Treating myself to a new shotgun. Suggestions?

[Just_plain_you]

Honest question, but why? If you just want a quick follow-up shot, surely a decent semi-auto like the Saiga or Vepr would be better?

He wants a nice gun, not a Soviet street sweeper

 

[CptDanjou]

DT10 or DT11 are very good and hold their value.

 

[Daxx]

@The_Duke whatever you decide on, make sure you take someone with you who can gunfit. Shops are not great at it.

 

[Mech_Eng]

@The_Duke

I bought a second hand Silver Pigeon as my first gun just over a year ago, 28" barrel Left hand ( I'm a short arrse and blind in my right eye). Cost me £850 versus £1600 for a new one. That was from a dealer with a full service and 12 month guarantee. Supplied with a full set of chokes, I have only used it fitted with 3/4 and 1/2.

The dealer loaned it to me for 72 hrs so I could try before buy and during this time I went clay and pest pigeon shooting. I fell in love with it and as I said I bought it. It really does feel solid and well made.

My only gripe is it is not steel proofed, but the dealer has said the barrels can be sent away to be proofed if I want, or new barrels fitted, obviously at a cost. My call.

Absolutely a good gun for the price, and despite the lack of opportunities to get out due to Covid I'm improving every time I do get to go out. When I do get out it's mainly pay and play clay sites.

It's my first personally owned gun so I can't give you more to go on with comparisons. I do know when friends and family first saw it and they had a go they remarked what a bargain I had scored.

I hope this is useful.

Good luck.

 

[TamH70]

He wants a nice gun, not a Soviet street sweeper

Depends on the barrel length. UK legal Saigas have much longer barrels than one would want to go wandering round the Zone near Pripyat with.

 

[CptDanjou]

I am hitting a milestone birthday later this year, and think I will treat myself to a new shotgun.

I shot AYA SxS for years (12 and 20 bore, 26” barrels) but after a serious drop off in performance from mediocre to downright abysmal I switched to OU with 32” barrels (Bettinsoli, £1k to test whether I got on with it). Confidence increased, scores up.

Usual shooting is clays once or twice per month, a few beat one/shoot one days per season.

The William Powell Perdix has caught my eye, but I have no experience of others to compare it to.

Budget up to £5k (ish). Any suggestions?

If you buy a William Powell then decide you cant get on with it and try to p/ex it you `ll most likely get offered £3k by the trade for one you`ve pad £5k for , if you go for a used Perazzi/Blaser/Krieghoff/ high end Beretta you`ll get a much better offer on a p/ex , particularly with clay guns , sporting guns are not selling at the moment due to Covid so easy to buy good but hard to sell/p/ex.

 

[Ravers]

I also feel the need for a new shotgun, preferably side by side. We have our own land so rough shooting is wot I do, however occasionally I get invited to proper shoots with nice food and free booze and have to borrow a decent gun.
My cabinet houses a Remington 870 pump with a non supported barrel that I bought from a USAF sale at upper before. Top gun for ducks. I also use a Biakal single barrel and a greener GP. Either accompany me on a stroll or on the tractor. I bought the Biaka for a tenner forty years ago and love it. Well balanced and great for rabbit/hard plus any varmints that step over the line. So as you an see I don't do fancy but what is available for less than a grand.

I also own a Jones and Lloyd side by side hammer from 1879 that I had reproofed but have used with black powder for fun as it has been in the family since 1890 at least.

I like the unusual.

Edited to say Ravers is on the money with chokes.waste of time.

What sort of thing you looking at?

I’ll be honest, I know absolutely nothing about new side by sides below the 100k mark.

Everyone says the Beretta Parallelo is great but I could never see myself with a foreign side by side.

When it comes to side by sides, there is so much choice in the quality secondhand market that it’s hard to justify a new one.

Secondhand English over new Italian or Spanish any day of the week.

 

[Ravers]

If you buy a William Powell then decide you cant get on with it and try to p/ex it you `ll most likely get offered £3k by the trade for one you`ve pad £5k for , if you go for a used Perazzi/Blaser/Krieghoff/ high end Beretta you`ll get a much better offer on a p/ex , particularly with clay guns , sporting guns are not selling at the moment due to Covid so easy to buy good but hard to sell/p/ex.

Yeah but if you get a Blaser or a Krieghoff you’ll also have to buy a Japanese pickup truck and start wearing baseball caps on game shoots.

I don’t get the Krieghoff thing at all. Ugly as sin and really not as well made as everyone claims.

Rachel Carrie was touting one all over Instagram recently that looked like it’d been engraved by Stevie Wonder.

Using his feet.

 

[CptDanjou]

Just seen that the William Powells cheaper guns are made by Rizzini , the Skoda of Italian shotguns , residual value will be very low.

 

[CptDanjou]

Yeah but if you get a Blaser or a Krieghoff you’ll also have to buy a Japanese pickup truck and start wearing baseball caps on game shoots.

I don’t get the Krieghoff thing at all. Ugly as sin and really not as well made as everyone claims.

Rachel Carrie was touting one all over Instagram recently that looked like it’d been engraved by Stevie Wonder.

Using his feet.

Looks like a used B25 C2 or similar then.

 

[CptDanjou]

Yeah but if you get a Blaser or a Krieghoff you’ll also have to buy a Japanese pickup truck and start wearing baseball caps on game shoots.

I don’t get the Krieghoff thing at all. Ugly as sin and really not as well made as everyone claims.

Rachel Carrie was touting one all over Instagram recently that looked like it’d been engraved by Stevie Wonder.

Using his feet.

A lot of the Blaser / Krieghoff crowd are clay shooters and get through thousands of rounds a year , they will stand the beating where other makes can fail.

 

[Ravers]

A lot of the Blaser / Krieghoff crowd are clay shooters and get through thousands of rounds a year , they will stand the beating where other makes can fail.

Yeah I get that. Still hideous though.

I’m sure a lot of the Krieghoff allure is because they have a very strong PR and marketing department.

Check out any of the most subscribed to social media influencers in the shooting world, most of them shoot Krieghoffs.

This isn’t because they’re nice. It’s because they’re free.

 

[The_Duke]

I started off thinking about shelling out and getting a proper fitting session so I at least knew what was close enough in terms of fit so minor tweaks could get an off the shelf/second hand one right for me.

It sounds like it might be worth going back to that idea to let me have a decent look around.

 

[Ravers]

I started off thinking about shelling out and getting a proper fitting session so I at least knew what was close enough in terms of fit so minor tweaks could get an off the shelf/second hand one right for me.

It sounds like it might be worth going back to that idea to let me have a decent look around.

Yep. Well worth the money. It’s a good day out too and you’ll probably come away from it a better shot.

West London Shooting Ground do the gun fits for half the high end London trade. You know they’re doing it properly when Purdeys trust their measurements.

Knowing your measurements allows you to start trawling the secondhand market with a bit more confidence.

 

[The_Duke]

I shoot at WLSS occasionally so no hardship to go there! I think I will book one in as soon as lockdown is over.

 

[Ravers]

I shoot at WLSS occasionally so no hardship to go there! I think I will book one in as soon as lockdown is over.

Be sure to get the obligatory “by Christ I shot a lot of cartridges that day” phot.

 

[TamH70]

Be sure to get the obligatory “by Christ I shot a lot of cartridges that day” phot.

View attachment 541680

That's either an odd-looking over-and-under or you've got one of those four-barrelled things from the Metro 203x games.

 

[The_Duke]

Be sure to get the obligatory “by Christ I shot a lot of cartridges that day” phot.

View attachment 541680

I have added a few to that myself over the years!

 

[Ravers]

That's either an odd-looking over-and-under or you've got one of those four-barrelled things from the Metro 203x games.

It was half finished.

Barrels and a few other bits still silver, pins not made off, no chequering or finish on the stock.

About 130 grand’s worth.

 

[TamH70]

It was half finished.

Barrels and a few other bits still silver, pins not made off, no chequering or finish on the stock.

About 130 grand’s worth.

My eyebrows just hit the ceiling reading that.

You could get about 40 and a bit Saigas all tricked out for that amount of money. And still hire a lad or two to carry them.