Today we're reviewing an over under shotgun from a company that you may have never heard of: Fusion Firearms. Fusion is based out of Venice, Florida. Last year, they reached out to us for a couple reviews - We have a hard time turning down shotguns! So today we're going to put this sporting clays shotgun to the test and see what Fusion is all about. 

If you have experience with Fusion shotguns please let us know your thoughts on the TFL COMMUNITY!   

The Silvertip was designed to be a sporting clays shotgun.

FUSION SILVERTIP SPORTING

Here is what Fusion has to say about the Silvertip: "If you're a seasoned shooter or a novice looking to get into the world of sporting clays and upland bird hunting, the Fusion Silvertip Over/Under Shotgun is an excellent choice for you. This shotgun is designed to provide exceptional value and performance, with a focus on versatility to accommodate a range of different hunting applications."

This is a Turkish made shotgun. However, Fusion is a bit unique as all of their parts, warranty, and service work is done right here in the United States. Fusion Global has their own people and employees working on their guns in Turkey as well. A lot of Turkish shotguns are pushed through a large factory where multiple makes of shotguns are being made - Fusion operates differently in this regard.

• Specs

  • 12 gauge over/under shotgun.
  • 3" chamber.
  • 28" barrel (24", 26", 30" available)
  • Comes with 5 extended chokes. Looking for aftermarket chokes? Check out Carlson's Chokes Use Code "targetfocused20" for 20% off.
  • The length of is 14 11/16" 
  • Adjustable cheek-piece for drop at comb, heel, and cast adjustments.
  • Nickel Plated Reciever
  • Nice ejectors
  • 8lbs 2.6oz
  • We got an average trigger pull weight of 3lbs 8oz. 
  • Overall the trigger felt quite crispy.
  • Black Chrome Finished Barrel
  • MSRP is $1,499.95 

• Ergonomics

  • The forend is contoured very nicely to provide comfortable grip any way you hold it.
  • At first feel, the balance seemed a bit light out front. The 30" barrel option would combat this well.
  • Stepped up vented rib
  • Brass mid-bead and front-bead.
  • Being an inertia gun, the weight is balanced a bit rearward. This Breda mounts and swings very nicely.
  • The barrels are ported. We're happy to see this as you often wouldn't in a gun at this price point.
  • Top tang safety with barrel selectors (very common)
  • Cool laser engraving throughout the receiver including the bottom of the trigger guard which has a neat design.
  • Receiver is silver aluminum, the trigger is gold.
  • The furniture is standard wood with a matte finish.
  • One stand-out detail would be the squish of the recoil pad. Often this is an after-thought for many manufacturers. This one feels great and has a good tolerance.
  • The overall ergonomics and build of this gun are great. It feels great in the hands, has tight tolerance, and is balanced nicely. The high point would be the mountability.     

• Recoil and Reliability

  
  
  • So far, the recoil management of this shotgun is a big highlight. It's relatively soft, and right back into the shoulder.
  • The ejectors on this silvertip work - like really work. This thing kicks out shells 10-15 feet every time. We're not sure if this is a positive of a negative. If you're in a situation where you have to pick up your shells, this may make it difficult. 
  • If you wanted to bring it to the next level,  A  Falcon Strike recoil pad would make this Silvertip hard to put down.
  • This shotgun mounted and swung nicely, and was very reliable.
  • It took a bit to get acclimated with the Silvertip (as with any new shotgun) but when  we got on with it, we were crushing clays. This was a very positive experience. 
  • If you can speak to the reliability of a Fusion, please let us know how it's held up on the  TFL COMMUNITY!    

• Breakdown/Quality of Build

  • Any time we look at the quality of a Turkish made shotgun, naturally there's a bit of hesitation. But Fusion has been a pleasure to work. They believe in their product, wanted our opinion, and actually valued what we had to say. In fact, last year we had given a couple recommendations about how to make this Silvertip better and they were humble enough to bring it back to the drawing board and revamp the Silvertip to the version they currently offer.
  • As we mentioned before, their parts and warranty work is done here in the States. This fact alone increases the "quality" of the shotgun. When you buy a gun, you're not just buying the gun. You're also buying access to a service, warranty, and hopefully a team that stands behind their product to fix any issues you may have. In the case of Fusion, they've been a joy to work with. 
  • With the Silvertip having an aluminum receiver, we're predicting that it may not have the longevity of a steel receiver that many adjacent shotgun have. This is just speculation. 
  • The overall construction is solid. 
  • What Fusion has going on for $1,500 is pretty dang good.
  • The receiver block is jeweled (Where the barrel sits in the receiver)
  • On the topic of build quality, Fusion drills their barrels rather than hammering them. There are a lot of different techniques that manufacturers are now using to eliminate the possibility of imperfections and weak points that may occur from hammering (I.E Benelli does a crio treatment using freezing temperatures). It's hard to say what's best when every company has their own strategy but, it seems to make sense that their drilling process would result in better, more consistent patterns, as well as better overall longevity of the barrel.
  • The receiver is CNC machined with 7075 aluminum bar stock. For a field gun this is great. For a clays gun that's going to get a lot of rounds over and over again, we'd maybe prefer a steel receiver.
  • We have no reason to believe that this shotgun wont hold up over time if properly cared for. 

• Speed Shooting The Silvertip

  • In every review, we typically do a speed shooting test where we hand throw 2-3 clays and record the time it takes to get on the clays, and shoot all of them. This test reveals a lot about the functionality of the gun such as mountability, target acquisition, trigger, recoil, and reliability. 
  • However in this scenario, we opted to shoot some casual sporting clay-type targets.
  • The more we became comfortable with the gun, the more we hit, and the more we like it. 
  • The weight was perfect, the trigger was crisp, and the recoil wasn't bad. Not sure what more you could ask for at this price point.

In conclusion, this Fusion Silvertip is a valid option if you're looking to get into an over under. It's intended for sporting clays, but we think that this could act as a great all-around shotgun. This would be a good shotgun in the field as well, assuming you selected the 30" barrel to reduce the barrel whip. The aluminum receiver also cuts some weight off (Compared to steel) making it a bit easier to walk with if you did indeed use this as a field gun as well. Overall, this is a good all around break action at a super good price-point. Also, for what its worth, Fusion has been great to work with! 

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