Good starter shotgun for sporting clays?

[tuj]

Well guys, I went out again to shoot sporting clays with some friends. Buddy brought along an older Remington semi, I think the precursor to the 1100. I ended up hitting 22/50 so that was an improvement from my first time out.

Anyway, decided to buy an 1100, 26" barrel, vent rib.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[UnderTheGun]

Congrats on the purchase!

Let me know when you want to go out and we'll try and plan it.

 

[bodam]

grats, and welcome to the world of clays.

 

[Kymasabe]

I shot trap for years with my 870 Wingmaster, put over 60,000 rounds thru that gun without ever having a problem with it. I'd change out barrels for home defense or for hunting, and I'd use my hunting barrel for sporting clays.
There are shooters that have specific guns for each sport but I'm not that rich, bought one gun that served me well. Yes, sporting clays is a challenge with a pump gun, but then again, so is bird hunting or small game hunting, same handicap. If you can overcome it on the sporting clays course, you'll be better in the field as a hunter (and vice versa).

 

[Virginian]

You did good. A new shooter trying to adjust to everything going on, hit targets, AND remembering to pump is sometimes a bit of an overload in my opinion. I always advise a new shooter to get a good used name brand gas operated semi - Remington, Beretta, Browning, etc. - take care of it decently, and then IF they decide they want to switch guns later they shouldn't lose a dime on the experience. They may end up like me. 49 years later and probably 45 or so more different shotguns and have yet to find anything I like better or can shoot better.

 

[AJumbo]

I shot my first couple dozen rounds of Sporting Clays with a Winchester '97, 28" tube, full choke. I do not recommend such a rig. I moved on to a Remington 870, 28"/modified, the an 1100. It had a 28"/modified barrel as well, so I bought a 30" Rem Choke barrel for it and my scores went way up. That being said, don't get sucked into an arms race with your fellow shooters, or yourself. It's east to think that you'd break more birds with "X" gun or "Y" barrel length. Get a shotgun that fits you, and go shoot it. I don't draw a line between competition and hunting guns; my best clay guns are also my best hunting guns.

If I was starting over, and money was no issue, I'd have a Beretta 686 or a Citori with 30" barrels, interchangable tubes, and a quality reloader. I'd have the stock fit to me and fitted with a quality recoil pad.

 

[oneounceload]

To add toAJumbo, don't go overboard about chokes either. Most folks who shoot a single barrel gun do fine with putting a LM in and forgetting about it, and instead focusing on the targets. A lesson or three will get you more targets than a gun that doesn't fit, no matter how expensive it is

 

[Old Unc']

you cannot effectively shoot skeet or sporting clays with a pump action shotgun. Any serious skeet or sporting enthusiast will tell you the same. On the cheap, buy yourself an inexpensive autoloader like a Weatherby SA-08, Stoeger 2000, or a better quality Beretta 3901. Forget the pump action guns...

 

[single stack]

Skeet and Sporting Clays can be shot effectively with a pump
action shotgun. Although probably not up to World Shoot levels.

Some guys I shoot with will occasionally shoot Skeet with .410 pumps
for fun. I'll shoot most any game with a pump. Wee, probably not Bunker.

I'll grant you that they are very good competition shooters, but
out of our fun shooting squad with .410 pumps there will be a few 25's
in ordinary skeet and maybe 1 or 2 when we shoot doubles.

My results are not as stellar but it's still fun.

 

[oneounceload]

We have a few folks at my club who all own Win model 42s. They bring them out to the 5-stand now and again. These older gents have many years using them and do very well considering the pump action and the diminutive cartridge's capability - but they do have fun, which is the name of the game.