I taught skeet at the University of Southern Mississippi for two years. I had a Ruger Red Label in skeet and skeet but for the most part I shot a Beretta, I can’t remember the number but it might have been a 303. Anyway it was choked skeet. I had an assitant who was Mississippi state champion and a very slightly better shot than me
He used a Browning Citori He once offered me a near mint Citori his friend needed to sell for $500. I was so broke I could not buy it.
The school paid for all the skeet and shells that I shot but the students had to pay for thei shells They could use their own gun or the school’s gun which were 20 gauge Remington 870.
I would buy the Winchester double X skeet loads but would use my odds and ends of shells I had accumulated over the years. I ended up with several cases of the super X skeet loads.
My assistant never had a defect of any kind with the Citori. I never had a defect in any was with the beretta. I actully don’t reccall a student having a misfire when they were using their own Remintons Brownings etc.
We had some very old and well used 870 pumps in 20 gauge for the students who didn’t have their own gun. All the 870s except one always performed perfectly. There was a single 870 which had begun to sometimes let a shell slip by the carrier stop. We gave them a do over.
That was a lot of shooting over two years at several classes a day and all those guns held up gread except that one 870 and made a rough guess that it had gone over a hundred thousand rounds.
The 870’s are true work horses. I shoot with a fellow who competes at the local level (and very well) that shoots an 870 in all gauges. He’s so smooth that the first hull is about a foot from the gun when he fires the second on doubles.