doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Whippy little guns..............

Well, today we had a skeet shot at our club. It was a Remington shoot in which you had to shoot a Remington shotgun, any gauge, any barrel, as long as it was a Remington. Classes were divided into size of gauge. Well, the only Remington I have is my son's 20 gauge 870 Wingmaster with an I/C choke. Last week I shot pretty good with it, but I practiced with it yesterday and I broke a 47. IN THREE ROUNDS!! So, today I used it during the shoot and broke two 16s. Ouch!! I guess I am just not a small gauge person. I can't shoot my 20 gauge Superposed much better, either. They just seem so whippy and uncontrollable. And I feel I just need a gun with a little weight to it with a nice BTFE to hold on to. Other guys try to talk me into shooting 28 gauges or .410s, but if I can't hit anything with a 20 gauge, then why go smaller? Sticking with my 12 gauge Citori or one of my other 12s is the best thing for me. So, good luck to all with the little gauge guns. It is nice to see you do so well with them, but they just aren't for me.

Practice makes perfect. Perhaps you need more than two days worth of the same?

I'd be much more inclined to look into an individual guns fit, on you, rather than what gauge it is. My Winchester model 12, a first year 20 gauge, became a much better shooting gun when it gained some weight with replacement wood. Most Winchester people would be stunned at that comment, but, I actually shoot my guns, thank you kindly. I watched a woman shoot a youth model 870 Express 20 at the clubs 16 yard trap line today, any you wouldn't want to bet against her.

Another woman had almost the same gun, and didn't hit a thing-but, it was clear it didn't fit her.

That said, I am gravitating away from my 20s and to my 12 and 16 gauges. I never shot wild birds with anything less than a 20, either. But, my reaction time and my vision are not what they once were, and the bigger gauges fall nicely into the holes of those increasing handicaps, and, my originals, including lefthandedness, and not shooting with my master eye (cross-dominance).

A longer barrel and a slip on pad might make the whippy gun more to your liking.

Best,
Ted

How dull! :p

"Whippy" has to do with gauge only in a "sometimes" way. More .410 guns will be whippy than will 12's. However, .410 does not define an individual gun as whippy. Swing Effort is the objective characteristic that contains the subjective description of "whippy." Typcial game pattern guns have weight around 6 1/2# and Swing Efforts around 1.5. This is the area where "whippyness" seems to start. However, some have developed muscle memory with higher Swing Effort guns and find it difficult to shoot lower Swing Effort guns.

Personally I like light "Whippy" guns, but my use of a shotgun was always primarily for upland hunting. Determing what gun is best for upland use by what works best on a target course is about akin to picking a car for down-town driving by what does best on the Daytona 500 course.

I don't own a gun that weighs over 7 pounds, and I shoot a lot of skeet (recreational, not competitive) with sub-6# guns. Because I don't shoot really heavy guns, I don't have any problems getting used to it, but you certainly will if you're used to an 8# plus target gun. And of course the real skeet sharpshooters don't shoot "whippy" small gauges. Rather, they shoot small gauges that weight what big gauges weigh--but that defeats the purpose if you're looking at a small gauge as a lightweight hunting gun.

When I pick a gun for my hunting day, rarely is my criteria of the day to take the maximum amount birds. Like the story Joe and Mike related about shooting singleshot hammerguns, I usually consider how much fun a particular gun will give for the game, weather, terrain and my state of mind at the time. The latter being a more weighty factor most often.

Jimmy I would bet you woes with the Twenty had more to do with stock dimensions and trigger than with weight and gauge.

Best,

Mike

Shooters unfamiliar with the mechanics of high average skeet often use a whippy shooting style like swing through, which is not conducive to high skeet scores with any gun weight. High average skeet, as well as high average quail, is better shot with long hold points, sustained lead, and short moves to the bird. This technique makes the disadvantage of a light gun more imagined than real.

try remi 1100 LW-20 with mahogany stock. it's joy to carry swing and shoot.