Just picked one up, 12ga, at a local shop. There were two of them, identical except the one I bought was near mint, the other had seen considerably more use. Both PG/BT with the silver nitride/scroll finish. At first glance, I thought they were 200's. Then I spotted the wedges of engraving on the barrel breeches, and noticed that the checkering was much finer than on a 200. Mine is a Mitsui import, from the period just after Ithaca and SKB went their separate ways (mid-70's). The other one was marked only SKB.

Chatting with the shop owner, he said: "You don't see 300's all that often, do you?" To which I responded that I had never seen two of them in the same place at the same time.

Didn't steal the gun, but paid about what I'd expect to pay for a 200 in similar condition, so I figure a decent deal.

Think we've discussed this topic before. Any others here who own higher grade SKB's, or have seen any recently?? Speaking of the 60's-70's Ithaca/Mitsui imports.

If my SKB Ithaca-marked-Mitsui 20g Model 500 o/u which I bought new in the 70s qualifies as higher grade. A buddy has a Model 700 s/s skeet special.

Never have seen a model 300 or 400. I have owned a model 700 and a model 880. The 700 had a silver receiver and the engraved barrel wedges. It also was choked IC/Mod. I bought it and sold it to my current hunting buddy. It was an old gun that my Japanese gun dealer (I was stationed in Tokyo) found at the factory. The cost NIB was $190. That was in 1988. The SKB factory made me a 2 barrel 880 set with Claro walnut I supplied from Calico Hardwoods. The 20 gauge barrels had invector choke tubes and the 28 gauge barrels were IC/MOD. The gun for all practical purposes looked like a Weatherby Athena without the Weatherby diamond inlay.

Never shot the 880. Decided it was way too heavy for bird gun and I wasn't shooting skeet at the time. Wonder whatever happened to that gun??

I've got 1 SKB 500 (20 ga) 2 SKB 600's (12 ga) - one with a silver action and one with a black action (less common), also 1 M700 - all O/Us. Then I have and SKB M200 SxS (12 ga) - all are nice guns. I just recently saw an SKB Side Plate O/U - really nice, but passed on it in favor of a Miroku Model FE sidelock (SxS). I like the SKBs - solid guns, but like the lines of some older Japanese guns like Miroku, Kasuga and Hamada for SxS and Nikko for O/U. All of mine are Japanese domestic guns - not imports to the US. I got them while stationed in Japan.

I can't get over how shootable these Japanese S x S guns are. I have always shot a BSS well, and use one for S x S competition as well as duck hunting, but I recently bought a SKB 200E 20 ga. for my grandson, to be his dove gun. I "borrowed" it last weekend to take to the Fall Classic. I had shot it at a couple clay birds earlier in the summer. I laced on a Kick-Killer leather recoil pad to give me a longer LOP and shot it in the sub-gauge event in the rain Saturday. The little SKB won the event overall with a 48/50, with modified and full chokes. Absolutely one of the easiest guns to just pick up and shoot "cold" I have ever seen.

Thanks to o-w-d for the heads up on the auction where I got it. If you can just get over the fact that they are Japanese built, and the white line spacers , there is a lot of good there for the taking. Though I can never see myself considering them collectible in any way, I will be keeping my eyes on these SKBs a little closer from here on out. What a value!

SRH

Could we get some pictures of these? I have an SKB 3 barrel set Model 785 (o/u). It would be interesting to compare. I think it is a terrific skeet setup (I don't shoot much 12 at skeet so the 3 barrel setup is perfect.) I think this is the precursor to the GC7, current production? The GC series has a similar profile and square Greener type crossbolt. The only problem I had was one ejector on the 28 ga barrel set broke. I called the USA division; they sent me another for $70 and I refit it. That took about 3 hrs because I had never done it before. Gil

I also had a 700 skeet a number of years ago. Bought it in the late 70's from a gun shop that was going out of business. Paid, I think, $360. It was tagged at $600. Also found it too heavy and was not into target guns. Swapped it for a NIB 280 20ga which had a price tag of $440. That dealer threw in a soft case and a couple boxes of shells. That was a good deal.

We talked about this a while ago. The link I attached still works.

In short, After SKB's relationship with Ithaca ended Mitsui of Chicago, Ill. picked a contract to import SKB's. One of the models offered was a fully engraved boxlock with fixed chokes called the 400. This relationship lasted less than 3 years.


http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post238479

Right. I think the Mitsui era was maybe less than 2 years. Not very long. But basically the same guns, minus the Raybar front sight. The 300's and 400's were available when Ithaca was importing the guns as well, but not many of them were imported either by Ithaca or Mitsui.