Side-by-Side or Over/Under?

Side by Side or Over/Under

When I say I shoot bad I'm all over the chart. I shoot sporting clays 12 stations 100 targets. My best so far is 46 and worst is 29 averaging in the upper 30's. I personally think it is a combination of everything. Lack of fit, technique and practice. I'm going Sunday and will be shooting with my Rem 1100, 28" Mod barrel. This will be the first time I will shoot a whole round with this gun. I sold my Citori. Yes, Pacific Sporting Arms is in Azusa.
 
A lot of folk in So Cal go to Pacific Small Arms and I have never heard a word against them. I would have bought a Guerini there except I wanted to shoot one first. I have to check out there new digs. "Ignore the buffalo person :D if he maliciously asserts I am too cheap to buy a gun there."
 
All this sage wisdom worries me. Good chance it's an eye problem. My son had the same issues. Did not matter which shotgun he was shooting. Had a specialist look at him only to find out he was neither eye dominant. Might use his right eye and run 24/25 then next round hit a 12 using the left eye.
 
If I were going to use a semi-automtic, I'd be looking at a Beretta or a Benelli. The advantage of these guns is that they come with shim kits that are easy to install and allow the shooter to adjust both pitch and cast/off or cast/on. You can get either of these guns to fit reasonably well with very little effort. Again, I can't say enough about going to a steel patterning board and doing several trial shots that involve mounting and shooting in one smooth move without aiming at all. Shooting a shotgun well on sporting clays is all about gun fit and not aiming. The gun should hit where you're looking. Going back to SxS vs O/U or semi-auto, I've never seen any tournament won with a SxS and I've shot them all over the country. They have special side events for SxS and sub gauges. You may shoot well with a SxS but you'll never shoot as well as you will with the other types of guns. If you look at who's winning at any shoot, you won't see anyone using a Remington semi-auto. I'm not picking on them, I shot one for skeet for years but they simply don't win at the shoots.
 
If you are in search of the best OU, look here: http://www.benelliusa.com/828u-shotgun
Amazing I tell you!
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The Benelli Kool Aid bunch may be due for a sour taste. This gun is getting some awful reviews. The Ethos is far from the be all end all either. It is just my opinion, and I think Benelli does build some very good guns, but now they are just trying to increase their profits by making higher priced guns with trick gizmos to capitalize on the tremendous brand loyalty following they have. And they certainly do have that. They have never been my cup of tea, and I think they stepped on it with this one.
 
828U

Maybe, but I shot it and played with it more than 6 rounds. I know there are a few "experts" that are panning it, but the guys who can actually shoot a bit are very impressed.
 
my take on the clay games is for me to have fun, there are four men i shoot with just about every week, except in bad weather. trap-skeet and sporting clays with a few five stands thrown in. between us we own about 50 or so shotguns and many different makes. when we go to shoot we are a happy group and when we leave we are still happy(we stay away from the grumps and real asshats) and always stop and eat and share the days joys of being able to be with good friends and shooting. we are a compeditive group,but are not vindictive towards any one doing better than us. and at smaller ranges we help load the traps,keep score and pick up fired cases(a gold mine some times as we reload). and because of this we are always welcome. i am to old (71) to do any thing i don,t enjoy and i don,t. my shotguns as of today. four o/u,s- six semi auto,s-16 pumps-four double barrels- and two single barrels along with 9-10 extra barrels with a box full of choke tubes. eastbank.
 
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Do you have a computer program to track how much attention each of your "wive's" are getting, maintenance, and all. One thing about shooting one gun, not counting the backup, is I hopefully will get to know it inside and out (and someday be able to shoot decently).
 
If your goal is to shoot Sporting Clays...then I recommend you groom your fundamentals on the Skeet field...especially on stations 2 thru 6...where you get some pairs ...and a lot of crossing targets.

Once you get your scores consistently in the 22/23 range ...but with no single score on a round below a 20...then you're getting consistent...and you know your foot position, swing technique, gun mount, etc are working...and that the gun "fits" you...

Trap is more of a game unique to itself....and while shooting it may help you / Skeet will help you more ...but your scores on 16 yard singles on Trap should be up around 22/23 as an average as well...or better( and probably no scores below a 21) - because in Trap there are no pairs / and there is less barrel movement - or hard left or right targets like on a Skeet field.

If you can't do that...then you might need an adjustment to the gun...and/or some instruction to clean up your technique. Then you can take it to the Sporting Clays field with some consistency.

Most guys will want to shoot a general purpose gun for Skeet, Sporting, 5 Stand that is around 8.5 lbs ...28" or 30" barrels.../ but shorter than a typical Trap gun ( where many shooters go to guns at around 10 lbs and 32" or 34" barrels).

Will a SXS ...typically give you better scores than an O/U ...not typically! If you look at the top 10 Skeet or Sporting Clays shooters at your local club...you won't see hardly any SXS's....most of the guns will be O/U's ...but there will be a few semi-autos in there as well. Many serious shooters will have SXS's...but they are more for fun / not for clay target competition. But "Fit" is the key .....and mastering the SXS ...will be more difficult..with your sight picture changing a little when using the left and the right barrel...and while its a subtle difference.../ there is no difference in sight picture shooting pairs with an O/U or a single barrel gun like a semi-auto.

But talk to a few dozen of the better shooters in your area...and get their consensus as well.
 
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BigJimP, not bad advice but I'd change one thing. If you're going to learn on a skeet course it won't do you much good to start with a mounted gun which almost all skeet shooters do. I guess you could start with a mounted gun on a clays course but most shooters don't do that. It actually creates a situation where you "aim" at the bird. Just my two cents.
 
any gun i use gets a light cleaning the same day, it does not take 10 mimutes, a brush on a rod,a rod with a mop and a rod with a tight fitting patch(the rods are on a rack ready to go) and a light wipe down with a oily rag. at 600 rounds they get broken down and well cleaned. as i keep a count of rounds shot its easy to know when its time to break them down and clean. my favorite clay games shotguns are, one brno o/u field, three browning o/u,s trap-field, one browning BT 100-trap, four 1100 rem,s trap-sporting-field, two 11-87 rem,s trap- field, four 870 rem,s trap-field, five md 12 win,s trap-field. to feed them all i run three mec 9000,s two manual and one hydralic, a mec 650 and a old progressive texan. eastbank.
 
O/U or SxS

I love them both. But for clays games where there is much shooting and not a lot of time for the barrels to cool, the O/U win if it has a ventilated rib. This is the Achilles heel of the SxS IMHO.
 
I guess you could start with a mounted gun on a clays course but most shooters don't do that.
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Not where I shoot unless you are shooting my namesake - FITASC mandates a low gun; American (English) sporting clays allows a pre-mount, as does 5-stand, skeet, trap, bunker, helice, box pigeons.........

It actually creates a situation where you "aim" at the bird. Just my two cents.
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No, it doesn't - there is no aiming in shotgun sports except by those coming over from rifle and they soon learn the correct method
 
I'm with my friend, olddrum, first things first -- check your eyes. I've seen folks try to shoot for some time before discovering they had an eye dominance problem.
 
I suspect that FITASC read and well comprehends what you said. I almost mentioned my own disagreement with you, but am myself such a newbie I kept silent. I suppose that premounting can dispose one who doesn't know better to aim a shotgun like a rifle. I believe you were specifically speaking of sporting clays, which I have next to know experience with. I recently picked up Skeet, but have shot more trap and in both games one's look point is almost always away from the gun's hold point. FITASC can instruct you much better on these and other games than I ever could.
 
where i shoot the clay games its your choice to pre-mount or not, i shoot both ways, but as i,m not the fastest gun on the range i use a tighter choke on low mount. i have been shooting the clay games since the mid 60,s and while i don,t aim a shotgun, i,m awhere of the muzzle in relationship to the bird. example- if your trap gun has a high poi for riseing birds and you get a hard left or right how do you compensate for that bird not riseing as fast if you don,t know where the muzzle is pointing? i will shoot aganist any shooter at trap or skeet 50 birds at a dollar a bird difference in the score and while i will not beat many, i will only lose a couple of bucks and i would consider it a honor get beaten by a pro. if you look at the games as fun and a good time, i will never see you throw your equipment on the ground, curse, holler or belittle follow shooters and i have seen all those things happen. eastbank.
 
The barrel on the same side as where the bird is coming from might be in the way for a while longer with a SXS. Since you can't see through a steel barrel, it seems like a disadvantage to me over a single barrel or O/U on many target presentations. Even single barrels quite often have raised ribs to get the gun out of the way to help acquire a target asap...at least for fading/rising targets like for trap shooting.

That's how I see it, anyhow.:)
 
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