The day that I left Vietnam back in 1970, I ordered my first shotgun, a Miroku O/U with fixed Mod and Full chokes. When I got home I joined a local Trap club to learn how to shoot it, and I quickly became an avid duck and upland bird hunter. As my Trap and later Skeet shooting progressed into serious competitions, I bought more shotguns just for my competition shooting, but I kept the Miroku for bird hunting.
Then in the early '90s I saw a black Rem 870 on sale and bought it along with an extra skeet choke. Although I still like to walk cornfields pheasant hunting with my O/U, that 870 became my primary field gun.
Since the early '80s I've shot Trap or Skeet at our local range at least one day a week, every week that I'm home. Especially just before hunting season I see a lot of "once a year" shooters at our range. We only sell Target Load shells at our Skeet range, and I often see these "occasional" shooters having problems with their semi-auto guns, especially with light target loads. It could be due to a lack of cleaning.
As a long time O/U shooter my biggest problem with my 870 is to remember to pump it for the second bird in doubles. Otherwise I think that an 870 (or a good condition used Model 12 Win) makes a great inexpensive first shotgun, and not a bad choice for veteran shooters.
