I am certain that there are many factors that contribute to “best guns” not being utilized by winners of clay target shoots. A few that come to mind are, in no particular order:
Numerical, best guns are simply far less common than basic target guns.
Owners of best guns tend to be beyond their prime by the time they come to own them.
Best guns are seldom built in a target configuration. They tend towards being dynamic rather that a weight forward target favored balance.
There is often a certain hesitancy to pound out the tens or hundreds of of thousands of rounds through a best gun. This due to concerns about reduction in condition/value ratio as well as recoil issues with a dynamic handling gun.
Very few best guns have over 30” barrels so the longer ones favored today are very uncommon.
A lot of what are called best guns are actually very old, in bad repair are best guns in name only.
Most best gun owners are hesitant to modify a stock, barrel or choke that a Browning or Beretta owner would do as a matter of course. (I have certainly seen a few exceptions.)
All that being said I have certainly seen a lot of shoots won with best guns. More so if Italian best are included.
When travel is involved there can be a certain hesitancy to take a best gun on a plane etc.
Many times best guns are shot with a recreational intent rather than a competitive one. The way some folks break out their Jaguar on a pretty Sunday afternoon rather than for Friday night drag races.
Personally I have won both pigeon and clay target shoots with a wide variety of guns that could be considered “best” in any company. This would include one linked in this thread and another that was mentioned.
Last edited by Richard Hale; 06/18/26 08:23 AM.
