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Old June 10, 2010, 02:01 PM   #12
zippy13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 23, 2008
Location: SoCal
Posts: 6,442
Chrisstromberg,

Now that we've established that your barrel is well suited for bird shot, back to your original question. Yes, you gun is entirely capable of shooting Skeet. Let's look at some specific areas...

Barrel length:
When I first shot Skeet 40+ years ago, the tendency was towards short barrels, and O/Us with 26" barrels were the standard. A pump with a 24" barrel has about the same overall length as a classic Skeet O/U. Over the years barrels have lengthened to provide a longer sighting radius and more inertia. The short barrels still crush targets all day long, but they won't be seen at the world championships.

Inertia:
Over the years comp shooters have come to realize that a gun with a greater inertia that absorbs a little more recoil and swings more smoothly gets higher scores than a lighter quicker pointing gun. It's sort of like having shock absorbers on a car.
You can increase inertia by something as simple as keeping a weighted hull, or two, in the front of the mag tube (installation may be more complicated in a M-500 than a R-870). If that makes it too front heavy, then try some weight in the stock bolt's hole. Most folks prefer the smoother swing and reduced kick of a heavier gun.

Sights:
A typical target gun has a front bead and a mid rib target bead. These aren't used for aiming the gun but for verifying that you've mounted the gun correctly. Once mounted correctly, the Skeeter's job it to watch the targets, not the sights. If you're seeing the target correctly, the gun will follow. Your Slugster's sights will be a hindrance to this. Are they screwed or bonded to the receiver and barrel? If screwed, perhaps you could remove them for Skeet and use one of the screws, with a spot of "white-out" for a make-shift front sight. If your sights aren't removable, try to ignore them and see through to the targets. This may sound crazy… but, you might try making a temporary rib from a strip of blackened wood to fill the gap between your sights.

Choke:
Many folks happily shoot Skeet with cylinder-bore guns. Of the shooting sports, the selection of chokes is least important in Skeet because of its close-in targets. Hunters frequently practice Skeet with full and mod chokes.
If in doubt, pattern your gun at 21 yards with a standard skeet load. A piece of cardboard at a Skeet field's center stake will work fine.
As noyes mentioned, you can always use larger shot to compensate. But, before you switch, remember: a 1-1/8 oz load of #9 Skeet shot has about 658 individual pellets compared to a #7-1/2 trap load with 393. That's 265 (or 67%) more pellets. I'll go to larger shot (8 or 8-1/2) for the second shot in the all-doubles event or to buck the wind on really breezy days.

Good luck and have some fun!
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