doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com CSM RBL, sporting clays

Checking into the CSM RBL 12ga, Sporting Clays competition SxS. I would appreciate any comments / experience with the gun. In particular, I'm interested to know how well the gun holds up to hundreds of practice rounds per week?

Also, note SKB is coming out with a competition SxS. The model 200 HR Target?

Thanks,

Do you already own one? Do you really want other's opinions? Here's mine. These guns are okay. There have been some issues with RBLs holding up under heavy shooting. Not all of them, but more than I would have expected. I go to a lot of sxs shoots in the Midwest and see a few RBLs, but have never seen a Sporting model. A friend has a 32" 12 gauge for water fowling. It is HUGE!!! His goes over 9# and is quite muzzle heavy. In my way of thinking the CSMC Sporting model is the antithesis of a fun to shoot sxs. It's heavy, has a high ventilated rib and, god forbid, an adjustable comb. You see very, very few guns so configured among sxs shooters. Most SxS shoots don't have long targets where a big, heavy gun is an aid to good shooting. These guns go for $7k and up. For that much money you can buy a Winchester 21 and have a classic that will stand up to heavy shooting and handle better than the CSMC. Another American Classic that will eat recoil, stand up to a lot of shooting and handle well is a Fox.

This is my 30" AE with a new butt stock that is less than half of a CSMC. My 32" L.C. Long Range is set up to shoot big targets. With a glass bedded stock head it can take a bit of shooting and I have thousands and thousands of rounds through it.

If you want the ultimate classy big target SxS get an English pigeon or waterfowl gun. If you must have a big, new gun that you can shoot the bejesus out of buy a Perazzi DC12. I recently got to handle a 32" 12 gauge and it is, without question, the ultimate big sxs target gun as it has that fabulous Perazzi feel. It handles and moves like it weighs a pound less than it does. And their reputation for durability is legend. There are only 15,000 reasons preventing me from owning one. I hope you enjoy whatever you get and you shoot it a lot.
Oh, I would not want to depend on a Turkish gun like the SKB for lots of shooting. Been there, done that.
Regards
Jeff

I will have to agree with JNW. I looked at the Sporting Clays RBL a couple years ago and I could never get to liking the vent rib and adjustable stock, and it is heavy. I have some experience with RBLs and I like them, I just did not care for that model. The recommendation on a British waterfowler is good advice. I found a 30" Jeffrey BLNE with heavy proofs in excellent condition for less than half the RBL Sporting model. Double triggers and fixed chokes, but I can just as easily miss with a single trigger and variable chokes so its all good. However, if I had the coin I'd get the DC12 hands down.

CSMC also makes Model 21's and Fox's but the Fox is not available in 12 gauge.
A custom CSMC Model 21 would be my choice after the Perazzi DC12.
I have hefted the CSMC RBL Clays Model and it's a handful, just looks ungainly to me.
For SXS Clays events, the Perazzi seems just the thing. Would make a nice goose gun if it could shoot non-toxic shot!
I did not know Perazzi made this gun. Now I have another gun to lust over.
I had a Winchester Model 21 32" 12 gauge sold to me as a Trap but the forearm was shorter than standard trap and I believe it was a Live Pigeon gun. Great gun, Monte Carlo, shadow line cheekpiece.
For the money you will spend, get a custom gun you like.-Dick

16GS,

Let me say up front I have never owned an RBL, and have no bone to pick with CSMC at all, but here are my experiences being around them. Twice I have been squadded with men shooting almost new RBLs in S x S competition. The first time was at the 2010 US Open at Tunica MS. I was squaded with Leighton Stallones, a member of this board. We were also squadded with a gentleman shooting a RBL, with a single trigger. He had trigger problems the whole round. Once since then I have been squaded with someone using a RBL with a single trigger. It failed the shooter as well, repeatedly during a round of 100 clays.

I have used a Browning BSS for many years for S x S competition, a 30" barreled model without barrel selector. The right barrel was .018", and I had the left barrel choke reamed out to the same constriction, reasoning that if I could not select chokes I needed the same in both barrels. I have never been disappointed in this gun, in competition or in the duck swamps. It is highly suited to high volume, easily shootable with it's beavertail forend and pistol grip, and can be bought for $1200-1500 most anytime. The BSS single trigger is deadly reliable. I have never heard of anyone having had trigger troubles with the BSS. I am sure it has occurred, as any mechanical device can break down, but never to my knowledge.

If I had the bucks to spare, I might try a Perazzi, as I shoot a MX8 in registered NSCA competition, but the BSS is the best bang for the competition S x S buck around. Tested and proven.

SRH

Stan,
My mistake for not mentioning the BSS. They are great guns. Really blew it a few years ago when I passed on an early 2 trigger extractor Miroku with 30" barrels. Quite a bit lighter than a BSS and it had leaf springs with excellent trigger pulls. The BSS does not have the cache of some other guns, but they are excellent shooters. If they made a 30" 20 gauge BSS today they would sell truckloads of them. The BSS is as dependable as they come.
Regards
Jeff

All 12 ga Perazzi interchangeable choke tubes have been steel shot compatible for a number of years. Don't know about current production fixed choke versions.

It's opinion and everybody has one. Here is mine.

Have handled the Perazzi SxS clays gun. No doubt it would be a good shooter, however it's clunky just like competition clays O/U guns. That's good for hitting targets but not why I Shoot SxS guns. Max hits I use my clunky O/U shotgun. Assume the other new clays SxS guns are the same way. Have seen the SKB on a gun rack, same thing no attraction.

High volume shooting Parker's never let me down. Any competition with time and money invested, fees travel etc, carry two guns in case of problems. Two Parker's cost less than the new SxS guns. Pair of model 21s same, less than one new SxS. You can run them two different barrel length and chokes to cover any course.

Boats

Please Excuse my lack of shotgun experience compared to others on this forum as I have been bird hunting and shooting competitive sporting clays for only 20 years.

But I'd have to say that the quote above is the first time I've ever heard anybody describe a Perazzi o/u as being "clunky".


Vernal

If you're shooting 100's of practice rounds per week, sounds like you're looking for a gun for more than just sxs shoots. In which case I'd agree with Stan that a BSS with 30" barrels would be a good choice if you don't want to spend a lot of money--although the 30" 12's can be hard to find.

Another possibility in the same price range would be an Ithaca SKB Model 100 Magnum. They aren't all that common either, but they came with 30" barrels and a factory recoil pad, chambered 3" rather than 2 3/4" which was standard on all the rest of the 12ga Ithaca SKB's.

And if you want to spend more--but not as much as a new RBL Sporting--you could look around for a Parker Reproduction Sporting Clays. Not a lot of them around. Came with factory choke tubes.