Good shotgun for skeet and clay shooting

Thanks for that, Zippy. Once again you've proved an asset to the board.

My take on stocks is simple. For the last 200 years and more, the standard stock has been developed to direct the shot cloud to the target and to do so in comfort to the shooter. What we have there is what has proved to work.

I note that while various stock designs that differ from the standard we all know have shown up here and there, (Ljutic Space Gun, for instance) the folks at the top of the competition results use shotguns that Joe Manton would recognize.

Joseph Manton started making fowling pieces for British Gentry ca 1800 that were made to measure stockwise. The dimensions he used would fit most of us today.

Note that this applies to wingshooting and clays. "Serious" shotguns and slug shooters have different needs.
 
aTm papi, I haven't hunted dove in a long time, before the wide proliferation of plastic stocks for shotguns. There's a housing development where we used to hunt locally, and we're no longer allowed to shoot within the town limits.

These days, I'm sure there's some folks who hunt with a detached pistol grip, but I doubt they are experienced shooters. I don't know how it is were you shoot -- On the opening day of dove season around here, there are a lot of folks who could have spent some more time at the practice range. (I'm assuming that they have practiced at least once, I may be being optimistic.) With a sky full of birds, some shooters seem to take special care to look as awkward as possible while they shoot holes in the sky in the spaces between the birds. :eek:
 
Crapster, My question would be how much experience have you had with shotguns? Is this something that is somewhat new for you?
 
Thanks for the advice

...olddrum1..this is new to me. I own a couple rifles, and a 45, but am not a "gun" guy by any means.....no offense ment there :)...friend of mine took me skeet shooting and i loved it, but i dont hunt, and am not going to, so strictly looking for a skeet gun....great advice here...thinking for starting out maybe somthing like a 310 o/u??? and if i get into it then i realize $1000+ is a starting point. Thanks
 
Shotguns must 'fit' you, so any advise given must be read subject to this caveat. I would look at a Beretta O/U or a Browning B25 citori.

Both are quality guns and retain their value. Incidentally, the Beretta 68- series shotgun is the most popular shotgun sold in the UK.
 
Crapster, thanks for the post. A friend invited my wife and I on a quail hunt over the Christmas holidays and it was a blast. I had never hunted quail and my wife had never hunted at all. She now wants a .20 for skeet and bird hunting so I'm in the market.

While I have multiple rifles and handguns my only shotguns are 1) Stevens single shot .12 with a long barrel and full choke, 2) Stevens .410/.22mag O/U 3) Rossi Trifecta .20 and I don't think any of those would do for skeet. :D

I came today looking for this exact info and I appreciate all of the great posts listed here. Was looking for O/U for my wife because it is "easier" for her but might go with a semi-auto.

What fun, my wife wants to go buy a gun. Guess she will have to drag me along. :)
 
Buy a $500 O/U from a Third World maker and it's worth $250 by the time you get it home.

Buy a better O/U like SKB,Miroku,Ruger for about $1K, new or used, and you'll still have a $1k shotgun after shooting it for five years.

Buy a Browning or Beretta, take good care of it and shoot it for generations.

My White Onyx Sporter is a couple years old. Even in todays' market, I'd lose little if anything were I to sell it. No plans for that,though.
 
Crapster, Big Jim has very good advice. Yes a pump is not the perfect target gun, but with your price range and frequency, nothing wrong with a Browning BPS. Don't be afraid of Trap, it is actually the easiest of the three. As a matter of fact, I would start shooting trap first. Then move up to skeet and finally sporting clays. Each sport builds in complexity, number and direction of stations. Will a pump hold back your scores a bit? Possibly, but if you are like me, 1-5 extra targets more or less isn't a huge deal, as long as you are having fun.
 
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