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Browning’s new Citori 825 is based around the premise that there wasn’t a whole lot wrong with the Citori 725. As the 725’s replacement, the 825 features a few styling tweaks and an improved trigger. Browning should be congratulated for not fixing a gun that wasn’t broken as they roll out this new O/U. I got my hands on a test gun in time to test in on the range and take in on several pheasant hunts before the end of our season. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest Citori and how it fared in my testing.
Browning Citori 825 Field Specs
Length: 45-3/4″ with 28-inch barrels
Weight: 7 pounds
Barrel: 28-inch flat vent rib, white front and mid-beads, 3 Invector Plus DS II chokes
Action: Break-action O/U
Trigger: 3 pounds, 8 ounces
Capacity: 2
Finish: Silver Nitride-finished receiver, engraved with gamebirds and scroll
Stock: Oil-finished gloss walnut
Chambering: 3-inch 12-gauge
Price: $3,150
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Browning Citori 825 Field Overview
In order to discuss the Citori 825 intelligibly, we need to start with the 725, which was introduced in 2014 and represented a major change to Citori design. Browning engineers shaved height off the notoriously tall frame of the gun, and took about ¾ of a pound out of the receiver and barrels. The result was a dramatically trimmer, lighter, livelier gun. The action also featured a mechanical trigger in place of the recoil-actuated trigger of previous Citoris. Because mechanical triggers don’t rely on recoil to reset, you can fire the second barrel even if you have a dud cartridge in the first barrel. This is a feature target shooters especially like, although it can come in handy in the field, too. The 725 became the higher-end, flagship Citori, while the original Citori remains in the lineup as more of a price-point O/U.
The 825 follows the 725’s lead, with high-quality walnut and good fit and finish. My sample gun, a 28-inch-barreled 12-gauge Field, had some nice figure in its Grade II/III walnut stock, which showed to good advantage thanks to an oil finish. The forend has more of a traditional rounded tip, which I very much prefer to the semi-Schnable or whatever it was on the 725. The stock has a fluted comb, and a pistol grip with a right-hand palm swell. I’m a lefty and I don’t even like left-hand palm swells on hunting guns, so that would be my main quibble with the lines of the gun.
The frame is finished in silver nitride, and the upper part of the receiver, what you’d call the fences if it were a side by side, are smoothed, sleek, and modern-looking, as is the top lever. It looks modern in a good way. The one area where the 825 loses out to the 725 is in the engraving pattern. Both feature scroll and gamebirds, and the 725 has deeper scroll and better-looking birds, but the difference between them isn’t huge.
The 825 has the traditional Browning barrel selector/safety and gold trigger, plus Browning’s soft, effective Inflex recoil pad on the butt. The rib has white front and mid-beads, and the richly blued barrels are threaded for Browning’s Invector DS II chokes. “DS” means “Double Seal,” and these have a brass gas seal at the base to prevent fouling build-up, or, worse, fouling working its way between the tube and the threads, which can result in damaged tube and barrel.
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Browning Citori 825 Field Test
I received my test gun with about 10 days left in Iowa’s pheasant season, and I took it hunting eight of those days. At 7 pounds (several ounces less than listed weight), it wasn’t a burden to carry as I tried to hunt as much as possible before the season ended. The 825 pointed and handled very well. I put several late-season birds and one bobwhite in the freezer with it. When I had the chance to shoot it at paper from a bench rest, it centered the pattern about two inches high at 40 yards, which is practically dead-on. I did pattern one load in it, Boss Steel Reserve 3s, and it shot a 60% pattern at 40 yards with the Modified choke in place.
Mechanically, everything worked as it was supposed to, including the Firelite 2 trigger, a revamped version of the 725 trigger. My gun’s trigger broke at a clean 3 1/2-pounds, a pull so nice even I noticed it, and I never notice trigger pulls. There is a sporting version of the 825 also, and target shooters should love the trigger.
Final Thoughts on the 825 Field
Pros
Excellent trigger
Good fit and finish
Points well
Cons
Palm swells don’t belong on field guns
Only available in 12-gauge so far
The new Browning Citori 825 comes in 10 different versions, including one Field, four Sporting, and five Trap models. The Field model lists for $3,149, and I’d say it is worth the money, even if the money is not an inconsequential amount. In all, the 825 is a very worthy successor to the 725 and to every Citori that came before it.
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