Wal-Mart has a decent Mossberg 500 pump for a little over $200. At that price, you can shoot the hell out of it for 3 years and if it dies, you can go pick up another one! If you're still into the sport at that point.

 

To be frank yes, this is a decent gun to learn on but I also caution the gun must fit you. If it does not fit in the first place then it is all for nothing.

I would not suggest shooting a pump for skeet. If you can shoot doubles on stations 3, 4 and 5 with a pump, you are doing better than most pros.

Adjustable comb's may not fix this issue because it raises your head on the stock. Gun fit is important for shooting shotguns.

I am confident that the gun is a more than 3k round gun it just won't stand up to the abuse of heavy use,You milage may Very.

There is a reason they cost more, they are way more gun. Don't really get hung up on adjustable comb and porting. If a stock fits there is no need for the adjustable com. Porting is not as effective as some people think. It may affect muzzle flip slightly but not much.

I have seen these at walmart but have never really considered one.

It is a decent starting gun, and it fit me fine. I say this alot and pretty much live by it through experience with guns... You get what you pay for. If your expectations are not high then you won't be disappointed. As long as you understand your not getting the quality or longevity of a Browning/Beretta upfront you will be fine with it.

Hub

 

Thanks Hubmonkey, that's good to know, I appreciate the advice from somebody who has owned the gun and used it for a simmilar application as myself.

I actually had no intention of buying an over-under until the guy at Bass Pro handed me that one and it felt very well balanced and seemed to handle nicely.

What's your oppinion on Barrel length?

The gun I have been shooting has a 30" barrel and seems to work well for me.

I actually preffered the feel of the Stoeger "Gaucho" model O/U but it is only available in 28" barrel.

It doesn't have the ported barrel or adjustable comb but by what you are saying those are not critical items.

I would love to buy a higher end used gun but have had no luck locating one so far.
That or they seem to be very well used and nearly new price.

 

It is really personal prefrence. Bigger guys seem to like long barrels, like 32" and 34".

It is hard to get the feel of a gun in the store. I personally like 30" barrels for clay games and that is what I have on my Cynergy. The gun swings very good for me. The Condor was the same way, felt good and swings nice and smooth.

For upland brid a short barrel makes more sense because coming from a hold position and snapping the barrel up to kill the bird seems a bit smoother with a shorter barrel gun. They are also easier to lug around all day long than a heavy target gun. But hey I have killed quail, dove, and pheasent with my Cynergy. Ducks on the other hand I shoot a Remi 1187 Sportsman in MOBO Camo with 28" barrel. I don't have to worry about scratching nice wood and it is a super reliable auto loader. Patterns very good with Kent Fasteel #4 in 3".

I think you should see what they swing like and how they fit to you and go from there. There are resources for gun fit on the interweb, just google it and take everything with a grain of salt... even my advice because YMMV.

Don't completley write off adjustable combs they will make a gun that doesn't quite fit you right, fit you perfect. Just in my case the Stoeger one was not needed, same with my Browning.

Hub

 

Very much appreciate the advice, experiences and oppinions.

Since I have never even shot an Over Under before they are all I have to base my decision on.


BUT!

The decision has been made, I went ahead and bought the competition model tonight.

I just couldn't leave it there, it seems to fit me well and I really like the balance and "feel" of it. I handled a couple other O/U's that were 2X the money and they didn't feel any better or actions seem to work differently or better to me.

So I thought, what the heck? Try it, use it to shoot some clays, maybe a few uplands (lots of partridge around here) I'll probably still step out and buy a decent Semi for Waterfowl etc.

If I'm still shooting Clays a year or two from now I'll buy a better O/U or simmilar.

Mine does not say Condor on it, but Guacho.

30" Barrel
Adjustable Comb
Vented Barrels
Selectable Barrels


I'm gonna shoot a few with a buddy tommorow so I'll let y'all know how it went.

Gotta clean the oodles of grease off it first though.

 

So I cleaned that baby up well and lightly oiled it, had to run a few shells through it just to prove it works so I dropped a couple troublesome pigeons that are hanging out around the grain bins at my place.

Gun worked well, I like it s far (only put 1/2 dozen shells through it)


Hubmonkey, what choke would you reccomend I use in this thing as a basepoint to start with?

 

For Skeet you should use the IC chokes. That will give you the best pattern for skeet. I wanted the Skeet Chokes for mine but was not able to locate them locally and Mann&Son's were out of stock. I would have gone with Brileys in the worse case scenario, because they are pretty expensive. IC's work good and I used those.

Hub

 

Sounds good, I'll give those a try.

I honestly don't even remember what chokes are in the thing to start with.

A buddy that I shoot with came over saturday afternoon and I ran 100 rounds or so through it just shooting clays with a hand thrower.

So far I'm quite happy, the gun worked well and we were breaking clyas fairly well with it.

Can't wait for it to warm up and shoot trap at the club!

 

Mine came with IC and MOD in the barrels from the factory.

For quail I shoot IC in the under barrel and MOD in the over barrel, incase it take 2 shots to get the bird.

If not for the freak snow storm we got Saturday, I would have been on the skeet field. Oh well saved me 100 shells and having to reload those...

What type of sheels are you using? Just curios because I reload my own to save some cash where I can.

Hub

 

Factory loads, (I have never reloaded before)

Winchester Target & Game loads, 1 1/8 oz, #8 shot.

But only because that's what was on the shelf, I'd be open to sugestions in that area as well.

 

Your good with that.. If you ever think you may want to get into reloading the remington sporting loads have decent hulls. They sell those in the same 100 round value packs, at least in Walmart in the US.

Hub