I started my O/U gun collecting, by buying a used Citori 20 gauge Upland Special. 26" barrels, Straight (English) stock, and old enough to have fixed chokes. I had a 28" 28 gauge Beretta 686 Silver Pidgin next and then got a very early Red Label 26" 12 gauge Sheet model that someone had Briley thin wall chokes installed on. The three guns had totally different dynamics! Especially the Red Label! So it was the first to go, on a note: That gun had close to 500,000 rounds through it and still worked fine! The gun has trunions instead of a hinge pin. It wobbled pretty badly when open, but locked up just fine when closed! Beretta uses trunions also, they are replaceable, where the Ruger's are cast into the action and once they are worn they are GONE!!! But trunions give the action a lower profile by a 1/4 or 3/8 inch and that can and will effect handling and felt recoil a lot (To my way of thinking good for recoil, too different on handling!) So I settled into Brownings, I like Brownings, I shoot Brownings well, and I always need more Brownings!
My 1st Superpose was sent to me buy God! I walked into my favorite LGS on my 50th Birthday, and on the shelf was a 1962 12 gauge 30" 3" chamber and full/full chokes Lightning, with an English Walnut stock, "The only Blonde I ever loved!", two years latter I walked in on my 52nd birthday and there was a 1965 20 gauge Superpose with 28" 2.75" chamber and mod/full chokes, "The second Only Blonde I ever loved!"
With those tight chokes, I shouldn't be able to do very well on Sporting Clays, but the dynamics of the Lightning model made it possible to break bird so fast my pattern would be much bigger than a fist! There was a presentation at 5 yards: true pair left to right and rising, "Pull", bang, bang, and nothing but a black cloud of dust, a three pair station. I ran it! I said, "How long can I keep this up?" 16 pair later they made me move on! By the way nobody else can hit them that quick!
I had a late 70's 28" GTI very nice early Sporting Clays guns (same series is called Ultra latter on), I traded it for a 30" 425 (12 Gauge) then picked up a 28" 425 20 gauge. That gun produced the best day of Sporting Clays I ever had: 44/50, 44/50, & 39/50.
I have acquired a taste for 28 Gauge and 410 Bore, Browning Feather XS 30" barreled beauties that smoke bird the 12 gauge Class B shooters find impossible! My heart and blood pressure can't stand the stress of when I get to competitive, so I shoot big tournaments in the Hunter Class, no prize money, no awards, just lots of fun a about have the entry fee!
If you buy the entry level of any style gun, you will get a gun that was made to make money on at a low price point! Usually they will be fantastic hunting guns, but all the little features that make the gun handle better cast money! Unlike 1911 pistols, you can't just add on new features (at least not affordably!) So you end up buying a better gun, I traded some really good guns to get features and wish I still had those guns so my sons could use them when they come to visit.
There are two schools of thought on how to shoot more gauges with less guns. Briley makes full length sub-gauge tubes, and Browning makes multi barreled sets, both cost money but are still less expensive than buying 4 guns!
Ivan
) Larry
