Competitive trap and skeet shotgun.

[cwmcgu2]

Ok here's the deal. I need a shotgun for trap and skeet. My university has a trap and skeet club that meets once a week at a nearby range and I really want to join so I can relieve stress while studying for the LSAT. Neither of my current shotguns are fit for the job. One is a Benelli Supernova with a 24inch barrell and the other is an NEF pardner with a 24inch barrel.

I am looking for a semi-auto or a over/under for no more than $500. So far I am looking at a Stoeger Condor Competition. I can get one at a local store for right at $500 and like that it is set up specifically with trap and skeet in mind with ported barrels and adjustable cheekweld among other features.

Another option is a Stoeger 2000 semi-auto. I can get one of these for around $300 and send the barrel off to be ported. It would get the job done though it wouln't be anything fancy.

I want some other options so please advise which shotgun you would buy with the budget and mission. Spending limit is $500 so please do not go above that. Thanks in advance.

 

[sm]

$500 bucks. humm.
Well I for sure would not buy those New Guns.

Used, Older guns, built better anyway.

Beretta 303, 1100 might fit this budget.
Win 1400 for sure will.

If you could swing more money, I would get a Win Super X Model 1, or Beretta 390.

 

[cwmcgu2]

Thanks sm. I have looked at the Winchester Super X's and really like the Super X 2's with the red synthetic furniture. I may try to save a little bit more since I will be spending at least 600 on one of those.

Keep the recommendations coming please. Note I have no objection to buying a used gun.

 

[sm]

Oh, SX2's, I really really like the Wood Stock and blue.

Wood allows for fine tuning gun fit, and being denser has less felt recoil.
In the hot and humid, that wood is not as hot and sticky on your face.

Find some dry shaving powder, round tube, looks like deodorant.
Old Drug Stores probably your best best.
Apply to cheek , and this affords a nice smooth gun to face mounting of shotgun.

Talc will "blow" and get in your eyes, shaving powder in a stick form won't.
OLD shotgunners tip, going w-a-y back.
Mum's the word, just keep this to yourself.


Steve

 

[Jim Watson]

Trapandskeet is not all one word and it is not all one game and it is hard to do it all with one gun. A screw choke gun with adjustable stock would be adequate. But I recommend you start with skeet and stay with it until you pretty well have it figured out and are shooting good scores. It is easier to learn trap if you know skeet than vice versa.

If you want to learn on a shoestring, get a 26 - 28" vent rib screw choke barrel for that Benelli and get good at shucking it for the doubles.

You do not need to pay to have the barrel ported, especially on a gas operated auto; recoil is quite soft as is.

 

[Whitman31]

Check your local pawn shops, my buddy scored a 95% Beretta 391 Urika for $350. Some of those places don't know what they've got.

 

[cwmcgu2]

How about a Beretta 303, 95% condition w/t 28inch barrels and a Duck's Unlimited engraving on the side for $385. Is that a good deal that will get the job done?

 

[sm]

Mr. Jim Watson is correct.
[idn't he always? ]

Learn one clay game, do not attempt to learn both.
Skeet replicates field hunting presentations, that is why Skeet was invented.
Field guns do fine for skeet, lots of folks brush up before Dove Season and other Upland Bird seasons, with the gun(s) they plan to bird hunt with.


Trap presentations are going away for the most part, and tighter chokes [Mod is fine , it is when you get further back one tightens up choke to Full].
Often times Trap guns are set up to shoot higher, to assist with lead with rising targets.

I would suggest you
(1) Try guns before you actually buy one,
(2) Shoot Trap and Skeet with seasoned folks to see which clay sport you prefer and to assess you with what guns works for you.

Ports: NO!

Learn how to shoot with a bone stock shotgun that fits YOU.

FORGET all the ports, and other gobbly-gook crap.

Shooting is 90% Mental and 10% Physical.
Physical is the gun, ammo ,glasses, ear protection, Shell pouch/ vest, FOOTWEAR.

Get the gun to fit, learn it, know it like a body part. Figure out the other physical stuff, like you will want Good Footwear with some forward lift, and you would be wise to always wear this footwear when you shoot.
Decide whether you want a shell pouch or vest, once decided, quit messing with it.

Once Physical stuff is sorted out, FORGET IT.
One may buy exact duplicates for backups, this is a real good idea.

Mental Game is 90%, Never Never Never "borrow" any of that 90 % by fiddling with a gun , or any other Physical stuff.

Ports? I/we used Cutt's Compensators and Poly-Chokes [we called them turds back in the day] for some special ,serious, money games to Mess up other folks' Mental Games.
Hustling. Plain and Simple.

 

[Tiny in Ohio]

That is a great deal on the Beretta, if it is 95%. More suited towards trap, but with practice would work with skeet. Trap guns shoot low, so you can see the target as you pull the trigger. With skeet, you want to cover the clay as you squeeze the trigger. If you can get it for $385, I would not hesitate.

 

[sm]

Shotguns are pointed - not aimed.

Trap guns are setting up to shoot higher due to rising targets.
Gun Fit is such, the pattern percentage is "higher in POA/POI" .

Skeet gun are "flat" or "field "in regard to pattern in relation to POA/POI.
Presentations are replicating field conditions.

Never Never Ever let a target get below a muzzle.

This is why Myself and others will have a bit of "above center POA/POI pattern density" for Skeet, 5 stand, Sporting Clays, ...and Hunting.


One cannot shoot, what they cannot see - Fred Misseldine

 

[cat_IT_guy]

dont rule out a pump...

I am the vp of Illinois State University's Trap and Skeet club. I actually shot trap and skeet all last year with a remington 870. It may not be the ideal gun for either game, but it is certainly versatile, and after somewhere in the neighborhood of 60rounds of trap and skeet (mostly skeet) I managed to shoot a 25 on skeet with it and a 24 on trap. I have never heard a target complain, and once you pump the gun enough times, you almost forget you have to pump it and it really isnt a handicap.