Stoeger Longfowler Side by Side Question

G

Gerald N

Active member
OK, while on the subject with another post about side by sides, I have been tossing the idea about getting one and really hate to spend a bunch of money on an idea I am not entirely committed to-never shot a side by side in all my years. Also I hate to spend big money on a gun that gets as wet with salt water as the sole of my waders. I am hard on my guns in the field but they always get taken care of at home. Nice wood and metal finishes will not last long and that is why I am thinking about the Stoeger Side by Side Longfowler as a starter and was curious if anyone has any experience. I know it is a low low end gun but for the list price I will not be afraid to use it. I know good side by sides you get what ya pay for but I do not want to buy a $1200-1500 low end starter to beat on when I may not like the way that style of gun shoots. I had a nice wood stock and high gloss Browning shotgun I sold because it was to nice to take out in the marsh and ruin its appearance. Looking for a work horse and other option I am looking into sorry to say also is the CZ Bobwhite.

Thanks
 
Although I'm a Model 12 guy - I did shoot a few side-by-sides earlier on. I sold a very nice Parker GHE last year - because I would not use it under gunning conditions and so had no use for it.

I think the CZ Bobwhite and Ringneck are nice guns - at least from what I can see on their website. I would love to see one in the flesh and actually handle it. Like so much of this sport, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Best of luck on the hunt for your next gun - and at least hold an older Model 12 and work its action!

SJS
 
Ive have been looking into getting a SxS as my second duckgun. The Longfowler looks like it would be good for the money, i havent handled one yet though.
For pheasant i shoot either a 20 or 12 ga Sterlingworth which are great but i dont want to take them anywhere near saltwater.
 
I'll suggest a gun that is bound to start a discussion. The Spartan SxS. It was a Russian built gun sold by Remington. My father bought the 20 ga coach gun (don't ask me why) and I used it for 2 seasons for jump shooting. What a great gun. It was hard to open the first couple of hundred times, but I have no doubt its not going to shoot loose either. If he hadn't asked for it back, I'd still be shooting it.

John
 
Thanks Steve, Ian and John,

Honest answers and for Steve letting me know my concerns about a gun to nice for the marsh are shared by others. Trying to find a shop within a few hours of my house that has either to hold and that is what is making it even tougher. I refuse to buy a shotgun without shouldering it. Especially since I have shot the same model shotgun since 1990 at everything from ducks to deer and coyotes to crows. I have four of the same model each with its own purpose but the non-waterfowling guns are seeing less use with each year as I appreciate waterfowling more and more like the old days when I first started hunting and felt guilty taking one day off duck hunting to sit in the woods for deer.


The hard part with the Stoeger is the long barrels as I tend to go short with my longest barrel at 26 inches.
 
Although I have not owned any of the economy S x S I have had considerable experience with entry level OU. I would not get a Stoeger. Of the 3 I have hand first hand experience with over the past 5 years none are currently still in use. I bought one as a training gun for shooting flyers and poppers. Safety was so tight I could barely get the thing to move and the trigger pull was horrible. I ended up taking the gun apart and polishing the sears and cutting down a safety spring. It was such a POS I gave it away. My friends is now experiencing light firing pin strikes in cold weather and the other shot okay but was 'shot out' after 1500 round or so of sporting clays and has been cut down to serve as a home defense gun. I then tried the cheapest CZ OU I believe the Mallard which also had a horrible trigger pull and despite stoning the sears I could not get it to my satisfaction. Sold that one as well.
.........
IMO - I would look at the Turkish guns
Mossberg Silver Reserve or
Mid grade CZ's I saw some of these at a hunt test and the guys really liken them
Spartans
Any of the Spanish guns - city of Eibar has several guilds that sell under multiple names
or an older Stevens, Savage, Sears etc
.......
Remember Greeners rule of 96 - the gun should weight 96x the weight of the load you are shooting. 1 3/8 or heavier loads in a 6.5 lb gun will beat you up if you are recoil sensitive.
........
Good Luck

,,
 
I bought a Stoeger Uplander for all the same reasons. It was cheap $299, I don't want to ruin finish on expensive gun, and I wanted to go back to a sxs. The best thing I ever did. I shoot it well, and it always goes boom when it is suppose to.
 
Tom,
You had a Ringneck didn't you? I've heard the triggers can be crappy on them but have always heard they have great customer service.

I've been looking for a SxS and the one thing I keep hearing is don't get a lower cost SxS with a single trigger. Too complicated to do that on the cheap. Aren't real doubles suppose to have two triggers anyways. :)

Anyone ever have one of those American Arms Turkey Specials (I think they did a waterfowler also)? I see one on Gun Broker every once in a while in 10 or 12 ga. I wouldn't want to think about a 3 1/2" out of a SxS but they do look stout.

Tim
 
I have an o/u american arms waterfowler in 12g. It's a decent low end gun, however, over the years, the 3 1/2 shells have cracked the stock and I have not been able to find a replacement.
 
If i am not mistaken the remington spartan was actually a russian baikal. If anyone knows better please chime in. I too have have been looking for a reasonably priced sxs for waterfowling my limited research and word of mouth accounts give the baikals a thumbs up for reliability,they are built like tanks have screw in tubes and double triggers which appeal to me. Another sxs that seems to fit the description of modestly priced and reliable is ugartechea. Just my observations.
Bill.
 
Hi Bill. Yes, the Spartans were built by Baikal. The one I used was a single trigger, but it gave me no problems. It also had chrome lined bores and screw in chokes. If I ever run across another one I will buy it.

One of the other poster's mention the Mossberg Silver Reserve. DON'T buy a Silver Reserve I. Mossberg had a bunch of problems with them. Mossberg fixed the problems with the Silver Reserve II. Those are supposed to be nice guns.

Savage had also contracted with Bailkal to build them SxS's and O/U's. They didn't last long, but they were basically the same thing as the Spartan, only for some reason they put fake gold pheasants on the receiver. Just didn't look right. Since they didn't sell well, Savage dropped them after only a year or so. Good candidate for a gun show pick up.

John
 
I bought a Yildiz sxs 20 3 years ago. <$500. I wanted a gun I would not feel bad abotu scratching, dragging through the mud, etc. I have killed ducks, doves and turkey with it. very light weight gun, shoots where I point it, etc. Academy Sports is the only US importer so they can be hard to find oustide of the southeast. Briley chokes handles the customer service and I believe it comes with a 3 year warranty. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I handled the longfowler and silver reserve before I bought mine, and thought neither of these guns handled well.
 
I believe Spartan was made by Baikal. I have two Baikal doubles, an older SxS and a newer O/U. I traded a cheap rifle for the 12 ga SxS in the early 70s and loved shooting that gun. It was my swamp gun and I shot a lot of birds in flooded timber with it. Although I still have it I have not shot it in years. I also have a 26" 12 ga O/U that has killed a pile of birds, shot a lot of skeet and even a bit of trap. It is purely a backup gun and it performs well. It dates from the late 90s. Curiously the old SxS remained tight to break over the years while the O/U quickly loosened up. Cheap guns that perform well but particularly the newer one has the fit and function one would expect for the price.

I have a nearly new Franchi Infinity L O/U that is nicer to look at than to shoot.

Nothing comes close to my two older Citori O/U. Fit like a glove, handle like an extension of my arm, shoot like a dream.

Thinking about this makes me think I need to find a nice SxS.
 
Last edited:
I own a 16g o/u by Dehaan. It is made in Turkey at the same factory as the CZ's. It's basically a CZ with some cosmetic additions. You get what you pay for is about all I can say. The safety is a little tricky to get off in a hurry. Metal to wood fit is "ok". It's very heavy. You can tell it's a cheap gun by looking at it. I bought mine sight-unseen. I don't think I would have bought it if I saw/handled it before hand. I would advise buying a better quality used shotgun that you wouldn't mind "beating up" a little in the blind at a discount. My $.02.
 
Sold my LC Smith back to my brother great sxs. I won a maverick O/U at a DU event this year and it's ok for a low end shot gun . I used it in the cold no problems.
 
I agree with John B. on the Spartan. I use to have a 12ga Baikal which is the same as the Spartan before Remington contracted with them. Built like a tank, comes with either single selective or double triggers, and has choke tubes. I think it would be an ideal salt water double. Wish I had kept it. May have to pick up another one at a gun show.
 
The first thing I would do is to have the stock glass bedded at the cross lug where the stock bolt threads into it. Make sure there is a little space at the rear of the top and bottom tang of the receiver on the stock. The force of recoil should be applied at the right point on the stock. This will help to prevent the stock from splitting. Those cheap guns do not have the best stock to metal fit. The metal parts in the action will need be polished to work better.
http://www.coon-n-crockett.org/cowboy.htm
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/stoeger3.html

.
 
Last edited:
OK, while on the subject with another post about side by sides, I have been tossing the idea about getting one and really hate to spend a bunch of money on an idea I am not entirely committed to-never shot a side by side in all my years. Also I hate to spend big money on a gun that gets as wet with salt water as the sole of my waders. I am hard on my guns in the field but they always get taken care of at home. Nice wood and metal finishes will not last long and that is why I am thinking about the Stoeger Side by Side Longfowler as a starter and was curious if anyone has any experience. I know it is a low low end gun but for the list price I will not be afraid to use it. I know good side by sides you get what ya pay for but I do not want to buy a $1200-1500 low end starter to beat on when I may not like the way that style of gun shoots. I had a nice wood stock and high gloss Browning shotgun I sold because it was to nice to take out in the marsh and ruin its appearance. Looking for a work horse and other option I am looking into sorry to say also is the CZ Bobwhite.

Thanks
Click to expand...


I had a stoeger uplander for a while. I would not own another. It was poorly regulated, it misfired once and a while and I creased the barrel latch heavily (metal was very soft) and had to do some work on it to get it to open and close smoothly after that. If the longfowler shares the construction of the uplander, they are not what I'd want to use under waterfowling's tough conditions.
 
Oh yeah, my stock cracked too, but that could have been the result of it getting thrown after misfiring :).

T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top