I'm starting to get into Skeet more. I'm currently shopping for a gun so curious to the pros / cons with 12 and 20 gauge. I hear that 20 gauge is more challenging BUT your should doesn't get beat-up a lot. Can you anyone give me their thoughts or insight on the question?
if you continue to enjoy skeet, you will probably someday venture in to shooting competition, so you will be interested in shooting 12, 20, 28, and 410. So I would recommend a 12 ga over under, provided it is in your budgget, and the recoil isn't a problem.
There is little difference between the 12 and 20 as far as breaking targets, and in fact, many guys load 12 ga shells with a typical 20 ga load, 7/8 ounces, to reduce recoil and reloading cost.
Continuing with John Henry said get a 12 ga. Not only can you down load the shells, but eventually get a set of tubes and shoot all four gauges with one gun. i have both a 12 and 20 citori and like both but I shoot the 12 more often.
Shoot the 12ga with 7/8oz or 1oz loads. Best of both worlds for skeet. For hunting, I prefer the 20ga because the guns are generally lighter and thus easier to carry.
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I got more into skeet this year as well, and was shooting only 12 gauge registered targets because that was the only gun I had to shoot. I'm still not sure that I'm going to go all the way and start shooting all 4 gauges, but I do know that I want to shoot more than just 12 gauge.
What I decided to do was to purchase a 20 gauge and now I can shoot 12 and 20 gauge registered targets with the new 20 gauge gun, and if I decide that I want to shoot even more, I'm going to get a set of 28 and .410 Briley fitted tubes for the 20, since I'm shooting it far better than I did the 12 gauge gun I was shooting.
Plus the 20 gauge gun is waaaaay prettier than the 12.
I've been shooting 12 about 97%, now I'm starting to get a flinch!
I have a O/U and am hoping to get tubes this fall. To be fair it's been over a year of 12ga before my flinch started showing up.
20 gauge is not more challenging and if I was to own only one gun for skeet shooting it'll have to be a 12 gauge. More versatility and more options simple.
When I purchased my first target shotgun I purchased a 12 gauge O/U. Here was my thought process behind that decision.
1 - For skeet I could easily purchase a sub-gauge tube (or tubes) allowing me to shoot lower recoil shells (20 gauge). I would strongly contend that shooting a 20 gauge is no handicap in relation to a 12 gauge (Some people use 20 in both the 20 and 12 gauge events). I went and purchased a Briley companion tube, and shoot 20 gauge shells for skeet. Very soft recoil.
2 - Choosing a 12 gauge provided more versatility in the event I ever wanted/got involved in shooting other clay games (For me it was sporting clays & 5-stand). I continue to shoot skeet, but have also gotten into enjoy these two games. You can certainly shoot either of these with a 20 gauge, but you are handicapping your selfif you do (As some of the shots can be at much longer distances than you find on a skeet field).
I purchased a 12 gauge Browning XS Skeet. It has served very well for an all around clays gun for the 3 games I have mentioned.
Get a 12ga AND a reloader. That way you can reload all the way down to 7/8 oz (or less), and have the benefit of both the versatility of the 12ga nad the lesser recoil (?) of the 20. (The (?) is because a 20ga is usually lighter than the corrisponding 12 so any difference in recoil is really imaginary).
About the only real advantage of a 20ga is that you can use it in three events, All gauge (12ga) 20ga and doubles.
I think it is a difference without a distinction. There are two guys at my old club in the NL who had to switch to 20 gauge due to hernias in their backs. They went from Browning Ultra XS in 12 to 20 ga. while shooting 24 gram loads as per ISSF regs for Olympic skeet and their scores did not change for better or worse. They did report that they no longer have back pain.
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