Stoeger Condor Outback 12g Initial Review

[Domino]

I ordered up a nickel plated Stoeger Outback off Gunbroker for $340 including tax, shipping and transfer while I was overseas and I just got a chance to take it to the range. For those of you who don't know the Stoeger Outback is a short barreled (20") O/U with rifle sights. Its kind of an usual weapon that many of you might not find particularly useful but I picked it up as a potential camp/backpack weapon.

Initial thoughts:

Its lightweight and handles well and the single trigger is inertia driven. It breaks down fast into 3 pieces and can be assembled in about 5 seconds. Unfortunately there is no selector for the trigger and there are no ejectors only extractors. Other than that, it works quiete well and I am happy with it. It works like a 2 shot semi, very fast double taps are possible.

The Range.

Here it is at the indoor range, all shots were taken standing unsuported and as fast as I could get them on target. Ammunition shown in use is Fiocchi low recoil buck shot and Fiocchi low recoil slugs...


Two rounds of buckshot at ten yards...


4 rounds of slugs at ten yards


10 rounds of slugs, 4 at ten, 4 at twenty, and 2 at thirty yards


All in all, I'm happy with it so far, its quite effective and enjoyable to shoot. I would recommend it for those of you looking for something like this.

 

[Ditch-Tiger]

That thing is awesome!
I have wanted one of those since i first saw them in Stoeger's catalog several years back. At the time i was living in Ohio which is shotgun/ML/HG only for deer hunting and my plan was to use it for that and as a range-toy/HD firearm.
It does have screw in chokes, right?
If you ever get around to firing slugs at 50-75 yards, please let me know what kind of accuracy you get from it as it may make me look a little harder for one.

 

[roo_ster]

The inertia system(0) makes it a non-starter, HD-wise or trunk-gun-wise for me.

If it weren't for that, I'd be all over it like white on rice, because the O/U setup would suit me better than SxS.





(0) They have non-inertia mechanism for the lighter-recoiling guns (.410, 28ga). I wonder why they insist on using the less-reliable mechanism?

 

[Jack2427]

Thanks for a very interesting report. I have a blue Outback and I have shot some similiar groups, out to 50 yards the barrels group buck and slugs close enough for deer and other like game. I use mine primarily for HD as I like doubles for that purpose. I have noproblem relying on the inertia system and mine works even with a firm hip hold.

 

[teirst]

I think the problem with the inertia system that most people feel that if the first round does not fire you are left with a club.

If the first round does not fire in this weapon you have 2 options for getting the second barrel to fire. You can either shake the firearm to reset the trigger or I believe that cycling the saftey on and off will work.

This reason is why people like either pump guns or doubles with duel triggers for SD/HD rigs.

This is also the same reason that people like revolvers over semi auto handguns. Sure there is a 99.9999999% chance that your round will go off perfectly, some people are just not willing to risk that .0000001% chance that it will not and they will have to go into "fix the problem" mode rather then "pull the trigger again" mode