Panzer? Any good?

[Jason_2111]

So today a buddy texts me and asks if the Panzer lever shotgun is any good.
I tell him "Never heard of them... lemme check".

3 hours later after watching a ton of YouTube reviews, I decide that there's a gaping hole in my collection that is shaped mysteriously like their M4-clone, and the cool lever gun. (Ain't a fan of mazazine fed shotty's, so no bullpup for me)
But, before I throw 2 or 3 guns on order, I figured it'd be better to check with the brain trust.


The EG-240 is $350 at PSA... https://palmettostatearmory.com/bran...rms/eg240.html


The lever action is OOS at PSA, but runs like 400 I think. https://palmettostatearmory.com/panz...eg220lats.html

Not a fan of Black Aces... but I heard a lot of good stuff about these cheap Panzers. What say y'all... Anybody play with them yet? Might be my next birthday present to myself.

[sigstroker]

I have a Panzer Turknelli. I've only put about a dozen birdshot shells through it. It's hung up a few times, but I just had to help the bolt close with a little push. They say I should break it in with a hundred buckshot shells. The problem is I don't have anywhere to do that. The local shotgun range won't let me shoot buckshot. But it looks good, supposedly the parts are built to Benelli prints. No idea how the materials compare.

Pros vs PSA clone:
It's not reverse engineered. Supposedly lots of parts are interchangeable with Benellis.

Cons vs PSA:
Assuming the PSA is U.S. made, the Turknelli has to jump through the 922r hoops for long mag tube, collapsing stock, etc. and the PSA doesn't. The PSA looks cheaper. Years down the road you can probably still get parts from PSA.

edit: I didn't realize PSA is just selling Panzers, so never mind. I thought PSA was selling their own brand.

[Jason_2111]

Well... I decided to take some xmas money and say "why not" and buy one from PSA. It's on the way now, and will surely deplete my 12ga ammo something aweful.. BUT... now that I think more about it, I'm thinking I shouldn't have bought it.

Why? Only one reason...

... I can't for the life of me find a 922r parts list on this thing. It's an import... gonna need to know what I can monkey with, aftermarket stuff, etc. The importer (panzer arms use) apparently hasn't figured out how to answer their phone or hit the reply button on email either... that doesn't help.

Aww... poop. It'll make a nice night-stand gun, and good for "naked drone patrol".

(if anyone sees any 922r lists for any of the Panzers, please tag me!)

Lesson learned... imported shottys are like imported women, there's more to consider than just taking them home.

[Jason_2111]

Well... I decided to take some xmas money and say "why not" and buy one from PSA. It's on the way now, and will surely deplete my 12ga ammo something aweful.. BUT... now that I think more about it, I'm thinking I shouldn't have bought it.

Why? Only one reason...

... I can't for the life of me find a 922r parts list on this thing. It's an import... gonna need to know what I can monkey with, aftermarket stuff, etc. The importer (panzer arms use) apparently hasn't figured out how to answer their phone or hit the reply button on email either... that doesn't help.

Aww... poop. It'll make a nice night-stand gun, and good for "naked drone patrol".

(if anyone sees any 922r lists for any of the Panzers, please tag me!)

Lesson learned... imported shottys are like imported women, there's more to consider than just taking them home.

[sigstroker]

I've seen lists somewhere. Maybe on youtube, or maybe for some other Turkish brand. Or maybe on a website selling the parts. The only part that's possibly worth the hassle is a longer mag tube. I considered it for awhile, but the cost of all the parts is going to end up to be like 50% the cost of the gun. So maybe I'll do it later, but for now I set it aside.

edit: Doh, or just look for a list for M4's.

edit Part 2: OR, you can just say eff it. 95% of the people on youtube aren't 922r compliant. They're just swapping the parts and then putting it on the internet.

Not that I would ever recommend such behavior.

[Jason_2111]

Well... got an update. The EG-240 showed up at the FFL yesterday, so I went in to inspect it and start my paperwork.

Initial thoughts:

- Nobody at my LGS appears to have a clue about 922r, and was no help with inquiries about what can/can't be swapped because it's an import.
- It feels solid and well built, except for the stock. The stock is a 1-piece pistol grip and stock. The LGS guys think it's a mossberg stock, but I doubt that.
- Trigger didn't feel that bad. Triggers can always be better when they're not perfect of course, so I'll be ripping it apart and seeing how I can improve that.
- Weight feels good to me, which most people will probably say is on the slightly heavy side.
- The M-LOK on the rail is ONLY on the sides. I'd planned to put an AFG on the bottom, but the bottom of the rail is flat and solid. Looks like I'll be machining some slots or tapping a couple of holes so I can directly mount one.
- Cerakote job is actually a base coat of FDE with a stencil (the Stars and Stripes) in OD Green on top of it. Not sure if I'll keep that as-is, or blast it off and do my own paint job.
- It came with an oversize charging handle which is decent enough to not need to replace.
- Bolt release is a medium sized one... I'll probably put a bigger one on there.
- The amount of factory oil on the thing means a good tear down and cleaning before I shoot it.
- The rail doesn't have a perfect spot for mounting a MatchSaverz... so again, I'll be making another hole in it.
- Finding a side-saddle is going to be interesting. Hopefully I can find a not-super-expensive one that attaches at the rail on top, but doesn't interfere with where I want to mount the optic.
- No sights of any kind on it... might be a throw-away pair of flip-ups in the box, but that doesn't matter. I always run a fixed front sight and cheapo-but-can-take-a-pounding reflex on the back.

Overall... I'm happy with it so far. Once it's out of jail, cleaned up, and I make a few minor adjustments, I'll put a hundred rounds or so through it and post up a range report.

Next month I'll grab the lever gun, just to have. Always wanted an 1887... that'd make a fun plinker.

[Jason_2111]

Another thing... this was the first time I've actually purchased a firearm from PSA. Not super happy with them. The entire time this order was being processed and shipped, it only showed up as "Processing". Every day I checked the chat help to see what the order status was (and to make sure my credit card company didn't screw me or something)... and it was always the same.
Then yesterday, I get an email notice from UPS that it was "Out for Delivery"... and an hour later I get a call from the LGS.

So tracking for the purposes of planning the trip to the LGS... non existent.

Never had a problem with PSA buying parts and such. I guess that's a different department.

[wussery]

Another thing... this was the first time I've actually purchased a firearm from PSA. Not super happy with them. The entire time this order was being processed and shipped, it only showed up as "Processing". Every day I checked the chat help to see what the order status was (and to make sure my credit card company didn't screw me or something)... and it was always the same.
Then yesterday, I get an email notice from UPS that it was "Out for Delivery"... and an hour later I get a call from the LGS.

So tracking for the purposes of planning the trip to the LGS... non existent.

Never had a problem with PSA buying parts and such. I guess that's a different department.

Just wanted to give my recent experience with PSA. I ordered my Panzer M4 on May 5, 2024 and it was delivered to my FFL on May 14th. I did my DROS paperwork on May 15th and will pick it up on May 25th. During this period I received an Order Confirmation and a UPS shipping confirmation number on May 6, 2024 and was able to see the progress of the shipment via the UPS website.

PS: If you're looking for 12 Gauge Ammunition at an affordable price I would recommend Saint Barb's Bullets here:

https://saintbarbsbullets.com/

[roadturner]

I wanted a panzer m4 saw reviews its hot or miss. For a budget friendly semi auto go for the mossberg 930 and do it up still gonna come out cheaper.

[wussery]

Well... I decided to take some xmas money and say "why not" and buy one from PSA. It's on the way now, and will surely deplete my 12ga ammo something aweful.. BUT... now that I think more about it, I'm thinking I shouldn't have bought it.

Why? Only one reason...

... I can't for the life of me find a 922r parts list on this thing. It's an import... gonna need to know what I can monkey with, aftermarket stuff, etc. The importer (panzer arms use) apparently hasn't figured out how to answer their phone or hit the reply button on email either... that doesn't help.

Aww... poop. It'll make a nice night-stand gun, and good for "naked drone patrol".

(if anyone sees any 922r lists for any of the Panzers, please tag me!)

Lesson learned... imported shottys are like imported women, there's more to consider than just taking them home.

Here's a great video that explains the 922r process for replacing the 5rd tube with the 7rd tube. There's another video on their website that goes over the requirements for replacing the stock with a collapsible stock. A collapsible is NOT LEGAL in California.

https://bit.ly/4dOu1gj

[Mute]

One of my friends bought the M4 version. So far so good. Not quite as smooth as the Benelli but function has been 100% reliable.

[Coolguy101]

Well... I decided to take some xmas money and say "why not" and buy one from PSA. It's on the way now, and will surely deplete my 12ga ammo something aweful.. BUT... now that I think more about it, I'm thinking I shouldn't have bought it.

Why? Only one reason...

... I can't for the life of me find a 922r parts list on this thing. It's an import... gonna need to know what I can monkey with, aftermarket stuff, etc. The importer (panzer arms use) apparently hasn't figured out how to answer their phone or hit the reply button on email either... that doesn't help.

Aww... poop. It'll make a nice night-stand gun, and good for "naked drone patrol".

(if anyone sees any 922r lists for any of the Panzers, please tag me!)

Lesson learned... imported shottys are like imported women, there's more to consider than just taking them home.

Why do you think you need to be 922r compliant if you want to change parts to arftermarket?

[wussery]

Why do you think you need to be 922r compliant if you want to change parts to arftermarket?

Because it's a Federal Law.

[sigstroker]

I'm reasonably content with the 6/7 round capacity as-is. It's a lot of hassle to change the tube, then even more hassle to change the other parts for 922r. The path of least resistance is to do nothing, which is my favorite.

I had thought I would need the collapsing stock, but after I got it, it seems fine. So I'm even less motivated to do 922r.

[Coolguy101]

Because it's a Federal Law.

No its not. 922r doesn't apply because its already imported, and that firearm is not prohibited from being imported from that country. You can make all the changes you want to that firearm without regard to 922r.