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Will a 26' barrel work fine for skeet?

TennisproTennispro Member Posts: 16 ✭✭
edited January 2003 in Ask the Experts
I have been given different views. Some have liked the 26' barrel for quail and hunting and say it works fine for skeet. Others tell be that a 28 works better for skeet and is more universal. Let me know your opinion! I will be mostly shooting skeet and some Dove and Quail hunting.
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Comments

  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,459 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I use a Browning A-5 26" cylinder bore for quail and have no problem with #8's or 9's. Them skeet though are a different story. They just break up and are tough to eat.
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  • shootlowshootlow Member Posts: 5,425
    edited November -1
    the 26" will work for skeet that is all i use they swing better for me than a longer barrel

    LT shootlow RRG
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  • ked-marked-mar Member Posts: 89 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    THe best thing I can tell you is go some place, that has a large selection of shot guns. Try each one you are interested in, in different lenght of barrels. I personally like the 26 " barrel, but you can pick-up gun that swings so easily, that you might swear it has a 26" barrel, when it has a 28" or even a 30" barrel. Guns are just like shoes, find the one that fits you, and you have found a life time companion.
    Just remember you don't buy the first pair of shoes you try on.
    Good luck looking, that half the fun.
    K.J.S.
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  • rsnyder55rsnyder55 Member Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You didn't mention if you were looking for an O/U, semi-auto, or pump.

    I have a Browning Citori All-Guage skeet set with 26" barrels and a 28" Citori Skeet. Sometimes I get lazy with the 28" and have trouble swinging it fast enough for some of the stations. Conversely, sometimes with the 26", I don't follow through.

    I also have a Benelli Special 80 skeet with a 28" barrel. As it is a single barrel semiauto, overcoming the inertia of the barrels from rest isn't as bad, but the length of the action adds to the length of the gun vs. the O/U and you can feel the difference.

    It is a matter of personal preference. Try as many as you can and see what works best for you. At most skeet ranges, I have never had a shooter in a group I was shooting with not let me try their shotgun as a station or two for feel. Most have been happy to show off their pride and joy.

    Bad news is if you are like me, you try them, like them, and then end up buying one. Then I have the problem of explaining to my significant other why we need another safe.

    Happy New Year
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  • AlpineAlpine Member Posts: 14,948 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The explaination is easy. You just ran out of room in your other safes.
    A 26" barrel should be fine for skeet. The differant games of clays require differant kinds of guns. You are shooting at differant distances, and differant aspects of the targets.

    "If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."
    ?The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.?
    Margaret Thatcher

    "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
    Mark Twain
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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,766 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Jack O'Connor said that the 26" barrel had replaced longer barrels and was right for everything. Others have other opinions, but a 26" barrel will work for skeet or anything else you want to do with a shotgun. It may not be the very best choice in all cases, O'Connors opinions withstanding, but not law. You have some good advice above. Try as many as you can. There are a lot of shotguns you can pick up and shoot, but fit really does count and when you find one that really fits you (or several!) you will know what is meant by fit, and it really does matter. Likely there is one old guy at one of the local gunshops, or maybe several at the local skeet range that can, and would be happy to, help you get the fit just right. If it fits you and swings right in your hands, the barrel length does not matter. Most of the powder in standard shells is burned before 26" anyway, so you get no more velocity.
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  • TennisproTennispro Member Posts: 16 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am considering a Bareta 391 auto and I like the 26' in synthetic stock or a 28' in the wood stock. If I went with a O/U I like the Bareta 26'. When I say "I like" I am referring to the balance of the gun. Am I crazy for buying a gun before I try it?
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  • greeker375greeker375 Member Posts: 3,644
    edited November -1
    I've been using a Browning Citori with 26" tubes for 15 yr's. Sometimes I go 25 straight, sometimes I miss, but, what gets hit... breaks!
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  • 270 Deer Slayer270 Deer Slayer Member Posts: 1,633 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I use a remington 870 wingmaster with a 26" barrel for skeet and I love it. When I go shoot with my friend, he has a model 870 express youth addition with a very short barrel and he doesint hit to many of them. I dont know if it's him or the barrel size but I love the 26' barrel on mine.

    "If it's brown, it's down"
    fishman.gifdeer.gif
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  • nelchrisnelchris Member Posts: 557 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Go with a Auto if you want,but I also think you would in the long run a o/u would be best 26" is purfect

    just do not buy a skeet pump gun???
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  • 11echo11echo Member Posts: 1,001 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Way back when I was a one gun owner I was in LOVE with duck hunting. I had joined the Army on a delayed entery program and decided to reward myself with a NEW autoloading shot gun. I purchased a MAG. model Rem. 1100 in 20GA. In the time I was in the service my Brother and Dad got real heavy into skeet shooting, so when I got back in 3 years they wanted to go ...with my "new" 1100. The 1st problem was the weapon wouldn't operate with skeet shells! After all the MAG. model was made to handel MAG. shells! So after some jokes form my shooting buddies I went to the gunshop and talked with the gun smith. He suggested to get just a Rem. skeet barrel ...26" long and would fit my weapon with no problem. It worked GREAT! Granted the weapon was heavier then your std. skeet shotgun, but I use it shooting quail and skeet with NO PROBLEMS ...other when when I hunt mountain quail! ...they don't call them mountain quail for no reason!!! That MAG. model 1100 get ALITTLE heavy! *G* ...but that's another story. Sorry to get long winded here, bottom line the 26" skeet choke works very well in the feild or on the range! THE END! ...my 2 cents. Good Luck. ...Mark

    "FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"
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  • rsnyder55rsnyder55 Member Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A skeet gun is not any shotgun with a skeet choke. Depending on the money you want to spend you can get all the bells and whistles. However, the basic skeet gun is designed for the sport of skeet, from stock to choke.

    A field gun with a skeet or IC or cylinder choke will work if you are only occasionally going to shoot a round. I use my field guns when getting ready for dove season. However, all things being said and done, a field gun is not a skeet gun and if you are serious about getting into the sport of skeet shooting and doing well, you will only be handicapping yourself if you get a field gun and expect it to perform like a skeet gun.
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  • TennisproTennispro Member Posts: 16 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It sounds like it is easier to take a skeet gun to hunt quail and dove than taking a field gun to shoot skeet! Are "skeet guns" dominantly O/U's. I also just found out the the O/U's I have been looking at are 28" but balance better to me than a auto 28", probably because of the extra space for the reciever. Right now my choices are between the Beretta 391(auto) syn stock w/26" barrel or a Beretta entry (whitetail?) O/U w/28" barrel. Both seem to fit me in the store but I have a feeling until I shoot an O/U I will not be able to make a proper decision. Will the O/U be harder on the shoulder after alot of practice?
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