The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

dromia wrote:You also have to factor in the costs of attending, travel, entrance fee, food and drinks etc.

Then of course there are the psychological costs of being with crowds of human beings.

Maybe we don't have such different preferences after all

Dark Skies wrote:As above. Go with a definite list of what you want and DO take the trouble to walk around the entire show to make sure you get the best price for the items on said list. Don't be afraid to haggle - I beat the guy down by fifty quid on my shotgun purchase - which covered the entrance fee, food, and fuel to get there plus a bit spare.

The above is something that's put me off in the past. However if you're buying a new O/U shotgun there's not a great deal that can go wrong.

The only other thing I would add would be to go on the last day of the show and buy as late as possible.

Do you know what you want to buy and will just be looking for the best deal, i.e. Browning, Beretta model x etc, or are you looking to make your choice there?

Fit is important for a shotgun (length of pull, cast, drop etc), and if you are going to be shooting clays predominantly in warm weather then trying different makes models in several layers of winter clothing may not be a good idea.

At the moment it's a bit of toss up between the Browning 525, Beretta Silver Pigeon and one of the similarly priced Miroku O/Us.

I'm going to try them all for size, and see which one is the best fit. My only other real requirement is that I want a manual safety.