ChefMark, that's a pretty broad question, but I will try to answer it.

The best commercial guns are made by Perazzi, Krieghoff, Kolar, Ljutic, Beretta etc.... but are priced where the average person cant afford them. Browning, Remington and Winchester make shotguns that wil last the average hunter/casual shooter a lifetime. There are many small companies that make outstanding guns but a really expensive.

In sporting clays, the O/U and autoloaders are the most popular. In the NSCA there are events for SxS's and pumps and also for the smaller gauges. 12 gauge's and barrels from 28-30 inches rule in the main events. Some folks pick the O/U due to being able to have 2 different chokes. This comes in handy when you are presented 2 totatally different targets ie. a crossing rabbit at 15 yards and a long passing shot. As you already know, in sporting you have alot of different presentations. When you choose to use a single barrel and only have one given choke at a station you can alter it by using different loads, such as spreaders. A normal course will consist of 100 targets. There are variations such as 5 stand sporting and FITASC.

In skeet, you have crossing targets at about 21 yards, a high house and a low house. You shoot from 8 stations in a semi circle. In this discipline, it's the same no matter whereyou shoot it, from Hawaii to New York, it's the same. You can shoot a 12,20,28 and 410 and most shoot all of them in their own catagory. Open chokes are the norm here such as skeet 1 and skeet 2 as are barrels of 26 inches. The shorter barrels swing well on the short crossing targets. Again, O/U's and auto's shine but there are a few that use a pump. Variations include skeet doubles and International skeet.

Then we get to trap where you shoot are going away targets at various angles of up to 22 degrees from the middle station. The height of the targets are the same and the clay will normally fly 50 yards from the trap. In 16 yard trap you have 5 shots at five stations and a round consist of 25 shots. In Handicap you also shoot singles, the better you are the further back you shoot, up to 27 yards. There are also trap doubles in which you shoot pairs from the 16 yard line.
12 gauge and tight chokes dominate this sport. O/U's, single shot's, pumps and automatics are used. Over singles and top singles are the most popular in Handicap and front line while O/U will do for doubles. Automatics are frowned upon among in doubles by serious shooters. The longer barrlels shine here in trap, anywhere from 30-34 inches in lenght. The long barrels tend to have a smooth swing which is needed in trap. Variations are Olympic and bunker trap.

So there you have the most popular disciplines in clay shooting. As you can see each on e is a little different in it's own way. I say this from a competitive view. If you are just a once a month skeet or sporting shooter, any gun will do really. The most important thing with shotgunning is that you need to have a gun that fits you and shoot off of your dominate eye. When I say "fits" I mean by someone that knows gun fit not because it feels right to you. I can not overstate these 2 things enough. Even if you dont shoot competitively your shooting will drastically improve.



doubleA