Affordable & Quality? Weatherby Orion 12 Gauge O/U Shotgun Review

Today we're looking at the Weatherby Orion 12 Gauge O/U. Over the past year, I have been very impressed with the Weatherby shotguns. Notably, the Semi-Auto Element. I found the Element to be a fantastic bang for your buck - today we'll see if the story is the same for the Orion. Let's go!

MSRP

$1049 but you'll find the best deal on an Orion at Reeds Sports

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QUICK SPECS

• 12 gauge (or 20) 
• 28" Barrel (26" or option)
• 7lbs  
• Length of Pull 14 1/2" 
• Drop at Comb 1 1/2" 
• Drop at Heel 2 1/4"
• Comes with 3 chokes

TRIGGER

• 6lbs 2.8oz (Average)
• Felt just alright! A bit heavy
• It was a bit heavier than I expected but it felt decent. Nothing special

ERGONOMICS

• The first thing I noticed is that this gun felt really front-heavy. Most likely due to the "2 by 4" feeling forearm
• Prince of Wales stock is very classy but felt kind of meaty
• Basic easy to use safety - I like that it doesn't have the auto-safe function
• The gun and moving parts all worked smoothly with no issue
• Classy front bead on front (love the simplicity)
• Vented rib and barrels
• Very nice feeling recoil pad
• Mounted up very nicely

• This is a solid gun that should hold up extremely well
• Unfortunately, nothing aesthetically excited me. I like my over-unders to be at least a little classy looking
• Standard wood grade with a high gloss finish

Build Quality

• Overall, this gun is put together very well for the price point that it's at
• Again, we saw this in the Element semi-auto, Weatherby is making some incredible builds at a very reasonable price

RECOIL/RELIABILITY

• It took the recoil straight back to my shoulder! Muzzle seemed to jump a bit more than normal
• Ejectors work flawlessly 
• This gun mounted and pointed very nice in between shots. Impressed!

BREAKDOWN

• The Orion came apart easily as most over-unders do
• Taking it apart reinforced my beliefs that this gun operates SMOOTH
• What it lacks in appearance is made up in being smooth (Kinda like me)

SPEED SHOOTING

• I was able to accomplish shooting 2 hand thrown clays in 1.08 seconds

In summary, shooting this Orion kind of confirmed what I had learned about Weatherby from shooting the Element last year - these folks make fantastic guns for the money. It was fun to shoot, It pointed naturally, and it worked great. It may not be the prettiest over-under, but if you need a reliable, affordable O/U that can shoot trap, hunt, or anything else, this may be a top 5 option under $1,000.

Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we will only hit what we are focused on so live the #targetfocusedlife 

Stay Target Focused,

Steve