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I'm new to skeet and shotguns. I went my first time on Wednesday, and had so much fun I had to go back last night. I kept score last night and shot 13 and 12, but I was low on 12ga shells so I switched to 20ga. I started shooting a lot better, 17 and 18. This seems counter intuitive to me. I figured I should shoot better with the 12. How many people here prefer or shoot better with a smaller bore than a larger? Is this common?

It is very common. The 20 gauge gives up very little if anything to the 12 ga in skeet.

I dont know customstox, i think you are giving up a lot of recoil.

A 20 ga at about 8 pounds and 7/8 of an ouce of 8.5 or 9 shot is a sweet shooting Skeet gun. I like .003 choke (Brilely Light Skeet) and find nothing missing--except the recoil.

If you have no abitions to shoot Sporting Clays or Trap then a good 20 is all you need to start with.

I very rarely shoot more than 28 Ga. This only works if you reload, but if your like me the bug will bite you bad enough that you will want to reload.

28 gauge and .410 cover it for me. On rare occurrences 20 or 12 but only when I have components to burn up but then only 7/8 oz loads. Actually looking for a 20 gauge 3/4 oz load to play around with as I have more 20 gauge hulls than 28.

Just remember if you do the work they will break whatever you shoot.

I recently tried Sporting with my 20 and I shot better than I ever had with my 12. Recoil was a little more with the 20 since I was shooting 1 oz with the 12 in an 8.5 pound gun and 7/8 oz in the 20 with a 7 pound gun but it was not at all objectionable. The 20 is just more fun because no one expects me to pound a target, so when I do it's like giving myself a high-five. I've been shooting a 20 for skeet off and on for years with results comparable to a 12. With skeet I don't think I give up anything going to a 20. If anything a 12 with 1-1/8 oz loads is overkill.

IMHO

I may be a heathen, but I like shooting skeet with my 12 ga much more than my 20.

Light 7/8 oz loads out of a 9 lb gun makes for a nice afternoon.

If your on w/ the 20, its not going to make a difference. However, the advantage of the 12ga comes into play when your not "on", whether your a little choppy that day, not seeing the target well, targets are a little off, windy, ect. Shoot to shoot, 12 vs 20 probably isn't going to make that much difference, and the better you are, the less difference it'll make, its the target or two that extra 4" of pattern gets you over the course of the year that makes the difference. I shot a 100 early this summer that I was NOT on for (bad nights sleep, didn't eat in the morning so I had low blood sugar, and was making horrible moves on the targets) that I KNOW would not have been a hundred had I been shooting the 20ga.

When there money, points, or pride on the line, throw absolutely as much shot out there as you can comfortably shoot! If thats the 20ga, cool, if its the 12ga, even better.

klebs01 - you may have shot better scores due to the lower recoil of a 20 ga, or given the very small sample of a few rounds....you may have just shot that round better.

I like 20, but I shoot 1 oz 12 ga in the 12 ga events...I think they are advantageous to me....but I shoot a almost 10 lb gun that is very well fitted for me.

You will not know for sure which is better for you until you become a more experienced shooter with a greater amount of data to support a conclusion.

Best of luck to you....just keep shooting and you will find out which way to go for the big bore events.

rickraw...I just started reloading and shooting a 3/4 oz load in a 20 hull...same payload less felt recoil than my 28 reloads. The bonus, it just crushes targets. You have the right idea.

I use Win AA wads as the height seems to make a better crimp and I dropped down 1 bushing. I used this recipe until I came into a load of 28ga hulls, and now shoot them mostly. But when I use up those hulls, I'll go back to the 3/4 oz 20 load. It's allot easier to find those 20 Ga hulls.