Stoeger Condor Competion

i shoot alot of the clay games and i,m sorry to say we have new shooters who join in with the low end budget shotguns and its not very long before problems come up, its not to say you may get a good one once in a while. but it seems to be hit or miss and the miss rears its ugly head more often than not. it would be better to buy a good used browning-beretta-skb or a good used auto loader. my favotie singles trap shotgun has over 35,000 rounds thru it and its not even broken in yet. believe me if you stick with the clay shooting games you will spend way more money on shells and fee,s than on a very good shotgun. 35,000 rounds=1400 boxes on shells at 4.50 a box=6400.00 dollars. cry when you buy and laugh when it lasts. eastbank.

If you are going to buy new and buy cheap buy Baikal , Cheap crude even, but not nasty they keep going for years.
The IZH 27s and 43 Over and unders offer better made guns than any others at a similar price point.
Used? An old Miroku would be where i would start looking.

I have a Stoeger m3000 I use for 3gun. No issues for me. Many are using stoegers.
I only have about 900 rnds through it. Price was a factor when buying for me.

flexible said:

HI Everyone; looking at a shotgun for my wife, clay targets only and mostly trap & skeet. Has anyone tried the Stoegor Condor Competition model? It looks almost too good (feature wise) to be sold at that price point.
thanks, flexible

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My son won a stronger condor in a gun raffle.
I hate to sat it, but we didn't like it. He tried to turkey hunt with it, but ended up trading it off.

If you're serious about clay games, do her a favor and get an 1100 or Beretta autoloader.
Much less recoil, much more durable.

Much good advice here; I teach 4-H Trap, and I see three "Tracks" regarding shotgun choice; 1. Kid uses Dad's duck gun. Usually too big for them, depending on the kid's age, they don't like the kick, etc. These kids generally do it one year, though when they try the 4-H club's 20 ga. Raptor semi-auto, they like shooting suddenly. If I can talk the parents into getting one, they then come back. 2. Folks buy Hatfield single or Condor double. Kids gradually improves, by second year wants a BT-99 or Citori Synergy. Whether thet get it or not usually determines continued participation. 3. Folks get kid dedicated Trap gun right off. Often these parents shoot clays themselves. In one case, Dad lent daughter his SKB-it's now hers. He has to get a new gun. These kids usually go on to become league shooters and end up out shooting me. I love it when that happens! We do have some exceptions; we have one kid that shot an old Winchester 37 30" full, and was smoking them when he'd hit them, but was shooting too early. I told him to wait just a little longer before shooting, and his score doubled. I had one Dad that insisted his son put the clip-on fiber optic back on after it fell off, even though he shot better with out it. We had one kid that is an excellent shot,probably coulda won the Competition shoot, shot it with his Savage 24 20 ga. ( his choice; He had a Win. 1300 to use, too, or the club's guns.) As for quality of Condors, They seem solid, but like has been said, will they be after 50,000 rounds? I don't see many with that kind of round count on them, and the loose ones I've seen have much less.

kudu said:

Now if you don't plan on shooting more than a couple thousand shells a year, it looks like a gun that you could definitely learn to shoot on for a novice shooter, or as a stepping stone to see if you really like to shoot clays. Work your way into a better gun down the road, if you decide to really get into clay shooting games, if not you aren't out that much investment wise.

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Well said.

The condors are built down to a price point, and non the worse for that, and as a gun to shoot a few rounds in a duck season as a back up option to provide the user with a double gun why not, an ideal gun for the rough and tumble of the shorelines or river banks.
Start asking them to fire high volumes at clays and they will as pointed out above start to get some wear about them.
I did not mention semi auto above as i had it in my mind we were talking double guns here, but upon reflection the 1100 1187 advice above is sound advice ditto the berettas these guns are tried and tested faults are well known and documented it would be hard for there not to be a Remington 1100 expert on every clay ground in the world and the 300 series Berettas similar they are a known quantity, and you could do far worse than either of these guns.
If you are still about a double for her, older Miroku are available at cheap new gun sort of money, and as long as you ensure you get it checked over by some one in the know, they do last very well, and i must say Berettas 686 series ous are the same but they along with the Berettas tend to fetch a higher premium than the old mirokus.
Winchester 101s are another good gun as are the Nikko Winchesters the 5000s and the like only thing i ever saw wrong with a 101 was ejectors on an old waterfowl i had more down to neglect and too much salt water than a fault of the gun.
And i had a 101 with a crack in the forearm stock they did crack here unfortunately but of course not all.

i started shooting clays in ernest in the 60,s with a borrowed 870TB rem and shot my first 25-25 with it. i now have 8 ,brownings two doubles 20-12, one single shot 12, five o/u,s three 12,s two 20,s . i have owned others,but the brownings fit me. and fit is where its at in the clay games, at least it is for me. eastbank.

RugerBob said:

I have a Stoeger m3000 I use for 3gun. No issues for me. Many are using stoegers.
I only have about 900 rnds through it. Price was a factor when buying for me.

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Stoeger semi's are a totally different animal than their double barrel shotguns. The semi's and pumps are made in Turkey, the others in South America unless something has changed recently. A $400.00 semi is much higher quality than a $600.00 O/U as a rule.

I have owned and would own a Stoeger semi. Stoeger is the last O/U or SxS I would own. They are rough, usually have barrel regulation issues and don't stand up to heavy use.

Budget and O/U simply do not go together. I apologize if this is not the answer that you want to hear but the Stoeger is an inelegant, heavy, poorly pointing shotgun built to a price point that virtually guarantees it will not stand up to volume shooting. As are all other "budget" over unders. Someone mentioned the Baikal. As inelegant and clunky as a T-34 tank. Unlike the Stoeger, it will last a lifetime however.

Having said that, we all have to work to a budget, so your back up plan of looking for a used Italian gun in 20 ga (and shooting 7/8 oz loads) is a good one. Italian stock dimensions tend to be a better fit for most females than say the Brownings, with the possible exception of the Cynergies with the Euro stock Inlfex recoil pad. One exception that I would suggest merits looking at to test fit, is the Franchi Instinct. These seem to be available for @ $1200 and while they are more of a field gun than a high volume target gun, they will stand up to recreating clays volumes. I don't think a GB purchase, unless you are buying a model that she has mounted and fits her well is a good choice. Poor fit is more likely to turn her off shooting than anything.

Also, I wouldn't discount a gas operated semi. There are some very fine semi's, new and used, that may even suit your wife better. Especially if she is of a more petite stature, a 28" 20 ga gas gun can be very soft shooting and, weighing less than on o/u, can be less fatiguing over the course of a Sporting Clays round, for example.