What is the barrel length of the gun you bought? How many choke tubes? Extended or flush chokes? Pictures would be nice too.

 

The Orion Sporting model (made by ATA) comes with 30" ported barrels, 5 extended choke tubes are included SK, IC, M, IM, F, they are the Winchester/Browning thread pattern. The sporting model has an adjustable comb and the pistol grip is flared at the bottom, those are the primary differences from the field gun which has a fixed comb and Prince of Wales style grip, weight is about 7.5lbs.
Reviews fault the gun for heavy trigger pull (5 to 6lbs), my friends gun measured very close to those numbers but did not cause me any problems shooting it. I will measure the trigger pull once I receive my gun and post some pictures. I will also post some pictures of the action, those familar with the Beretta 686 should notice similarities.
UPS indicates my Weatherby should arrive later today, more to follow.

 

I purchased one for a pastor friend of mine last year…he loves it. Other than the top barrel not firing when it gets really cold (couple times), it's functioned perfectly.

 

My friend has not experienced the cold weather issue to this point, but as mentioned she purchased in March. That is past our coldest weather here in Florida and those in other areas would laugh at our "cold" weather anyway. :lol: It may never be an issue here, but will monitor our guns through the winter and report if we have the same problem.

 

My friend has not experienced the cold weather issue to this point, but as mentioned she purchased in March. That is past our coldest weather here in Florida and those in other areas would laugh at our "cold" weather anyway. :lol: It may never be an issue here, but will monitor our guns through the winter and report if we have the same problem.

This "cold weather issue" could easily be solved by removing the buttstock and soaking/cleaning the action parts (hammers, springs, sears, etc) in kerosene or mineral spirits for 15 minutes. Then allow parts to dry and lubricate lightly with lightweight gun oil. You MIGHT need to remove the firing pins from their recess to clean them, but I doubt it. It's highly likely that the soaking/cleaning would take care of that.

As for the tight fitting forend latch, again that's an easy fix with some VERY LIGHT smoothing/polishing of the latching interface. If you don't know what I'm talking about on this, take it to someone more knowledgeable. Also a small dab of grease on that interface will help a lot.

As to the 5 or 6 pound trigger pull, with a good cleaning and lubrication as above, that pull weight will likely lighten up by about 1 pound (maybe more) after a few thousand rounds.

 

Ulysses, I suggested some light polishing on the forend latch but my friend isn't comfortable doing home gunsmithing and I don't think she trusted me to work on her new toy. In light of that I recommended lubrication and repeated vigorous operation of the latch and that has remedied that issue.
Also think you are right about the trigger pull and plan to test her gun next time we shoot and compare it to my new one, I suspect hers will be lighter after 8 months of shooting. Appreciate your suggestion of removing the stock and degreasing the trigger mechanism then applying some light oil, I will do that with mine to perhaps give it a head start on the break on process.

 

Ulysses, I suggested some light polishing on the forend latch but my friend isn't comfortable doing home gunsmithing and I don't think she trusted me to work on her new toy. In light of that I recommended lubrication and repeated vigorous operation of the latch and that has remedied that issue.
Also think you are right about the trigger pull and plan to test her gun next time we shoot and compare it to my new one, I suspect hers will be lighter after 8 months of shooting. Appreciate your suggestion of removing the stock and degreasing the trigger mechanism then applying some light oil, I will do that with mine to perhaps give it a head start on the break on process.

I think it's a good idea to do the stock removal and cleaning of the insides on a new O/U even though not all of them need it. You just never know what's inside the action on a new gun. Some have an excess of sticky rust protectant which can gum up things. Some will have metal shavings or wood chips from the manufacturing process. Just because someone's buddy bought an O/U and never had a problem in the first 10,000 rounds doesn't mean that everyone will be as lucky. Besides, if you're going to own an O/U, it pays to be somewhat familiar with the insides because you'll likely need to know that eventually.

I would hazard a guess that about 2/3 of the new O/U's that are returned to the manufacturer for repair during the first couple thousand rounds could have been easily fixed, or better yet prevented, by some simple maintenance or minor "fix" by the owner if they can do just some simple basic things.

 

.....This "cold weather issue" could easily be solved by removing the buttstock and soaking/cleaning the action parts (hammers, springs, sears, etc) in kerosene or mineral spirits for 15 minutes. Then allow parts to dry and lubricate lightly with lightweight gun oil......

You are correct and that was my first thought, we're thinking it's the factory lube/grease, whatever is too thick and gets harder in the winter months. Granted it doesn't do it all the time, nor even during a round or skeet, but it does happen, we just haven't torn into it yet.

 

Received the gun late Thursday so thought I would give a preliminary update including likes, dislikes and first shooting impressions and I will ATTEMPT to post pictures. :wink:

Like:
Gloss finish/checkering, flared pistol grip
Barrel selector/safety
Mechanical trigger
Adjustable comb
Extended choke tubes Browning/Winchester thread
Beretta 686 clone receiver
Price

Dislike:
Weight: 7lb 13oz
Heavy triggers: 6lb 8 oz lower 6lb upper
Very plain walnut, "belly" on forend
Florescent green front bead

Neutral:

Ported barrels

I was disappointed that my gun weighs several ounces more than the one purchased by my friend and that the trigger is heavier (6lb 8oz for the under barrel, 6lb for the top,) her trigger pulls about one pound less. Measurement taken after degreasing and appying light gun oil to the action. I have never liked florescent beads so I removed the stock one and replaced it with a HiViz Comp front sight, installing the white light pipe rather than the bright ones.
The wood is very plain but finished well, the gun has a safety/barrel selector similar to my Browning Citori 725 which I prefer over the "Italian" rocker style selector found on my wifes Syren.

Met some friends at the gun club on Sunday morning, all were impressed with the appearance and value for price. Out of curiosity I remeasured the trigger pull on the identical gun purchased by my friend 8 months ago, it has not changed to this point.

The gun was stiff opening as expected on a new gun, but handled and pointed well. After shooting 100 targets on the "easy" course I can report the gun weight and heavy trigger were both non-issues, completly unnoticed while shooting. Using some cheap Winchester target loads in 1 and 1 1/8oz I shot a 94 on the course, my personal best to date! Considering the LOP is about 5/8" longer than I would typically shoot it was quite impressive. I have a KickEez sporting clays pad on hand but may shoot it full length for a while before cutting the stock. Hope the following pictures post correctly.

 

That looks like a lot of features in a Sporting shotgun, for the money invested. You got a significant deal compared to MSRP.
Weight is a positive feature in a target gun.
Heavy trigger pulls are not a positive, but are fixable.
I personally am not a fan of ported barrels.
Good luck with your new toy.

 

Thanks for the review. Great pictures. Looks like a lot of gun for the relatively small amount of money.

 

Thanks for the kind words, more appreciated coming from such forum veterans. I am happier than expected with the gun, in part because I shot it so well the first time out.
I agree with saskbooknut about weight being a positive in a target gun for most shooters.
I had really bad shoulder fracture in a cycling accident two years ago and lost a lot of upper body strength, I've been shooting 20 ga guns since then for that reason.
I have been using the gym regularly and believe it has helped because this heavier 12 ga gun did not tire me out which was surprising. I also found it interesting that the heavy trigger pulls went unnoticed while shooting, I expected it to be a problem because the trigger pulls on my 725 are about 3lb 8oz, go figure?
I will update the thread as I shoot the gun more and will of course report any problems that may develop, so far my first Turkish shotgun seems to be a keeper.

 

Does this Weatherby Orion sporting have a steel receiver? I am considering it vs the Tristar TT-15 sporting.

 

Does this Weatherby Orion sporting have a steel receiver? I am considering it vs the Tristar TT-15 sporting.

Yes.

"Forged steel receiver."

https://weatherby.com/shotguns/orion/

 

Just picked up my Orion Sporting yesterday. Very impressed with it. Haven't been able to shoot it yet but will take it our for skeet this week.

Did you know you can adjust the trigger pull. If you download the ATA SP manual there is a pin the trigger pivots on that has 2 positions. Move it to the other position to change it to a 4.9 lb trigger pull. I didn't take pictures but very easy to do.

 

Just picked up my Orion Sporting yesterday. Very impressed with it. Haven't been able to shoot it yet but will take it our for skeet this week.

Did you know you can adjust the trigger pull. If you download the ATA SP manual there is a pin the trigger pivots on that has 2 positions. Move it to the other position to change it to a 4.9 lb trigger pull. I didn't take pictures but very easy to do.

That is interesting, thanks for the tip. Wish I had tried it before selling mine, nothing at all about it in the manual from Weatherby. I will pass it on to the two friends who still own these.

 

I am also in the process of refinishing the stock. Not a fan of the red colour. I will post before, during, and after photos. I've stripped the finish off and am staining it right now.

 

I have attached a picture of where to move the trigger pin, The factory setting is the location furthest from the trigger. Move it to the other location closer to the trigger to reduce the trigger pull.

 

That looks like my picture you reposted, my copyright attorney will be contacting you. :lol: Seriously, thanks for the tip, one of my friends with a Weatherby has already asked me to tweak her gun. I will weigh the pull before and after and post results here after doing so.

 

That looks like my picture you reposted, my copyright attorney will be contacting you. :lol:

You got me there!

Here are some pictures of the refinishing. After stripping and after refinishing with Walnut stain and 6 coats of Tru Oil.

It looks great. The picture does not do it justice.

 

Glad you are happy with the new finish, I know many people dislike the high gloss as shipped by Weatherby, I'm old school so I actually like it.

Finished working on my friends Orion Sporting this morning, your tip made a huge improvement!
I started by measuring 10 trigger pulls on each barrel (bottom and top) then averaging the numbers. As it came from the factory lower barrel average pull weight was 6lb, top barrel 7lb. After moving the pin I repeated the same procedure, lower barrel now about 4lb, top barrel 5.5lb. Thanks again for finding that in the ATA manual, someone should tell Weatherby.

factory position

after moving pin

I have another friend that owns one of these so I'm sure she will want hers fixed too.

 

You just punched out the pin and reseated it in the other hole? Nothing else had to be moved, adjusted or anything?

 

Yes that is correct.

 

what size punch are those?

 

Pretty sure they are 1/16"