Wonderin' Which Is Best?

[wabbitkillr]

Recently saw a nice Rem Spartan O/U, also saw a Stoeger O/U.
Both were the 20Gauge Sporting/ported models. The Remmy felt
a little tighter, but both seemed equal in value(Visual insp. Only)
Happened upon a nice Charles Daly too. Not much info to be
found on the Stoeger though. Like to hear some opionions from
the owners/shooters of these models as to which one(s) might
be better and why.

 

[Oldnamvet]

Unless you have intimate knowledge of all mentioned, opinions are guesses. I have one of them, the Stoeger O/U. It is a plain field gun. I have used it a lot for skeet because it fits me very well. So far about 2000 rounds through it and no trouble. I have no illusions that it will compete in lifetime with one of the high end guns but if you are going to just use it to hunt, ask yourself how many hunting trips would it take to use up a thousand or so shells? I remember years shooting less than 50, years when I was able to hunt a lot more than I do now.

 

[New_geezer]

I have a Baikal izh-27 in 20 ga from EAA which is essentially the same gun as the Spartan O/U. While I think my own gun is quite nice looking, I have seen some Baikals that were rather crude. For that reason I wouldn't buy one I hadn't handled personally. Appearances aside the Baikals are built like tanks that will stand up to a lot of use which is their primary virtue. If you have more time than money, some TLC can make most Baikals look pretty good and I think they are still a good value (Rem Spartan upped the price so they are not as good a value as they once were, but still).

My own gun has several thousand rounds thru it over a couple of years without a hint of trouble. Oldnamvet has the right perspective. Consider your intended use of the gun and go from there. Be it Stoeger, Spartan/Baikal, or any other inexpensive O/U, I would handle and inspect the exact example of the gun considered to see how it fits you and if the appearance is acceptable.

 

[gicts]

what are you planning to shoot? For the occassional dove or quail either of those would do outstanding given it fits you correctly. If your shooting trap, skeet, or sporting clays on a regular basis I would invest a bit more

 

[wabbitkillr]

Thanks for the feedback

Oldnamvet, you are insitefull. I really like the Stoeger Competition.
It would see less than 500 Rounds per year. I would like a rock solid performer vs. a pretty boy "contender". Fit,Form,Function=Value.