Today we're back for another in-depth shotgun review! Today's subject: The Stoeger Condor in 20 gauge. Stoeger says this is a "Fine over under shotgun for a fraction of the price." We got hands-on with the Condor to determine just how fine it is!

If you have experience with the Stoeger Condor Shotguns please let us know your thoughts on the TFL COMMUNITY!   

STOEGER CONDOR 20 GAUGE O/U

• Specs

  • Ours is in 20-gauge - The Condor comes in 20, 12, 28, .410
  • The Condor is also available in a youth version (with a 13" length of pull)
  • The length of pull is 14 1/2" 
  • Drop at comb 1 1/2"
  • Drop at heel 2 1/2"
  • Available in 26" or 28" barrel lengths.
  • 7lbs 6oz 
  • 4lbs 10oz average trigger pull weight. This a surprisingly good trigger for the price point.
  • MSRP is $499
  • This Condor has an auto-safety

• Ergonomics

  • The grip of the Condor isn't half bad. It feels pretty natural in the hands.
  • The wood is supposedly grade A walnut. It does not look or feel very nice though.
  • There is no palm swell on this shotgun.
  • The Condors texturing isn't all that great either. It feels more like a snake skin then a checkering.
  • The Condor is well-balanced with a bit of a forward lean.
  • This shotgun mounts up pretty nice.
  • The top tang and lever are very basic.
  • There is no barrel selector like you'd see on other O/U shotguns.
  • The Condor is a flat rib design with a brass front bead.
  • The rib is flat, vented, and sports a medium-sized front fiber and ivory mid-bead.
  • The recoil pad is a strange foam/hard rubber type material. 
  • The overall ergonomics are fine... just as Stoeger said. "Fine" as in, "It's ok..."
  • One stand-out turn-off is the wiggle and play that we experienced in the forend. 
  • The Condor comes with 2 flush mounted chokes: IC, M
  • No shell ejectors. Just simple extractors.
  • All tolerances were pretty loose out of the box, unfortunately.

• Recoil and Reliability

  • We'll keep it short and painless for you: This 20 gauge Condor had a bit of kick. However, it's a 20 gauge so it's hardly worth mentioning. 
  • We did notice when breaking it open to load that keeping the action fully open requires a bit of consent pressure on the barrel.
  • Regardless we were able to crush clays in pretty short order with this shotgun. We were pretty happy with this shotgun.
  • As far as recoil goes, it was quite a bit more than we anticipated. You'll notice the hunting loads more for sure but 20 gauges give us the luxury of less recoil generally speaking. Regardless, lighter guns usually translate to more felt recoil into the shoulder. (Add a FalconStrike for less recoil)
  • If you can speak to the reliability of a Stoeger Condor please let us know how it's held up on the  TFL COMMUNITY!    

• Breakdown/Quality of Build

  • This Condor comes apart like every other O/U
  • When we looked into the receiver, we could tell right away that it is a pretty cheap build with nothing special going on.
  • The receiver is black steel.
  • Overall this is a pretty cheaply finished shotgun. Cheap wood, bad checkering, and poor tolerances. 
  • These are all pretty quick judgments. What really matters is how long this shotgun will last after hundreds of rounds. Let us know your experience on the  TFL COMMUNITY!  

• Speed Shooting

  • In every review, we typically do a speed shooting test. This is where we hand throw 2 clays and record how fast we shoot them, as well as the split times between each shot. This is a fun competitive way to see how intuitively the gun mounts, shoots, and follows up on consecutive targets. Everything comes together in speed shooting. 
  • After a couple of boxes of Federal, we were able to achieve some decent splits. It mounted pretty decent as well. Our best split was a .19
  • Our fastest clean time on 2 clays was .89. This is a relatively good score for an O/U 20ga. 

In conclusion, if you want a cheap shotgun to mess around with the Condor may be a great option. You're not paying for anything nice or fancy but for the price point, this shotgun still goes bang. We actually had a fairly successful time shooting this shotgun and had some fun with it as well. If you want cheap, the Condor is one of you better options!

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

Steve Gould