Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Need Help 20 ga o/u for clays

Age has dictated lighter and less recoil for a 100 round stint of Sporting Clays.

Need a budget 20 ga with tubes, ejectors and SST.

CZ ? Turkish ? Savage ?

$1500 tops.

At $1500, you can easily find a used Beretta.

You can buy one of those nice little CZ O/U in 20 ga for around $850 brand new. I love mine.

You are asking for something that is hard to find in an O/U.

LW 20 will recoil more than a standard weight 12 shooting the same 1ounce of shot. 7/8 ounce may get you there, but not by much. You can't reduce shotgun weight and shoot the same weight/speed shell without increasing recoil. Physics, and1oz target loads all fall within the same FPS parameters 20ga or 12ga.

Beretta for a lot of use with little chance of breakdown, combined with if it does, easy parts sourcing. Consider a recoil system that compresses the recoil pad for recoil reduction. However, they do screw the balance on a LW.

Other than that Beretta semi.

For Pete's sake, this is so easy and still the critics abound. For $1500.00, you could easily find a nice Citori or even better a 101 Winchester. 7/8 oz is plenty of shot to break a clay. All day on the clays range, the 20 gauge in a light O/U with that load, won't bother you any more than a 12 with 1 oz loads.

How old would you be HitnRun?

Good advice from Battue, will add

look at a Beretta O/U in 12ga. Some are lighter than most 12's, but heavier than a 20.
Shoot lighter 7/8oz loads.
A heavier 20 with less recoil.

I have a Beretta 390 that will shoot real light 7/8 oz loads. It would suit you perfect.

Bingo if you can find a good 390 and are willing to go with a semi. Good old 390's are a jewel and getting hard to find.

You don't know who I am, and that is good for both of us.

No, I obviously don't and the first impression from your response is I have little desire to do so. But perhaps I'm wrong.

However, we seem to have an individual who is willing to admit that age has diminished some of his strength and tolerance for recoil. It usually takes some years for one to be willing to do so. My question to you was directed so that I could get a feeling for how your and his age relates. Which would give me some idea of how your response relates to his particular situation. Nothing more.

You want to be a wise ass, I would suggest you read your sig line and more than once.

Of course, you want to continue and make insinuations based on your experience and no consideration for someone else. Because I endorse a gun that fits the OP and what he is looking for, you want to become overbearing.

You also don't recognize recoil and all the physics of what causes it. Weight of projectile and velocity aren't the only factors. The base of the projectile will directly affect felt recoil, as it is based on the bore diameter as well as projectile.

That aside, I guess you are telling me that I was wrong to say that a 20 gauge with 7/8 oz loads will be harder on the shooter than a 12 gauge with 1 oz loads. That may even be the case, but I will stand by my experience shooting both for over 20 years at sporting clays and will tell you the 20 gauge is no harder on you at the end of the course.

Deny me all you want, but it is just like the Campfire lately for a guy to ask about an O/U shotgun and which will work and you need to continue with your experience and suggest a semi-auto.

And now I am a wise ass, look in the mirror and you won't see perfection.

+1 on what battue said. A 20 will normally recoil worse than a 12 with the same shot payload as 20's tend to be lighter.

I would look at a 12g semi as a first option. The newer Berettas have the 'Kick-Off' system which in conjunction with the in-built recoil reduction of a gas operated semi (actually not a reduction, just spreads the recoil pulse out over a longer period of time) might be the answer for you.

Second option would be a light (7/8 oz) 12 g load at 1150 fps in your current gun - but you say that you want to go lighter, so that option might be out.

Don't go light weight 20g and expect it to not kick unless you go right down in shot payload.

If the shells were not so expensive then a 28ga would a be an excellent choice. Berreta and Browning both make it on a 20ga frame.

Reloading for the 20 and 12 is usually not all that cost efficient. Reloading for the 28 is.

Good idea, but you will probably get the same thing by going 20g and 3/4 oz shells. (3/4 seems to be pretty standard in 28g)

I may have more years on me than the OP, so I can appreciate where he is coming from. Combined with the fact while I can still handle most 12ga loads for a long day of shooting, I also see many of age who can't. And for many of them the answer is a semi. So it was thrown out for consideration.

As far as shell base and overbore, while you are correct, please don't assume that you are special in being aware of the effects. Is the OP aware of them? Did you address them in your reply? Or is it just now convenient for you to do so to impress us with your experience. Overbore will help some. Worrying about the base of the projectile is pissing in the wind. BP claims their wads reduce recoil, but they measure velocity different. And are considerably more expensive than most other options.

Are 20ga 101's overbore? Honest question, I don't know, but it was one of your suggestions.

There is no winning with you, like wrestling a girl, you can't win much. I did change my signature line though, I hope you approve.

Just amazing in that you said it and not I. Unless it pleases you to make quotes up. Which it obviously does. Good luck with that on the fire.

Correct if you are going to reload. Easier and cheaper to load 3/4 in a 20.

I's a thinkin HitnRun is right Battue,
we do not want to know who he is.
What an insecure little Richard Noggin.
We gave answers to the question, and
suggested another option.

Sounds like a Larry Root, type actor,
known, but well disliked.

Ok, let’s see if we can make some sense of all this and how it got here. OP asks a question and you give a "For Pete's Sake" and I'm wondering if you are considering his admitted problems. It may not be that straight forward, and since I'm fairly positive I have a better perspective on the age issue decide to comment.

I ask your age for reference, and admittedly on hitting post think this may cause a problem. Perhaps I should explain the question. Na, we will work it out. You do take offense and throw out the “you don't know me and that's good.” OoooK , her we go, but I explain the reason, but throw a sneaky jab back. You don't think much of the reason, or the jab and we are off.

I've been seriously considering becoming only a reader here because of this BS. You want to move on and we both try to help the OP, I'm all for it. You don't, bugger off.