Zenith O/U 12 Gauge at CDNN

[SlowFuse]

Anyone heard or have any experience with these shotguns? I did a quick google search and didn't find a whole lot on them. I realize its probably another Turkish import but it looks good for the price.

https://www.cdnnsports.com/zenith-tedna-se20t-excellence-12-ga-30in-sideplate.html?___SID=U

 

[eastbank]

I,d wait until you hear from a owner-user until i.d buy. and also what will your use be(only hunting-or clays game), a hunting shotgun may only see 4-5 boxes of shells a year while a clays games shotgun may see several hundred rounds a week(200 rounds for me last week end), out of a browning BT-100(over 35,000 so far) and a browning sporting clays limited(over 12,000 so far) with out any problems at all. eastbank.

 

[PapaG]

My TB Rem has a couple hundred thousand through it but I did replace a few parts along the way since '72. Actually, the barrel and stock are original. Don't know how many through my '64 Superposed Lightning.
Buy something with a proven name and record. FWIW, my Browning was 850 a few years back and i got an 870 Classic Trap recently for 550.

 

[MAKster]

Zenith is an American company that imports Turkish made firearms. They recently announced that they will stop selling most of their product line and will now focus on the MP5 types. That is why you are seeing all these deals on CDNN.

 

[IMtheNRA]

Slow Fuse, keep in mind that the importer, Zenith, recently announced that they discontinued most of their imported product lines and sold their inventory to CDNN.

Parts and service will be difficult for these shotguns unless another importer steps in.

 

[SlowFuse]

Thanks for the input, along the lines of what i expected to hear.

Ive been wanting to get an o/u shotgun for a little while but it seems I need to spend about double the price of this example at least to get something decent.

Eastbank to answer your question it would probably only see maybe 500 rounds a year. I like to shoot trap every now and then but its only about 3 to 4 times a year that get to do it.

 

[eastbank]

with no support for warrenty-parts it may be a crap shoot. if you look around at gun shops-gun shows a good used o/u-auto-pump may pop up for only a little more. if you could go to a few clay games shoots I,m sure they would let you handle and shoot a few, I know if you showed up at one of our shoots you would be more that welcome to try a few o/u-auto-pump shotguns at a round or two. we are all ways looking to get new shooters interested in the clay sports. if you do get into the clay games the cost of shells-fee,s will over take the cost of a good shotgun pretty quick. eastbank.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

You're right that it is a good-looking shotgun. That Turkish walnut is beautiful.

I'm wondering whether someone else is importing them under a different name. That might solve your spare-parts issue.

 

[Steve C]

The Turks make good quality firearms, mostly modified copies of top quality firearms. They have modern factories and adhere to the best manufacturing processes.

If I wanted an over under and didn't want to invest the $2,000 for a medium to lower end Browning or Beretta I would take a chance on the Zenith at around $500. You get a 1 year warranty with the purchase so buy it, try it and if it looks like it may have problems sell it and look for something more expensive. If you are lucky and it turns out to be a great gun you got it at a bargain price.

 

[eastbank]

if it looks like it may have problems sell it, right push it off on another person. any shotgun,o/u-doublebarrel made to sell for 500.00 new is more than likely going to cause you trouble in the future. the how good they are crowd are mostly hunters who only shoot a few boxes of shells a year, over the years I have seen quite a few of these so called 500.00 good shotguns go tits up in the field and at the clay games. I have a 850.00 browning o/u bought used and it has over 12,000(480 boxes-4.50 a box=2160.00) rounds thru it shot by me with out any problems and I could sell it today for what I paid for it. any company can warrant any thing, but if they go tits up or their repair station is overseas good luck. there is a browning repair gunsmith 43 miles from my home. cdnn is known for selling factory close outs and firearms that their makers went tits up. eastbank.

 

[joed]

Thanks for the input, along the lines of what i expected to hear.

Ive been wanting to get an o/u shotgun for a little while but it seems I need to spend about double the price of this example at least to get something decent.

Take it from one who learned the hard way, buy once, cry once.

2006 I bought a Ruger Red Label All Weather O/U. It wasn't a well balanced gun but I was happy with it. Shot trap for a year then stopped. It worked through the second year too, third year it was a crap shoot if the lower barrel was going to fire. Found a gunsmith to fix it at the cost of $70. One year later it started not firing again. Another trip to a gunsmith and another $70. That's $140 plus the purchase price of $1100, and each trip to the gunsmith it was gone for 2 months.

The last time it came back the gunsmith said there was nothing wrong with it and it worked fine. So, I took it to shoot trap. Didn't fire 10 shells until it started getting light strikes again.

Took it home and cleaned it. I was now on a quest to get rid of this piece of junk and buy a decent shotgun. Managed to find a shop that let me trade the Ruger and some cash for a Browning Superposed. I didn't even haggle, I'd learned my lesson.

Looking back I could have bought a used Browning for $1100 instead of Ruger junk.

 

[darkcloud]

One thing that seems never brought up is barrel regulation on SxS and O/U shot guns. It is time consuming and adds cost. The Remington Spartan was the only "inexpensive" one I have heard that guaranteed each and every one. No longer made nor serviced by Remington I am not sure of the Remmys manufacturer, Baikal, has the same thing. The higher end guns all regulate the barrels properly to both shoot to the same POI.