doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com F.lli Poli Question

I believe Bill Kemper @ Deep River stocks the Poli's

I took the plunge and based on the generally strong endorsement of the Poli, I have an Opal sporter coming next week - at least for inspection. As far as I can tell, it is one of the few - if not the only - sxs that was designed for clay targets. I have looked seriously at the RBLs and have visited the factory twice - coming very close to buying a 12 g that had been produced without an owner at the time of my visit. It is a very nice gun but my impression was that it didn’t have a lot of “life” moving it in the gun room. Certainly that can be deceiving, so I also tried one at the Vintagers event last month with the same general feeling. So, pending inspection next week, I will likely be shooting a Poli at clays along with my SO4. My only concern is the double triggers this particular gun has. I shoot double triggers on my Parker and Arrizabalaga but I have never used either for any “serious” clay shooting. Other than that, the gun sounds & looks very nice.
Thanks for all of the help
Z

zwego,

I think you will move between the two guns without a problem. Have not seen a Poli Sporting with double triggers but have a 20 ga on order. Any chance you can post a picture or two.

Have fun.

tim

Interesting comment about "life". I'm assuming Z means quickness of swing was low? To Rocketman, that would be a high MOI.

My observation/assumption of a lot of SC shooters is that they buy the long barreled guns to get a high MOI/slower swinging/more stable swinging gun. That's one of the bigger reasons I have some long barreled SC guns.

Granted, too much MOI is something I avoid as well. I sold a 32" 8 1/4 lb Win 101 that I couldn't get going quickly enough, often enough on some shots. I replaced it with a 32" 7 3/4 lb Beretta 682 Sporting that has much lighter barrels.

The handling of the RBL is different from my SO4 (my point of comparison since it is my primary SC gun) and I would guess that the RBL does likely have a higher Moment of Inertia (MOI) for the same weight. I believe this is because the RBL has the weight distributed out into the barrels versus my SO4 (thinner & more refined barrels vs. the RBL). The guns weight about the same - SO4 a little less than 8 lbs and the RBL that I looked at was a bit over 8 lbs. Based on other threads here, this weight is not uncommon for the 12 gauge RBLs with some going well over 9 lbs. Although I plan to shoot the Poli at targets predominately, if not exclusively, I am not particularly recoil sensitive and the Poli is about 7#-10 oz. Based on some posts here, I think this gun should be more lively than the RBL which is both good and bad. Good in that it moves to the target quicker but bad if it gets off line with poor technique. However, I think at this weight it should not be too much of a problem. Assuming that I find the gun acceptable next week, I will try to post some pictures and follow up comments.
Thanks
Z

I have been shooting a Poli hammer gun at sporting clays lately. The gun came with extra full and IC. Seminole opened the left bbl to LM. The gun is accurate. I shoot it almost as well as my K80. The difference may be accounted for by the triggers. The K80 is 4lbs and 4lbs, The Poli is 2 ounces and 7lbs.

Anybody know of a good side lock man in Florida ?

danc AA 3punches SV

zwego,

I think that you'll be very happy with the Poli. Is it coming with 30" or 32" barrels?
My observations regarding the 12 ga. RBL are similar to yours. In a separate post I mentioned that, to me, they felt "clubby". Generally heavy feeling and non-responsive. Quite different than their 20Ga. and 28GA., which I find lively.