Hi all,
Dropping in here to report on my wife's 20 Gauge Syren Tempio Sporting with 30" barrels.
BACKGROUND
Just a bit of background, we are fairly new to shooting Sporting Clays and we both have really taken to it and enjoy it a ton. As you might be able to tell from some of my other posts, we did a ton of research for her, beginning with shooting everything from a Beretta 28ga to Syren/Fabarm 12ga semi and just about everything in between but mostly 12/20 Fabarms and CGs. Based on her experience, she and I decided that a women's specific 20ga would be the best option for her. She can handle a 12 and recoil wasn't an issue, but the weight of lifting a 8.5lb gun 100 times was a bit much for her by the end of a round. She's 5'5" and I'd say about average all around with respect to her body size.
REVIEW
Absolutely a-ma-zing gun. We were able to find a lightly used pre-owned which is a miracle in and of itself and it fit her to a T out of the box. Syren pretty much started the women specific movement, at least in earnest and not just a sized down youth gun or whatever. Women have different needs for a whole host of reasons and Syren knows what the heck they are doing. Grip length or reach was spot on for her smaller palm and finger length. Drop at comb was right on for her as well as LOP.
She was shooting better and happier than I have ever seen her since we started shooting. 20 ga is such a sweet spot, enough power to hit anything, but light and easy to swing with little to no felt recoil on 7/8oz #8.
She LOVES it. She mounts it easily, shoots it easily, and can really focus on the game now and not the gun. That was the biggest difference. The gun is an afterthought, no more tweaking, no more trying to mount it right, no more heaving to get it up. She just mounted, shot and started talking to me about where she should be leading targets and can she try this or that again so she can get the sight picture and what not. It actually made MY day to see her so happy with it.
I shot it at both the beginning and end of our round for fun (It's LOP is much too short for me) so I got just 8 shots out of it but went 8 for 8 and found it just a joy to shoot. Very nice balance and pointability and since it is such an easy swing, it's easy to correct for a new shooter. I want a 20ga now and maybe even a CG summit sporting as they are essentially the same gun (that said I was shooting a CG Invictus so CG guns are good to us.) Hope to get some more time with her gun and I'll give try to give an update as she and I get more shots out of it.
FINAL NOTE
I want to mention that she shot a Fabarm ELOS D2 20ga 30" and that gun was a mess for her yet on paper they are very similar (CG owns Fabarm). She (IMHO correctly) identified that this was because it was a man's gun and it just didn't fit right. She also shot a Syren 28ga 28" and that went a long way in getting us to her gun as she realized women's specific guns are they only way to go for her.
That said, the one thing that my wife mentioned that I put in ANY review of her gun was this -- "Ladies DO NOT listen to some old grumpy gun guy tell you it's not the gun and that you are recoil sensitive or fragile or whatever misogynistic excuse they come up with. It is TOTALLY the gun. Get a gun that fits YOU right and can get the job done!"