Guns Illustrated 2011. Dan Shideler
Combo.
Browning Maxus Sporting Carbon Fiber.
Mossberg Slugger with LPA trigger.
Ithaca’s Phoenix 12-gauge over-and-under. The gun has no soldered parts.
Blaser F3 Super Trap.
Browning Citori 625 four-barrel set.
The Winchester SX3 All-Purpose.
Browning Citori 625 three-barrel set.
Browning Citori Micro.
Browning Citori WHite Lightning.
The Citori 625 Sporting Golden Clays is chambered in 12 gauge with a 2-3/4-inch chamber. Its steel receiver is finished in silver nitride with gold engraving of a game bird transforming into a clay target. The stock has a gloss oil finish on high grade walnut with tight radius grip. Lengthened forcing cones go along with fi ve choke tubes.
The Citori Lightning’s steel receiver has a blued finish and engraving and a gloss finish on its walnut stock and forearm. The Lightning is chambered in 12, 20 and 28 gauge and .410 and comes with three choke tubes. The Citori White Lightning is pretty much the same gun with a silver nitride finish on the receiver.
The Citori Micro has a steel receiver. Its 24 or 26-inch barrels are chambered in three-inch 20 or 12-gauge. The stock is short with a 13-3/4-inch length of pull to match the slender forearm.
More than a few Browning guns are now stocked with a Dura-Touch Armor Coated composite stock and forearm covered with camoufl age:
•The Gold Light and National Wild Turkey Federation’s Gold Light 10-Gauge are covered with Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity.
• The 12-gauge 3 and 3½-inch Browning Pump Shotguns are also covered
• The Cynergy over-and-under 12-gauge with a 3-1/2-inch chamber likewise has a composite stock covered with Mossy Oak Infinity or Duck Blind camo.
Browning’s Cynergy line of over-and-unders is starting to rival the number of its long-established Citori models. The Cynergy Classic Feather Combo has an aluminum receiver and comes with 27-inch barrels in 3-inch 20 gauge and 2-3/4-inch 28 gauge. Three choke tubes come with each barrel set and the whole package fits in a leather case. The Cynergy Classic Field has a steel receiver with a silver nitride finish. The 12 gauge model has engraved pheasants on the left side of the receiver and mallards on the right. The 20 and 28 gauges and .410 are engraved with quail and grouse. The Cynergy Classic Sporting with Adjustable Comb has all that plus ported barrels and ventilated top and side ribs.
The Winchester SX3 Comact.
Mossberg Mini Super Bantam.
Browning Citori 625 Sporting Golden Clays.
The innovative Rossi Circuit Judge revolving shotgun.
Benelli Vinci – just as it comes from the box.
The easily-installed Timney 870 Trigger Fix.
ITHACA
Ithaca is putting its Ladies Stock on its Model 37 pump 20 gauges. The stock has a little less pitch on the butt, a bit more toe out and drop of the comb heel to fit a woman. The gun comes with a 14.25- inch length of pull, but Ithaca will cut the stock to any length requested when ordering a gun. Ithaca’s Mike Farrell said, “I rejected the first four forearms they brought into my office because they were all too big.” The forearm Farrell finally approved is just large enough to fill the hand, yet keep the fingers away from the barrel.
My wife, Gail, picked up a Model 37 Ultralight with a Ladies Stock to shoot a few clay targets thrown by Farrell. Being a typical male, I coached her on fixing her focus on the target and to bring the gun up to the target and fire. Farrell leaned over and said, “Why don’t you just let her shoot.” As fast as Farrell could push the release button on the electric trap, Gail dusted nine targets in a row with the little Ultralight 20-gauge.
As Gail kept shooting, I took the hint and walked over to look at Ithaca’s Phoenix 12-gauge over-and-under that is in production after a year and some of final development. Ithaca starts with a 15-lb. length of steel to make the over-and-under’s barrels. Two pounds of steel remain by the time the barrels are final machined. All that machining leaves behind integral dovetails at the muzzle that lock the barrels together and stanchions for the replaceable rib that is held in place with one screw. The breech end of the barrels are held with a tubular connector. “There is no solder on these barrels,” Farrell said, “and they will never shoot loose or move or warp due to heat or just about anything else.”
It was kind of noisy trying to talk with Farrell, as Gail was in the background, still busting targets with the Ultralight.
MOSSBERG
Mossberg has reduced the size of its Youth model pump and called it the 510 Mini. The .410and 20-gauge Mini both have 18½-inch barrels and a length of pull of 10-1/2 or 11-1/2 inches, 1-1/2 inches shorter than the standard Youth Bantam models. The forearm is also scaled down from the traditional youth size and is easy for short arms to reach.
Mossberg first put its adjustable Lightning Bolt Action triggers on all its bolt-action centerfire rifles. Now the trigger is available on its pump-action guns and is called the Lightning Pump Action (LPA) trigger. The LPA’s pull can be adjusted from under three to seven pounds. The trigger is featured on the Mossberg 500, 535 and 835 Turkey, Slugster and Combo models.
The Just In Case Mossberg 500 pump breaks down into three pieces to store in soft case. To keep it compact, the gun has a synthetic pistol grip stock and 18-1/2-inch cylinder bore barrel. The grip attaches to the receiver with a slotted head bolt. Assembled, the gun measures only 28-3/4 inches in length and holds fi ve rounds in the magazine and one up the spout. Such a compact package