doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com High Ribs on a SxS

When I first started shooting skeet- after shooting a few years of trap, I put my O/U barrels on my 686 Silver Pigeon (which is made for doubles trap) and took it to the skeet house to shoot some skeet. Everyone said, "You can't use that!! You'll shoot over the top of all the targets!" I just slid the gun up in my shoulder, aligned the beads and it wasn't long before I was shooting as good as everyone else. Some better. I had watched Tom Knapp do that with a field grade shotgun. He slid the gun down on his shoulder, stacked the beads and shot trap with it. Then he went out to the field and shot the same gun normally and knocked down dove after dove. Plus, those guys didn't realize that when I shot trap, my trap gun was set up with the beads aligned because I like picturing a stationary target. I eventually ended up buying a Citori that I now use for skeet...... Now sporting clays was a different story. I shoot with two or three other guys about 3-4 times a year. I was pretty pathetic. I think the third time I ever shot, I took my Citori and had a pretty good day. I forgot to change my chokes and had cyl/cyl in the gun from shooting skeet. One of the other guys and I both shot a 40 and had the two best rounds. I thought that was pretty good for me. I think it was one of those days where I was just lucky. We usually shoot more than one event during the day...... Most serious trap shooters don't like to change things around. It will mess up your timing. And one lost target could cost you hundreds of dollars if you shoot the calcuttas regularly. My 12 and 20 gauge reloading machines stay the same. If I shoot skeet with a 12 gauge, I might change to #9 shoot. But other than that, I don't like to change things around.

With regards to shooting at a target that appears stationary: if you use that method in Sporting, you’ll likely end up with a bunch of zeros. I learned that long ago on certain true pair targets or Teal targets that appear stalled at the apex. Shooting them rising or falling is a much better plan.

Problem solved

Stan your skeet shooting friends did poorly at SC because they probably shoot sustained lead for everything. As you know, skeet has proscribed leads for the various stations. Not so with the variety of targets a SC shooter will see. I know a skeet shooter who has been a national champion who gave up SC because he could not hit 100%. Couldn’t stand to miss a target. Skeet is a game of perfect and he couldn’t adjust

You have to shoot them rising (and falling) in Sporting Clays because they are all going in so many directions unless they are straight aways. They will only appear stationary in trap if they are straight aways, or near straight aways. Targets won't appear stationary if they are going out to the side (hard rights or hard lefts) or across in front of you. And you wouldn't use a trap gun when you shoot sporting clays. Best wishes.

Speaking of shooting at "stationary" sporting clays targets .............. my friend Bill McGuire taught me to never shoot a teal target at the top. If you have a choice, shoot it just after it starts down and has shown you its line. If there's a true pair of teal it's usually best to shoot the first one rising, "under power", then catch the second just after it starts down. Trying to catch it at the top, when it briefly appears motionless, is a recipe for disaster. The timing is too crucial.

At the top....
Used to do that with a 22rf on thrown quart oil cans............60 years ago.

We used to do that with a .22 down at the dump- only with beer bottles. I wish I had that Winchester Model 67 back. First gun I ever owned.

Jimmy,

For the record:
I shot my way up the NSCA ranks many moons ago using a bone stock 32” Beretta 687EELL Monte Carlo Trap gun.

I agree a Ljutic Space gun would likely be a poor choice for a sporting gun.🤪

I have always wanted to shoot a round of SC with a Ljutic Bi-Gun. Once would probably be enough!

Best regards,
Ken

I bought my first SKB sxs back in 1972. I don't think many people were aware of it, but SKB did offer sxs skeet guns back then. But they didn't have high ribs and they weren't very common. The high ribs didn't appear until the385/485 models, which were imported just before SKB ceased making sxs in Japan. I bought one to try as a target gun. I think I misunderstood something. I figured that the idea was to float the target over the rib. When I got to Station 7, I couldn't hit the low house unless I blotted the target out. While that might have worked for those with more pure target shooting experience than I had, it didn't work for me. Later on, SKB also offered Turkish made doubles with high ribs. I left those to others.