The Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays, Range Tested and Reviewed
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Of all the clay target disciplines, sporting clays remains the most fun. No two courses are the same, and no single course stays the same for long. Variety keeps the game fresh no matter how much you shoot it. Sporting clays makes it terrific practice for field shooting, even if the targets sometimes fly in ways that no real bird ever could. In general, the best shotguns for sporting clays are over/unders or semiautos. They are longer-barreled and heavier than most field guns.
A good sporting clays gun will shoot fairly flat, since so many targets on the course are dropping. There’s actually a fair amount of overlap between, say, a good dove or duck gun and many sporting guns. If you’re looking to get into sporting clays, and to play the game with a gun that gives you the best chance of putting the most Xs on your scorecard, here are some choices.
- Best Entry Level: Weatherby Orion Sporting
- Best Crossover: Benelli Montefeltro Sporting
- Best Dedicated Clays Semiauto: Beretta A400 Xcel
- Best Dedicated Clays Over/Under: Fabarm Elos N2 RS Sporting
- CZ 712 G3
- Beretta A300 Ultima Sporting
- Browning Citori CXS
- Fabarm XLR5 Velocity
- Browning 825
How We Picked the Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays
High-end guns, the kind that start at more than $10,000 and dominate the medals stands, did not make this list. There’s every chance you’ll take up sporting clays for hunting practice and wind up as a hardcore competitive shooter. At that point, you might be in the market for a high-dollar gun. But for those starting out, or for recreational or even semi-serious competitors, you can spend a lot less on a gun, which leaves more money for shells, clays, and lessons.
So, the guns included here cover a wide price range, since some people dip a toe into a new activity and others jump in with both feet. My list includes
Entry Level Guns: These are affordable, dedicated clays shotguns.
Crossover Guns: These are solid options for both hunting and sporting clays.
Dedicated Sporting Guns: These are a little pricier and are designed specifically for clays shooters.
I’ve been shooting shotguns and writing about them for a long time, and I am like a lot of you: I shoot sporting clays regularly, I enter the occasional registered or charity shoot. I like shooting good scores, but for me, sporting clays is primarily a fun way to become a better wingshooter. As such, I don’t need a high-end gun to enjoy the game to its fullest, and neither do you, for now, and perhaps forever. Here, I’ve covered the reasonably priced guns that have served me (and other OL writers) well.
I’ve kept every gun in this list below $5,000, and most fall well below that price range.
Entry Level Guns
Remember, you can shoot your first rounds of sporting clays with your duck gun, and I would recommend that you do just that. Get a feel for the game, be sure you like it. You might also find that your hunting gun is all the sporting clays gun you need. However, if you like sporting enough to look for an affordable, dedicated clays gun, but you don’t want to spend a lot, consider these three.
Best Entry Level: Weatherby Orion Sporting
Pros
- Uses bullet-proof Beretta-style action
Cons
- Bulky forend
Key Features
- Gauge: 12, 20
- Action: Boxlock over/under
- Capacity: 2
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30 inches
- Chokes: Full, Improved Modified, Modified, Improved Cylinder, Skeet
- LOP: 14.625 inches (12-gauge)
- Overall Weight: 7.7 pounds in 12-gauge
- MSRP: $1,249
The Orion Sporting is a well-made gun that comes out of Turkey’s ATA factory, a facility that’s known for making good, affordable target guns. This gun borrows the action design of the Beretta 680 series, which is a very good thing. That action locks up by means of a pair of conical pins that project out of the middle of the bolt face, fitting into recesses on the monoblock. It’s a simple design, it’s rugged, it keeps the gun’s overall profile low, and the pins actually seat deeper as the gun wears.
Around that action the Orion boasts a single-selective trigger to allow you to take full advantage of having two different chokes in the barrels. Those barrels themselves are 30 inches long, with vented top and mid-ribs for rapid cooling. They are also ported to reduce muzzle jump so you can make follow-up shots faster. It has a fiber-optic front bead and comes with a full set of five extended choke tubes. The gloss walnut stock has a full pistol grip and an adjustable comb. The buttpad has a hard plastic insert so it won’t snag on your shoulder if you shoot with a low-gun start. The forend is, admittedly, pot-bellied.
Having shot the gun, I can tell you that the forend profile is only a problem when it comes to the gun’s looks. In hand, it feels fine. It weighs a bit more than 7 ½-pounds in 12-gauge, which is light, but not a bad weight for a sporting gun. The Orion Sporting also comes in a 20-gauge version for those who would like to shoot clays with a lighter gun and a smaller gauge.
CZ 712 G3 Target
Pros
- Great value
Cons
- Twin piston system is outdated
- Threaded barrel nut makes disassembly a very slight pain
Key Features
- Gauge: 3-inch 12-gauge
- Action: Gas semiauto
- Capacity: 3+1
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30 inches
- Chokes: Extended C, IC, M, IM, F
- LOP: 14.5 inches
- Overall Weight: 7.3 pounds
- MSRP: $849
A dependable gas semiauto, the CZ713 G3 makes a good choice for shooters on a budget, and the recoil reduction of its gas system does your shoulder a favor, too. CZ reduces the price of this Turkish-made semiauto in part by making use of older technology. You have to change gas pistons when you switch from light to heavy loads. That feature can be annoying in a do-all hunting gun, but with a target gun, you’ll find the right piston, probably the light-load piston, for ammo you shoot, and you’ll leave it in and never have to think about changing.
The topic of piston changing reminds me that to remove the barrel and forend of this gun you first unscrew the magazine cap, then remove a threaded nut on the magazine tube. It’s a little bit of a pain, but consider it as part of the price you pay for an affordable clays gun.
The G3 has all the features of a sporting gun: adjustable comb, extended chokes, a 30-inch barrel with a white bead and a stepped rib that some shooters believe gives them a better view of the target. The walnut stock has a satin finish that combines with the matte black metal to give this gun an over-all understated look, but it should catch the attention of anyone looking for a great value in a sporting gun.
Beretta A300 Ultima Sporting
Pros
- Proven dependable design
- Good value
Cons
- Bored and threaded for older Beretta choke system
Key Features
- Gauge: 12, 20
- Action: Gas semiauto
- Capacity: 4+1
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30 inches in 12-gauge, 28 inches in 20-gauge
- Chokes: IC, M, F
- LOP: 14.25 inches
- Overall Weight: 7.6 pounds, 12-gauge, 7.2 pounds in 20-gauge
- MSRP: $1,169
The Beretta A300 is a slightly modified, cheaper version of one the great sporting semiautos, the Beretta 391. The guns are made in the US now, and feature an improved gas piston. The Sporting Black is housed in admittedly ugly synthetic furniture, but inside it is the same gun that was the dominant semiauto in sporting clays before the Beretta A400 came along. The A300 comes in 12- and 20-gauges, with a 30-inch barrel in the 12-gauge and a 28-inch in 20. The barrels have front and mid-beads and slightly stepped ribs. The barrels are threaded for Beretta’s older Mobilchoke system, so you don’t get the newest in Beretta barrel design. The guns do come with extended tubes for better patterns and quick changes.
The gas system offers recoil relief, especially when combined with Beretta’s Kick-Off stock-mounted recoil reducer. Kick-Off is essentially a spring shock-absorber that gives, then bounces back, under recoil to soften the kick.
The stock and forend are gray with black paint spattered over them, and set off with a hi-viz green magazine cap and bolt closer. Surface appearance aside, these are guns of great inner beauty. They come with 3-inch chambers and sling swivel studs, so they could make very good duck and dove guns as well as target-breakers. It lists for $1169.
Crossover Guns
If you plan on being a part-time clays shooter and part-time bird hunter, all with one gun, these two models are worth considering. Sometimes it makes good sense to hunt with the gun you’ve been shooting sporting clays with, since that’s probably the shotgun you’re most comfortable shooting.
Best Crossover: Benelli Montefeltro Sporting
Pros
- Light for easy carry in the field
- Inertia system shoots clean and runs in poor conditions
Cons
- More recoil, compared to heavy gas guns
- Ported barrel may be loud in a duck blind
Key Features
- Gauge: 12, 20
- Action: Inertia semiauto
- Capacity: 4+1
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30-inch in 12-gauge, 28-inch in 20-gauge
- Chokes: IC, M, F
- LOP: 14.375 inches
- Overall Weight: 6.7 pounds in 12-gauge
- MSRP: $1,699
If you do more upland hunting than clay shooting, the Montefeltro Sport might make a good choice as your cross-over clays gun. On the downside it is, in my opinion anyway, way too light to be a full-time clay-breaker and the inertia system does little to reduce recoil. But if you want to shoot a few rounds of sporting a year, and then do a lot of pheasant, dove, or duck hunting, this could be your gun. Inertia guns stay cleaner, longer, so it has ease of care going for it.
The 12-gauge is listed around 6.7 pounds. You will feel it go off on the clays course, but the tradeoff is, you’ll be able to carry it all day in the field.
It has a 30-inch barrel that comes with ports to reduce muzzle jump, a stepped rib for a clear view of the target, and extended chokes. The new Montefeltros have softer magazine springs and shell latches, too, making them much easier to load, and that matters when you load 100 shells in an hour for a round of clays or just a few shells on a cold day in the blind. They also have Benelli’s Easy-Locking bolt to prevent a misfire that could cost you a bird or an X. It lists for $1699.
Browning Citori CXS
The Browning Citori CXS is a good choice for sporting clays and hunting.
Pros
- Weight and balance suited to clays, ducks and doves
Cons
- Gloss stock finish shows dings in the field
- Heavy for upland hunting
Key Features
- Gauge: 12, 20
- Action: Boxlock over/under
- Capacity: 2
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 28- 30- or 32-inch
- Chokes: Extended IC, M, F
- LOP: 14 ¾- inches
- Overall Weight: 8 pounds, 6 ounces in 30-inch 12-gauge
- MSRP: $2,599
The Citori CXS has a lot going for it both as a field and as a sporting gun. The Citori design has been around since John Browning drew up the Superposed 100 years ago, so it’s the definition of “time-tested.” Citoris are hefty guns, too, making them a good platform for waterfowl and dove hunting, and for clay target disciplines. The CXS has several target gun features: extended chokes, a palm swell, a trigger shoe that adjusts for length, a soft recoil pad and front and middle beads. At the same time it has a 3-inch chamber and it shoots a flat 50/50 pattern that’s ideal for hunting as well as for skeet and sporting.
It features a high-gloss stock and deep bluing with gold lettering as its only decoration. At 8 pounds, 6 ounces, the 12-gauge is a load to haul into the fields, but you could for, say, pheasants. OL editor Alex Robinson owns a CXS and will occasionally carry it for half-day rooster hunts, especially after he’s been shooting it well on the clays course. The 7 pound, 6 ounce 20-gauge would make a better all-around upland and clays gun.
Dedicated Clays Guns
Best Dedicated Clays Semiauto: Beretta A400 Xcel
Pros
- Ultra-reliable
- Low recoil
Cons
- Slight bulky feel
Key Features
- Gauge: 12, 20
- Gas semiauto
- Capacity: 4+1
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30- or 32-inch
- Chokes: Optima HP C, IC, M, IM, F
- LOP: 14 inches
- Overall Weight: 7.75 pounds
- MSRP: $2199
The Beretta A400 Xcel widely outnumbers all other semiautos put together in any serious sporting clays shoot. Part of the dominance is based on the reputation Beretta semiautos have built ever since the 300 series debuted many years ago. But serious shooters wouldn’t use the A400 if reputation was all it had going for it.
The A400 is a target-breaking machine. A soft-kicking, fast-cycling gas gun with or without its optional Kick-Off recoil reducer, the A400 runs forever between cleanings, handles the lightest to the hottest target loads, and rarely malfunctions.
The older version of the A400 was unmistakable on the course due to its bright blue receiver, but the new version sports a more traditional silvered frame with the bright blue color confined to the bolt body. The gun features Beretta’s Steelium Plus barrel and choke system and Optima Choke HPs for improved pattern performance. The magazine cap has been re-designed to accommodate optional weights if you want to change the gun’s balance. The action spring fits over the magazine tube, so that it’s very easy to clean every part of the gun’s action when needed.
Best Dedicated Clays O/U: Fabarm Elos N2 RS Sporting
Pros
- Great value
- Adjustable comb
- Excellent barrels and chokes
Cons
- Some may not like enamel decoration
Key Features
Gauge: 12
Action: Boxlock over/under
Capacity: 2
Chamber: 3-inch
Barrel Length: 30- or 32-inch
Chokes: Exis HP C, IC, M, IM, F
LOP: 14.875 inches
Overall Weight: 8.25 pounds
MSRP: $3,680
An excellent value in an O/U with adjustable comb, the N2 RS gives you all the features of a competition gun, plus good looks at a reasonable price. Light blue and white enamel accents pop on the matte-blacked frame. It’s a more Euro-look, but not at all unpleasant. The wood is oil-finished walnut with an adjustable comb with very good hardware (not true of all adjustable combs).
As with the XLR5 profiled above, the gun has TriBore barrels and Fabarm’s house-made Exis choke tubes with a unique curved inner geometry in place of the usual conical/parallel choke design. From a totally anecdotal standpoint, I can say that this gun hits targets hard, and that Fabarm has long been known for its barrels and chokes. The N2 RS is an offshoot of the N2, with weight added via denser wood, a solid mid-rib and a bulkier forend. It’s made for shooters who prefer more heft to their sporting gun, where the standard N2 is for those who prefer their gun to be more nimble.
Fabarm XLR5 Velocity
Pros
- Comb, trigger blade and rib all adjust
- Cycles a wide variety of light and heavy loads
Cons
- Not possible to shoot low-gun
- Costs as much or more than many O/Us
Key Features
- Gauge: 12-gauge
- Action: gas semiautomatic
- Capacity: 3+1
- Chamber: 2 ¾-inch
- Barrel Length: 30 inches
- Chokes: C, IC, M, IM, F Exis HP extended tubes
- LOP: 14.75 inches
- Weight: 8 pounds, 4 ounces
- MSRP: $4250
The XLR5 Velocity features a fully adjustable comb, trigger, and rib. It’s a gun designed to be shot pre-mounted, as permitted by modern sporting rules, so this is not a shotgun you’ll see in the dove field. On the clays course, though, it’s deadly – easy to shoot, very soft-recoiling, and able to cycle even the lightest reloads.
The gun features beautifully-polished internal parts for smooth, trouble-free function. The barrel has Fabarm’s Tribore system, a tapered overbore that improves patterns and even increases velocity slightly.
Fabarm, unlike most gun companies, makes its own choke tubes and takes great pride in how they perform. In addition to the stock and rib adjusting, the trigger blade can be adjusted as well to accommodate different-length fingers, and the magazine cap is threaded at the front to take optional weights. The XLR5 has an oil-finished walnut stock and an engraved, silver anodized receiver to make this a good-looking, well fit- and finished shotgun.
Browning 825
Pros
- Lively handling
- Durable action
Cons
- Right-hand palm swell, LH stocks not available
Key Features
- Gauge: 12
- Action: Boxlock over/under
- Capacity: 2
- Chamber: 3-inch
- Barrel Length: 30- or 32-inch
- Chokes: C, IC, M, IM, F Invector DS II
- LOP: 14.75 inches
- Overall Weight: 7.5 pounds
- MSRP: $3,679
The Browning 825 is the latest version of the venerable Citori. The knock on the Citori and the Superposed before it was that the actions were very high and the guns were heavy. And that was true, until the 825’s predecessor came along. With the 725, Browning engineers found ways to trim significant weight from the frame and barrels and also lower the receiver profile, making the gun more responsive and more of a natural pointer.
The 825 features some cosmetic tweaks to make the gun look even sleeker. It has a nitride-finished frame, the richly-blued barrels you expect from any Browning, and oil finished grade III/IV walnut. From a functional standpoint, it has a very-much improved mechanical trigger with excellent pulls.
The barrels are over-bored, with Browning’s Vector-Pro lengthened forcing cones and Invector DS chokes that seal to prevent fouling from wedging in between the bottom of the choke and the barrel. Currently they come in 12-gauge only, with 32- or 30-inch barrels. This is a gun that could take you a long way in sporting clays competition without costing an arm and a leg.
What to Consider in a Sporting Clays Gun
Action
Sporting clays targets are shot as pairs, so your gun has to shoot twice. Most shooters choose either an over/under or a semiauto. Both actions offer a narrower, more precise sight picture than a side by side, and both shoot twice without manual effort, unlike a pump. The O/U has the advantages of greater reliability, easier maintenance, different chokes in each barrel and easier control of empties if you reload your own ammo. Gas semiatuos – by far the most popular semiautos in sporting clays – offer significant reduction in felt recoil.
You can shoot your pump or your side by side, and there are a couple of dedicated sporting side by side models on the market. There are even pump and side by side events at some big shoots. By and large, though, unless you’re eccentric, or a diehard hunter interested in nothing more than keeping in touch with your field gun, you’ll end up shooting an O/U or a semiauto for sporting clays.
Gauge
Twelve-gauge guns dominate sporting clays, and for good reason. The extra payload of a 12-gauge load can make the difference on longer targets. The guns are heavier, making them easier to shoot well, and that weight also tames the recoil of 12-gauge ammo. That said, most targets on most courses fly well within the range of a 20-gauge, and there’s no reason not to shoot a 20 if you’re in this game for fun and practice. Target loads for both gauges are available everywhere and are much more affordable than, say, 28-gauge shells. And, most larger shoots will feature sub-gauge categories. As a beginner, you’re better off starting with a 12-gauge or a 20-gauge.
Weight and Balance
Sporting clays guns used to look like field guns, and 28-inch barrels were standard. Modern shooters have come to prefer the weight-forward balance that longer barrels provide, so most O/Us have 30- or 32-inch barrels, with the latter being more popular. Semiautos, which have longer actions, most often have 30-inch barrels. And, while field guns keep getting lighter, 12-gauge sporting clays guns will weigh 7 ¾ to 8-plus pounds. That weight absorbs recoil an it keeps your movements smooth. Counterintuitively, a heavier gun is easier to shoot quickly, when the need arises. For what it’s worth, I do my best shooting with an old Browning Citori that has 32-inch barrels, balances, as they say, like a pig on a shovel, and weighs close to nine pounds.
Stock
Most sporting guns are stocked similarly to a field gun or a bit straighter. Many shooters like to see a little bit of the rib with the front bead stacked on top of the mid-bead, while others prefer a view flat down the rib. Originally the rules of sporting clays required a low-gun start, but that has since changed to allow pre-mounted guns. As a result, you will see some sporting guns with high ribs and high combs.
Most sporting guns, though, are still stocked in such a way that you could use them in the field. Many sporting guns come with adjustable combs, which can be helpful if you’ve had a hard time finding shotguns that fit you well. This is especially true if you need to offset the comb to the left or right to get your dominant eye over the rib. But not everyone needs an adjustable comb, and they do often add to the price of a gun.
Final Thoughts on the Best Sporting Clays Guns
Sporting clays, like trap and skeet before it, evolved from a game simulating live bird shooting (grouse for skeet, pigeons for trap) into a discipline all its own. In the day, sporting clays was called “hunter’s clays” and sometimes you would shoot from a real boat, to simulate duck hunting, or you might shoot a stand where the targets included differently-colored “poison” bird you weren’t supposed to shoot, as if they were hen pheasants. In the spirit of the game, most people shot their hunting guns.
But any time you start keeping score, people will look for a competitive edge. As the game evolved and became more competitive and more removed from field shooting, the guns changed, too. You can still absolutely bring a hunting gun to the clays course. But once you’re hooked on the game, and you want to see more Xs on your scorecard, you might start thinking about a dedicated clays gun.
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