Comments on: Fast Five: Best Over Under Shotguns 2020

By: Bruce Tucker

Bruce Tucker — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 02:25:34 +0000

In reply to Roger Ritchie. Roger, Sam is spot on. The Red Label’s price put it in direct competition with seemingly better choices from Browning & Beretta. I do love my Red Label 28 gauge. Nicely scaled to that gauge, & light to carry all day long...

By: Sam M

Sam M — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 10:19:34 +0000

In reply to Gary McCain. The Browning the Citori has been the best selling for a while now if that's what you mean

By: Gary McCain

Gary McCain — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 00:17:01 +0000

Is the Browning the most popular

By: Michael Romano

Michael Romano — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:25:44 +0000

In reply to JeffO. Thanks for the info. I've been looking at the Stoegers because they are inexpensive, but what I've been reading online matches what you wrote: Lots of quality control problems. When you get a good one, they are okay. But I read a lot of people having problems. That's the last thing I want with an over-under. I want reliability above all else, otherwise I'll just get a cheap Stoeger semi-auto. Ironically, they function pretty well.

By: Michael Romano

Michael Romano — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:23:38 +0000

In reply to Dennis D. I read that it only has living extractors, not ejectors. Has this slowed you down at all when shooting trap/skeet? I have to admit that I kinda like two empty smokin' shell casings flying back out of the gun when I crack it open. Hehehe.

By: Michael Romano

Michael Romano — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:22:24 +0000

In reply to Presley Carpenter. Indeed. The Stoeger's seem to have a lot of problems, and I've heard nothing bad about the CZ-USA Drake.

By: JeffO

JeffO — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 21:50:50 +0000

I was with you pretty well until you mentioned Mossberg then I started drifting. At the mention of Stoeger you lost all credibility with me. I own three Stoeger shotguns and of course can only share my experiences. I have done quite a bit of Stoeger searching on line and in my searches it has been rare to find a favorable review. I purchased my first Stoeger used. It was their least expensive O/U in 12 ga. with a 28″ barrel. While it has no selective trigger it is the only Stoeger that has not failed me. I’ve been shooting in a weekly trap league for about 7 years and wanted a dedicated trap gun. A few others on the team shoot Browning BT99s. I like the BT99 but couldn’t justify spending that kind of money. I then found “The Grand” from Stoeger. I looked at is as a BT99 knockoff. I shot it weekly up to around 2000 rounds. Then the firing pin broke. It happens right? So I sent it in and Stoeger fixed under their warranty. Not a huge issue but was still quite disappointing considering no more rounds that had been shot through it. Another guy on our team shoots a Maverick pump and has to have at least 8000 rounds through it with no issues. My “The Grand” being shown up by a Maverick was a little embarrassing. Some of the guys on the team like to shoot sporting clays now and then. I was looking for something more fitting for that than my Stoeger field O/U so I purchased a Stoeger Competition. The first night I went to shoot it I get click but no bang. I thought maybe I selected the wrong trigger so I double checked that and tried firing it again once more got click. I switched to the other barrel with the exact same result. There was a very light dimple on the primer. I was shooting Estate target shells and have Winchester AA in my vest as my extras. Both the Estate and the AA’s had issues. I made it through the first 25 eventually but the majority of my shots required two tries to get the shell to fire and it did not matter which barrel I tried to use. I borrowed another gun for the handicap round. I brought the Stoeger Competition home and thoroughly cleaned and oiled it. I took it back to the trap range and it performed only slightly better. I would say to shoot that first 100 rounds I had to pull the trigger 160 to 170 times. Unacceptable in my opinion. If I could get Stoeger to give me 2/3 of my money back I would do it today. Look at any reviews on line and see if you can find anything positive. If so I’d be interested in hearing about it. I appreciate you taking the time to do your review but I have to strongly disagree with you on Stoeger. I have no faith in a gun that won’t shoot and have not attempted to shoot it since getting it back from Stoeger. I assume it will fire and will find out soon when I’m away from where it will embarrass me.

By: Sam M

Sam M — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 07:34:31 +0000

In reply to Roger Ritchie. Hi Roger, thanks for reaching out. While the famous Red Label was once a class-leading shotgun, I think it's telling that Ruger no longer makes them. Keep in mind that the whole point of them was to give shooters a luxury shotgun for an affordable price, but that vision quickly diminished. I remember seeing these guys at one point with an MSRP of close to $2,000. Ruger basically admitted defeat once it became financially unsustainable to continue making Red Labels.

By: Roger Ritchie

Roger Ritchie — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 22:09:17 +0000

How do these 5 compare to the Ruger Red Label? Does Ruger still make their O/U?

By: Sam M

Sam M — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 09:25:27 +0000

In reply to Gary Schubert. Hi Gary, thanks for reaching out. Which shotgun are you referring to?