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Lighter, faster guns better?


Granett
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Very new to the sport and still looking to buy my first gun. I really get on with the Browning B525 and in all likelihood will get one (unless I can have a go with a Mikoru and determine if it is just as good and saves me some money).

 

Berettas feel a bit slight in the hand for me which is off-putting.

 

However, it struck me that maybe the better shots don't need a weighty gun to smooth out their swing or soak up recoil. Perhaps they prefer a lighter, faster gun and instead they learn to smooth out their swing and toughen themselves to the recoil.

 

I've looked for "Top 10 clay shooters and the guns they use" articles to see if there's a move towards lighter guns towards the top but haven't got very far.

 

Can anyone affirm or dispel my newbie thinking!

 

 

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Whilst i am sure Mr Digweed could shoot a decent round with a potatoe gun my understanding is that the top end all use long barreled relatively heavy sporters for competitive sporting clays.

 

This might be because their sponsors want them to as such a gun is supposedly easier for mere mortals to shoot, or it might be because they shoot so much in practice and competition that a light gun would be unmanageable.

 

I will happily shoot 50 with my nice light side by side. 100 would be uncomfortable, 1000 a day in serious practice impossible. I do seem to shoot better with the side by side than the over under though for the first 50.

Edited by Wb123
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Whilst recoil does seem to trouble you less the more you shoot, your stature is also a factor.

Whatever you shoot, that recoil gets absorbed by you.

Light or heavy, pick the one that 'feels' right rather than worry about the weight at the moment.

Ive got heavy and light shotguns, and enjoy shooting them all.

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Yup, so you're all right, it seems!

 

A bit of digging suggests Perazzi was the most popular gun at London 2012, followed by the Beretta DT10 or DT11, both of which weigh a bit more (3.75kg) than the B525 (or the Silver Pigeon) (3.5kg).

 

Reviews of both the high end options seem to highlight the superior balance these guns possess. It seems (to this novice anyway) that that is where the money goes.

Edited by Granett
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You really should not be buying a gun based solely on written reports and pictures. You MUST handle the gun as a bare minimum and better if you can try the gun on clays. It is worth travelling to a ground that has a gun shop and some demo model or used guns, which you can actually shoot. I have handled as many as 5 or 6 of the exact same make and model of gun and no 2 of them felt the same. I have even known so called 'matched pairs' that in reality, were certainly not matched. This is made easier if you can enlist the help of a more experienced shooter to accompany you.

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Thanks.

It seems shooting is unlike many (most?) other endeavours where what feels right to the beginner isn't the tool of choice for the more experienced practitioner.

To be fair what you and i do is likely very different to what people who compete for a living do.

 

For a quick blast on the clays my light flicky side by side is wonderful, no way in hell would i shoot a 100 clay competition with it, let alone 200-300, or do 1000 a day of practice with it.

 

Get whatever works for you, if shooting vast amounts over a single day something long and heavy may fit the bill, if going for a quick bit of fun, walked up roughshooting, or a game shoot, light and flicky can be just the ticket.

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Gun weight is a bit like recoil in that there's the actual and then there's the perceived. What I mean is that the weight distribution being biased forward can cause a gun to feel heavier than it's actual weight. Not surprisingly the opposite also occurs where the weight isn't biased forward. You implied in your intro that Berettas are lighter guns than Brownings - which is a widely held view - but if you weighed them you'd probably be surprised. Years ago I used to shoot with a chap who used a Browning and wouldn't consider a Beretta because "They're too light for me". In reality my 686 proved to be 1oz heavier than his Browning - it just had a quite different balance.

 

To answer your question, lighter guns are better on a few zippy close targets and heavier or longer guns are better on virtually everything else.

Edited by Westward
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As far as recoil goes, you definitely get used to it over time. When I started I used 21gm cartridges and when through circumstance I was forced to use 28gm shells I could really tell the difference. Obviously your frame and build will have some impact on how much recoil you feel, I'm fairly slight so I felt it much more than someone with a larger frame probably would have. Nowadays I shoot the 28gm loads and it's no bother although saying that I either use a pretty heavy MK38 or a semi auto, both of which soak up recoil, better than the shorter barrelled Miroku 800sw that I had as a starter gun.

 

The extra barrel length of my MK38 definitely helped me improve on crossers, in particular on skeet shooting but again that gun fits me better than my first gun did.

 

If you like the B525, it fits, and you shoot it well then there's no reason not to buy one. However, if you get the option to try an MK38 then you should. Brownings and Miroku are very similar and the likelihood is that if one fits you so will the other. Again, the first gun I shot with any regularity was a 28" B325, a gun I would quite happily have bought had the option been open to me. It wasn't though so I ended up with the Miroku.

 

Go with what feels right for now. You can always, and probably will, end up either swapping it, or adding another gun to your collection after a year or so. It just seems to be the way it goes in this sport.

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My first gun was a 525, great gun and I still have it.

They are front end heavy. I balanced mine with weights in the stock and it made it loads better.

Ah. Thanks for that. The gun I've used is 28" and I was considering going for 30" which will only make this "front end heavy" aspect worse.

 

Maybe I'll stick with 28".

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Tour the gun shops and pick up guns, choose the one which just feels right to you. It is very difficult to suggest what will 'fit' you physically and mentally, because a big part of the game is confidence. We are all different in size, shape etc etc. so impossible to make a choice for you. You really do not need to be thinking about your gun when actually shooting, it needs to be a natural extension of yourself. Shoot a weight of cartridge suited to the gun you choose. It's where you put the pattern that matters rather than a few more pellets. These days I shoot a 410 by choice, 3inch Fiocchis and kill my share.

Edited by Walker570
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Very new to the sport and still looking to buy my first gun. I really get on with the Browning B525 and in all likelihood will get one (unless I can have a go with a Mikoru and determine if it is just as good and saves me some money).

 

Berettas feel a bit slight in the hand for me which is off-putting.

 

However, it struck me that maybe the better shots don't need a weighty gun to smooth out their swing or soak up recoil. Perhaps they prefer a lighter, faster gun and instead they learn to smooth out their swing and toughen themselves to the recoil.

 

I've looked for "Top 10 clay shooters and the guns they use" articles to see if there's a move towards lighter guns towards the top but haven't got very far.

 

Can anyone affirm or dispel my newbie thinking!

 

 

hello, you can spend hours /days thinking which gun, if you get on with a 525 try the new sporter 1 in 28/30 a general all round clay gun ( 50/100 bird), weighs 2.7 kg chokes are 1/4 up wards so you might need get some for skeet if you do any. if you going to do a lot of clay shooting/ (100 plus birds) a 3 plus kg gun would think more suitable, if you dont try you wont buy. good luck

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Having noted the very first sentence, you probably have yet to realise that shotgun shooting is subject to 'fashion' and as such the same things come back in vogue on a frequency basis. Heavy guns, light guns, tight chokes, open chokes, heavy loads, light loads, big pellets and small pellets. At the moment it appears that heavy guns, long(er) barrels, heavy loads and larger shot are currently in the ascendency. Given time, this will change.

 

Consequently, a little of what YOU fancy does you good. There's plenty of time to hone in on exactly what you eventually might need when you have some experience under your belt.

Edited by wymberley
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Another big factor in how a gun feels is balance.you can have a light gun that is not balanced well and it will feel heavier in the hands than a heavy gun.i shoot dt10 but find them so well balanced the weight is not noticed.

This is very true, I have had guns that felt heavy until shouldered. So as you rightfully say balance is more important than actual weight

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Guest stevo

My DT 11 trap with 30 " barrels tips the scales at around 8.7 lbs yet is perfectly balanced to the point you can throw it about like a 26" skeet gun. It's very very fast in the shoulder. But the guns are built for OT

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