Clueless for buying a shotgun

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conradin
Posts: 2003
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:18 am
Location: Basement.

Clueless for buying a shotgun

Post by conradin »

I have a regular old Remington Wingmaster 870 Leftie, but I want something that is both suitable for International Trap and Skeet, yet won't cost multiple arms and legs, ie THOSE Italian brands.
I wonder if there are any good models that were Olympic winners back in the 50s to early 80s that now can be bought for within $1k? 12 gauge of course. I presume they are over/under. I heard about FN Browning but I don't know which model, and I heard about the Baikal MU-8 also.
Also are these shotguns "single shot" and "do not eject"? That is, after you shot them, you have to get the used shells out, and then load new shells in, all manually? Also I am a left hander, does it matter much? I looked around and it seemed to me that older models are all righties. There are leftie stock but I don't now how they work.
I have zero experience in shotgun. I bought the wingmaster because I thought it would be useful for home defense, and it was cheap. A friend showed me how to shoot a silhouette in a PPIH setting using a Mossberg 500 tactical. She shot it single handed as if she is in a Hollywood movie without bothering to aim, and blasted the silhouette into pieces. That gave me the idea that anyone can use the shotgun for home defense since aiming was "optional".
But now I feel I need something that is more suitable for competition as I will be taking proper lesson in the next two months. Shotgun will never be my primary choice of firearm, but I feel that if I only plan to get one, I better get something that is of good quality, international competition suitable, and resell value good. I don't hunt so a practical hunting shotgun is not what I need. My instructor plans to teach me trap, so I think a good quality, proven, but economical shotgun will do. Belgian, or Soviet.
spektr
Posts: 887
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Clueless for buying a shotgun

Post by spektr »

Maybe you can do what I did. I moved from American trap to Intl Trap. All I had on hand was
my trusty restocked Rem 1100. It already had a Jack west stock and lengthened forcing cones and trigger work. From there, I drilled the gas ports , added a homemade Titanium firing pin and gently lightened the bolt to speed things up a bit. Add fresh recoil springs and VOILA, I was into it for peanuts. Keep fresh springs in it, shoot it wet, and you'll be fine. This is the same gun I put 165K on and the mag tube is still fine. I x-rayed it each season because I could. It feeds Fiocci 7/8 flawlessly after the port enlargement. I usually am in the 19-20 range, occasionally Better, often worse... Don't let the Perazzi guys giggle at your hardware store gun......
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conradin
Posts: 2003
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:18 am
Location: Basement.

Re: Clueless for buying a shotgun

Post by conradin »

The cheapest MU8 now is over $3k. I am now looking at Remington 3200. It seems they have different versions: competition, skeet, trap, etc. My instructor said it was a good idea, but since most of them are used, there is no idea about how much they had been messed with (esp. choke). She did say a longer barrel is better. I don't really want to spend more than $1500, as I do plan to sell or trade in my leftie Remington wingmaster, which is practically new and unused...
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