Friend bought a side-by-side made in Turkey, reasonably priced and he likes it for trap shooting. Anyone know about shotguns made in Turkey? I'm looking for one to use pheasant hunting.

There are many shotguns manufactured in Turkey and marketed through companies like Weatherby and CZ. Auto ejectors start to show up in the guns priced around the $1000 range. I own a Weatherby Orion o/u and use it mostly as a loner on our hunts for the few that don’t have guns of their own. It is a fantastic shotgun especially for the money, has auto ejectors, and is beautifully finished. They also make a SxS that is a fantastic bargain at 1k MSRP. CZ makes cheaper alternatives but most of those do not have auto ejectors. The nice thing about Weatherby and CZ is they carry their warranty.

I have a CZ Bobwhite (side by side) in 28ga that was manufactured by Huglu in Turkey. It's my go to bird gun and has been since dove season 2014. No complaints at all. Great looking and great function. Has provided many dinners. Liked it so much I bought a 20ga a couple months later for wabbits. It, too, is well received and as mentioned above, they carry CZ's warranty.

They are putting out some surprisingly nice stuff.
I think some Winchesters are made in Turkey now.

Beretta owns (thru the Stoeger name) a plant in Turkey

Winchester has a branded shotgun (contracted by FN, Winchester is just a name) that is good

Weatherby, Mossberg and others have contracted a few good shotguns

Dickenson and a few others have great shotguns made in Turkey,

SKB is now a Turkish made shotgun

all good


and there is a pile of crap shotguns as well,

Hatfield comes to mind


do your reseach on the brand names if you are inteested

Stoeger good? Depends on what day of the week the damn thing was made.

Over the years we've had plenty of negative reports on the Stoegers that we've sold. We've more than a few that we've had to send back to Benelli (Stoeger's overseer) for repair work. We've had a couple come back that were even worse than they were prior to being sent back for warranty repair. Friends don't let friends buy Stoeger, so the saying goes.

That said, it seems that Benelli has been more proactive about watching over Stoeger's quality control over more recent years. More customers have been saying that their Stoeger pumps and semiautos have been running without issues. There still seems to be some issues with some of their break-action shotguns. The coach SBS guns still seem to have dead triggers, particularly the one for the right barrel. There have also been firing pin issues as well, which seem to stem around the parts being made from substandard metals.

The owner of our shop has consciously chosen not to sell any of their O/U guns so I haven't developed any sort of knowledgebase--accurate or incorrect--about those guns. We have done special orders for some of them, like the Double Defense and Condor variants, but have yet to hear back from any customer on how they actually perform.

I would tend to beware of their el cheapo guns ($400 and under).

I have a Yildiz 12ga O/U, a 20ga O/U Khan, Tri Star 20ga semi auto, TR Imports 20ga semi auto, and a 12ga Weatherby semi auto. They all work, and for the money, have a decent level of quality. I also have Remington, Beretta, and Benelli shotguns. The Turkish guns in most cases aren't up to that level of quality, but they're close, especially the Weatherbys.

quote:

Originally posted by monoblok:
Stoeger good? Depends on what day of the week the damn thing was made.

Over the years we've had plenty of negative reports on the Stoegers that we've sold. We've more than a few that we've had to send back to Benelli (Stoeger's overseer) for repair work. We've had a couple come back that were even worse than they were prior to being sent back for warranty repair. Friends don't let friends buy Stoeger, so the saying goes.

That said, it seems that Benelli has been more proactive about watching over Stoeger's quality control over more recent years. More customers have been saying that their Stoeger pumps and semiautos have been running without issues. There still seems to be some issues with some of their break-action shotguns. The coach SBS guns still seem to have dead triggers, particularly the one for the right barrel. There have also been firing pin issues as well, which seem to stem around the parts being made from substandard metals.

The owner of our shop has consciously chosen not to sell any of their O/U guns so I haven't developed any sort of knowledgebase--accurate or incorrect--about those guns. We have done special orders for some of them, like the Double Defense and Condor variants, but have yet to hear back from any customer on how they actually perform.

not all Stoegers are Turkish

the O\U and SxS (coach guns) are Brazilian made, and quite a bit Clunky, almost as much as the older Baikal shotguns that Remington imported

the semi autos and pumps are Turkish

not heard much bad about the semi autos or pumps

I've got a TriStar (Armsan) that I have probably put 3K 12GA shells through shooting clays. Never a hiccup.

Got a side-by-side, double trigger, CZ 12 gauge. Very nice finish and look forward to trying it out on some clays. Turks made a very fine looking shotgun.

Don't forget where all that high-class Circassian walnut come from, either. I once looked at a walnut blank from Turkey at Purdey's factory that was going to add fifteen thousand dollars to the already seventy-five thousand dollars for the metal bits.

Generally, you get what you pay for. In the shotgunning world, making the gun go bang is actually one of the easier things to accomplish. The main things you are sacrificing are fit and finish, consistently better gun dimensions and ergos, and then the metal in the locks is likely cheaper and more likely to break. That might not be for 25,000 rounds, though, and many people will not shoot them enough to break them. But on a higher end gun, that number might be over 100,000 rounds. And then lastly, the ability to find parts and fix them. So there are certainly many differences but they may all be academic depending on how you will use the gun.

I started doing the Shotgun Sports in 2018 at the prompting of my nephew. First gun was a CZ 20 gauge which I still have and shoot just for the good memories it brings. Back in 2021 I was prodded into shooting Skeet by a couple of club members who were into doing Competition Skeet. One we will call Mike and I've watched him win the 28 and 20 gauge State Championship on several occasions and his gun of choice is a CZ Redhead Premier Target, a model that has proven to Fit him perfectly. At present he ahs two of these guns because a Spare can prove essential if you primary goes down at a Registered shoot.

Note, I shoot Beretta SP III's in 410 and 28 because Heart disease has limited my strength and this particular model also provides a perfect fit for me and is light enough to allow me to compete. If you want an example of poor manufacturing quality they all you have to do is purchased a Beretta. At one point I had Beretta's in 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and the 28/410 combos. The only one that functioned properly out of the box was the 12 gauge. Every other Beretta was delivered with a Stuck Safety. A very common fault caused by an interference fit between the top tang of the receiver and the retaining pin for the safety tab. What it means is you have to use a hammer and punch to turn the safety off. Fortunately skills learned and tools acquired as a Manufacturing Engineer for 42 years makes fixing this issue very easy. It also tells me that Beretta is NOT an ISO certified manufacturer and that Beretta is specifically NOT testing for this defect because doing so would create backups on the production line for assembling these guns. Overall I like Beretta because they are very well designed, easy to work on, and I have lots of spares for wear items. However my experience as a Manufacturing Engineer it an environment where 1 part in 1 million is the acceptable maximum defect rate has left me with a poor tolerance for piss poor quality and Beretta has piss poor quality.

In regards to CZ quality, I have yet to see one single CZ with a functional defect. Yeah, they aren't that pretty in regards to superficial items like engraving, and the triggers may be a bit heavy but these won't stop the gun from being used. So, take your pick, get a Beretta that looks lovely or get a CZ you don't have to ship back to the factory straight back to Beretta for a repair.

Just had a very fun few days with my CZ Bobwhite 20ga SxS with double trigger. Pheasant tower shoot Saturday and quail Tuesday. The gun has performed very well, is well made, points well and is really a pleasure. As mentioned above, made by Huglu in Turkey.

As a friend of mine once noted: The Turks have been making guns and fighting outsiders and each other for centuries, I think they have it figured out.

quote:

Originally posted by TampaSIG:
Just had a very fun few days with my CZ Bobwhite 20ga SxS with double trigger. Pheasant tower shoot Saturday and quail Tuesday. The gun has performed very well, is well made, points well and is really a pleasure. As mentioned above, made by Huglu in Turkey.

As a friend of mine once noted: The Turks have been making guns and fighting outsiders and each other for centuries, I think they have it figured out.

they do good shotguns, and good HK clones, however, they also make some crap,

so buyer beware, do your research, and make sure whatever brand you are buying is good

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket: That might not be for 25,000 rounds, though, and many people will not shoot them enough to break them. But on a higher end gun, that number might be over 100,000 rounds.

Reminds me about taking an older shooter to London a few years back to have his pair of family Purdeys checked over for the upcoming season. They'd been delivered to his GGfather around 1890 or so, and used every year since then, in spite of the two wars slowing down their use somewhat. The gentleman in the office checked over the history book that they keep for every gun or pair of guns they ever made, compared it to Colin's shooting register, and announced that a celebratory drink was in order - they had recently passed the 1.5 million shot watermark. Bear in mind that much of the 'heavy use' had been prior to 1914, with a daily average use of around 350 shots with each gun.

They both looked very much as they had done back in 1890 - utterly gorgeous in their very understated way, and still worth every penny of their £100,000 current value.