I have a tight budget, under $500. No single shot or pumps, as I will be doing double in skeet. I am novice, so something good for a beginner, but will work a long time. I am looking at something possibly like a remington 310 o/u. Thoughts?
Staap It
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Under $500.00 a Remington 1100 and change barrels. I have one with a skeet barrel fixed choke and another is a Remington 1100 trap gun. These are two different animals. A trap gun typically has a special stocking setup. High across the comb. And the skeet gun is more of a typical field shotgun. One is 26" barrel skeet choke and the other 32" full choke.
You may get away buying a 1100 trap gun and use a skeet barrel on that. But you do really need a proper trap gun, skeet not so much. Once you gain some expertise you will know what you need and will learn what to get. I use a set of Browning Citoris for skeet (a 4 gun set ). And a Perrazzi for trap. The Perrazzi can be expensive to keep, for example a smith charges $60.00 just to take the triggers out to work on. The Browning Citori is just no headaches and a good choice for a all around gun. Again start with the trap gun for the basis and put in the skeet 1 & 2 chokes for that.
Take it from a guy who has done this and makes 1/3 of my income shooting Trap. If you do not have the proper Trap gun it will be a painful experience. 200 shots for a 16 yard shoot and 100 for Handicap. Then a tie breaker.
I teach Trap shooting and always start my folks off shooting 50 shots. At that point you are learning. As stamina builds we can shoot more. After 50 shots at first you just are shooting and the learning curve drops drastically.
EDIT : I would highly suggest going to the local clubs that shoot and checking the board for people who are selling one. Also, ask some guys, they will be more than helpful.
?
A couple of the posters here are mind readers.
If you look around, you should be able to find a 99 percent Remington 1100 on the used gun rack of your local sporting goods store. Try to get one with the RemChoke barrel. Then you can just change the chokes to suit your shooting needs. Skeet choke for...skeet. Improved Modified choke for Trap. Maybe Modified if you get into sporting clays.
The Remington 1100 will last several lifetimes if it is maintained. Perhaps the best value in an auto-loading shotgun today.
MJ
A used Remington 1100 is my suggestion.
Cheap O/U shotguns are almost always poor handling and poorly finished. The Remington 310/Baikal is not a bargain. It's simply a cheap O/U that will be unlikely to satisfy you.
hector
If you live in a place where you have an academy sports and outdoors get a yildiz, they are made in turkey but are great quality and are great skeet guns, they are underovers and also automatically launch the shells out too. Most are under $500 and still of great quality
METROPOLIS1
Consider a Mossberg 930...... These are fairly reliable and fun to shoot......