Best shotgun for shooting clays

Don't get hung up on what mfg's call a Skeet gun vs a Sporting Clays gun or a Field gun.....most any good general purpose gun can be used for everything.

In general again - as an all around gun ( for hunting, Skeet and Sporting) I like a 12ga, Over Under ( because I have 2 chokes - and can put what I want in each barrel), around 8 1/2 lbs, 30" barrels. An O/U like the Browning Citori XS Skeet model with the adj comb - is one gun that meets all those specs for me personally. But for you it could be a pump gun or a semi-auto. You are at a little disadvantage using a pump gun in skeet or sporting on followup shots on pairs of targets in the air at once. But if its just for fun - vs competition - its not a big deal.

O/U's in general - don't have shell cycling issues / where some pumps and semi-autos do have some. If you can break open an O/U and shove a shell into the chamber and close the gun - it'll probably fire both barrels.

Browning bought winchester a few yrs ago ...and then FN bought them both ...so all of the Win's look a lot, if not identical, to the Brownings. The SX3 is not a bad option ....but lots of others. I'm not personally big on anything Mossberg makes - but most of their models are probably ok for light use ( maybe 1,000 targets a yr or so )...in my opinion.
 
I was told today to use the lower barrel for Trap Shooting. The guy that shot a round with my Browning used the lower barrel, I was using the upper. Don't know what difference it makes, but I will do that tomorrow.

I can't do much about the cheek well since this gun has a recoil system installed that includes the cheek well with it. I did shoy my FFL how I was holding the gun, he thinks I am shooting over the top of the targets. Shooting paper is so much easier, you can see where you are hitting instantly!

My wife and I can both shoot doubles with her 870. It is kinda fun to have to reload while keeping your eye on the second target. I got pretty good at it, she isn't too bad either!
 
M4BGRINGP…

Using the lower barrel gives less kick from the rising barrel because of the reduced eccentricity. It is also advised that you use the lower barrel first when shooting doubles so you can get on the second target quicker.
 
BigJim brings up a very important point. If you are going to shoot a lot of clays, reliability needs to be very important to you. The gun must fit to hit what you are shooting at, but if the gun doesn't go BANG, it doesn't matter how well the gun fits you.
I am partial to autos.
I have spent a lot of money on autos.
Brownings and Berettas are less reliable than the Benellis. (in my personal experience)
I do own o/u guns. I consider my Benelli Sport IIs every bit as reliable as My Beretta O/Us.
I know many shooters who own both autos and o/u guns. Most consider their o/u guns to be more reliable.
In my neck of the woods, many shooters are trading Beretta autos in on Benellis due to reliability issues. I speak of shooters who are shooting in excess of 200 birds a week, every week.
 
Well, tried the Browning again today. Shot with the lower barrel and an Improved Modified choke. Stunk the first round, 14 of 25. I was experimenting so I wasn't expecting much.

I then shot back to back 19's. Felt much better and knew why I missed most of them. One or two were *** did I do wrong, but all in all, did much better.

Had to finish the day with the wifes 870. Figures, I shot 21 of 25 with that one.

With more time I will get there with the Browning. That gun fits and feels really nice, I'll stick with it.
 
If you're talking about Trap singles from the 16 yd line....Improved Modified is a pretty tight choke. The kill range on Trap singles - is around 16 - 20 yds beyond the house ...so around 35 yds ...and a Modified choke is plenty.

I agree with Zippy's comments about shooting the lower barrel first for pairs ...or on any single target game.
 
BigJim, my friend, perhaps some of the new shooters are unaware of the days before changeable chokes were common. Back then, trap guns were typically choked full and were used from 16 to 27-yards. Many 100-straights were shot from 16-yards with full choked guns. My first trap specific gun came with full, extra full and super full screw-in chokes.
 
Thanks for all the help. There's definitely a lot to take in. One question I still have is why can some guns shoot light loads and others cannot? And overall can I get an array of the most dependable autoloading shotguns in all of your opinions? I leaning on a benelli supervinci. Also what choke would I get for just throwing clays up and shooting them and what type of choke would be necessary for sporting clays? Thanks!
 
It's not that the guns can't shoot light loads, but that some autoloaders won't cycle with light loads. With them, the shells may jamb during ejection, so you'll essentially have a single shot.

For hand-tossed, you're so close to the target, I'd use a Skeet or Cly choke.
 
is why can some guns shoot light loads and others cannot?
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The advantage of non-gas guns - they CAN shoot a wide variety of loads.

Regarding semi gas guns - many times, if the maker markets a particular model to a particular segment - say duck/goose hunters - they will build the gun for those heavy loads - smaller gas ports, beefier spring, etc. Contrarily, if they are building a gun aimed specifically for the clay target shooters, the gas ports will be larger (target loads are much lighter than heavy field loads), and they might use a lighter spring. Take a field gun and use light loads - it might not cycle the action. Take a target gun and use heavy field loads and it will throw your empties into the next county and literally beat the gun to pieces after a while.

Some guns try to accommodate by having the ability to change the gas ports or switch a piece internally, others -like the Beretta A400 Xplor - were designed for everything from light target loads to 3.5" uber-goose loads, without doing anything to the gun.
 
Regarding semi gas guns - many times, if the maker markets a particular model to a particular segment - say duck/goose hunters - they will build the gun for those heavy loads - smaller gas ports, beefier spring, etc.
Click to expand...

Yup. My Remington 105 CTi II, while a fairly soft shooting semi, is set up as a field gun, and the manual says it's designed for the standard 1 1/8 oz. 3 dram load. In other words, if you are going clay shooting, it wants to be fed the full power target loads. Even in a soft shooting gun, that's going to beat you down after 2-3 rounds. It will cycle 1 ounce loads, but forget about cream puff 7/8 oz. loads like I use in my O/U (which, despite a lack of any recoil absorption via a semiauto mechanism, doesn't hardly kick at all).

Newer designs seem to be set up for a wider array of loads with only minimal (if not zero) tinkering on the part of the shooter.
 
question about benelli autoloaders since they are the ones I'm leaning towards. Which benelli of the three would be recommended most for skeet shooting and what really is the point for each one that helps make this decision for you:

Benelli Supervinci
Benelli Cordoba
Benelli supersport
Benelli Sport 2
 
and in regard for the gas guns, does the winchester sx3 shoot both heavy and light loads? (this is the only gas gun I'm really interested in right now).
 
Personally, I like the wood furniture on the sport version, but if I was also doing waterfowl, one of the other versions would be better in the long run
 
Zippy is right about the trends in Trap shooting ...about Full chokes being common yrs ago ...but I think the trend from 16 - 20 yds is more to a Modified choke and 1 oz shells these days...( but I try not to hang out with serious Trap shooters --- they're a cranky bunch...) ...:D

Among the guns you list from Benelli - any of them will shoot skeet, trap or sporting clays ....so it isn't about one being better for this or that ...it depends on what you want. Out of the mix - the gun I would choose is the Super Sport - carbon fibre stock, lots of adjustabilty ( with snap on comb pads and snap on butt pads / and shims ) ..and comfort tech system in it ( the wood stocks will not have the comfort tech recoil supression system in them)..and I would go with a 30" barrel because in a 12ga its still a very light gun at 7.2 lbs ..and its chambered in 3" - so its fine for 2 3/4" or 3" shells.

Nothing wrong with the other models ...they're just different ...

My Super Sport's - one in 12ga and one in 20ga ...will both cycle "light loads" down to 7/8oz ( or 3/4 oz in the 20ga ) in either gun as long as the velocity is 1200 fps ...they will not cycle a shell that is at 1150 fps ...so it depends on what you mean by "light load" ...
 
The four Bens you mentioned are mechanicaly the same guns. The difference is in bells and whistles, cosmetics, Barrel lengths, and furniture.
 
If you are talking auto loaders, what do you think about the Beretta AL391 Teknys Gold Sporting and the Gold Target with the two ribs? Is that real wood on the latter?

As for the Benelli's, they are nice. I have only shot the Cordoba but the Superport seems to fit me nice. But what counts is what fits you.
 
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For this sort of thing, you should get an M2 Benelli and slap on a mag tube extention and cylinder choke.

Edit; just read page two. The very best skeet gun benelli makes is the Montefeltro IMHO. The Cordoba is more sporting clays and trap geared because of the step tapered rib. The Monte rib is flat and a constant width, much more suitable for crossing targets. I shoot/shot a Montefeltro for everything under trap, skeet, FITASC, sporting clays, and double trap. I'm now just trying to get into the swing of things with my relativly new Cordoba. Also, as for chokes, the Crio Plus chokes from the factory are very good chokes by anyones standards, but if you need more (ie LM) then Briley is the best place to find some. For trap I shoot LM/M, for skeet I use Cyl or a ported briley diffusion choke.

Good move going with the Benellis, they last forever and have very very very few parts suseptible to breakage.
 
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