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LitzerSki

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have a question for you guys as some of you might have experience with one or more of my options.

I'm a relatively high-volume shooter (about 15,000/year) and currently shoot DT11 and a CG Magnus 20/28 combo. I'm considering purchasing a shotgun for sporting clays with 12ga, 20ga, 28ga and .410 interchangeable barrel sets. I'm currently considering a Kolar Max Lite Sporting, a Krieghoff K-80 and a Blaser F3.

What's the general consensus on these choices? Is there anything I'm missing?

I'm not interested in a carrier barrel and tubes. I'd much rather have a separate barrel set for each gauge.

While price does ultimately matter, I am willing to pay more for a superior product. I've shot the Blaser F3 and did like it. I also plan on demoing the Kolar and Krieghoff soon.

I'm looking for a shotgun that will stand up to high volume shooting with excellent customer support.

What do y'all think?
 
From my experience while dedicated barrels may weigh the same they do not necessarily balance the same, that coupled with the stark visual difference between barrels (meaning the 410's look tiny compared to the 12's) has kept me with a gun running carriers and tubes.

Some will buy longer barrels in the 28 and 410 to achieve a more uniform balance when shooting barrel sets.

The Blaser F3 is the only one with the built in ability to change weight and balance on a per barrel basis right out of the box.

I loved my MaxLite, but passed it along because I love the K80 better
 
Don't rely on my opinion to any level more than your paying for it :)! I shoot a utilitarian SP1, but lust after and have researched upgrades quite a bit, including multi-gauge barrel sets. I do not care for tube sets.

That said...as best as I recall the conversation...I happened to be speaking to the man himself at Cole's once and among the various topics we discussed was multi-gauge barrel sets. He said that among the many quality multi-gauge sets available from several different makers, in terms of matching the weights of the different guages to one another, Blaser did that the best. Virtually no weight differences between them and no fitting required if the barrels were bought separately from the original 12 gauge gun.

A top tier O/U with barrrel set is not in my budget anytime soon. But if it was, I'd look hard at a Blaser among the many quality makers available.
 
I shoot the F3 in 12 and 20. I will be adding a 28 barrel set later this year. I find no difference in balance and feel between the two 12 & 20 sets. The gun handles the same, feels the same, and mostly shoots the same POI. If you down in GA, I'd be happy to let you shoot them. I have even swapped barrels at a station between pairs and can't tell a difference except in recoil, the 20 is almost no recoil. I can't wait to try the 28.
One other thought that a friend ran in to recently, depending on the type of triggers in your gun, keeping the same weight of gun (or adding an insert in the barrel) can add enough weight that the triggers don't reset, unless your using a stout load. Blaser does not have that problem since it is a mechanical trigger and not inertia. I am not familiar with the other brands to know about their triggers, but just something to think about.
 
I have an F3 with 12-gauge and sub-gauge barrels. Gauge to gauge, gun fit is the same, and weight is the same; swing dynamic is not. 20s are easier to move than 12s. 20s and 28s are a pretty close match, and .410s are different than everything else.

Match is adequate, and one adjusts easily enough. However, if you want the best match available, carrier barrels and tubes are the way to achieve it.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Stuck-N-Kali said:
I'm curious as to why you think your current set-up with the DT11 and CG 20/28 is not up to the task? ...Beretta's customer service not withstanding.
So far I love the DT11 and shoot it quite well. I need to spend some time at the grease board to get the CG combo to match the DT11's POI. I haven't verified it yet, but the CG "feels" to shoot low, but since my local club doesn't have a patterning board, I haven't been able to verify yet. I'll raise the comb a bit more and see if I can get the gun to feel right until I can get in front of a proper pattern board.

But to answer your question, there's no reason my current guns can't handle anything I throw at them. I'll most likely get the CG combo set up properly, add a .410 barrel set and buy a spare trigger assembly for the Beretta. That being said, I still (and always will) like the IDEA of a 4-barrel set, especially for traveling to larger shoots with subgauge FITASC and other side events. For now, I'm just dipping my toes in the water.
 
Makes sense. My CG is my primary 12ga and a couple years ago I came across a NIB SKB GC7 two-barrel in 20 and 28 with 30" bbls that I love. The GC7's are discontinued but they also did 30" three barrel sets that also had .410. Not cheap if you can find one but IMHO well worth the $$.
 
I just heard a Beretta blog where they were discussing how they were coming out with 28 and 20 gauge barrels for the DT11. This might be a good bet for you since you already have the gun. Apparently they will be released sometime in 2020, although they didn't address any 410 barrels.
I'm waiting to see when they come out and how much they are. I saw that Cole's has 12 gauge barrels for the DT11 that run around $4200...
Cheers-Gofer
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Yeah, I heard that on the Behind the Break podcast. Zach Kienbaum mentioned that they're going to be releasing 32" 20ga and 28ga barrels some time this year. I'm assuming that with the DT11's inertia triggers, the .410 barrels couldn't be dialed in properly. Nonetheless, it sounds like it could be a good option.
 
Saw a 4 gun set of Perrazi's about 10 years ago, for $300,000. Just passing that alongso, whatever you do, will seem like a hell of a bargin by comparison..you are welcome.
 
Storage can be an issue, I purchased a Beretta two barrel set for my wife last year and shortly thereafter had a 32" barrel fitted to my gun…so now what to do with the extra barrels. There's no way on this planet I'm going to keep the barrels in the gun case…over time the case WILL hold moisture which will rust the metal as we all know, so in the safe they go, but how to store them. I figured out how to store them so they're out of the way while still remaining accessible. This is my opinion and if I had to guess there are a lot of shotgunners that thought they would like to have a multi barrel set but never thought about what to do with the barrels…I know I was one.
 
put a sock on it and keep it in the front corner near the door hinges. That's what I do with 1 or 2 semi auto barrels of guns I don't have room for in the safe or get used regularly so I don't want to be in/out with the whole thing often.
 
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