I've been asked to provide a range report of the Browning Cynergy CX that I recently purchase, so I'll give you my immediate impressions after having handled it, and now that I've had the chance to try to shoot some clays with it.
Appearance on this gun is nice - the wood seems to be decent quality walnut, and the checkering is sharp and clean, but the wood itself is just a basic oil finish - almost matte, which I kind of like. I've read a bit about Browning Oil Finishes and it would seem that if it ever needs a touch up, additional coats of boiled linseed oil is the way to go.
The receiver is unadorned other than a laser etched "Browning" on each side - no engraving. It's simple, but there's some beauty in simplicity.
The only place where there's some "extra" is on the trigger, which is gold plated, and the gold on the ends of the choke tubes. (It came with 3 external chokes - Full, Modified and Improved Cylinder)
Some folks asked about whether I had the chance to pick one up and shoulder it prior to purchase. Nope - I bought this blind. With that said, to me the gun feels nice. I've held O/U shotguns that just feel clunky, mostly due to an extra-chunky forend, but this one doesn't feel that way at all and when I shoulder it, my eye is lined up with the rib, and the mid-bead and front-bead are perfectly lined up and stacked, which I think is how it's supposed to be.
So on to the shooting. My very first shot was a hit, and my second shot was a miss. Then I had a long string of hits. With that said, I wasn't shooting trap formally yesterday. We were at a trap range at AGC, and they had the thrower set to throw the same place because there were new shooters there they were trying to help learn how to hit. I think all told I shot about 30-35 rounds, and I had about 7-8 misses - that's just a rough estimation. It shoots well - any failure in my ability to hit is completely on me - not the shotgun.
The trigger seems ok to me - some people claim that it's heavy, but I have no complaints with it. I've shot a lot of guns - particularly ARs - where the trigger is much worse. Checking the triggers with my gauge, and with the gun set to fire the top barrel first, the first break is at just over 5 lbs, the second breaks at pretty much 5 lbs exactly.
Balance - I wouldn't know a great balancing shotgun from a bad one - the balance point is right at the front edge of the metal receiver. I've read that with the wood stocked Cynergy CX that the 28" is perfectly balanced but the 30" is slightly front heavy. Didn't seem that way to me - when the gun is at my shoulder, it feels pretty good.
It's pretty danged tight - breaking the shotgun so that the ejector actuates is a bit stiff right now, but not overly so. I've heard some complaints on this gun that it takes several thousand rounds to get it to break in so that it opens and closes a bit more smoothly, but it doesn't seem overly stiff now.
I followed all directions about cleaning the gun first to remove an anti-rust coating, and then greasing the appropriate places. I don't know if there's a recommended grease - I used Hoppe's Gun Grease - seemed like a decent choice and better than oil.
Recoil - I had thought that the cushy recoil pad would greatly reduce recoil compared to my 870 with the old, time-hardened recoil pad. It does reduce it some, but it's a 12 gauge - it's still going to kick, right? It's manageable though. I can't really foresee a time where I'm going to be shooting more than 4-5 rounds of trap on any given day, and it should handle that without an issue. I never noticed any kick towards the side or towards my face - it seems to recoil straight back.
So that's my review, along with a couple of pics. I'll get it back out today for some more formal trap, and I'll see if I can get consistent hitting with it.
Appearance on this gun is nice - the wood seems to be decent quality walnut, and the checkering is sharp and clean, but the wood itself is just a basic oil finish - almost matte, which I kind of like. I've read a bit about Browning Oil Finishes and it would seem that if it ever needs a touch up, additional coats of boiled linseed oil is the way to go.
The receiver is unadorned other than a laser etched "Browning" on each side - no engraving. It's simple, but there's some beauty in simplicity.
The only place where there's some "extra" is on the trigger, which is gold plated, and the gold on the ends of the choke tubes. (It came with 3 external chokes - Full, Modified and Improved Cylinder)
Some folks asked about whether I had the chance to pick one up and shoulder it prior to purchase. Nope - I bought this blind. With that said, to me the gun feels nice. I've held O/U shotguns that just feel clunky, mostly due to an extra-chunky forend, but this one doesn't feel that way at all and when I shoulder it, my eye is lined up with the rib, and the mid-bead and front-bead are perfectly lined up and stacked, which I think is how it's supposed to be.
So on to the shooting. My very first shot was a hit, and my second shot was a miss. Then I had a long string of hits. With that said, I wasn't shooting trap formally yesterday. We were at a trap range at AGC, and they had the thrower set to throw the same place because there were new shooters there they were trying to help learn how to hit. I think all told I shot about 30-35 rounds, and I had about 7-8 misses - that's just a rough estimation. It shoots well - any failure in my ability to hit is completely on me - not the shotgun.
The trigger seems ok to me - some people claim that it's heavy, but I have no complaints with it. I've shot a lot of guns - particularly ARs - where the trigger is much worse. Checking the triggers with my gauge, and with the gun set to fire the top barrel first, the first break is at just over 5 lbs, the second breaks at pretty much 5 lbs exactly.
Balance - I wouldn't know a great balancing shotgun from a bad one - the balance point is right at the front edge of the metal receiver. I've read that with the wood stocked Cynergy CX that the 28" is perfectly balanced but the 30" is slightly front heavy. Didn't seem that way to me - when the gun is at my shoulder, it feels pretty good.
It's pretty danged tight - breaking the shotgun so that the ejector actuates is a bit stiff right now, but not overly so. I've heard some complaints on this gun that it takes several thousand rounds to get it to break in so that it opens and closes a bit more smoothly, but it doesn't seem overly stiff now.
I followed all directions about cleaning the gun first to remove an anti-rust coating, and then greasing the appropriate places. I don't know if there's a recommended grease - I used Hoppe's Gun Grease - seemed like a decent choice and better than oil.
Recoil - I had thought that the cushy recoil pad would greatly reduce recoil compared to my 870 with the old, time-hardened recoil pad. It does reduce it some, but it's a 12 gauge - it's still going to kick, right? It's manageable though. I can't really foresee a time where I'm going to be shooting more than 4-5 rounds of trap on any given day, and it should handle that without an issue. I never noticed any kick towards the side or towards my face - it seems to recoil straight back.
So that's my review, along with a couple of pics. I'll get it back out today for some more formal trap, and I'll see if I can get consistent hitting with it.
