If you're not willing to read a long winded story about my hunt for the perfect shotgun, don't continue.
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That's my gun above; affectionately named "Whiz Bang." This is going to sound ridiculous, but since the October purchase of my Browning 725 Sporter I have fallen in love. I'm not just talking about giving it an extra good wipe down after shooting a round of clays either. I'm talking I want to ride horses on the beach with this gun. Over the past 3 months I've put at least 1,500 rounds through it and have not been happier. Let me tell you why:
Over the past 3 years my father has gotten me more and more involved with the clays community. He and I shoot trap, skeet and sporting clays regularly; upwards of 2-3 outings per week. My mother isn't exactly happy about it, but it is what it is at this point.
Up until this past fall we were sharing his artillery (a Browning 525 Sporting Clays 28" gun), but we've started shooting in separate leagues and with separate social circles so I needed something to call my own. During my search I focused on the usual focus points: aesthetics, price, barrel length and lastly brands. I knew that I wanted a 12 gauge over and under for around $2,000 and so the search began.
I initially started looking at the Beretta Silver Pigeon I, which is their intro gun. I liked the scroll engravings and the aesthetics of their lineup. Right now you can purchase a brand new SPI for around $1,900 and shoot it until the cows come home before you have problems with it. So I contacted the infamous Joel Etchen in PA to send me a few pictures of what he had in the shop. Needless to say I wasn't impressed by what he sent back and it was no fault of his. JE is a great guy who sells great guns.
Unfortunately I found that the wood grain lacked quite a bit, so I held off for a few more months. It literally looked as if someone just colored the stocks in with a brown Sharpie marker; completely unacceptable as far as I was concerned for the price.
As I talked to JE and to other Beretta dealers in the area I was finding that there was apparently a shortage of walnut for gunstocks. So it was either pay a higher price for a gun with okay wood, buy a gun for $1,900 and have a custom stock made or keep searching. I kept searching.
I wound up shooting a friend's Silver Pigeon I during a sporting clays match to really get the feel for it before committing. I liked it, but I wasn't in love. Then I made the mistake of picking up someone's 725 at the end of the tournament to try it out. The owner was very enthusiastic about me using his 725, so I'm assuming he knew there would be chemistry.
Sparks quickly turned to flames. The balance and fit of the gun was phenomenal, especially for a right-handed shooter and I did notice the kick was substantially lower. I also really liked the palm swell. It was a great little addition to the newer model that my father's gun didn't have. I feel like I'm always one-upping the poor guy. That was it. I had to have a 725.
For me the weight is just right. Not too heavy like a Beretta DT 10 or 11 and not too light where I would wind up over-swinging and whipping the barrel. The balance of the 725 feels the same as the DT11, which I did have the opportunity to shoot, but without the extra pound or so of weight attached to it. It's pleasant to hold up for extended periods of time.
However, there were a couple of things I didn't particularly care for on the gun and the first was the plain side plates. There is a small checker pattern on it for those of you who haven't gotten to look at one close up. It's very modern. I'm a huge fan of the scrolling that Beretta has, but I would make the sacrifice for the weight distribution. I also didn't care for the wood that this particular gentleman had on his 725 (I hope he's not reading this), but after searching online for a few days I found one with very pretty wood.
So now it was a matter of finding the right barrel size for what I wanted to do with it. I found that my father's 525 in the 28" was a little short when reaching out for longer shots, so I needed something longer.
Because I shoot trap, skeet and sporting I chose a 30 inch barrel. It's long enough to reach out and hit clays from the 27 yard handicap on a trap field and it's also short enough to swing comfortably on the skeet field. Naturally the two combined make it idealistic for sporting clays. Again, the barrel weight is enough to help me with a solid follow through but not make me feel like I've got a ten pound weight dangling from the end of my hands.
Shooting this gun is effortless really. Not sure whether it's the forcing cones or my false sense of confidence with this thing, but it turns clays into dust. I shoot skeet with your standard #9 Federal ammo and the birds are nothing but smoke when it's my turn to shoot. The gun mounts really well and is comfortable, again because of the right-handed cast and palm swell. I'm not sure I can make out a huge difference between the mechanical trigger systems and the inertia trigger systems, but the mechanical trigger on my 725 is a little bit more crisp feeling. Definitely another plus.
The last thing that I took into consideration was Browning as a brand. I know many people who have shot Brownings and the Japanese Mirokus and have never had a problem with them. My father's gun came with what looked like a stock and forearm that were taken out of two totally different grades of wood, which Browning took back and fixed without any questions asked. Even when calling Browning to get the repair records of previously owned firearms they couldn't be more helpful. I was really impressed by what I have seen with them.
For the $2,300 I paid for this puppy I couldn't be happier. I will definitely remain in a long-term relationship with the 725 Sporter. Hell, if it had nicer legs and a better personality I'd marry it. If you have any input or questions about my experience or the gun itself, please feel free to post.
**Additional Info Added Below**
4th. Down and I were discussing the 725 via PM and he pointed out to me that the choke system doesn't have the standard constriction sizes. The differences were so that I wanted to post this for all to read. We compared them to standard chokes and Briley chokes for the Invector Plus system. Here is what we found:
"My home course is fairly short with only a few shots reaching out. I noticed that I wasn't getting the solid shots that I had with a previous gun. So last weekend, I upped the chokes from IC/SK to M/IC. I had much better results with those...and now reading your post it makes much more sense. It seems that the Briley chokes are quite a bit tighter than the Brownings.
Browning INV+ Chokes
SK - .003
IC - .005
M - .008
IM - .014
F - .038
Briley INV+ Comparison
SK - .005
IC - .010
M - .020
IM - .025
F - .035
The differences between IC, M, and IM are huge.
I'm going to hold off on new chokes until I play with these a little bit more, but I'm glad you pointed that out. I would have never noticed."
Thanks to 4th. Down for his contribution!
That's my gun above; affectionately named "Whiz Bang." This is going to sound ridiculous, but since the October purchase of my Browning 725 Sporter I have fallen in love. I'm not just talking about giving it an extra good wipe down after shooting a round of clays either. I'm talking I want to ride horses on the beach with this gun. Over the past 3 months I've put at least 1,500 rounds through it and have not been happier. Let me tell you why:
Over the past 3 years my father has gotten me more and more involved with the clays community. He and I shoot trap, skeet and sporting clays regularly; upwards of 2-3 outings per week. My mother isn't exactly happy about it, but it is what it is at this point.
Up until this past fall we were sharing his artillery (a Browning 525 Sporting Clays 28" gun), but we've started shooting in separate leagues and with separate social circles so I needed something to call my own. During my search I focused on the usual focus points: aesthetics, price, barrel length and lastly brands. I knew that I wanted a 12 gauge over and under for around $2,000 and so the search began.
I initially started looking at the Beretta Silver Pigeon I, which is their intro gun. I liked the scroll engravings and the aesthetics of their lineup. Right now you can purchase a brand new SPI for around $1,900 and shoot it until the cows come home before you have problems with it. So I contacted the infamous Joel Etchen in PA to send me a few pictures of what he had in the shop. Needless to say I wasn't impressed by what he sent back and it was no fault of his. JE is a great guy who sells great guns.
Unfortunately I found that the wood grain lacked quite a bit, so I held off for a few more months. It literally looked as if someone just colored the stocks in with a brown Sharpie marker; completely unacceptable as far as I was concerned for the price.
As I talked to JE and to other Beretta dealers in the area I was finding that there was apparently a shortage of walnut for gunstocks. So it was either pay a higher price for a gun with okay wood, buy a gun for $1,900 and have a custom stock made or keep searching. I kept searching.
I wound up shooting a friend's Silver Pigeon I during a sporting clays match to really get the feel for it before committing. I liked it, but I wasn't in love. Then I made the mistake of picking up someone's 725 at the end of the tournament to try it out. The owner was very enthusiastic about me using his 725, so I'm assuming he knew there would be chemistry.
Sparks quickly turned to flames. The balance and fit of the gun was phenomenal, especially for a right-handed shooter and I did notice the kick was substantially lower. I also really liked the palm swell. It was a great little addition to the newer model that my father's gun didn't have. I feel like I'm always one-upping the poor guy. That was it. I had to have a 725.
For me the weight is just right. Not too heavy like a Beretta DT 10 or 11 and not too light where I would wind up over-swinging and whipping the barrel. The balance of the 725 feels the same as the DT11, which I did have the opportunity to shoot, but without the extra pound or so of weight attached to it. It's pleasant to hold up for extended periods of time.
However, there were a couple of things I didn't particularly care for on the gun and the first was the plain side plates. There is a small checker pattern on it for those of you who haven't gotten to look at one close up. It's very modern. I'm a huge fan of the scrolling that Beretta has, but I would make the sacrifice for the weight distribution. I also didn't care for the wood that this particular gentleman had on his 725 (I hope he's not reading this), but after searching online for a few days I found one with very pretty wood.
So now it was a matter of finding the right barrel size for what I wanted to do with it. I found that my father's 525 in the 28" was a little short when reaching out for longer shots, so I needed something longer.
Because I shoot trap, skeet and sporting I chose a 30 inch barrel. It's long enough to reach out and hit clays from the 27 yard handicap on a trap field and it's also short enough to swing comfortably on the skeet field. Naturally the two combined make it idealistic for sporting clays. Again, the barrel weight is enough to help me with a solid follow through but not make me feel like I've got a ten pound weight dangling from the end of my hands.
Shooting this gun is effortless really. Not sure whether it's the forcing cones or my false sense of confidence with this thing, but it turns clays into dust. I shoot skeet with your standard #9 Federal ammo and the birds are nothing but smoke when it's my turn to shoot. The gun mounts really well and is comfortable, again because of the right-handed cast and palm swell. I'm not sure I can make out a huge difference between the mechanical trigger systems and the inertia trigger systems, but the mechanical trigger on my 725 is a little bit more crisp feeling. Definitely another plus.
The last thing that I took into consideration was Browning as a brand. I know many people who have shot Brownings and the Japanese Mirokus and have never had a problem with them. My father's gun came with what looked like a stock and forearm that were taken out of two totally different grades of wood, which Browning took back and fixed without any questions asked. Even when calling Browning to get the repair records of previously owned firearms they couldn't be more helpful. I was really impressed by what I have seen with them.
For the $2,300 I paid for this puppy I couldn't be happier. I will definitely remain in a long-term relationship with the 725 Sporter. Hell, if it had nicer legs and a better personality I'd marry it. If you have any input or questions about my experience or the gun itself, please feel free to post.
**Additional Info Added Below**
4th. Down and I were discussing the 725 via PM and he pointed out to me that the choke system doesn't have the standard constriction sizes. The differences were so that I wanted to post this for all to read. We compared them to standard chokes and Briley chokes for the Invector Plus system. Here is what we found:
"My home course is fairly short with only a few shots reaching out. I noticed that I wasn't getting the solid shots that I had with a previous gun. So last weekend, I upped the chokes from IC/SK to M/IC. I had much better results with those...and now reading your post it makes much more sense. It seems that the Briley chokes are quite a bit tighter than the Brownings.
Browning INV+ Chokes
SK - .003
IC - .005
M - .008
IM - .014
F - .038
Briley INV+ Comparison
SK - .005
IC - .010
M - .020
IM - .025
F - .035
The differences between IC, M, and IM are huge.
I'm going to hold off on new chokes until I play with these a little bit more, but I'm glad you pointed that out. I would have never noticed."
Thanks to 4th. Down for his contribution!
, both Browning and Beretta are offering well-made target guns that are priced within range of regular people. 
