Big differences??

Brutus

Brutus

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A newby here. I'm trying to decide on a good shotgun for the range.
I've been looking at a good quality skeet competition O/U and I note that it has an adjustable comb and adjustable buttplate.
Now can a 28" barrelled skeet gun with the right chokes stand in for a trap gun?
What about the other way around? Using my novice eyes, trap guns have longer barrels and higher combs & that's about it. All newer shotguns seem to come with a bandolier of differing chokes. (a good thing IMO)

And how would either one perform in clays events??

An inquiring mind wants to know.......

Cheers!

Edit: This sub-forum seems to lack in stickys for whatever reason.
 
Many of the top skeet shooters are going to at least a 30" barrel. The main differences in the stocks are that a trap gun has a parallel stock, which means that they do not slope down as you get farther from the receiver. Most competitive clay shooters are also going to that style of stock. The high comb that you made reference to, is called a Monte Carlo style stock. Trap guns may or may not have that style of comb. Here is one similar to mine ...
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The high comb and rib make it easier to shoot with a "heads up" style, which is more natural.

The thing to do is buy a gun with the main game you are going to shoot in mind. A change of chokes will make the gun usable at the other clays games. Don't be in a hurry to buy a shotgun and try shooting everything you can lay your hands on. Gun fit is the key to long term good scores.
 
clay target gun

Beretta 687 has pretty much said it all.
I would stress that you should not go with 28 inch barrels .
All 3 clays games now have 30 inch plus barrels as the accepted normal.
See if you are able to shoot a round or two with a longer barrelled gun before you make your purchase.Of the 3 games, skeet may feel a bit more difficult with the longer barrels at first, but you will adapt after a few rounds.The other 2 games will probably feel right with longer barrels immediately.
My recommendation would be 32 inch barrels and stocked for the game you plan to shoot most often.
 
Brutus said:
....
Now can a 28" barrelled skeet gun with the right chokes stand in for a trap gun?
What about the other way around? Using my novice eyes, trap guns have longer barrels and higher combs & that's about it. All newer shotguns seem to come with a bandolier of differing chokes. (a good thing IMO)

And how would either one perform in clays events??

An inquiring mind wants to know.......

Cheers!

Edit: This sub-forum seems to lack in stickys for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

Brutus, you didn't mention what you are looking to accomplish here. Are you looking to compete (outside of the club level) with this gun in any of the disciplines?

If yes, then maybe a 1 gun solution wouldn't be the best fit if you are looking to be moderately competitive or better (not that it couldn't be done).

If no, your 28" will perform just fine in all events. Any disadvantage that shorter barrels would cause you would be negligible.

If you were to focus on one of skeet/trap/sporting more than the others, then maybe a stock/POI adjustment tending towards the standard configuration for that discipline would be appropriate.

Like most things in life, you also have to factor in the money factor, particularly if your shooting aspirations are more recreational than competitive. Keeping that in mind, my opinion on bbl length;

26"- avoid. They will work ok, even if not as desirable, but resale would be harder

28"- OK if a good deal comes along. There are a LOT of 28" bbls out there

30"- Probably your best bet. Often more desirable than 28" in resale.

32" - OK if a good deal comes along and you can comfortably handle them. Probably a little harder to find than 30".

34"- Probably even harder to find. Word on the street (if you can believe that) is that people have been known to struggle with them in competitive skeet. I've never tried something that long so I don't know. I'm not really a big believer in the bbl length voodoo. If you find one for a good deal and are happy with it, take it.

For a recreational shooter, I would be more concerned with $$ factors. I would want a good quality gun, but wouldn't go overboard spending more on options to tune it to the accepted 'norms' in the competitive side of the sport.

Interesting point about the lack of stickies. As you see (or will soon see) there are a lot of different opinions on shotguns. None are necessarily right or wrong. I guess it is hard to sticky something that falls in that zone. I am open to suggestions if anyone has something to be stickied..


Brad.
 
Bmcrae, thank you for your informed responce.
I plan on recreational shooting for the most part.
The price isn't too bad, but probably a bit more than it should be.
Again, I appreciate the experienced wisdom passed on in your post friend.
 
For me I have always found a longer barrel is better for longer targets. However you sacrifice the speed at which the gun points on closer targets.
I went to a 32" o/u gun for sporting clay,and have shot my best scores with it. Adjustable comb allows me to adjust how high the gun shoots {higher the comb higher the gun shoots}.For sporting clay I like a gun that shoots just a little high, that way keep eye contact with target at all times. I know trap shooter like a gun that shoots very high. Trap is a different game you are always shooting rising targets. tyhe adjustment in the comb side to side can make the gun easier to get over the barrel with out crowding the stock.
I am no expert, but his is just my .02 cents worth , your mileage may vary.
 
I think that there is a trend in higher end competition guns. The trend is to longer barrels, a higher rib and higher comb. No matter what the discipline the guns more and more seem to resemble trap guns. 26 inch o/u skeet guns really look odd and 32 inch tubes do not look out of place anywhere.
 
Having owned a number of O/U's with everything from 26" to 32" barrels, including
some odd nos. like 27-1/2", 28-5/8", 29-5/8" and 31", (and for the past 11 years have been shooting a 32" DT-10), I wouldn't hesitate to look at a 30-incher for Skeet,
Trap, Sporting & 5-Stand, but would lean to a flat shooting "Sporter" model, rather than
a Trap or Skeet model.

Gun fit and balance is all-important, overall weight not so much so, although high volume Trap & Skeet shooters tend to like a heavier gun, 8 pounds
plus. An adjustable comb is a big plus once you get it set, and if you want to shoot Trap from time to time... where most find a gun shooting half to a full pattern high to be advantageous. Personally, I've found Skeet & Sporting guns that shoot slightly high ... 55/45 to 60/40 to be well suited to my style of shooting (nice to see just a little daylight under the target). The adjustable comb and some judicious patterning should let you settle on a satisfactory "comb height" and adequate "cast/off" or "cast/on" as required to get your shotgun shooting where you're looking. I've found overall length - or "length of pull" not all-too-critical, as long as you're not getting bumped in the nose by your thumb or having trouble getting the gun hung-up on mounting. Likewise, "pitch" isn't a huge factor for most, although too much either negative or positive generally contributes to more felt recoil.

Once you've gone through a few thousand rounds, you'll start to acquire a sense and feel for fit configuration, but I would caution against too much adjusting in the early
going. Use the pattern board to get the comb set - and leave it there for a while, to see how you do ... constant adjusting rarely lets anyone achieve any sort of consistant result.
 
With all the chest beating from the tacticool about how they often they kick ass with their stubby guns maybe an 8" Grizzly is what you need. ;)

Longer guns tend to swing smoother and as noted the trend is toward longer barrels. What is important though is balance and barrel weight. A 32" gun with light barrels will feel very different than a 32" gun with heavy barrels.

I prefer a longer barrelled gun and shoot 32" o/u. Tried a 34" and thought it was too much of a good thing. I don't shoot enough trap to have a gun specially designed for that game and shoot my sporting gun for everything.
 
Brutus said:
When you guys use the term, sporting gun, is this a multi-purpose shotgun for trap/skeet/clays?
Click to expand...
Generally the answer is yes. A sporting gun is generally configured to shoot a flatter pattern which is good for skeet and sporting clays. A trap gun is more of a specialized item that is heavier with a higher rib and stock that shoots a higher pattern which is better for rising, going away targets.

A sporter configuration will generally acquit itself reasonably well on the trap field however a trap gun that shoots high is often a handicap when it comes to other games particularly sporting clays where you sometimes encounter falling targets.
 
I brought this subject up because as of recently I've been using my 20 gauge shotguns more and more in the field.
In the recent past I've been shooting behind ruffies, so some informal skeet/trap practice is on my scheduale for this spring & summer.
This fella just needs more off-season practice.

Cheers!
 
I think the barrell length debate cant really be limited to barrel length alone. The overall dynamics of the gun needs to be considered. Take for example my own personal experience. I shot a 28" Browning for a long time and switched to a 32" Beretta. I did this not because I thought there would be any huge advantage or preferred one over the other, but the deal on the Beretta was too good to resist! At the time, it was the longest gun at our club, which mainly has skeet shoters. What i found was that the barrell length, for me, made little difference, because the overall handling dynamics of the guns were so different. I won't say one is better than the other, just different. Now, my scores went up, but this had nothing to do with the barrell length in my opinion, but everything to do with the improved fit (my new gun has an adjustable comb, in my oprinion a far more important option than barrel length). But to echo what bmcrae said, 26" for me seems a bit short, and are hard to sell these days. 34" seems awfully long, as I think there is a practical limit to how much pipe extends beyond yourt front hand, and I think that would tend to accelerate fatigue. For me, if I could have bought a 30" gun, I likely would have, and likely still would, but the 32" is working just fine for me. A friend of mine asked me recently if he should buy a 32" Browning that was for sale. I told him not to be put off by the barrel length, so he bought it and loves it, but again, it has an adjustable comb and it fits him well. My last note before I shut up is that if you are like me and grew up shooting a 28" autoloader or pump, a 32" O/U is about tha same overall length, so what the big deal? ;-)
 
Brutus said:
I brought this subject up because as of recently I've been using my 20 gauge shotguns more and more in the field.
In the recent past I've been shooting behind ruffies, so some informal skeet/trap practice is on my scheduale for this spring & summer.
This fella just needs more off-season practice.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

If this is your goal, bring your 20 and practice getting in front of targets on the skeet field. If your goal is to break more clay targets, get a gun that will help you do this. If your goal is to shoot better with a particular gun, practice with that paricular gun.

I should also add that if your goal is to shoot a particular gun better, you may need to alter the fit of the stock for optimum results.
 
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