Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Any CZ shooters? Looking for O/U Waterfowl gun

I am a lefty. Avid waterfowler. Gets all my money and vacation time. But I suck. And when I put it all together correctly and am in the correct spot.....I usually whiff and waste ammo and bring nothing home. $10,000 in a pair of dogs that get to retrieve nothing.

I bought a VersaMax a year or two ago. Then upgraded the choke to a Patternmaster something. I still can't make it rain. Before that I had an 870 Express in LH. I could hit LOTS of stuff with that. But the POS would never cycle and left me high and very dry soooooo many times. It almost "accidentally" fell off the boat so many times. It sits rusting in the corner.

I am 47. I used to do OK on game with a scattergun. My eyes are still very good (I think) No glasses. No blurred vision close or far.

I can go through a large stack of Clays with that VersaMax and pick almost all of them back up whole afterward.

Obviously a skill I do not have.

But I think gun fit is a major issue. I would do very well in the New Mexico desert with a Beretta 686 back in the day. Was too nice to beat, but I shot a few truckloads of doves and quail with it. But something shiny caught my eye and I moved it along like an idiot.

CZ makes a Swamp Magnum. Kinda like a Browning Cynergy knock off (being a camo O/U probably ends the similarity right there). Chambered in 3.5". Extended tubes. Ejectors. Auto Safety. A lot to like. Would probably take $950 for me to get one. Even with the current rebate it would still be $1650 or so to get me into the Cynergy, which I am certain is a much NICER firearm.

But this is going to be a purely Waterfowl gun. Muddy. Wet. Not well cared for. I hunt hard and often. Public lands. No fat azz duck clubs. Simply looking for a better pointing shotgun that will go BANG every time I pull the trigger. And put shot where it points. The reviews on it are mixed. It is a Turkish gun....but not a Huglu or whatever. These are made by Akkbar or some schitt.

Anyone have any experience with CZ shotguns that could give me an overall thumbs up or down? Much of what I read is that it's a Crap Shoot. Could be total garbage or made very well depending on which Turk put it together.

The ability to have it Dual Choked is an aspect I overlooked. Seems a huge plus to have two fairly different constrictions in the gun. Can select which choke fires 1st depending on how the birds are working. I also take a good handful of Canada's. But they are not targeted, but having the ability to easily change ammo in just a few seconds for incoming birds also seem a nice bonus. Am I way off in this thinking?

I used a Citori as my main waterfowl gun for over a decade, I put Mod/Mod in it and gave it no further thought. The two choke idea has more application in the tavern than in the field. During the first 1/2 -1 hour of shooting time when field hunting IC or skeet chokes could be useful as ducks were often inside 20 yards but that was pretty short lived. When that close it was better to take an extra second to let the birds get some distance as they also tended to straighten out their flight after the initial scare.

As for CZ O/U quality, it is a craps shoot though it is better than a decade or more ago. I would choose any number of used shotguns at the same general price as a new CZ. In fact I do as I have bought many reliable O/Us in that price range over the years.

Your likely problem is not having a gun that fits. Buying guns until you end up with one that you can hit with is a long, frustrating, and expensive road to travel. Instead of buying another gun that may not fit, take that Versa-Max and use some of that new gun money on shooting lessons from a qualified sporting clays instructor. I recommend a sporting clays instructor rather than a trap or skeet instructor as the former more often utilizes an uncounted gun rather than pre mounted. A certified instructor should be able to determine if some basic flaw in your shooting is to blame and give a start on correcting it/them. An instructor should also be able to determine basic gun fit and give some ideas whether that is a factor. If gun fit is a problem, an instructor should have some suggestion as to whom to see for fitting.

The other thing you really should do is get an eye exam. It doesn't take much to affect one's shooting and it is often a gradual change where one learns to adapt without realizing there was a change.

Get a left handed O/U if you go that way. The larger you are, the more important the cast is. I’m not familiar with Versa Max but a lot of semi autos have no cast on or off. I am right handed but I have successfully entered cast off into both a early Binelli Montefeltro
( I think they now come with a cast shim ?), and a Remington 870. Cast and drop match my old Browning Superposed Pigeon 20. Easy swap between guns as they fit the same. I’m 81, but still wear a size 48 jacket, so cast is important.

Best wishes,

Jack

Jesse. Have you patterned your gun and checked POI vs POA. It does take some time. Your gun may shoot high low left or right and not be throwing the pattern that's marked on the choke. High low left right shooting can be the choke itself. Also some O/U and S/S will shoot each barrel to a different POI.