I'm shopping with a friend for a new shotgun and have been given conflicting views as to what type of action to get.He will be doing mostly skeet and maybe some hunting down the road.Some say pump[but harder to hit the doubles] and some say auto[a little more money]. Price range is 4 to 500 range.I myself have a Rem. 1100 and love it

1100 or better yet a 1187. Great guns.

If he's going to shoot skeet, then definitely get an autoloader -- unless you go for an over/under, which would be the very first choice.

Although it is entirely possible to shoot skeet doubles with a pump -- I've done it -- you never see dedicated or first-rate skeet shooters doing so, and you would be giving yourself a large handicap.

I agree with the recommendation for a Remington 11-87. I think it's arguably the best autoloader made, and it's certainly one of the most attractively priced.

There are three minuses with autoloaders for skeet. First, the gas operated ones quickly become dirty internally because they use powder gas to work their actions, so you need to spend a lot of time keeping them clean. Second, if you reload -- and most skeet shooters do eventually -- it's a nusiance to have a shotgun that throws the hulls out on the ground. One big advantage of the O/U is that you can put your hand over the empty shells as you open the gun, then take them out and put them in your pouch. That way the empties never touch the ground. Third, autoloaders can and often do become persnickety about what ammunition they will function with, especially in cold weather, using low-power target loads.

[ 11-02-2003, 05:55: Message edited by: LE270 ]

The new Beretta auto-loaders are much better than the Remington's ---- they're easier to clean, they don't get as dirty as fast, they cycle faster and they recoil less. The only down-side is they cost a little more....keep saving and get the best.

If you have to save your money for an extra couple of months and buy a Berreta even consider a used one. I have Berreta , Browning , and Remington the latter two stay in the gun case when hunting season comes around... I play with all of them when busting clay.