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Sporting Clays? | Rizzini BR110 Sporter X w/Adjustable Comb


jabarihunt

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I shot sporting clays for the first time this past weekend and absolutely loved it.  Enough where I'm shopping for a good entry level over/under shotgun.  I was pretty set on the Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon, but as luck would have it, I have an opportunity to purchase a brand new Rizzini BR110 Sporter X w/Adjustable Comb at a once in a lifetime price.  Does anyone here have any first hand experience with the Rizzini???

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I have shot the some of the different Rizzini  shotguns . The price point and the feel are pretty good! With that being said I'm 6'6 and I did not want to spend thousands of dollars on a custom shotgun. I searched 4 months shooting Berettas, Browning, CeasarGuerini , Blaser, Krieghoff and Perazzi. I ended up with a used Perazzi and I have never regretted it except for the initial sticker shock. With that being said you get what you pay for.  Every Shotgun had a different feel.

 

A-lot of clubs have demo days where you can try out the different shotguns . If you enjoy the sport and are going to spend the money. Try before buying. Once you shoot a few thousand rounds though the shotgun you can fine tune it to your size.

 

Once you narrow down a brand or model you can search for that specific model for either demo or used. Keep in mind a lot of the high end shotguns give discounts for first responders or Military. Always ask

 

Included is the website for Caesar Guerini as an example for demo days each brand will usually the dates are listed....

 

https://gueriniusa.com

 

Hope that helps

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I think the best way to go into this would be with the expectation that what ever your first gun is, it will not be your last.  

 

I have had a Ruger, Beretta's, CG's.  I have shot Blaser's, Krieghoff's, Brownings, Rizzini's and several others.  They are all great shotguns.  Every time I thought I was where I wanted to be, something else popped up. Had I known what I know then that I know now, it would have saved me a ton, but the trip has been fun.

 

I like to see who is selling a brand, who the stocking dealers are.  Elite Shotguns is a stocking Rizzini dealer, very reputable, that tells me Rizzini is a good brand.  

 

So, if I were to suggest anything for a sporting shotgun, get one that you like the feel of, get one that is a "Sporting" model, has an adjustable comb (monte carlo is fine, but not parallel), that has choke tubes, that has a flat or medium height rib (I prefer flat), and get 32" barrels.

 

If you like the way it feels, don't be afraid.  Get lessons with an NSCA certified coach, they can help you determine if your gun really fits you as well as you think it does.  They can also help start you off right.

 

Buy ammo by the flat anytime possible (8's and/or 7.5's, 1oz (1200-1300fps) or 1-1/8oz. (1200-1250fps) and have fun!

 

Didn't really answer your question even slightly, did I... haha

 

Have fun and good shooting.

 

wg

 

 

Edited by Wild Gene
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On 4/30/2021 at 11:29 AM, Sparten8654 said:

I have shot the some of the different Rizzini  shotguns . The price point and the feel are pretty good! With that being said I'm 6'6 and I did not want to spend thousands of dollars on a custom shotgun. I searched 4 months shooting Berettas, Browning, CeasarGuerini , Blaser, Krieghoff and Perazzi. I ended up with a used Perazzi and I have never regretted it except for the initial sticker shock. With that being said you get what you pay for.  Every Shotgun had a different feel.

 

A-lot of clubs have demo days where you can try out the different shotguns . If you enjoy the sport and are going to spend the money. Try before buying. Once you shoot a few thousand rounds though the shotgun you can fine tune it to your size.

 

Once you narrow down a brand or model you can search for that specific model for either demo or used. Keep in mind a lot of the high end shotguns give discounts for first responders or Military. Always ask

 

Included is the website for Caesar Guerini as an example for demo days each brand will usually the dates are listed....

 

https://gueriniusa.com

 

Hope that helps

 

I pulled the trigger on the Rizzini, mostly for the same reason Wild Gene listed below in the very first sentence...

 

On 5/1/2021 at 10:48 AM, Wild Gene said:

I think the best way to go into this would be with the expectation that what ever your first gun is, it will not be your last.  

 

I have had a Ruger, Beretta's, CG's.  I have shot Blaser's, Krieghoff's, Brownings, Rizzini's and several others.  They are all great shotguns.  Every time I thought I was where I wanted to be, something else popped up. Had I known what I know then that I know now, it would have saved me a ton, but the trip has been fun.

 

I like to see who is selling a brand, who the stocking dealers are.  Elite Shotguns is a stocking Rizzini dealer, very reputable, that tells me Rizzini is a good brand.  

 

So, if I were to suggest anything for a sporting shotgun, get one that you like the feel of, get one that is a "Sporting" model, has an adjustable comb (monte carlo is fine, but not parallel), that has choke tubes, that has a flat or medium height rib (I prefer flat), and get 32" barrels.

 

If you like the way it feels, don't be afraid.  Get lessons with an NSCA certified coach, they can help you determine if your gun really fits you as well as you think it does.  They can also help start you off right.

 

Buy ammo by the flat anytime possible (8's and/or 7.5's, 1oz (1200-1300fps) or 1-1/8oz. (1200-1250fps) and have fun!

 

Didn't really answer your question even slightly, did I... haha

 

Have fun and good shooting.

 

wg

 

 

 

As you stated in your first sentence, my thinking is also that this will not be my last shotgun.  That being the case, I figured if I can get the Rizzini at an outstanding price (cheaper than a new Silver Pigeon by a few hundred dollars) and can make it fit me well enough, It will be more that adequate until I gain a lot more experience shooting clays and make a much more informed decision before dropping serious coin on a better shotgun.  That said, I believe it checks all of the boxes you suggested as far as features (sporting model, 5 choke tubes, 32" barrel), except for two.  The Rizzini I ordered I believe is considered a "raised" rib (picture below).  Maybe that is considered a "medium" rib, but I took "medium" to mean what I thought was "stepped".  Apologies for the ignorance, I'm still learning over/under terminology.  It also has an adjustable comb, but I believe it's parallel rather than a monte carlo stock.

 

I have lessons lined up already!

 

 

rizzini_br110_sporter_x_1000.jpg

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Though I've never been a serious claybird shooter, except in the back pasture when I lived in Oklahoma and Kansas, I've always wanted one. They just look so. . .classic.

 

Good on you for making it happen for yourself.

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2 hours ago, ima45dv8 said:

Though I've never been a serious claybird shooter, except in the back pasture when I lived in Oklahoma and Kansas, I've always wanted one. They just look so. . .classic.

 

Good on you for making it happen for yourself.

 

Thanks!  I did always love the "classic" or regal look of them.  Honestly though, I never thought I'd have a serious interest until I actually shot it a couple of weeks back.  What I envisioned it being was something similar to skeet (which I liked as well), but sporting clays is a different animal.

 

My shotgun should be here this week sometime.  I plan to hit the range when it comes in, I'll report back!

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I only ever shot one round of sporting clays. It was in Kentucky at an industry event at Rock Castle. One of my associates even offered me the loan of some high-zoot scatterguns of hers (don't remember make and model), and she had been big into that stuff for a while so I knew they were good guns. I decided to stick with my 3-gun blaster I had brought along. It was a mostly stock M1 Super90 Practical. The only mods were a 6-round side-saddle and a match-saver on the magazine, and I had added a mag extension to bring it up to 9+1. The side-saddle was loaded. 

 

 I got coached on leads and trajectories and such for sure, but my 18" shooter more than did it's part whenever I did mine. They had me so scared about being undergunned I had a genuine laugh every time I broke one.

 

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7 hours ago, jabarihunt said:

As you stated in your first sentence, my thinking is also that this will not be my last shotgun.  That being the case, I figured if I can get the Rizzini at an outstanding price (cheaper than a new Silver Pigeon by a few hundred dollars) and can make it fit me well enough, It will be more that adequate until I gain a lot more experience shooting clays and make a much more informed decision before dropping serious coin on a better shotgun.  That said, I believe it checks all of the boxes you suggested as far as features (sporting model, 5 choke tubes, 32" barrel), except for two.  The Rizzini I ordered I believe is considered a "raised" rib (picture below).  Maybe that is considered a "medium" rib, but I took "medium" to mean what I thought was "stepped".  Apologies for the ignorance, I'm still learning over/under terminology.  It also has an adjustable comb, but I believe it's parallel rather than a monte carlo stock.

 

I have lessons lined up already!

 

 

rizzini_br110_sporter_x_1000.jpg

 

The comb on your stock is a standard, sloped profile.  Neither parallel nor monte carlo.  It will do just fine.  In any case the advice to not buy parallel or monte carlo style stocks for sporting clays is not ironclad.  Every body type is different and you don't have to start with a low (dismounted) gun anyway.

 

The height of the rib is a non issue also.  You can adjust the eye to rib relationship with the comb and in any case, you will not be looking at the rib not at the bead on the end of it.  When you go for your lesson, make sure the instructor is NSCA trained, and have him or her help you fit the gun to yourself.  If the fitting doesn't include shooting at a pattern board, it wasn't a good one.  And don't hesitate to experiment with different percentages of shot pattern above/below point of aim.

 

The standard advice is to have half the pattern above and below POA for sporting clays, but I found out that I was much more effective with a nearly 70/30 pattern, even on shots below my feet or dropping.  It's just how my brain likes to see lead., I guess.  Point being, never, ever take anything as gospel until you try it yourself.  Guidance: yes.  Ironclad law: no.

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6 hours ago, ima45dv8 said:

I only ever shot one round of sporting clays. It was in Kentucky at an industry event at Rock Castle. One of my associates even offered me the loan of some high-zoot scatterguns of hers (don't remember make and model), and she had been big into that stuff for a while so I knew they were good guns. I decided to stick with my 3-gun blaster I had brought along. It was a mostly stock M1 Super90 Practical. The only mods were a 6-round side-saddle and a match-saver on the magazine, and I had added a mag extension to bring it up to 9+1. The side-saddle was loaded. 

 

 I got coached on leads and trajectories and such for sure, but my 18" shooter more than did it's part whenever I did mine. They had me so scared about being undergunned I had a genuine laugh every time I broke one.

 

 

Coincidentally, I also had an 18" semi-auto that I brought (Mossberg 930 SPX), but I wound up not using it as I wanted to test as many different over/unders as I could.  This Sunday I'll compare/contrast.  I know the recoil of the semi-auto will be lighter, though I'm not really recoil sensitive anyway.  I think the biggest benefit will be in tracking.  The 32" barrels should be easier to track clays on longer shots.  Hopefully I don't figure out that I spent a good chunk of cash for nothing! 😆

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That APPEARS to be a mid rib style gun.  It should be fine, and actually can help on trap style targets.  I had a mid ribbed gun and have friends that shoot them very effectively on the Sporting range.  The trend among the Master Class shooters is Flat rib, although there are still some using the mid height rib.  

 

The trend among Master class shooters is also straight (yet sloped) stock or Monte Carlo.  These are not to be confused with a parallel comb.  The sloped comb allows for the amount of flesh contacting the stock. In a shot fairly level the cheek contacts the comb slightly less than halfway from nose to heel. Incline the gun up and there is substantially less flesh under the zygomatic arch. The higher dimensions of the nose keep your eye in the same orientation to the rib. On a target presented well below your feet the cheek hits the stock substantially farther back toward the heel. Much more flesh between the center of your eye and the rib. The lower dimension makes allowance for this and keeps your eye at the same height to the rib. There's a reason that trap and skeet guns do well with parallel combs...the angle of the barrels are barely elevated. Sporting guns have to cope with a much wider variety of angles presented.  (I believe this is paraphrased from a discussion between Andy Duffy, Anthony Matarese and Zach Kienbaum.)

 

To address the statement about looking at the beads.  Basically the beads are there to check your mount.  You should be aware of where the barrel is in relation to the bird, but if you look at the bead, you're generally going to stop your barrel and miss behind the bird.  Some of the best Sporting Clays shooters I know have a mount that is so refined, they have actually removed the mid bead and used it to replace the front bead.

 

Good shooting and again, it won't be your last sporting shotgun.

 

wg

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4 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

 

The comb on your stock is a standard, sloped profile.  Neither parallel nor monte carlo.  It will do just fine.  In any case the advice to not buy parallel or monte carlo style stocks for sporting clays is not ironclad.  Every body type is different and you don't have to start with a low (dismounted) gun anyway.

 

The height of the rib is a non issue also.  You can adjust the eye to rib relationship with the comb and in any case, you will not be looking at the rib not at the bead on the end of it.  When you go for your lesson, make sure the instructor is NSCA trained, and have him or her help you fit the gun to yourself.  If the fitting doesn't include shooting at a pattern board, it wasn't a good one.  And don't hesitate to experiment with different percentages of shot pattern above/below point of aim.

 

The standard advice is to have half the pattern above and below POA for sporting clays, but I found out that I was much more effective with a nearly 70/30 pattern, even on shots below my feet or dropping.  It's just how my brain likes to see lead., I guess.  Point being, never, ever take anything as gospel until you try it yourself.  Guidance: yes.  Ironclad law: no.

 

Thank you for the outstanding advice!  Yes, the instructor I'm meeting is NSCA certified.  Also, a larger pattern above kinda makes sense to me as well.  Like you said though, I'm sure that will be something that I'll decide for myself in the coming weeks.  I'll report back with an update!

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2 hours ago, jabarihunt said:

Coincidentally, I also had an 18" semi-auto that I brought (Mossberg 930 SPX), but I wound up not using it as I wanted to test as many different over/unders as I could.  This Sunday I'll compare/contrast.  I know the recoil of the semi-auto will be lighter, though I'm not really recoil sensitive anyway.  I think the biggest benefit will be in tracking.  The 32" barrels should be easier to track clays on longer shots.  Hopefully I don't figure out that I spent a good chunk of cash for nothing! 😆

Just to be clear, I was in no way suggesting the gun I used was optimal, or even good enough. 

If it was, that's all you see the folks at those events using.

 

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1 hour ago, Wild Gene said:

That APPEARS to be a mid rib style gun.  It should be fine, and actually can help on trap style targets.  I had a mid ribbed gun and have friends that shoot them very effectively on the Sporting range.  The trend among the Master Class shooters is Flat rib, although there are still some using the mid height rib.  

 

The trend among Master class shooters is also straight (yet sloped) stock or Monte Carlo.  These are not to be confused with a parallel comb.  The sloped comb allows for the amount of flesh contacting the stock. In a shot fairly level the cheek contacts the comb slightly less than halfway from nose to heel. Incline the gun up and there is substantially less flesh under the zygomatic arch. The higher dimensions of the nose keep your eye in the same orientation to the rib. On a target presented well below your feet the cheek hits the stock substantially farther back toward the heel. Much more flesh between the center of your eye and the rib. The lower dimension makes allowance for this and keeps your eye at the same height to the rib. There's a reason that trap and skeet guns do well with parallel combs...the angle of the barrels are barely elevated. Sporting guns have to cope with a much wider variety of angles presented.  (I believe this is paraphrased from a discussion between Andy Duffy, Anthony Matarese and Zach Kienbaum.)

 

To address the statement about looking at the beads.  Basically the beads are there to check your mount.  You should be aware of where the barrel is in relation to the bird, but if you look at the bead, you're generally going to stop your barrel and miss behind the bird.  Some of the best Sporting Clays shooters I know have a mount that is so refined, they have actually removed the mid bead and used it to replace the front bead.

 

Good shooting and again, it won't be your last sporting shotgun.

 

wg

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification on parallel vs sloped adjustable combs!  That makes perfect sense now.  As far as replacing the front bead with the smaller middle bead, I noticed that on a couple of the guns I fired.  Others had both or just the front original bead.  Not sure which of the three I like yet, but my new gun only has a front bead so I guess it will be a non issue initially.

 

Thanks again!

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1 hour ago, ima45dv8 said:

Just to be clear, I was in no way suggesting the gun I used was optimal, or even good enough. 

If it was, that's all you see the folks at those events using.

 

 

I figured that.  They are fun though!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I really like my 686. I had an Rizzini single barrel trap gun and it was not near the quality of my Beretta. I believe there are 3 Rizzini brothers, mine was made by Isadore Rizzini, which from what I read was not the top of the line. It did go bang every time I pulled the trigger, it just felt cheap. 

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if you have good form, barrel length makes no difference. gun fit is #1 followed closely by shooting form. barrel length mostly affects the balance of the gun (ie how it swings).  if you can get the gun properly fit to you recoil will be minimized, and the gun will hit where you are looking. after that master your form, stance , swing, not swinging with your arms, but your body, and not lifting your head off the gun. if the first thing your instructor does isnt checking your gun fit, go find a new coach. gun fit, and form apply to all clay pigeon games the same.

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On 5/14/2021 at 11:57 PM, lefty o said:

 the gun doesnt know the difference if it has an 18" or 32" barrel.

 

It's a property called moment of inertia.  An 18 in gun won't have the same as a 32

 

You can swim upstream if you want.

Edited by SGT_Schultz
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