doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shooting SKEET with SxS's

The delightful gentleman from the Sun City Sportsman's Club shooting skeet out at Ben Avery are very tolerant of this 55 year old 'kid' shooting 100 year old SxSs, all with double triggers, and all low-gun. I shoot 2 pair of doubles at stations 2-6, 2 low houses at 7, and at 8, shoot the clay while turned away from the house (overhead passing shot dropping rapidly.) Great practice for birds and imprinting the unconscience finger move to the second trigger. And a great opportunity for a some 16g and doublegun evangelism

Some chokes, of course, are more open than marked. And depending upon ammo selection (not talking spreader loads), they can be made even a bit more open. One of the 2 or 3 times I've run a straight at skeet with a gun I'd never shot previously (always shoot low gun, except Station 8) was with a Miroku sxs 20ga, M/F.

The other day, I ran a 75 straight with a Parker Repro 28. I have had the chokes opened on that one, but more for hunting than for skeet scores. (The 28" barrels came from the factory a VERY tight M/F, which would be nuts for grouse & woodcock--
but they're still about skeet/light mod.) I shoot both barrels at all the stations, and I don't think that the tighter choke costs me anything. I do reverse the barrel order on doubles, using the tighter barrel on the first (outgoing) target and saving the open barrel for the incomer.

It's kinda fun, if you have a barrel choked F, to let low 7 get WAY out there and then powder it. But embarrassing when you miss!

I am far, far, far from a good wingshot but did finally start working on it when I turned 54 and still had never shot at clays. Made quite a difference.

I shoot only SXS, and have opened all of my fixed choked doubles to SK1/SK2 or very close to it. I figured out that is what I wanted for all hunting situations anyway. I can get spreader loads from friends, but wanted guns I can drop any good game load in for any bird situation & just go.

I did shoot a skeet round with a little Uggie 20 Ga before I opened it up. It was marked "IC/M" but shot and patterned more like Full/Extra Mod, or "Extra Full/Full". I missed a lot of birds but sure powdered some I centered.

I don't have any SXS worth more than about $1K anymore, but wouldn't hesitate to buy a pricier old & tight one and open it up, as all I buy 'em for is to shoot 'em.

Some guys get too wound up in this choke thing! Just go shoot! I shoot skeet primarily with tight chokes, low gun. That's what I have and that's what I shoot. I shot 16 rounds last week with my K80 Trap gun no straights but a lot of 23,24's...If I hack out a 25 great if I don't big deal I still having fun! My 32" F/F Sterlingworth will tear up a target....but it will let a few escape also!!! Of course it has about 1 1/2" too much drop!

The original chokes for skeet were: Skeet Out/Skeet In. Now you have your own version of this.
I shoot SxS guns choked Mod./Full all the time at skeet. If you know the gun and it fits, you are only marginally handicapped. Remember, scores are secondary to having fun YOUR way.

Your gun can never be too tightly choked to break a bird if you point the gun properly. I love vaporizing birds with a modified or full choke at skeet leaving nothing but a cloud of dust hanging in the air. It's particularly easy to do on stations 1,7, and 8.

A couple of shooters raz me from time to time about shooting side by sides, but it's all in good nature. They are always the first ones to come up and ask what I'm shooting, and they always want to handle the gun, go figure!

I only shoot sxs's, my skeet gun is a and Damascus LC Smith 12 gauge choked SK1 & SK2. Shooting old girl gets attention!

One of my favorite reload uses Federal Paper Champion hulls. Paper shells, an 1890's vintage gun... just plain cool.

Craig

JM,
Talk about razzing... Are you going to shoot 5-stand Thursday evening?
If so, bring your hammergun and I will bring one too.

Craig

Craig,

If the rain holds off I plan on being there. They are calling for a chance of showers, and I hate getting my guns wet.

Inspired by this thread, I thought a bit and got on the Internet and found a skeet range nearby and headed over with my most recent acquisition, a Meriden damascus 12ga circa 1907 double hammer gun and a bunch of shells.

I met up with a group of highly competitive (read using very pricey shotguns well) fellows, who welcomed me with open arms. It had been years since I shot skeet and one could not imagine a greater contrast than me in K-Mart shorts and sandals with that old tightly choked side by side and dropping shells all over the ground; and those highly skilled and well equipped shooters.

I missed a lot, but hit more than I missed and I was given much needed and well intended advice from these shooters. They admired my old gun and I could tell they wanted to try it, so at the end of the second round I allowed them to give the old gun a try. As I handed it over to them I said, "now don't be too surprised if you miss (by the way, these guys rarely miss, they were there practicing for competition)--- this old gun is tightly choked, it has a real slow lock time and I am shooting low pressure 7/8 oz loads out of respect for the gun's age and the damascus barrels. Each shooter took the old gun, smiled and missed. Both of them exclaimed, "this is like shooting history!"

Another shooter showed up to join what was my 3rd and last round of skeet. Ignoring the tens of thousands of dollars worth of hardware on the gun rack, he stood back, eyed my double gun like it was a snake about to bite and asked, "are those damascus barrels?" I said, "yes the are." I know where this is going...he then said, "Ever hear of those things blowing up?" I said, "Yes I have- usually the result of bore obstructions, this old gun (handing it to him), is in a very good state of preservation and repair- with 98 per-cent of its original case color, very tight and clean bores." I let him look it over, check the mirror bores and try to find any slop in the action. Then I told him I was shooting low pressure, 5000psi 7/8oz loads and then together we shot my last round. Not totally convinced he remarked “that gun, belongs in a museum.” At the last few stations, he ended up standing beside me and giving me the best advice on lead and where I was shooting. I met a great group of guys and I had a blast. Thanks for the idea.

My Meriden and some of the +300 rounds I have fired with it so far. After some experimentation, I added the pitch spacer and recoil pad to allow me a pitch closer to my Fox, a 14 3/4" LOP and more comfortable shooting with the factory 3" drop at heel. Worked like a charm!