Janski

A lesson probably would be money well spent however it's worth remembering that once you move beyond the very basics many coaches are discipline specific. A good sporting coach may not be much use as a trap coach or vice versa.

pedro

Hi Bob and Janski,

I am writing to you from South Africa. I am busy purchasing a shotgun and seeing that it's my 1st one , i am confused between a Browning 2nd hand 425 with approx 1000 rounds or the new baretta 686 E.
What is your opinion? the price difference is approx less 40 % for the 2nd hand., but that also does not concern me too much.

regards Pedro

Graham M

Buy the S/H Browning. It will only just be running-in after 1000 rounds.
G.M.

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Never argue with an idiot, he’ll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience!!!

MikeB

Buy the one that fits you! If they both do, then follow Graham's advice - buy the gun which has already depreciated in value, rather than the Beretta where you'll have to stand the cost of depreciation when you come to trade it in.

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It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

clayman21

Snap caps are completely superfluous in today's modern guns.

Fine old handmade guns had leaf springs hammered out of folded and layered steel, and releasing tension did lengthen the life of what was essentially a poor quality spring metal.

Todays springs in your gun are made of the same material as the valve springs in your car. In one hour those valve springs will go through 100,000 reciprocations, but I dont notice many people letting off their head bolts off in the car park to relieve the springs in their motors! My wife's Mercedes has done 1/4 million miles without the head off - thats about 60 million valve reciprocations, and the valve springs are fine.
If you fire 100,000 carts in your gun in its lifetime it would be a well used gun, thats 100 targets every weekend for 20 years, and the springs should still be good for another million + firings - so why are you bothering with snap caps?

Also, its the firing pin that wears, and snaps have a habit of shortening their life. A hard or stuck snap can chip or break a firing pin.

On another side, the CPSA firmly believes that as there is little or no benefit in using them for storage (there is a legitimate uses for dry fire training by instructors, and action testing by gunsmiths), and there are a number of recorded accidents where persons have mistaken cartridges for snaps with sometimes fatal consequences, that safety must completely overide the low cost and remote possibility that you will not need to replace a spring as a result of using the snaps.
So why does the myth that you need snaps persist? Simple commercialisation by gun shops, if they sell you a gun, they make very little on it, their profits come out off all the extras they sell with it, snaps included, so they are not going to discourage you if you request them!
Jerry