Found my new upland bird gun

Did a bit of research with a budget of $500. I went with a Tristar Trinity LT in 20 guage. This gun has great features.
This over /under includes an alloy reciever, single selective trigger, chrome lined barrel, engraved reciever, walnut stock, 5 chokes all coming in at 5.3 pounds.
The looks and feel of this gun is comparable to any $2000 gun without the price or name and that suites me fine as my dog and I will be working this gun hard for years to come.
Now for the 7-10 day wait till it gets here….

Trinity LT

Hey Bigpike,

Out of curiosity, were you able to shoot one before ordering?

Pete

I want to hear your opinions once you get it. Interesting.

Looks like a beautiful gun. You’ll have to give us an honest review. That looks like a very good price. Good find.

Pete Bauer wrote:

Hey Bigpike,

Out of curiosity, were you able to shoot one before ordering?

Pete

I pretty much bought it sight unseen. My friend has a 16 in the same model remove the LT (aluminum vs. Steel receiver) and it fit me like a glove on the pull, I couldnt shoot it because he runs a resort and cant get away to shoot right now. From all the people I know who have various models of this brand, I could not find one negative comment.

Btw I blew my budget by 39$ + uncle Sam’s fee.

MSRP on there web page is $685

Thanks for sharing – I’ve been doing a lot of research on O/Us lately as I am wanting to add another one to my arsenal besides my franchi. I’ve been virtually kicking the tires on the Trinity as I have been the CZ upland ultralight. Please report back how you like the gun once you’ve put a few rounds thru it. Where did you purchase it from? You mentioned not finding one negative review. I think that is likely due to this line being new this year. The 5 year warranty should give you some peace of mind.

I have a Tristar Setter ST 12ga x 28″ that has seen less then 3 boxes of ammo thats possibly for sale. Kid shot some trap with it and ended up going back to his Franchi. They are pretty darn nice guns for the price of them.

What kind of upland birds do you intend to hunt with this gun? Grouse, quail, pheasants, Wild Turkey, prairie chickens, all the above?

Interesting, I’d like to hear what you think after using it for awhile. I want an O/U to not litter shells mainly and less weight would be nice for grouse hunting. I would miss my futile waste of a third shot when I miss though

gim wrote:

What kind of upland birds do you intend to hunt with this gun? Grouse, quail, pheasants, Wild Turkey, prairie chickens, all the above?

I live in grouse / woodcock territory.

bigpike wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
What kind of upland birds do you intend to hunt with this gun? Grouse, quail, pheasants, Wild Turkey, prairie chickens, all the above?

I live in grouse / woodcock territory.

Gotcha, well it would also serve a purpose in the event you needed to dispatch a zombie.

Ive seen the TriStars. In fact I bought a 20 ga. youth auto for my Daughter. It is what the local trap and skeet club recommends. I have hunted rabbits and quail with it. It has not yet had a hick up and I have fired everything from reduced recoil trap loads to 3inch hotties in it. My only complaint is that with slugs it fires low. Unacceptable for hunting low. But this is not the case with shot. A buddy won a trap gun similar to the over under as pictured above. It is beautiful and he has been very happy. Several magazines and reviews are calling these shotguns the best value on the market. I hope you enjoy it and have as good an experience as those Ive mentioned.

Have you put any rounds through the new gun yet? How are you liking it?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Have you put any rounds through the new gun yet? How are you liking it?

Still waiting on the gun. The new normal for everything. Had my nephew buy me $150 in ammo for it Friday in the south end of the state as my supply chain up here told me 6-9 months for any ammo. So atleast I have ammo for the season. Based on other guns my dealer has received I should get it by the end of this week but who knows?

Where did you order it from? What kind of shells are you shooting that you weren’t able to find? Luckily I have a decent stock pile left from last year but have noticed the shelves up here in Duluth are pretty slim pickings. I have noticed target loads went up about 60% in price from last year.

Midwest Shooters Supply is were I sent my nephew. Its between Fondulac and West Bend on Hwy 41 and Hwy 67. They had trap loads case price $53. I was happy to snag the last case. Then I bought some high brass 2 3/4 in 6 shot and some 3″ in 6 shot. One thing I noticed is 3″ is very hard to find for 20 guage. But I have plenty of loads now for the season

Yes, 3” 20 ga is hard to find in MN. I always stock up when I go to South Dakota twice a year.

Is the 3” you bought steel or lead? What are you using 3” 6 shot for?

I want to see how the gun works on pheasant! Farm birds around here but still fun and my pointer retrieves! Lead!

Been looking at the Tri Star also ,Turkish made . The semi auto 410 turkey choked version shoots Federal TSS . Legit turkey gun out to 40 yds from what i have read and you tubed. The complaints on these where mostly cosmetic /fit and finish and some complained of not cycling properly . Think the over and unders were better on QC

Finally received my gun last night. I am pleased with fit form and quality. I patterned the gun at 25 yards and the under at full choke shot a little low but I need to get a stand and try some more as I was free standing on the shots and the skeeters were enjoying me. I plan on shooting some trap at my buddy’s house Monday. Anyway so far so good….

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Looks like a great gun BP! Do you happen to know the official weight on that gun? On Tristars website, the 20 gauges are like 5.5 LBs but the ones I see on gunbroker are listed at 6.3 lbs for the same gun.

bigpike wrote:

I patterned the gun at 25 yards and the under at full choke shot a little low

Quick question, why do you have a full choke in there? Are you planning to use it for turkey hunting?

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bigpike wrote:</div>
I patterned the gun at 25 yards and the under at full choke shot a little low

Quick question, why do you have a full choke in there? Are you planning to use it for turkey hunting?

gimruis:

Once the leaves are down, that full choke could provide an advantage…

Mark

That’s the beauty of double barrel shotguns. You can have two chokes for two different shot types. Typically my top barrel (what I shoot first) is a wider choke like improved cylinder and my bottom barrel (second shot) is a tighter choke like a modified or full (depending on the time of year and target species). The idea is your first shot is when the bird first flushes and is closer to you and a wider spread is more desired. Your second shot will naturally be when the bird is further away and a tighter spread is more desirable.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Looks like a great gun BP! Do you happen to know the official weight on that gun? On Tristars website, the 20 gauges are like 5.5 LBs but the ones I see on gunbroker are listed at 6.3 lbs for the same gun.

My version of the gun is LT. That version is the 5.5 weight. I dont have a way to measure the weight. But it is a very light and agile gun

mbenson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bigpike wrote:</div>
I patterned the gun at 25 yards and the under at full choke shot a little low

Quick question, why do you have a full choke in there? Are you planning to use it for turkey hunting?

gimruis:

Once the leaves are down, that full choke could provide an advantage…

Mark

Exactly. I wanted to see the difference in the pattern. And it was substantial and the idea is your second shot will be longer.

bigpike wrote:

Exactly. I wanted to see the difference in the pattern. And it was substantial and the idea is your second shot will be longer.

I didn’t realize people used a full choke for anything other than turkeys. News to me

gimruis:

Respectfully and while you are correct of the full choke/turkey deal… you’ll find that duck and pheasant hunters use full choke a lot.

Some guys actually use a full choke to help get through the cover hunting grouse as well.

While coaching high school trap, one of our mentors actually scoffed at me using a wider pattern and told me that all trap guns should be shot using a full choke. Now that I know there are two different distances that trap is shot at, the longer one is just over 30 yards if I remember correctly, which would make more sense to me, although I use a mod or imp. cyl. when shooting almost all of the time any more.

Mark

mbenson wrote:

Respectfully and while you are correct of the full choke/turkey deal… you’ll find that duck and pheasant hunters use full choke a lot.

Some guys actually use a full choke to help get through the cover hunting grouse as well.

I have never seen or heard of anyone using a full choke for ducks, pheasants, or grouse in 20 years I’ve been doing it. That’s why I asked, thank you for clarifying.