I'm with mtgrs. Minimize open and closing, and minimize the extra use of the lower barrel. Why? Why not?
I use RIG grease on my O/U shotguns. Seems to work well.
Peter

When I was shooting in my first registered shoot, another shooter told me I was holding things up by loading one shell at a time when shooting singles, and that folks will not want to shoot with me if I continue doing it; so I started loading two shells.

I was loading one shell at a time because I wanted to visualize each shot ahead of time.

Randy

Ah, you succumbed to peer pressure. If you show up at a shoot they have to squad you. I'd like to have somebody try to tell me that. Man, those guys sound like trap shooters.

Two of the clubs I belong to that have skeet allow two shells for singles. I've shot at other clubs that do not allow that. I assume that's a safety issue. I load one at a time for singles. Part of my routine and I don't have to change the routine depending on where I am shooting.

My Dad loads one for singles for a reason that no one has mentioned yet and also may not apply to most shooters. He shoots skeet with an old Ithaca (SKB) O/U that has fixed chokes of Improved Cylinder and Modified. He shoots all the singles with the lower barrel (IC) and only uses the MOD barrel for the second shot on doubles. His theory is that he will break more targets shooting all the singles with the more open choke vs shooting half the singles with the tighter choke. Not sure if it really makes a huge difference but he thinks it does so it helps his "mental" game I guess.

International skeet makes this a lot easier since all but #4 is a single target followed by a double. At #4 you shoot a single H and then a single L. You MUST load 2 shells. If you don't it's a loss target-no warning.

ISSF Skeet
9.9.3.4 Cartridge Loading Sequence

a) On Station 8 for both the "High" and "Low" targets, the gun
must be loaded with one (1) cartridge only;

b) On Station 4 where two (2) single targets are to be shot, two
(2) cartridges must be loaded before calling for the first single
target;

c) In case an athlete forgets to load the second barrel in singles
on stations where two (2) single targets are to be shot, and
after calling for or shooting at the first target remembers and
either opens his gun to load or he raises his hand to ask
permission of the Referee to load his gun, the target will be
declared "LOST;"

All the clubs in my area allow two.

I load one for singles. Loading a shell is part of the routine and it's a quick reload for the next. Don't think I've ever been guilty of holding up a round.

After reading another subject on this venue (see Too Slow) A squad of five shooters is expected to finish a round in 20 minutes. Can this be done if all five shooters loaded one at a time on singles?

Personally I'm a two shell loader, but I've seen some pretty fast single loaders. There was a young South African shooter at the world shoot a couple weeks ago in the stadium for shoot offs that had the gun emptied and reloaded before all the broken pieces had stopped moving. Doubt you'll find a five man squad to match him though.

Semi-auto shooters who use shell catchers are slower than O/U single loaders. Even if I loaded two in my O/U, I would still take my time and not rush my shots. Not sure if I would be any faster.

Not always.

But usually.

Actually there is less movement and fewer actions savings empties with an automatic w/shell-catcher that singl3-loading and saving empties with an O/U. There is no need to open the action with the automatic. The gun does that for you.

But I don't need to manually pluck the hull out, my ejectors in my O/U does that for me. If we lived near each other I'd challenge you to a race. I shoot with a guy who uses a shell catcher on his 1100 and I know I'm faster than him, and he's a younger guy.

Gents.....the time taken to load one or two shells matters little, to not at all with regard to elapsed time for a round.

Scratching, sniffing, shuffling, practice mounts, practice swings, practice hold points, exorcisms, voodoo, etc., etc.. now that crap is what turns an on pace round into a glacier moving on a cold day.

The serious time-eaters are those that are not on-deck when the shooter in front of them is shooting. Strolling six to ten feet to the pad after the proceeding shooter finishes his station eats a lot of time.

Long breaks between rounds eats time too.

Excellent points.

two shells even on low 8 if i'm running a 23 straight onwards to 25.

Math -

If the stroll to the station takes 5 seconds, and a shooter does that nine times (twice at station 8 ) he just added nearly 3 minutes.

But since birds of feather often do flock together, if you have a whole squad doing that, they've added 15 minutes to their shooting time.

That is the only time I load 1 for a single.

Couple reasons:

I shoot a sk/lm choke combo, so I want that skeet choke for that last shot, probably more mental than anything.

I like the habit of loading one when shooting all my station eight targets, don't want a brain fart and load 2 on high 8, again mental.

Lastly, when going for my 25th target, I do want to slow myself down just a tad and take an extra breath. I've run a lot of 25s, but still get excited. I also want to make that shot just like my 24th, to keep everything consistent, definitely mental!