For 2025, Browning cooked up a new Citori lineup of shotguns that heed the hunting and clay call. We tested the 825 Field in Alaska, and it performed brilliantly.
I can’t remember what make and model Citori it was, but it was stunning. The flat, floating rib kept me on target, and for the first time in my clay-busting career, I executed a perfect round.
It was painful to return the shotgun with the black receiver and gold-inlay branded Citori label to its owner. That day, I started saving my pennies.
Since my perfect skeet round, I’ve shouldered many Browning over-and-under models. From the Citori Hunter Deluxe to the Citori 725 Field to the 725 Sporting, I’ve used these legendary builds on many upland hunts and clay shoots. The balance, shot-to-shot consistency, and undeniable durability of Browning over-and-under shotguns build shooting confidence.
I was thrilled when I got the call. Browning’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Rafe Nielsen, invited me on a late-August Alaska hunt. It wasn’t for caribou, sheep, or bears, but instead, I, along with four other outdoor writers, would make the trip to Cold Bay, Alaska. The mission: put Browning’s new-for-2025 Citori 825 Field to the test.
According to Nielsen, the next evolution in Browning’s Citori line, the 825, will eventually phase out the existing 725 line. Currently, there are 19 models available in an array of gauges in the Citori 725 line.
“For now, we’ve launched eight Citori 825 models,” Nielsen said. “All of them are chambered in 12 gauge. Of course, that will change. We won’t fully phase out the 725 lineup until we have more 825 models in various gauges in production.”
Why The 825?
One of the many things Browning has going is its relentless drive to maintain perfection. Ever since John Moses Browning designed his first firearm, a single-shot falling-block rifle, in 1878, which he later sold to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Browning has been on the firearm fast track.
“It’s nice,” Nielsen said. “We don’t have to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel. Our over-and-under legacy began with the Superposed. On its heels was the Citori. Then, in 2012, we launched the Citori 725 line. The natural progression was to do what we did with the X-Bolt rifle line: take a stellar product and improve it. That’s what we’ve done with the Citori 825. There are many purposeful aesthetic changes that also boost functionality. Shooters will notice the slimmer new top lever, newly-styled receiver shape, and improved, easier-to-operate forearm latch.
The Citori 825 Field features a redesigned top lever that’s slimmer and more user friendly.
“Internally, the Fire Lite 2 Trigger is a big upgrade. The trigger doesn’t rely on recoil to set the hammer for the second shot, and the trigger ensures no creep, no take-up, and promises flawless shot-to-shot consistency.”
First Impressions
I received my Browning 825 in mid-August, a few weeks before my trip north. The model was the 825 Field. When I opened the hard case and saw the Gloss oil finish Grade II/III walnut stock, slim but long forearm, and gloss-blued barrels, I smiled. It was a Browning, and before taking the three pieces and making them one, I picked up the stock attached to the newly redesigned receiver.
Machined from steel and protected with a durable silver nitride finish for increased longevity, the receiver sports a great shape with sharp, modernized lines. The 825’s receiver also has a blended-in curvature look in the metal-to-fore-end connection rather than the signature H-shape of the 725. The shotgun’s safety/selector also got a slight redesign to maximize functionality. Plus, I love the Game scene engraving—pheasants on one side and quail on the other—on the sides of the receiver.
The slim, light, and highly functional receiver is also a work of art with game-scene engraving on both sides.
The shotgun fell together like butter. I applaud Browning’s attention to small details like making the forearm latch easier to operate. The shogun comes with a trio of chokes (Full, Improved Cylinder, Modified). I threaded the Improved Cylinder into the bottom and Modified into the top. I prefer to shoot the bottom barrel first, and a quick manipulation (slide the safety/selector switch right) allowed me to make the bottom barrel selection.
With the barrels clear and the shotgun pointed in a safe direction, I shouldered the Citori 825 Field. It fell into the shoulder pocket, my cheek intuitively found the walnut comb, and eye alignment down the raised, vented rib was immediate. For grins, I swung left, right, up, and down. I manipulated the slim top lever, broke the barrels, and closed them. Fit and feel seemed excellent.
Fit, feel, and function are mastered in the Browning 825 Field.
Let’s Go To Alaska
I asked Nielsen why he chose Alaska as the new Citori 825 Field testing ground. We could have easily gone to another upland-rich locale.
“We do much testing and scrutinizing over new products,” Nielsen said. “Deep in your gut, you know you hit a home run and know the new product will perform well. Still, it’s so nice to see it excel.
“I wanted Alaska because I knew the 825 would get exposure to rain, boat rides across the Bering Sea, and long walks across the spongy tundra. The location we were going to hunt held good numbers of birds, and I’m told is the last of the Alaska mainland before the Aleutian Islands. I wanted everyone to have an excellent upland hunt and many shots to get fired.”
From boat rides to long, arduous walks across the Alaska tundra, the 825 Field was exposed to numerous conditions.
Nielsen got his wish. In a week of hunting, I saw the sun once. My Citori 825 Field got rained on, spayed with salt water, bounced up and down in an aluminum hull boat, dropped (three times), and fired. For maintenance, all I did, heck, all we all did, was wipe the guns down with oil each night.
As For Shootability & Functionality…
My first Alaska shoulder with the Citori 825 Field was on a big group of ptarmigan. The flush was violent, and birds were everywhere, but I managed to swing left and right. Both shots were accurate, and two ptarmigan lay dead on the green tundra.
The gun shoulders like a dream, swings with elegant grace, and when the Fire Lite 2 Trigger is pulled, recoil, even when shooting a mixture of low-brass and high-brass Winchester and Browning ammo in #6 and #4, was minimal. Chalk this up to the tired-and-true Inflex II Recoil Pad and the gun’s general build. I could stay glued to the stock, drop a bird, find the next, and make another killing shot. I’m unsure how many doubles our group pulled off, but I witnessed many.
The slim top lever and safety/selector switch are easy to operate and don’t require the shooter ever to look down. Dual ejectors spit spent hulls up and out, and reloading is quick and easy. I shot two limits (10 birds per day) in two days and then followed other hunters around with a long lens and watched them enjoy shooting a masterpiece in over-and-under innovation.
Final Thoughts
My experience with the Citori 825 Field continued after Alaska. Several times during September, I used the shotgun on fast-flying doves. You know you’re shooting a winner when the buddies you’re hunting with slowly make their way over to where you’re shooting and ask, “Hey, could I shoot a few birds with that shotgun? You’re shooting it good, and it just looks so sweet.”
Isn’t that what you want when you drop coin on an over-and-under shotgun — a balanced, smooth-swinging shooter that smashes birds and clays and looks stunning? I know that’s what I want, and if your brain works like mine, Browning’s new-for-2025 Citori 825 line is a must-have for the over-and-under shotgun lover.
