Skeet Guns

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

1. Some skeet guns were not choked Skeet In and Skeet Out, at least when they were originally made. Such guns, like Dean's 28 gauge and my 28 gauge, are legitimate skeet guns but choked differently than Skeet In and Skeet Out. Examples are my gun which is bored cylinder and cylinder, and Dean's, which may have been made with field chokes and bored with skeet chokes before it was shipped. 2. Twenties and thirties skeet was shot differently than it is today. In the early days, the outgoers were shot slowly, past the stake, consequently a long bird. The Skeet Out barrel, almost modified, was used for that long bird. Also consequently, the right barrel had the tighter choke, (reversed choke). I can't believe those guys changed their selectors when they got to station five. My opinion is that they "Learned how to shoot" and shot either bird with either barrel. The slow, long, outgoer ended with talented shooters like Robert Stack and other high average shooters. Modern skeet is shot with open bores in both barrels, with both birds being shot on the shooter's side of the field, whether incomer or outgoer. The famous AHE .410 skeet gun, sold in PA a few years ago, was bored Skeet In and Skeet In, the way a modern skeet gun should be bored. My 28 VHE Skeet gun was bored cylinder and cylinder, another example of an intelligent boring for skeet.

FWIW My GHE 12ga Skeet is reversed choked, stamped accordingly, .007 in right barrel, .004 in left barrel. The middle stake on a Skeet field is around 21 yards from each house. So if a shooter takes the bird half way past the stake it roughly a 32 yard shot. About the same distance a quick shooter takes a bird in Trap Singles.