Browning 725 Golden Clays High Rib Shotgun With Gracoil Reviews
Browning Citori 725 Trap Max Shotgun Review
Browning's new Citori 725 Trap Max is a purpose-congenital competition gun with all the adjustments needed to be competitive right out of the box. With well-figured walnut and polished steel, it looks great, too.
Photo past Michael Anschuetz.
December 29, 2020
Browning's New Citori 725 Trap Max is a specialized competition gun for trapshooting, and it carries a retail price of $5,860. More twoscore years in the trade tells me that that brief description alone volition generate an anguished outpouring of mail from readers demanding to know, "Why do you write about guns I'm non interested in and will never be able to afford?"
Compare the firearms field to the automotive world. You lot're going to see the $2 million Bugatti Chiron on more auto mag covers than a new $22,995 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. Exotic, expensive cars sell more magazines than breadstuff-and-butter rides. More importantly, consider that those fun features on your crossover appeared first on a Rolls-Royce in 1990. Every bit in cars, innovations trickle down from pricey guns to more humble, everyday models. For example, barrel porting was once limited to top-line contest guns, now the cheapest Turkish pump-activity may have it.
Modern mag economic science mean that every story is going to exist, to some degree or another, a review. If we're going to educate you now, we have to work information technology in while writing about someone'due south gun. If that gun is feature-packed, we can work in a lot more education.
Finally, if you lot read Guns & Ammo, you're supposed to be an expert. Your jumpy, electric-car-driving neighbour who'due south developed a recent appreciation for the natural right to self-defense certainly assumes you lot are. Beingness an expert means being interested in and having something useful to say near all guns; even, and maybe especially, the ones you tin't afford.
A skillful case could be made that the Browning Citori is the well-nigh successful over-under shotgun design of all time. It'southward been around half-a-century, and while Browning is very cagy about the numbers, it'due south certainly sold in the millions in just most every possible judge and configuration. The 725 Citori began to appear in the 1990s, driven by the rapidly expanding sporting clays marketplace. While the original Citori followed the lines of the Superposed, the 725 had a lower profile that was more competitive with popular Italian brands, and touted for its lighter weight. The basic operating system remained the same, however, with locking past a wide underbolt engaging a seize with teeth in the lesser surface of the monobloc. The hammers are artsy by a rather complicated part pivoted at the front end of the triggerguard. You lot probably wouldn't design it that way these days, but it was an improvement over the Superposed and is certainly well-proven by at present.
The trigger assembly is Browning'due south FireLite pattern, and it's mechanical, in identify of the original Citori (and Superposed) inertia trigger. The inertia trigger was invented to prevent doubling, and needs to be reset past recoil betwixt the starting time and 2d shots. Inertia triggers work perfectly well disallowment an ammo-related misfire, but a dud round in competition tin toll a target.
So, contest guns, and even a lot of hunting shotguns, tend to have mechanical triggers today, which reset automatically. If yous can pull the trigger of an unloaded shotgun twice, the trigger's mechanical. If not, it's inertia. Slap the butt of the shotgun or drop it on its barrel from a couple inches' height and the inertia trigger will reset.
As befits a top-of-the line contest gun, the Trap Max comes with Browning'south Triple Trigger System. The trigger blade is a separate piece that slides on a rails at the bottom of the trigger assembly. Information technology can be attached at any of three positions in a range of .323 inches (8mm) by tightening a 2mm hex socket set screw.
Three gilded-colored blades are provided. Two are checkered and .393 inches wide, and of those, ane is perpendicular to the boreline, while the other is twisted to the correct for right-handed shooters. The third blade is smooth and .254-inches wide for those who prefer a more conventional trigger experience.
In the days when in that location was a trap field behind every VFW hall in the state, you'd take felt perfectly at habitation anywhere with a Model 12 Winchester or Remington Model 31 straight out of the box, just today's trapshooter wants very precise control of his sight moving picture. This is achieved at either end of the Trap Max. Keeping in mind that the eye is the rear sight of a shotgun, the gun has a comb that's adaptable both for height and lateral position. This lets you lot regulate how much rib you see and lets you make sure you lot're looking directly down the rib.
Using the supplied 7⁄64-inch (3mm) hex key, plow out the hex-socket screws on the right side of the stock below the cheekpiece. One full turn is plenty. And so, pull the cheekpiece up and out of the buttstock. You'll see the tubular steel supports ride in transverse slots in an aluminum block screwed to the cheekpiece. Witness marks in the plate bespeak iv i⁄xvi-inch deportation intervals to the left or right of centre. Apply the aforementioned hex central to conform displacement to your desired setting.
Graco, a longtime maker of trapshooting accessories that supplies Browning both the cheekpiece and buttplate hardware, says that moving the cheekpiece 1⁄16 inch moves the indicate of touch about 1½ inches at thirty yards. Keep in mind, that measure out will increase at greater distance, as when shooting handicap targets.
Peak is regulated past calculation or subtracting white plastic washers that surround the support posts. These are also 1⁄16-inch thick, and 16 of them are provided, letting you lift the impact point a full human foot at thirty yards. We'll leave bated whether that would be a good idea. Once you've achieved your desired bespeak of impact, a process requiring many hours at the pattern lath, yous tin tighten all the screws securely and get on your way.
The Gracoil buttplate assembly has Pachmayr'southward thick and solid dorsum safe pad mounted on a recoil-reducing assembly that allows the butt to collapse about 3⁄eight inches against spring tension to soften the kick. If you don't routinely shoot trap, yous may exist skeptical about the necessity of such a organisation on a 9-pound ported gun. If you are, enquire yourself whether it might seem better later a full day in the baking sun of Sparta, Illinois, shooting the G American Trapshoot.
The buttstock itself is quite thick at more than 1½ inches and has a tightly curved, vertical pistol grip equally originated past trapshooter and writer Fred Etchen. It'south quite substantial and swells toward the bottom to make a consistent hand position piece of cake. Checkering is at twenty lines-per-inch in a bordered bespeak pattern. This looks great, only I'd similar an eighteen- or even 16-line design on a hot summer day. So many shooters habiliment gloves anymore, the elegant measure out is just fine for them.
A straight buttstock and an adjustable comb where all the aligning is up requires a alpine rib to match, and the Trap Max has information technology. Its superlative tapers from about ¾ inches at the breech terminate to 17⁄32 inches at the muzzle, with its width going from 7⁄sixteen to 5⁄16 inches in the same distance. Fabricated of aluminum with a cantankerous-hatched height surface, it looks like a railroad bridge.
After reading the very detailed instructions virtually adjusting the cheekpiece in the manual, I was surprised non to see anything about adjusting the rib peak, just nosotros'll figure information technology out by dead reckoning. The rib is pivoted on a pivot in its support at the breech end of the barrels. It attaches to a forepart support at the muzzle past a thumbwheel with very assuming detents. Witness marks are visible below the rib on the right side.
Turning the knurled thumbwheel moves the rib upwards or down in very subtle increments. Yous tin can immediately meet this is a much finer adjustment than can be achieved past removing or replacing 1⁄16-inch spacers under the cheekpiece.
Adjusting the front sight for elevation is nothing new. My 1929-model Colt Shooting Principal does the same affair. All you lot need to remember is that a front sight moves impact bespeak the contrary of a rear sight. Y'all lower the forepart sight to raise the point of bear upon. Referring to a handy sight correction calculator I plant on the internet (sdmfabricating.com/sightcalc.html), it appears each click of summit should motion point of impact most i inch at 30 yards. That's extremely precise for a shotgun. You should enquire yourself if y'all are that precise earlier getting carried away with the knob-twisting.
Sights are a .085-inch mid-bead and a HiViz ProComp fiber optic a chip over an inch long that provides a ane⁄eight-inch bead. The installed bead was green, but the Trap Max came with a picayune rotary case containing a couple more than light-green, a couple cherry and a couple white sights. By the time you're through setting your bear on point and choosing a sight, you lot won't demand to shoot trap for a while.
The barrels are both ported. In that location was a fourth dimension when wags pooh-poohed top barrel porting on grounds of "Why practice you care if the butt jumps on your last shot?" It appears those skeptics accept all died, considering porting both barrels seems to be the norm these days. The superlative barrel has 18 ports while the bottom has 28, and then the greater importance of the beginning shot is recognized.
Browning came early on to the concept of using bores larger than the standard .729-inch diameter for 12 approximate, and hasn't let up. What is grandly termed Total Butt Dynamics comprises three different blueprint and manufacturing processes.
Vector Pro is a very gradual forcing cone configuration that makes for a smoothen transition betwixt the bedchamber and the barrel. Relatively abrupt forcing cones were needed for newspaper wads that didn't expand to contact the diameter on firing. Plastic wads have been shut to universal since the 1970s, then there'due south no reason for a precipitous forcing cone. When I was a youngster, it was quite mutual for gunsmiths to use big one-time reamers to ream out the original forcing cone. That business, I suspect, is pretty well gone.
Back-boring was a process pioneered by gunsmiths like Stan Baker for trapshooters of the 1970s. The standard .729-inch bore diameter was specified with fiber wads in mind, and there's no reason information technology can't exist bigger with plastic wads. Back-wearisome meant increasing bore diameter, with the goal existence reduced recoil and improve patterns. The procedure is well-accepted today by everyone except Italian manufacturers. My gauge showed the Trap Max'southward diameter diameter measured .738 inches.
Just as it'due south a practiced thing to squeeze the shot charge gradually into the bore, it'south beneficial to brand its passage toward the asphyxiate smoothen and like shooting fish in a barrel. The Invector-DS choke tubes used in the Trap Max are almost 4 inches long and feature a conical-parallel interior configuration that incorporates a cylindrical section at the cage cease that helps stabilize the wad equally it passes out of the gun. The "DS" in the name is for "double seal," in this case by a brass band at the rear of the tube that helps proceed carbon fouling from reaching the tube threads. This comes in handy if yous want to use the ½-inch knurled section to plough out the tube by hand. The usual spanner is provided if you install it also tight. A aureate-colored ring at the front end is marked with the tube constriction, supplementing the usual tick marks in the front end face up of the tube. This piece too protects the inside of your gun instance from existence torn up by the tube's notches.
Browning's spec sheet shows the Trap Max being supplied with Full, Light Full, Modified and 2 Improved Modified tubes. Guns & Ammo's sample gun turned upward, for any reason, with two Full (.701-inch), a Low-cal Total (.712-inch), an Improved Modified (.725-inch) and an Improved Cylinder (.735-inch). That's plenty of potential pattern-testing for anyone! I would have preferred to pattern with Modified and Full tubes, since Modified is fine for 16-yard targets. Equally one wasn't on hand, I used Improved Modified.
Ammo was Winchester's AA Diamond Grade. I suppose you could utilise this for handicap trapshooting if the Apprentice Trapshooting Ass'northward, the sport'due south governing torso, allowed it, but it's primarily intended for demanding sporting clays applications like Federation Internationale de Tir Aux Sportives de Chasse (FITASC) competition, which is an international dirt-shooting clan based in Paris.
Winchester's new AA Diamond Grade load uses selected high-antimony shot, copper-plated, which is not immune in ATA trap, but OK to employ in the international mode. Increasing the antimony fraction slightly lowers the weight of each pellet, giving you more pellets to a given charge weight. Copper plating makes the shot menses better and increases resistance to deformation. The result is tighter patterns for a given choke constriction.
Years ago, I came into a supply of Rottweil Supertrap 32, a round intended for international trapshooting. It had nickel-plated shot and was very hard-hit at altitude, even from an Improved Cylinder asphyxiate. I kept a few in my vest for the tall ones on the sporting form, while reserving more pedestrian ammo for nearly shots. Since Winchester AA Diamond Course carries a price of effectually $12 a box, that's how I'd utilise it. Popping information technology at 20-yard teal targets would be overkill.
While patterning with the Diamond Form, I discovered an interesting outcome: a sort of silvery confetti would fall from the air when fired. We finally decided it was tiny flecks of copper coming loose from the shot. Don't plan on seeing this at your local gun lodge considering it takes bright dominicus on the gun and dark shade on the target. It was fun, anyway. The armament is available in iv loads: one-ouncers traveling at i,250 feet-per-second (fps) or 1,350 fps, and 11⁄8-ounce versions at 1,250 and 1,300 fps.
When I starting time pulled the Trap Max from its box and assembled it, I idea, "How am I going to shoot this log?" Y'all feel every flake of its ix pounds, and the thick buttstock and robust pistol grip made me call up of various unsafe-game guns I've tried.
Sighting information technology gave a panoramic view of the left side of the rib, and I immediately went to work on the cheekpiece. I thought moving it a notch or two to the right would be plenty, but I had to take it all the way to the stop to put my eye in line with the rib. I thought that configuration might be uncomfortable, but I didn't notice the stride between the buttstock and cheekpiece a bit. More importantly, the general feel of the shotgun was improved far more than I would have suspected. The fact that I was no longer struggling to get a good sight moving picture clearly made a deviation. In one case that trouble was eliminated, the Trap Max immediately felt livelier.
A trap gun has to be tested on the trap field, but I typically go some casual function-burn after patterning. I didn't expect much here, merely the Trap Max was actually perfectly shootable on a diverseness of targets that hardly duplicated trap presentations. Someone somewhere is going to apply it on sporting clays, and probably will go away with it.
The trigger pull was truly excellent at 3¾ pounds. That'southward plenty low-cal for a competitive shotgun. Breaks for both barrels were well-baked, with minimal overtravel. We really are in a golden age of triggers. If only they'd been this adept in the 1970s! I used the twisted wide trigger, and it was quite comfortable.
For shooting trap targets, I selected Federal Ultra Clay and Field, a depression-priced load that's pretty much the opposite of AA Diamond Grade. We used the Improved Modified tube at sixteen yards and the Full tube at 24 yards. I have shot at 27, merely that was during the sunny Reagan years.
On a articulate summer mean solar day, the greenish fiber optic stood out like a torch; the red fiber might have been a better choice, simply there was no difficulty finding the cage.
Improved Modified is pretty tight at sixteen yards, but it certainly provided impressive breaks. It might have been a better selection for 24 yards, simply we'd accept been deprived of the hard breaks at distance provided by the Total tube. When you lot're pointing the 725 correct, either tube punishes the target.
My usual trap gun is a Remington 1100, and the ix-pound Trap Max certainly requires a different arroyo. It takes a little more time to get out in front of them, making patience your friend. The Gracoil organization, combined with the gun's weight and the porting, makes recoil inconsequential. I'd put information technology in the twenty- or even 28-approximate range.
Is the Trap Max really worth almost six one thousand? Consider that competitive guns from Krieghoff and Perazzi are $12,795 and $14,838, respectively. More chiefly, remember that ownership a trap gun is exactly like buying a canis familiaris. Only as the $300 the rescue league charges you lot for that three-legged, i-eyed mutt named Lucky is only the outset of your pet expenditures, buying the gun is the inexpensive part of trapshooting. Ammo bills, shoot fees, Winnebago payments, diesel and necessary presents for the wife volition before long make the cost of the shotgun look like chump change, and you only buy the gun once.
And cheer upwards; Soon, we tin can hope, Columbus will once again be safe on his plinth, Portland, Oregon, volition return to punchline status, and your nervous neighbor can go back to sipping Chardonnay while listening to the soothing sounds of NPR radio. By then, we'll be writing up more popular-priced pump guns. In the meantime, relax and try shooting a little trap.
Browning Citori 725 Trap Max Specs
- Type: Over-under
- Guess: 12, 23/4-in. chamber
- Weight: ix lbs.
- Overall Length: 47¾ in.
- Barrel Length: 30 in. (tested), 32 in.
- Length of Pull: 143⁄eight in.
- Drop at Heel: 23⁄xvi in.
- Drop at Comb: 113⁄16 in.
- Trigger Pull: 3¾ lbs., both barrels
- Accessories: Two Full (.701-in.), Light Full (.712-in.), Improved Modified (.725-in.) and an Improved Cylinder (.735-in.) choke tubes, spanner, hex keys for trigger and stock adjustments, three trigger blades, eight fiber eyes and example
- MSRP: $5,860
- Manufacturer: B.C. Miroku Ltd., Kochi, Japan
- Importer: Browning, 800-333-3288, browning.com
Browning Citori 725 Trap Max Performance
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Source: https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/browning-citori-725-trap-max-shotgun-review/387145
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