Trap, sporting clays & possibly field??

I shoot skeet a few times a year at the gun club. Just for something different to do. But anyways. I use my mossberg 20 ga with select choke. I had it for 43 years now. I hit over 50% of the clays with it. I tried my sons sears 12 ga auto one time. It has a skeet choke setting too. Vent rib and a center beed and end of barrel beed. I hit one clay the day i used it.

Are you set on a 12ga? I see some of the guys shooting longer barreled 20ga’s and they look like real soft shooters. Mainly Browning over unders.

For well under $1800 you could soften up the recoil and fix the LOP all in one fell swoop:

https://precisionfitstocks.com/product/browning-citori-precision-fit-stock/

Or:

https://stockpositioning.com/

Just sayin'. I know the new gun itch quite well. I've found one tends to regret selling the old one later.

Otherwise a used CX or 682.

An auto setup right could work for most everything. A stock with an adjustable comb, barrel with a high rib for trap, a barrel with a field rib for skeet and the field and you're GTG. In my experience nobody makes a softer shooting auto than Beretta.

The 1100 Competition Synthetic has all of the above, minus the high rib, which is not necessary with an adjustable comb, plus it has a recoil reduction device already installed, making it as soft as an a400 Multi-Target with a Kick-off, at about $1000 less. Plus it comes with every choke (except IM for some odd reason) you'd need for any Clays game.

And if one insists on a high rib, these http://www.addaribs.com/ are @ $200 for the adjustable, @ $170 for solid. Joe at addaribs can put them on for you if you don't want to.

The extra $$ for the Multi-Target does get you an easier to clean gas system, though. They are a fine gun, but finding one at $1800 is tough.

Beretta A400 with the Kick Off will go a long way to soft shooting. Beretta or Browning in an O/U, most likely lightly used, should fit your budget. The nice thing about most semis today is that they come with shims to adjust for cast and drop. I am also LH and love my Beretta Smurf Gun (the blue A400). Mine wears a 30" barrel and two extra Briley mag cap weights to bring the overall weight to 8#. Put in a Light Mod choke and go enjoy!

There is an elder shooter at the club who runs a 28 GA. He does well too.

A 28 built on a heavier 20 or 12 gauge frame is an awesome gun to shoot with mild recoil.

George P said:

A 28 built on a heavier 20 or 12 gauge frame is an awesome gun to shoot with mild recoil.

Click to expand...

I have a mid-1980's Browning Skeet grade Citori with a set of sub gauge tubes fitted to the gun. When I was shooting competitive skeet in the 1990's with the gun, my 20 gauge averages were better than my 12 gauge averages. So, I shot 20 gauge in the 12 gauge events.

I could never get the gun to swing the same in 12 ga without the tubes as in 20 ga with the tubes. So, I shot 20 ga with the tubes installed in the 12 ga event. The extra weight of the tubes, albeit relatively small made the difference in the improved swing.

Remember, the swing is the thing in skeet.

During the last year I have been shooting in the fun skeet leagues at the range I belong to. I shoot mostly my 28" Browning Skeet gun but I have been dabbling with some longer barreled 12 ga guns during the weekly skeet league shooting. The longer barrels (32") is having an effect but it still does not swing exactly the same as my skeet gun with tubes.