TexasCHLforum.com

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:NcongruNT:

You have a Stoeger Condor? You are the only person on the forum that I have seen who
has a Stoeger. I've seen them in the case @ Academy, but don't know a thing about 'em.

Are Stoegers the Turkish guns? Share with us what you know about Stoegers, if you are so
inclined.

SIA

Yes, I have a Condor. They are actually made in Brazil, not Turkey. The Yildiz are the Turkish guns, and you can only find them at Academy.

Stoeger is owned by Benelli, and that was one of the big reasons I bought the gun. As far as utlilitarian O/U guns go, I found them to be the best choice. Remington has a series of inexpensive O/U guns that it sells, but you won't find much info about them, and short of a google search, you won't find them on the Remington site, either. Even then, they don't give MSRP or really any details on the guns. Remington's unwillingness to stand behind these guns publicly is why I declined to go with one. By contrast, you can find everything out about the Stoeger guns from the website, including pricing.

I've been quite happy with my Stoeger so far, and it has performed very well. It is pretty basic, and doesn't have auto-ejectors or a selective trigger. You can get these features (and a nicer finish) in the Supreme versioin of the Condor, for about $200 more. The trigger is a little different, in that the second shot uses the recoil from the first to set. This means that you can't dry fire both barrels like you would a normal single-trigger O/U. You can get the second barrel to fire if you cycle the safety in dry-fire. When shooting live ammo, this isn't an issue, naturally, and the gun has worked flawlessly for me.

Instead of ejectors, it has extractors, which basically pull the shells out far enough to pull them by hand I actually like this for bird hunting, as I don't have to look for my shells to pick them up after I open the action to reload.

The gun appears to be well-made, and all the surfaces mate up beautifully. The gun was very tight when I got it, and required significant effort to open the action. I gave it some gun oil and it loosened up some, and I'm sure it will loosen up more with time. The safety is somewhat gritty, though my guess is that it will probably smooth out with time, as well.

It takes standard screw-in chokes, and comes with one modified and one improved choke installed.

I've found several folks here and online that say they don't last very well past several thousand rounds. Personally, this is a non-issue for me, as I don't shotgun nearly that much, and simply needed a utilitarian O/U for bird hunting a few times a year and the occasional round of skeet. For $350, I find the gun a great value.

I also wrote a blog post about it here:

http://therealnecessities.blogspot.com/ ... ondor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I get the time, I'll be writing another one with my impressions from using it with shooting skeet and dove hunting.

UpTheIrons wrote:

srothstein wrote:
Seriously, I have always thought Cabela's was over priced on most of their weapons, but they do have them in stock.

You haven't spent much time at the Bass Pro Shops gun counter, I take it?

BPS and Cabela's are just about equidistant from me, but I'd rather visit Cabela's. Unless I had a real good coupon for BPS, then I'd think about it. But I'll take McBride's over either, even if it is a fair piece more down the road. And like others have said, Cabela's always seems to have more ammo in stock.

Huh. I prefer Bass Pro over Cabela's, personally. The selection on accessories is far superior, from what I've seen.

For example, duck calls have about triple the selection at the BPS in San Antonio than they do at Cabela's in Buda, and the prices are better. I also was able to find the specific Pachmayr grip for my BHP I was looking for at BPS, while Cabela's has squat. The clothing selection seemed better at BPS, and less pricey at that. The selection of fishing gear at BPS also seems to be quite superior.

I don't have much experience gun shopping at either, aside from the Stoeger Condor I bought from BPS last time I was in SA. The pricing for it was competitive with any other place I could find ($350), including McBride's (they had the same price, in fact).

Speaking of McBride's, They do have a very good selection of guns. Prices to me seem a little high to me, though. Also, ammo there is WAY overpriced, and selection is quite limited. They seem to love carrying Fiocchi, which is overpriced in and of itself. They do have a very good selection of magazines, though and I do buy all my mags there, since they generally have them. Holsters are hit-and-miss, depending on what you want. The mid-range Bianchi stuff is plentiful there, and there's plenty of low-end stuff like Uncle Mike's as well as a good selection of slings and whatnot for long guns.