A buddy of mine took me to Indiana Gun Club to shoot clays on Saturday. The last time I shot a shotgun was more than 15 years ago in boy scout camp so this was not only to reaclimiate myself to the 12 gauge but also learn the mechanics of skeet itself.
All I can say is - I had a blast! Now only did a learn a great sport, but I had a great time, and the weather was nice, albeit a tad windy. I shot 18/25 the first time we kept score, which I was pleasantly surprised about as well.
I rented a Japanese Browning O/U that was very natural to shoot with, and I didn't really like the pump we used for the second half. I think the pump was a longer, more trap-suited gun so that might have been the problem as well. I think next time we go I"m going to try a semi-auto to get an idea of what that feels like too.
Now that I'm hooked, can INGO recommend some moderately inexpensive skeet guns? Indiana Gun Club has probably 100+ shotguns to look at and I noticed a good percentage of them were in the $1,000+ range. Can I spend 400-600 and get something that is still practical for skeet that is still reliable and from a decent brand? Is it unwise to look at 20 gauge for skeet? I love the look of the side by sides, but noticed there are a ton more O/Us to pick from, is something wrong with the side by sides?
thanks in advance for your thoughts
All I can say is - I had a blast! Now only did a learn a great sport, but I had a great time, and the weather was nice, albeit a tad windy. I shot 18/25 the first time we kept score, which I was pleasantly surprised about as well.
I rented a Japanese Browning O/U that was very natural to shoot with, and I didn't really like the pump we used for the second half. I think the pump was a longer, more trap-suited gun so that might have been the problem as well. I think next time we go I"m going to try a semi-auto to get an idea of what that feels like too.
Now that I'm hooked, can INGO recommend some moderately inexpensive skeet guns? Indiana Gun Club has probably 100+ shotguns to look at and I noticed a good percentage of them were in the $1,000+ range. Can I spend 400-600 and get something that is still practical for skeet that is still reliable and from a decent brand? Is it unwise to look at 20 gauge for skeet? I love the look of the side by sides, but noticed there are a ton more O/Us to pick from, is something wrong with the side by sides?
thanks in advance for your thoughts