i would buy the best used gun that comes along in the gauge that you like that has screw in chokes.. skb is an excellent side by side.. make sure they pattern on(both barrels) for you, and you can hit plenty of clays at the trap club.. you can spend quite a bit of money and get a gun that isnt even close to shoooting where you need it. where an 870 remington pump will put the pattern right on the money.. its tough aligning two barrels and two fireing systems, and having this line up and fit good.. the biggets mistake would be to spend thousands of dollars for a gun off the rack and find out a 235 dollar remington express will break more clays for you... i bought a 1930's lefever for 250 dollars and when i built up the stock/, put on a good pad, added a recoil reducer in the bolt hole, it shoots better than any shotgun ive ever had.... modified choke puts 90 percent of number 8 shot perfectly evenly in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards... it needs some work, but i shot 24/25 first time out this spring,, surprised even me.. .. im now shooting a drilling 16x16 2 1/2 with rifle below.. it shoots high and when i get a little high on the pidgion its a miss.. it was probably made for lower velocity loads... but the recoil is delightfull.. io get about 20-21 out of 25.. the left barrel shoots to the right with the loads im using now also. so all guns have thier quirks,, a good one doesnt have these quirks,, so buy a used one at the gun club and shoot it , pattern it and shoot it some more.. etc,, and pay a little more for it if you need to,, the good ones arnt cheap,,... if you want a good gun get a remington 3200,( ithinkd this is the right model number over under with no screw in chokes) or a browning superposed, old ones that the owner is tired of, or the wife is selleing her deceased husbands gun.. both very hard to find in good condition, and yhou will not loose a penny on your purchase.., maybe make money.. your in a great possition now, you can buy a great gun while looking for awhile.. ..or you can loose alot of money on a nice looking clunker.. fantastic side by sides are for sale right now and are selling cheap.. heavy engraveing etc.. dont buy an old expensive gun that has been altered in any way. then if an expensive old gun, dont alter it.. . . a frind of mine has a skb(?) side by side 20 gauge,, kills pheasants for him with fiochi 6 shot like any gun out there.. he keeps buying 3-4 thousand dollar guns but that one always worked best for him.. a good skb side by side is about 500 dollars.. olders guys at your local trap club will give you good advice.. belive me they will know thier stuff, and probably the gun you considering..... a remington 3200 that has won 4 city championships and killed hundreds of pheasants wont cost any more than a glitzy gun in the rack at the gunstore that has never broken a clay or killed a bird.. .. ok, so i get carried away.. dave..

Gatogordo:

(I also agree with your unspoken comment but who the heck is shooting at what at 40 yards with No.8s?) (Otherwise I agree with Dave's comments -although I am a little wary about a cheap sxs holding up)

ok, you want more, , with double aa trap loads i think, it patterned about 65 percent at 50 yards with the left barrel full choke.. the lefever was made by ithica in the thirtys or some such.ilike to think it was made by the lefever smiths. . 90 percent at 40 yards is not at all uncommon with quality trap guns, but what choke is used is not asked by me about that, most use improved modifiedim guessing.. .. our club has a shoot from the pourch shoot, the porch is about 50-60 yards from the trap house.. it is not uncommon for the winner to hit 3 out of 5 clays, sometimes ive seen 4 out of 5. the way you get excelent patterns is by reducing power behind the shot.. if one is not getting great patterns its becouse one is insisting on increased velocitites..(or bad choke).. black powder patterns better yet in most guns.. back to the lefever, if i dont dally with the shot, i can shoot one foot over, one foot to the right and one foot to the left and one foot under and usually hit the clay.. if anyone is in or near helena montana well go out and prove it. (ok some of the paterns were 85 percent ) remington sts lights, number 8 shot.. both barrels pattern within an inch of same impact at 40 yards.. dave.

Well, I've shot in the neighborhood of 750,000 rounds at trap counting registered and practice and I can tell you that 90% patterns with trap loads at 40 yards are not only uncommon they are nearly non-existent regardless of the choke you use. I'm way too far from Helena to take you up on your offer, but you'd get my money if that gun can do it.

ok lets back up and look at this.. we are in a dry semiarid climate at about 5000 feet or thereabouts im not sure.. on a nice dry day our air is much thinner than down there.. (texas) i dont know if you live on the coast or not.. the higher and dryer you go the better the patterns get.. so im glad i dont have to go down there to prove it.. .. heres another bit of information that will try your pateince.. the story goes that remington or someone, loaded a shotgun shell with three colors shot loaded in layers up the shot column.... then shot it over a long white piece of cloth or plastic.. guess what happened.. ??? i wont make you wait.. the shot in the rear of the shell was in front of the pattern when she came down.. that is, went the furthest.. im guessing what seems to happen in a proper load is that the front of the shot group peals off from the wind(air resistence) until its all hitting headlong into the resistence.. or somesuch if you want to belive that.. if you think about it and study patterns and leads and shot strings, air density, it all comes together when you get the correct picture of what is happening.. another thing that is intersting is that i load flintlock shotgun with different loads and check velocity and pennetration by shooting a phone book and comparing to modern loads.... its interesting too note that not all shot that looks very similiar in a pattern has any whear near the same energy when it impacts.. for example im working on a drilling right now and bismuth.. number 5 bismuth put 24 hits in a phone book at 40 yards.. fifteen of these pennetrated from .392 inch to .215 inch into the phone book. for an average of .256 inches.. the other nine were not measured to the depth of pennetration but were under .215 when i stopped measuring.. this was compared to pmc 12 gague number 6 lead listed at 1300 feet per second.. it had 21 hits in the phone book with 7 of the deepest avaraging .250 inches.. the other 14 were under .215 inches in pennetration into the phone book.. im ready to go duck hunting with the bismuth number 5... remington number three steel (express 1 1/8 oz) gave 9 hits with 7 of them with a .335 average and two of them under .215.. at 40 yards it gets very good pennetration and the phone book is not large, so would be a good killing load for body shot, which i prefer becouse im a jump shooter and tend to get shots at the butt.. i guess i should try some number 4 busmuth and see what it does but 7/8 oz is not much bismuth number 4.. now youv got me thinking, ill do a count and see.. my biggest gripe with bismuth is that there is too big of jump betwween number 4 and 5.. wow, looking at this again the number 5 bismuth 7 deepest pennetrating pellets gave me a .295 average pennetration.. only a 12 percent less pennetration with the deepest pellets and 2.6 times more total hits.. verrrry intersting.. shotgunners hate teckies like me,, im always going off into strange tangets when the average shotgunner simply usses what works best.. but what whould i do in the off season? .. dave..