$15k O/Us vs $230 870s

[Barms 98]

We will settle this after the first guy on here reporrs back after 3,000 rounds down their Mossberg 500. That's right I said three thousand.

 

Play golf 12 times in a year? That many weekends of trap shooting is 3,000 rounds down the pipe.

[2Alpha 6]

I think longevity is very important point.  I'm will to pay for that in a handgun.  After 4 years of shooting a $600 1911 will start to come apart, accuracy will fall off fast.  The loose fit and quality of the parts just won't last.  A $3K will still lock up tight and be accurate.  I would assume shotguns are the same.  I'm just starting to get into clay shooting.  I'm not at the point where I would spend over $2k for the gun, but if I starting shooting it as much as I do handguns.  I will be looking for a gun that will last

[Parker 213]

Here's a good read by Randy Wakeman on the merits of an O/U, with some compelling reasons why it just may be more reliable and more user-friendly than other types of actions. It doesn't touch upon expensive shotguns, but sheds light on why double's have never faded from the scene despite being eclipsed by so many newer designs of repeating shotguns. (Randy's opinions on shotguns come to light over on the Shotgunworld forum, where he weighs in as one of the more knowledgeable contributors as well as one who might be labeled mildly bellicose when his opinion is questioned.)

 

http://www.chuckhawks.com/reasons_buy_over-under.htm

 

 

[Vlad G 345]

Less noise and no hulls being ejected? Really? Those are worries of his? He makes other valid points but those really detract from any kind of serious consideration one my want to grant him.

[Parker 213]

Less noise and no hulls being ejected? Really? Those are worries of his? He makes other valid points but those really detract from any kind of serious consideration one my want to grant him.

 

Yes, it seems he was on a roll and nitpicked everything. But, I can see his points. Hunters could benefit from an arm that's quieter (?,) and there are some who disdain littering the landscape with empties. It's well known that autoloaders are a bane on the trap fields. Spraying empties inside a tiny goose blind on your partner who may be only an arm's length away brings new meaning to "how to upset a friend." I hunt, and a preference of mine is that whatever arm I carry, I won't leave empties in the woods or fields. Policing the hulls is easier when shooting a double than with a semi-auto.

[W2MC 1,699]

Less noise and no hulls being ejected? Really? Those are worries of his? He makes other valid points but those really detract from any kind of serious consideration one my want to grant him.

Yes - its all part of the trapshooting 'game'

[average joe 5]

That's the same guy that has the 2,100 electronic ear plugs.  

[M4BGRINGO 139]

Agreed.

 

This could be an example of a retirement portfolio:

That looks a lot like a gun store I went to in Delaware (maybe Maryland) several years ago. Nice!

[Parker 213]

M4,

That's Robin Hollow Outfitters, located at Addieville Farm in Rhode Island.

 

http://www.robinhollow.com

 

http://www.addieville.com/

 

 

[mipafox 438]

 

 

 

First of all .. a $1200 firearm is kinda not much. Sorry, but if you want a decent AR you'll end up spending at least that for example. Sure cheaper guns will work, but they will not do the same things. There is a difference between a $600 1911 and the right $1200 1911. Some of it is because it is "nicer" and you can turn your nose on that, I don't particular like spending money on expensive things for the engraving, but think of it this way .. if one is nicer, is the other one nastier? between nasty and nice, which do you really want.

 

I've owned new Colt and BCM ARs and I've never spent $1200 on an AR. Are they not decent ARs?

 

 

 

All that however doesn't matter, because there is a bigger point. Yes nicer shotguns are easier to shoot well. Sure, you can hit a clay with a 870, or whatever, but can you do that 100 times over, at the olympics? When the chips are down you want the best tools for the job, even if cheaper ones might work, because you want every advantage. 

 

Now me, I don't shoot clays. I mean that in both the "not my game" sense, but also in the sense that I really just CAN'T shoot clays, for whatever reason I have zero ability at those games. I've tried but me hitting clays is completely accidental and frankly if a clay broke you should first check for random meteors falling and hitting my clays before you look at me, even if I had a gun in my hand.  I have a better chance breaking them with a handgun then a shotgun. 

 

That said, a couple of years I RO'ing at the FNH 3gun match and to enter all the raffles I was going around during lunch break playing with all the FN gear, including their clay gun, the SC-1. They had exactly a handful in the country, and they ended up raffling off two of them, this was some number of months before they became actually available.  So they handed me a box of shells and had me shoot a round of whatever game with clays that was (which I can't tell apart). 

 

Now In all my shooting years I maybe hit 5 clays, and again maybe I didn't its possible some of those were during a  pleiades meteor shower, but wouldn't you know it, with that SC-1 I hit about half my shots that day. It was the first (and last) time in my life when I thought to myself "Self, maybe you should pick up clay shooting, and buy one of these guns". I came to my senses, but you know what .. The right gun makes a difference.

 

 

A person who has never fired a gun before will hit 5 clays in a matter of minutes depending on the type of course. Sounds like you really haven't shot at many.

 

 

Sure, lots of people will beat my ass into the ground on the clays field with a single shot H&R no matter how much money I spend on a O/U, but if I wanted to shoot clays, and I was serious about it, why the hell would I not pick the best gun I can afford that does the most for me?

 

You could shoot 3gun with an SKS, a SxS and a 5 shot snubbie, but you would probably not perform your best.

 

 

Comparing a $1200 shotgun to a $15,000 shotgun for trap or clays is not a reasonable comparison to using an SKS and snubbie for 3 gun.

 

Further, it is absolutely true that you can get an RIA 1911 for less than $600 that will work and has perfect combat accuracy or you can buy a $1200 1911 that jams a lot, breaks a lot, and won't feed hollowpoints. Everybody gets what they pay for, but I suspect you are not always getting what you think you are paying for based on these comments.

[Vlad G 345]

I have no opinion on Colt guns, and BCM gun are reliable but I've seen plenty of inaccurate ones. You might want to read the rest of my comments and note that I have no doubt you can get a cheaper gun to run just fine, but overall there is a price to performance ratio that is hard to shift without a lot of luck. 

 

Yep, I'm terrible at clays, I've already stated as much. 

 

You seem to completely miss the point though. No one is forcing to buy an expensive gun. No cares if you don't want an expensive gun. The people who like expensive guns, would rather you don't like expensive guns or buy expensive guns, because the like the exclusivity.  However it is very silly thing to say that there is no functional difference between a $400 pump and a $15k O/U. 

 

I don't really care for expensive guns myself, but I'm not going to wrap myself in a theory that my cheap stuff is just as good as the more expensive stuff, because frankly it smells a bit of jealousy. 

 

edit: I've edited my own post because sometimes it isn't worth being argumentative. 

[Vlad G 345]

Oh, and the BCM rifle less then $1200 .. is that BCM built rifle, or a rifle built from BCM parts? It seems to me that most rifles built by BCM are between $1200 and $2200

[jeff47 30]

I own both a Mossberg 590 and a quality O/U (quality, not crazy, I work for a living). While I have shot clays with my 590 and I love that gun, I find my O/U to be far superior for shooting trap. I could personally care less what you want to shoot and you do need to have skill to shoot well. However if you really think a field gun is just as good for shooting clays as a quality shotgun built explicitly for shooting clays, you're mistaken.