but can't tell the difference on paper.

Right hand cast, I will see if I can find out any measurements for that.

Swamped rib

LOP is with or without the recoil pad.

Other stuff TBD

 

[Macintosh]

Thanks! Yep, those are extractors. Extractors lift, ejectors throw.

Re: regulation, thats kind of the equivalent of rifle accuracy. Amazing how far off some guns are, even sometimes some relatively $ ones. I would imagine some of the more modern production methods minimize this, but it’s not possible to get a good shotgun fit if both barrels aren’t pointing in the same direction, so this is sort of the first must have for a keeper shotgun in my opinion. You have to measure it on an average, but the center of the patterns both need to be very close to the same point of aim, or else one barrel will have you missing more than the other!

If you go up to meet with them, just basic stuff on the action. Where the locking lugs are, how many are there, and did they do anything to either slow down wear or make those parts replaceable. Thats one of the main complaints with relatively inexpensive guns is the metal is usually softer or mismatched and less polished so the locking parts wear faster, which loosens up the action much faster than another gun. You see this with guys who get really into clays with a bargain double gun, its rattly and visibly loose within a year or two. This isn’t a clays gun per se, but would be interesting to know their take on this.
You mentioned a Fox—Below is a fox showing the lockup. It’s simple, but it’s not the be-all/end-all. It uses an extension on the barrel for the lock up, and you can see inside the slot on the breech face there is an arm, which is actually rotary and shaped like a corkscrew, so as it wears it gets wider and continues to provide a solid lock up. Lots of other guns use an under lug for lock up, sometimes two or even three of them. These can be very solid. And some guns use multiple different types of lock up. Between the barrel hook where it meets to the action, and the locking lugs, that’s where a double gun wears, so that’s the main driver on how long a gun lasts.

Also, are the chokes proprietary, or can you use one of the common systems (mobil, invector, etc) if you want to buy different chokes for any reason?

 

[sndmn11]

Thanks! Yep, those are extractors. Extractors lift, ejectors throw.

Re: regulation, thats kind of the equivalent of rifle accuracy. Amazing how far off some guns are, even sometimes some relatively $ ones. I would imagine some of the more modern production methods minimize this, but it’s not possible to get a good shotgun fit if both barrels aren’t pointing in the same direction, so this is sort of the first must have for a keeper shotgun in my opinion. You have to measure it on an average, but the center of the patterns both need to be very close to the same point of aim, or else one barrel will have you missing more than the other!


Also, are the chokes proprietary, or can you use one of the common systems (mobil, invector, etc) if you want to buy different chokes for any reason?

View attachment 926395

The regulation is why I made a point to document which barrel was patterned. 20/35yd IC, and 35yd full were shot from each barrel. Those circles are ~38". If you zoom in on the photos, what do you think about the regulation?

Skeet should have been wider than IC, but Iamd not convinced it was, and full seemed to throw a little low. I may try again, but I mainly was looking for regulation and a centered pattern. It also has me reconsidering bigger shot, and I was surprised to see the wads impacting on most.

The chokes that come from the factory are Briley Spectrum and a Yildiz thread pattern. The only difference between what are sent with this Orion and what is in this Briley link are the end anodizing color.

Briley MFG - Yildiz Spectrum Black Oxide Choke - 20 Gauge

Yildiz Spectrum Black Oxide Choke - 20 Gauge

www.briley.com

They sent me the below photo when I asked for internal photos, but I stopped there because I didn't know what I was looking at and just asked to come up and take things apart.