Field gun for clay games- need help

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Salibas007

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I'm looking into an O/U. It's a field version, comes with 26" barrels with IC/mod fixed chokes.

My main use will be clay games. Not necessarily trap or skeet. Just playing around with a clay thrower in an open field. Although I might eventually hit a skeet or trap court, but it would be the exception, as my range only offers open spaces with our own clay throwers.

I know that trap guns are heavier, and have longer barrels, but I'm used to shooting with my rem1100 with 26" barrel with a mod choke, and I'm pretty good at it.

So understanding that the OU I'm looking at is not the ideal gun, and I'm ok with that, but someone was telling me that the barrels of a field gun would not handle 100-150 shots per sessions. Is that true ? ThAt they would "blow up" or inflate.

I like the idea of IC/mod chokes at I usually shoot doubles, so the IC would be good for the 1st clay and the Mod good to go further down for the 2nd clay. Length of barrel is also fine. I'm just worried that the gun will not be able to handle the amount of shells that I'll fire through it. I only shoot 2 3/4" target loads.
 
Salibas007 said:
So understanding that the OU I'm looking at is not the ideal gun, and I'm ok with that, but someone was telling me that the barrels of a field gun would not handle 100-150 shots per sessions. Is that true ? ThAt they would "blow up" or inflate.

I like the idea of IC/mod chokes at I usually shoot doubles, so the IC would be good for the 1st clay and the Mod good to go further down for the 2nd clay. Length of barrel is also fine. I'm just worried that the gun will not be able to handle the amount of shells that I'll fire through it. I only shoot 2 3/4" target loads.
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That "someone" doesn't have a clue. You could shoot ten times that many shells in one day and the only thing your barrels would become is a little dirty.

Your gun will be fine. Enjoy.
 
No worries here. It sounds to me like the gun you have in mind would be great for the casual practice you have in mind and would also be versatile enough for most types of bird hunting. Most over/under field guns are built to a minimum standard that will stand up to casual target use and will not blow up, break, fall apart or self destruct in such service. If you are talking hundreds of rounds a year up to perhaps a thousand, any decent gun from Italy, Japan, Germany, Belgium, perhaps Turkey is designed for this use and if new or in excellent condition should give years of enjoyment. Serious dedicated trap, skeet and sporting clays target guns are designed to pound out many many thousands of rounds a year, year after year without a burp if properly looked after. It is not unusual for these guns to digest 50,000 to 100,000 shells before needing overhaul and then do it again. As you noted, they are heavier, generally optimized towards one type of shooting and are far more expensive. Of note, a double with 26" barrels will be about 4"-6" shorter than a pump or auto with the same barrel length and will balance and handle differently because of the much shorter action. You can never go wrong with a Beretta or Browning, but in any case buy the best gun you can afford and bang away.
 
We have people in our club shooting Browning and Beretta field guns with many thousands of shots through them at skeet or sporting clays. I personally would go with at least 28" barrels myself, and you need to realize than an O/U receiver is several inches shorter than the receiver on a semi auto,so the O/U will be significantly shorter with equal length barrels.
 
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Salibas007 said:
What about the choke setup.

IM/Mod: is that ok for clay games ?
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It's a little tight for skeet but fine for everything else. I use modified for trap and either SK/IC or IC/Mod for most sporting clay courses.

Don't fuss too much about chokes. Chokes give you inches but we typically miss in feet.
 
I've never used my side by side with fixed chokes Mod/IM in skeet but in trap its fine. Sporting clays its a little tight but I'm not there to compete I'm there to have fun. Friend of mine does really well with his fixed choked Trap 682 in sporting clays. With practice I'm sure you can make just about anything work.
 
if it is a good quality built field gun, shoot it as much as you like. It will take it ,no problems. Short field guns are light, and light guns tend have more felt recoil than a heavier sporting gun. So when shooting a 100 rounds in 2 hours, you might find it a little hard on the shoulder. I personally shoot a long barrel gun better, but I have seen many that shoot fine with shorter barrels
like you said, short field gun not the best option , but it will work. have fun
 
The person that made that statement no's nothing about shotguns that's the thing before the Internet you good tell a few people how little you know about a topic now you can tell the world . As far as your choice for a general purpose gun you are on the money good choke combo and good configuration
 
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