Pass

 

The other good ones to look for used/LNIB are the Japan made SKB's; Weatherby/SKBs; and Ithaca/SKB's.

 

First point is you do not need 30inch barrels to shoot sporting clays or any other shotgun sport.
If you want real enduring quality look at used Charles Daly, Japanese built O/U shotguns. They are the same as the Browning O/U Citori guns but have better engraving...they last forever. You can have choke tubes installed for as little as $40 per barrel plus about another $40 or less per additional tube.
If you must have 30inch barrels you will find plenty of 30inch Charles Daly shotguns for sale on such sites as gunsinternational.com.

I have examined the Lanber shotguns offered by Cabelas and feel they fall way short of the Japanese built Charles Daly shotguns.

Good Luck

 

If you want to keep your rifle, you may want to consider a semi-auto shotgun instead. For an o/u for clays you'll probably want a gun with at least 30" barrels. Finding a new or used gun with that barrel length under $1000 is extremely difficult, in my experience, an any quality o/u in that price range would likely be a field gun, which weigh less. You could, however, probably find a used Beretta 303 or 390 or Browning Gold with a 28" or 30" barrel for around $600 if you look around a bit, and one of those would be great for clays. Just my $0.02. Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions, a good semi-auto is currently my backup plan if my rifle doesn't get offers close to my asking price, then I would just need a bigger safe lol. I found a guy selling an un-fired Silver Pigeon II for $2k, so that's my current plan assuming its available when my rifle sells.

 

All hat, and no cattle. Mark

I thought the saying was "big hat, no cattle?"

Same thing. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_hat_and_no_cattle

 

Daspope:

Welcome to SGW!

I think the Lanber is one of the better made <$900 street price O/U's. But that might be "damming with faint praise".

As others have said, they're no longer being imported and as far as I know Lanber is out of business.

One would probably hold up just fine for field work and casual clays.

Still, you seem to like decent guns and I'd stick with a Browning or Beretta.

I bought a few years back a like new, almost unfired XS Sporting for $1350. My FFL couldn't believe it. I just bought a Beretta O/U for our daughter. Also like new; at $1300. It's a White Onyx And I don't think people search for them as much online as the Silver Pigeons, although they are mechanically the same.

You can also find some really good deals on lightly used SP's, Citoris and x25 series Brownings with 28" barrels since the trend is towards longer ones. And the Browning Crossover Target is a very good deal with 30" non-ported barrels.

I'm a big Remington Bolt action rifle can and will be using my BDL .30-06 Thanksgiving week for deer as I've done the last 20+ years. But if I had an extra one sitting around and only shooting it once or twice every few years I'd sell it and buy a gun I could use a couple of times per week.

I still think the new 725 and the Beretta Silver Pigeon are super nice guns at great prices. There are a few new 725 "Field" models out there with 30" non-ported bbls that make nice dual purpose field/clays guns. And you can get SP's with 30's or 32's for about $1950-$2100.

If you haven't done so already; check out GunBroker; GunsInternational; AuctionArms.com; and GunsAmerica and look for a reputable seller with not only good ratings but good comments as well.

I prefer local dealers in most cases, and would pay a little more to buy from one. But sometimes you can find some screaming deals online for LNIB ("Like New, In Box") guns. Good luck!

 

All hat, and no cattle. Mark

I thought the saying was "big hat, no cattle?"

 

If you want to keep your rifle, you may want to consider a semi-auto shotgun instead. For an o/u for clays you'll probably want a gun with at least 30" barrels. Finding a new or used gun with that barrel length under $1000 is extremely difficult, in my experience, an any quality o/u in that price range would likely be a field gun, which weigh less. You could, however, probably find a used Beretta 303 or 390 or Browning Gold with a 28" or 30" barrel for around $600 if you look around a bit, and one of those would be great for clays. Just my $0.02. Good luck!

 

Lanber went out of business a few years ago.

 

All hat and no cattle, lol I like that... Pretty much sums it up.

Well, got better pics of the Lanber this morning. turns out the stock has a decent sized crack where it meets the receiver that the seller "didn't notice" prior. It would be easily fixed with some epoxy, or I may try my hand at making one from a chunk of walnut I have in my shop.

He is supposedly contacting Lanber to see about getting a replacement stock, I doubt that will happen though so I may offer him $200 for it and use it as a field/truck gun once I fix it or make a new stock.

Here are the pics: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1nuwvwbimvv4 ... BA7Ga?dl=0

 

All hat, and no cattle. Mark

 

Being new to competitive sporting clays, hopefully I don't look like the kid that got a corvette for his 16th birthday when I show up to the first league match with it lol.

Not getting your analogy; can you enlighten me?

 

Just listed my Rem 700 on Backpage for $1650, slightly higher than what I expect to get($1400-1500) to compensate for the obligatory counter offer lol. This way I can get a new Beretta for $500+/- out of pocket.

Being new to competitive sporting clays, hopefully I don't look like the kid that got a corvette for his 16th birthday when I show up to the first league match with it lol.

http://phoenix.backpage.com/SportsEquip ... s/30228641

 

Personally I don't think you're going to get a $500 O/U to hold up to competitive shooting. Many have argued that for hunting and some practice - say a few hundred rounds per year such a gun might do okay. I think shooting thousands of rounds per year through an inexpensive double will give you problems - even if you can get parts.

My suggestion would be to keep looking for a solid, used Beretta or Browning even if you have to spend around $1,000 to get one.

 

hmmmm...

I am still waiting on better pics from the guy so I have some time to think about it.

 

From what I`m finding $500 really isn`t that bad. My only issue for these is parts and service. Its your call.