I recently purchased a Tristar Hunter EX 28 gauge over/under. My plan was to try out the 28 gauge, and if it worked out, purchase a .410 bore and then a 20 gauge to use for NSSA skeet competition. I finally found one I could check out in person and went ahead with the purchase.
After getting it home, I noticed two things that didn't really click for me when I was looking at it at the store: the model number was 99935 instead of 33317 as stated on the website. Also, the website states that "The Hunter EX features … 5 Beretta® Style Choke Tubes". However, there was a label inside the box that states the choke tubes are non-Beretta/Benelli type choke tubes and to contact Tristar for replacements. I contacted Tristar regarding both issues. Their responses are below.
"We apologize for the confusion. The 99935 and the 33317 are the same gun coming from the same manufacturer. We changed the item number to 99935 because this one particular shipment was going to a specific wholesaler which would be the wholesaler for Sportsman's Warehouse and we wanted to be able to easily identify them and know just from the item number where they went. The store continues to advertise them as a 33317 because that is what they are, but for our records and because Sportman's Warehouse is so big throughout the United States it is a 99935 that clearly indicates to us that it is a Sportsman's Warehouse 28gauge O/U."
"The gun you have actually uses a Khan style choke tube. We had several hundred of the 28 gauge tapped this way. You can purchase additional choke tubes directly from us."
Not too big a deal on the model number, but a little disappointing on the choke tubes since it pretty much eliminates any aftermarket choices. I accept responsibility for not being more diligent, but to be honest I really didn't think it was something I needed to scrutinize.
Out of the box the gun looked nice (see pictures) and had good balance. The website states that it weighs 4.8 lbs. I weighed it at right at 5 pounds by weighing myself on my scale with and without the gun in my hands. I'll defer to Tristar on this one since my scale probably isn't the most accurate for something like this. The gun is also very thin, especially compared to my 12 gauge O/U. The trigger pull was an extremely stout 12 lbs on the bottom barrel and 9 pounds on the top. It has about 1/8th inch of takeup, then the trigger breaks crisply with no creep. The barrel selector switch snaps cleanly to the left (over), but it is a little vague to the right (under). The fore/aft safety movement is clean once it's firmly engaged either left or right. The release lever will move back to the center position upon opening if you're not diligent about making sure it catches to the right, resulting in banging against the locking block when you go to close it. The engraving had a weird feel to it, almost like it was printed. I was afraid it might wipe off with cleaning solvent. However, upon closer examination with a magnifying glass I discovered that it was some type of micro-engraving that looks like it was done with a laser or some type of electrode. I wasn't able to photograph the details but I sketched out what it looks like under magnification.
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See the rest of the pictures in the gallery: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1410/thumbnails.php?album=607
My intention was to do nothing more than clean out and lubricate the action and run an oiled paper towel through the bore before its inaugural outing. However, when I was cleaning it and checking it out, I noticed that the lower firing pin wasn't moving smoothly in its bore. The gun has an oval-shaped piece of metal where the firing pins protrude through to the barrels (see picture). My assumption is that since the receiver is alloy, this piece is steel to prevent the pins from wearing their bore larger. When I removed this oval piece I found that the bore for the lower pin had a large burr on the back. I used a rotary file on my Dremel tool to clean it up. It moved smoothly after this. Also, the trigger sometimes would hang up and not reset between barrels. I used the Dremel to smooth out the area where it rides back down the sear and it took care of the problem.
For the first outing I put 100 rounds of Winchester AAHS #9 through it (4 rounds of skeet). With the Skeet/Cylinder choke in the top barrel and the Improved Cylinder choke in the bottom barrel I was smashing targets with authority. I'm 6' tall with long arms and a long neck, so I need 14 ½" of pull. I use a Limbsaver slip on recoil pad to increase the length of pull. Even with the Limbsaver, I was feeling the recoil due to the extremely light weight. Additionally, I had a few light strikes on the top barrel. The rounds all fired on the second attempt when I moved them to the bottom barrel. The heavy trigger pulls contributed to a few missed shots when I jerked the gun under the targets trying to pull the trigger, or just plain didn't pull it hard enough to fire (I'm used to shooting 4-5 lb triggers).
I did some gunsmithing to reduce the trigger pull to 6 lbs on both barrels. I also switched the hammer springs from side-to-side, as the top spring looked just a little bit shorter than the bottom. One other thing I did is add 6 ounces of weight to the back of the gun and 6 ounces to the barrel. I adjusted the barrel weight to get the balance to right about where I hold it on the forearm. The next outing was a huge improvement. I shot another 4 rounds of skeet with it. The gun felt like I was wielding a scalpel and the recoil was reduced considerably. Any misses were all my fault. I didn't have any more light strikes. Since I only had 4 boxes of 28g with me, I pulled out my Stoeger 12g O/U to shoot one more round. I felt like I was wielding a 4x4 and loading D cell batteries vs. the scalpel and AA battery-sized rounds in the 28g.
I shot another 5 rounds of skeet with it today. With the added weight and the bugs worked out I'm really enjoying shooting it, and so far feel like I made a good choice. I'll probably reduce the trigger pull another pound, down to 5. I'm also planning to move forward with the purchase of the .410 version, even if I have to do the same types of things I did to the 28g to get it shootable.
Overall, I like this gun. However, I am a little disappointed in the problems I uncovered and had to fix. If someone had bought this gun for themselves or their kid and didn't have a lot of mechanical ability, I think there would probably be a fair amount of disappointment due to the issues. The gun would likely either have to have been sent back to be fixed, or maybe ended up sitting unused in the gun safe.
I'll post periodically about how things are going with it.
After getting it home, I noticed two things that didn't really click for me when I was looking at it at the store: the model number was 99935 instead of 33317 as stated on the website. Also, the website states that "The Hunter EX features … 5 Beretta® Style Choke Tubes". However, there was a label inside the box that states the choke tubes are non-Beretta/Benelli type choke tubes and to contact Tristar for replacements. I contacted Tristar regarding both issues. Their responses are below.
"We apologize for the confusion. The 99935 and the 33317 are the same gun coming from the same manufacturer. We changed the item number to 99935 because this one particular shipment was going to a specific wholesaler which would be the wholesaler for Sportsman's Warehouse and we wanted to be able to easily identify them and know just from the item number where they went. The store continues to advertise them as a 33317 because that is what they are, but for our records and because Sportman's Warehouse is so big throughout the United States it is a 99935 that clearly indicates to us that it is a Sportsman's Warehouse 28gauge O/U."
"The gun you have actually uses a Khan style choke tube. We had several hundred of the 28 gauge tapped this way. You can purchase additional choke tubes directly from us."
Not too big a deal on the model number, but a little disappointing on the choke tubes since it pretty much eliminates any aftermarket choices. I accept responsibility for not being more diligent, but to be honest I really didn't think it was something I needed to scrutinize.
Out of the box the gun looked nice (see pictures) and had good balance. The website states that it weighs 4.8 lbs. I weighed it at right at 5 pounds by weighing myself on my scale with and without the gun in my hands. I'll defer to Tristar on this one since my scale probably isn't the most accurate for something like this. The gun is also very thin, especially compared to my 12 gauge O/U. The trigger pull was an extremely stout 12 lbs on the bottom barrel and 9 pounds on the top. It has about 1/8th inch of takeup, then the trigger breaks crisply with no creep. The barrel selector switch snaps cleanly to the left (over), but it is a little vague to the right (under). The fore/aft safety movement is clean once it's firmly engaged either left or right. The release lever will move back to the center position upon opening if you're not diligent about making sure it catches to the right, resulting in banging against the locking block when you go to close it. The engraving had a weird feel to it, almost like it was printed. I was afraid it might wipe off with cleaning solvent. However, upon closer examination with a magnifying glass I discovered that it was some type of micro-engraving that looks like it was done with a laser or some type of electrode. I wasn't able to photograph the details but I sketched out what it looks like under magnification.
See the rest of the pictures in the gallery: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1410/thumbnails.php?album=607
My intention was to do nothing more than clean out and lubricate the action and run an oiled paper towel through the bore before its inaugural outing. However, when I was cleaning it and checking it out, I noticed that the lower firing pin wasn't moving smoothly in its bore. The gun has an oval-shaped piece of metal where the firing pins protrude through to the barrels (see picture). My assumption is that since the receiver is alloy, this piece is steel to prevent the pins from wearing their bore larger. When I removed this oval piece I found that the bore for the lower pin had a large burr on the back. I used a rotary file on my Dremel tool to clean it up. It moved smoothly after this. Also, the trigger sometimes would hang up and not reset between barrels. I used the Dremel to smooth out the area where it rides back down the sear and it took care of the problem.
For the first outing I put 100 rounds of Winchester AAHS #9 through it (4 rounds of skeet). With the Skeet/Cylinder choke in the top barrel and the Improved Cylinder choke in the bottom barrel I was smashing targets with authority. I'm 6' tall with long arms and a long neck, so I need 14 ½" of pull. I use a Limbsaver slip on recoil pad to increase the length of pull. Even with the Limbsaver, I was feeling the recoil due to the extremely light weight. Additionally, I had a few light strikes on the top barrel. The rounds all fired on the second attempt when I moved them to the bottom barrel. The heavy trigger pulls contributed to a few missed shots when I jerked the gun under the targets trying to pull the trigger, or just plain didn't pull it hard enough to fire (I'm used to shooting 4-5 lb triggers).
I did some gunsmithing to reduce the trigger pull to 6 lbs on both barrels. I also switched the hammer springs from side-to-side, as the top spring looked just a little bit shorter than the bottom. One other thing I did is add 6 ounces of weight to the back of the gun and 6 ounces to the barrel. I adjusted the barrel weight to get the balance to right about where I hold it on the forearm. The next outing was a huge improvement. I shot another 4 rounds of skeet with it. The gun felt like I was wielding a scalpel and the recoil was reduced considerably. Any misses were all my fault. I didn't have any more light strikes. Since I only had 4 boxes of 28g with me, I pulled out my Stoeger 12g O/U to shoot one more round. I felt like I was wielding a 4x4 and loading D cell batteries vs. the scalpel and AA battery-sized rounds in the 28g.
I shot another 5 rounds of skeet with it today. With the added weight and the bugs worked out I'm really enjoying shooting it, and so far feel like I made a good choice. I'll probably reduce the trigger pull another pound, down to 5. I'm also planning to move forward with the purchase of the .410 version, even if I have to do the same types of things I did to the 28g to get it shootable.
Overall, I like this gun. However, I am a little disappointed in the problems I uncovered and had to fix. If someone had bought this gun for themselves or their kid and didn't have a lot of mechanical ability, I think there would probably be a fair amount of disappointment due to the issues. The gun would likely either have to have been sent back to be fixed, or maybe ended up sitting unused in the gun safe.
I'll post periodically about how things are going with it.
