Weatherby Orion Sporting

[O/U Fanatic]

This is my first post here, but I was just wondering how many of you guys shoot the Weatherby Orion Sporting model 12 ga..

I shoot one for both trap and skeet, and also use the same gun for shooting pheasant and ducks and geese...

To date, I have just over 62,000 rounds through this gun, and it has performed flawlessly. I have never shot a 3" shell through it, and have no intentions to...

Trap and skeet loads vary from 1 oz. loads @ 1,200 fps. to 1 1/8 oz. loads @ 1,300 fps..

One thing that I do very religiously is CLEAN this gun until it is absolutely spotless, after each and every hunt or shoot, and without exception.

Fortunately, this gun fits me like a glove, and handles and swings beautifully.

I have to admit though, that the trigger pull on this gun was quite heavy when I bought it, but I had since had the trigger pull weight adjusted down to 3 pounds, and at least for me, that made it far more enjoyable to shoot...

I adjusted the comb on my gun to allow for an 80/20 pattern, and that works great for both targets and hunting.

For the barrel porting, I took a drill blank, ground one end flat but left the edge around it sharp, so when I go to clean the ports, I just push it through each individual port, and the sharp edge cuts/pushes the carbon fouling through to the inside of the barrel, where it is cleaned out once all of the ports are clean.

Oh, and one last thing. I replaced the factory chokes with target chokes that did not have those big ugly wrench slots at the end of them. The factory tubes did pattern well, but I just flat out did not like the looks of them.

All in all though, at least in my opinion, this is one of the better looking and functioning O/U shotguns on the market, and with a price tag of just under a thousand $$$ you would be hard pressed to get a better or more durable shotgun than the Weatherby Orion Sporting model. I love mine and expect many more years of use and enjoyment out of it.