Recommend me a 20 Bore

[Canopy_Locked]

Coming back to shooting after 30 years and things have changed - especially the number of O/U. I always shot with a s/s but tried an O/U once and found it hugely bulky and heavy - guess things have changed now.

I will be visiting a shooting ground for refresher training, to get my eye back in and try a few different guns , but I'd still like a short list of ones that might be suitable.

I have decided for a number of reasons that I'd prefer 20 bore and looking for recommendations.

Will be mainly used for clays and occasional game. Seems that most modern guns (clay?) have multi interchangeable chokes, which do NOT appeal to me at old - Sorry bit old school but that's my choice.

I guess that for guns with fixed choke you'd be looking at "sporting" as opposed to clay/trap?

I don't remember general shooting have lots of different interchangeable chokes 30 years ago!

Given that O/U will have developed alot over the last 30 odd years, I'm open minded about O/U. Must be ejector. Budget - up to £5k

 

[Luke_(NL)]

Another thing that will have changed is the number of options in the world over O/U's. Even in twenty-bore (a lot less common) there's a world to explore. Have a look on Guntrader, select 20 bore, O/U (or side by side) and the world is your oyster. Brands I'd look at given what I know or have heard in terms of reliability and value-for-money would be Browning, Caesar Guerini, Beretta. There's a good looking 20 Bore CG Maxum among the first results if you limit the range to max 5K, at 4.750 and it isn't bad to look at. Way more important is how the gun fits you, feels to you, and how well you shoot it. Get out there, get back into shooting and try as many guns as you can get your hands on. Several well-known retailers are on shooting grounds (or vice versa) so take your time and compare before you buy.

As for the choke-thing: I'd venture its wholly irrelevant. If you don't want to change chokes, then don't. Nowadays you are likely limiting your options if you are fixed (haha) on not having interchangeables, so my advice would be to have them and just "set and forget" your favorite combination and leave it at that. The only downside would be that you will have to clean them occasionally, but the upside is that you will have more flexibility and can transition to steel when the need arises (and better resale value at that).

If I was to buy a new 20 bore sxs, I'd probably go for a Beretta 486 parallelo (given the 5K budget) but again there are a lot of options out there.

 

[Timfish]

I’ve had a number of 20 (and 28 bores).

CG Maxum 32” was a fantastic gun, but it was a multi choke. Mine was an early one and cost 2k brand new !

Stock was a bit low - but an Isis leather comb raiser fixed that.

Obvious other choices would be Browning/Beretta.

Not so obvious - Rizzini; and you might get a fixed choke one.

 

[MartynB]

Find a nice used Miroku MK60 grade 5 universal sporter in 20gauge . It will come with a 3” chambers and 1/4 & 3/4 fixed chokes , 30 “ barrels and a white front and mid bead . It has a hard plastic butt plate not a rubber pad , and it makes a great game gun , but also very useable on clays . As a fixed choke gun it will not come proofed for steel shot , but in the future easing the 3/4 choke will make it suitable for use with a standard steel load . The gun is also available as a ‘ high pheasant ‘ model with 32” barrels and a slightly different stock configuration .

While you don’t want a multichoke , consider that with steel shot coming you may want to experiment with choke, and a Teague conversion leaves the gun visually unchanged , same lovely slim barrels , that made the gun good in the first place .

They are a bit of a unicorn gun , as once you’ve got one you’re not going to sell it in a hurry , so might take a bit of finding .

About 4 years ago I bought a 12 month old one for £2200 , then spent about £1000 having it fitted and Teague converted .

Note the replacement for this gun is the MK Game , which has Invector plus multichokes as standard , therefore the heavier thicker muzzles with a bit of a swage .. I’ve been having a look on Gun Trader the MK60 20g GD5 is priced between £2300 -£3000 used .