Help me pick a good beginner skeet shotgun

T

Trockstroh

New member
I am looking for a reasonably priced over/under or a single shot 12 or 20 gauge shotgun for skeet but I have not ruled out semi-autos. I went for the first time on Friday morning and now I am hooked. I was looking at Remington Spartan SPR100 Sporting or one of the SPR310's Let me know what you guys think and please give me some suggestions.


Thank you,
Todd
 
Todd, my first question would be whether you really want to buy a dedicated skeet gun. For example, many folks buy a nicely setup sporting clays gun and use it for a variety of purposes (hunting, skeet, trap, sporting clays, etc.). Although it is not optimal for skeet, it will still do a pretty good job for most folks. For example, I use my Browning Sporting Clays gun for both skeet and sporting clays.

So, are you looking for a dedicated skeet gun or something for a little broader set of applications?
 
I would use it mostly for skeet and clay shooting but I may use it for deer/bird hunting. I don't know alot about shotguns but I was told you can get diffrent choke tubes for diffrent uses.
 
I'm also in the market for an O/U skeet/trap gun aroun 28' barrels. I have a Rossi sbs 12g and had a go with it in a comp and found that it is more suited to field work. One of the instructors told me that depending on whether you shoot right handed or left handed the stock needs to accomodate for this as it influences shoulder placement. Apparently stocks are slightly curved left or right or a straight in nature. I haven't come across this before?.......

Anyhows.... i shoot lefthanded and would need to find one with a slight left curve on the stock. My Rossi SBS 12g is straight so i get the best of both worlds.

I don't know how true the curvature of the stock is as i haven't researched it much. Let me know how you go if you find out any info.

The other thing is choke size. Some come with tubes and others are fixed. The cheaper brands like Rizzini or Lanber or Boito have fixed chokes at modified and full. This is pretty much standard.

I'm only looking at entry level as i want to get a feel for how O/U shoot and get experience with different competitions. But i'll mostly use it for clay / skeet and not hunting as i already have a field gun that i feel is more suited to my abilities and needs.
 
Wow, lots of topics here. Let me ramble on a bit and hopefully I can help.

First, Trockstrogh, I would be looking at a pump or semi-auto for a flexible gun to cover all your needs. If you were not hunting, I would suggest a Beretta or Browning over and under. Both would be a great starting gun but there are others you may want to look at . . . Benelli comes to mind.

I used a 870 to shoot clays and hunt with for years. Although not optimum for clays, it is a solid flexible gun that runs pretty much all ammunitions--light and heavy loads.

You mentioned deer hunting. If you are thinking about using slugs, many over/unders are out. As I understand it, slugs through O/U's are not a good thing.

JosephC, I would strongly recommend removeable chokes. They are pretty much the standard and offer a lot of flexibility. As far stock curvature, this is refered to as cast-on or cast-off. The concept is that you should be able to mount the gun to your eye without twisting your head to align with the sights.

I, for example, need a little cast-off in my stock. As I try to mount the gun, if it has a straight stock, I can't get my eye in line with the rib without rolling my head over the stock. With a little cast off, I don't need to roll my head. In my case, I find Berettas never seem to quite fit me but I have a much high success rate with Brownings. My buddy has the opposite situation.

If you mount the gun to your eye and have a space between your cheek and the stock, you need a little cast-on. This article discusses stock fit in general: http://www.fordwreckers.com.au/brisbanegunclub/fitofthegun.htm

Often you can try several guns of the same model and they will have enough variation that you can find one that fits. If you look down the barrel/rib from the muzzle end (yes, this violates every safety rule and should bother you to the core), you can easily see if there is cast-off or cast-on for the stock.

Also realize that this is somewhat adjustable. Some will add shims or do slight stock modifications where it attaches to the action. Others will have custom stocks made for the exact proper fit. Finally, some have stocks with adjustable combs so they can move the comb in or out.

I hope that helps. If you are going to get serious about competing with a shotgun, fit is extremely important.
 
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All I have to say is, STAY AWAY FROM STOEGER! Mine is an alright gun if you can forgive the piece of wad stuck under the safety to keep the recoil from activating it, or the fact that it is a rusty piece of crap. That thing will rust no matter what you do with it. I put it in a softcase, 3 days later it looks like someone attacked it with a cheeto (you can't get the rust off the vent rib very well because the notches on the rib go perpendicular to the gun, so when you try to remove the rust with anything short of steel wool all you are doing is shredding your cloth. So, I put it in a hardcase, SAME THING! So (despite the fact that none of my other guns whether they be in soft/hard/no cases are showing no signs of rust) I moved it out of the closet and put it in the corner of my room and 4-5 days later, STILL RUSTY! BTW I have applied oil to the gun every time I checked to see how rusty it was.

I just got back from the national youth skeet shooting tournament in detroit michigan, I saw 3 stoegers, 2 of which could not be used because of mechanical flaws in the gun.

Stoeger (in my personal experience with three of them) = rusty piece of crap.

I used a mossberg 500 persuader with an 18.5 inch barrel in the competition in case any of you guys went and/or saw me! I sure got a lot of strange looks.
 
Best first gun for newbies is probably a semi auto. My recommendation would be the Remington 1100. Brownings and Berettas are nice guns but are getting pricey.

Buy an 1100 and lots of ammo. 28" barrel with choke tubes.

If you insist on an O/U ( I fully understand this inclination, I prefer doubles) look at the Remington spartan line. These are made by Baikal and are solid but not fancy guns.

I still believe the 1100 is the best bang for your hard earned bucks, even though I despise autos. :D
 
I agree with K80 i started with 870's slightly used once fired beretta 3901 with everything i needed for 550 dollars and i love it
 
I too, started shooting skeet with an 870 but unless you're shooting singles all day long cycling rounds can get pretty old.
My suggestion(s) would be Baikal 20 ga. or an 1100 in 12 or 20 ga.
A buddy of mine just orded two 1100's(12 & 20) from Wal-Mart for a pretty reasonable price.

Welcome to the world of skeet shooting. 2 at low 8
 
Well now, don't rule out the pump-action completely! For the price of an entry level O/U you can buy a pretty nice pump gun. Now, many people will say that a pump isn't fast enough for skeet.........simply untrue. You can even shoot doubles from 3, 4, and 5 with a pump, the action is not a flaw if you practice with it.

I pesonally prefer a pump because it is just so much fun! Also, cleaning is not as big of an issue as it is with a semi-auto, in case you hate cleaning.
 
The other cool thing about shooting skeet, trap or sporting clays doubles is that you become pretty good with a pump. You run it smoothly and with good follow through for your second shot. You learn rapidly not to short stroke it while pumping.

As mentioned, the speed to the second shot is limited by the shooter not the action.
 
I didn't mean to imply that shooting skeet with a pump gun was imposible, just gets old after a while. I agree it's a good experience, but I'd much rather shoot skeet with my O/U or Semi. If the original poster is hooked like I got hooked after my first time shooting skeet then a quality semi-auto is probably going to suit him better over the years.
 
I did a lot of research before buying my gun, I bought a benelli nova 12 gauge tactical with ghost rings for 300 dollars. I haven't had any problems with the reliability or accuracy of the shotgun. They also have relatively cheap rifled slug barrels provided by ITHACA for like 100$ so you can get a cheaper deal then most rifled/shot combo shotguns. Also so you know ithaca supposedly designed the barrels for benelli shotguns, so they are quite reliable for shooting slugs... I haven't had any problems, also if you decide that you would want to buy some decent chokes, hastings chokes are quite easy to find aswell. Another reason why I would choose the benelli nova over the 870 express is its ability to shoot magnum rounds, unless you want to spend another 150 dollars on a remington 870 magnum but I think at that point its just a waste of money because you could of had an awesome shotgun rifled/shot combo for the same price that has the same capabilities of the 870 magnum...
 
Shooting a pump gets old?!?! How come nobody ever told me! :mad: :D

I'm just messin with ya. I guess the fun with pump factor really depends on the shooter.

Hmmmm....Maybe I should shoot skeet with a riot semi-auto or a riot over/under!
A coachgun would be fun too! I love short barreled shotties!
 
I also started with an 870, then found a nice Benelli in a pawn shop. I got my girlfriend interested in it, and was renting a Beretta 20 youth from the range (the O/U 20, only other option, was too big for her). I shot that thing a few times to see how it was and did not like it one bit--recoil was harsh for a 20, the comb would really vibrate your cheekbone. We soon got her a Remington 1100 and we both agree it is many times better than the Beretta we were renting. The 1100 with screw chokes will make a great versatile gun for you, and you can even get another rifled barrel for slugs and deer hunting later. Be sure to get yourself a Skeet 1 choke regardless of the gun you decide on. Shooting with a Modified will work, but will handicap you.
 
I have to recommend the Benelli Nova too. I bought a 12 gauge, 26" barrelled one for all purpose use. Its a great shooter for trap/skeet. And its very versatile in that (unlike the 870s) you can load it with the 3.5" magnum loads if you ever want to use it for other purposes such as hunting. The recoil reducer doesn't really tame those magnum loads, but for trap/skeet, #7 shot is alot less with the recoil reducer. I got mine at Bass Pro for $300.

Good Luck,

DV
 
For beginning skeet, I would vote Remington 1100. If it has screw in chokes, you are good to chase after anything, and if it is a fixed skeet choke, you could still use it for most everything with a judicious matching of shells.

A Remington 1100 is almost impossible to beat at the price, and still hard to beat at any price for skeet. I think the 11-87 is a better hunting shotgun, but it doesn't seem as lively with skeet or sporting clays.
 
I'll second the 870- I can't speak for the other models mentioned in this thread, but having shot .410, 20 gauge, and 12 gauge models, I'm sure it would make a fine skeet gun, if not the type to impress country club people.
 
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