Shotgun Review: SKB's 90TSS Sporting
- Mar 4
- 4 min read
There's a particular kind of frustration that comes with shopping for a sporting clays over/under. You know what you want; adjustable stock, reliable ejectors, decent barrels, and a trigger that doesn't feel like it was designed as an afterthought. You also know what you can afford. And those two realities rarely overlap. The SKB 90TSS Sporting lives in that tension, and it does a surprisingly convincing job of resolving it.
--
The Brand Behind the Barrels
SKB's story is more complicated than most shooters realize. The name traces back to the Sakaba Arms Company, a Japanese manufacturer that started building shotguns in the mid-1800s and eventually became one of the more respected names in the over/under world. SKB produced guns for Ithaca, Browning, and Weatherby over the decades, serious pedigree, quietly earned. Then the Japanese factory closed in 2009, and the brand was purchased by G.U. Inc. out of Omaha, Nebraska. After searching for a European production partner and coming up short, the current 90TSS line is now manufactured under license by the Akus and Akdas factories in Turkey, two shops with a track record that includes production work for Kimber's higher-end side-lock models. It's a different chapter for the brand, no question. But it's not a bad one.
Built for the Course
The 90TSS Sporting is a boxlock over/under chambered in either 12 or 20 gauge with 3-inch chambers. Barrel options run 28, 30, or 32 inches, and the barrels themselves are fabricated from 4140 steel, bored cut, with lengthened forcing cones and a polished chrome interior. The exterior wears a matte black chrome finish, while the monobloc gets a jeweled treatment. Sitting on top is a 10mm ventilated rib with a matte surface and target sights, which gives you a clean sighting plane without any glare fighting you on sunny afternoons.
The action is CNC-machined from solid steel billets, and SKB uses a tapered locking bolt that engages the full width of the barrel lug, a confidence-inspiring design choice. The receiver carries a white chrome finish with understated laser engraving. Nobody's buying this gun for its scroll work, and that's fine. It knows what it is.
Where the 90TSS earns its keep is the stock. The tournament-style walnut stock features an adjustable sloped comb that moves a quarter inch laterally and up to a half inch vertically using spacer washers. The adjustable butt plate system adds another inch and a quarter of length-of-pull adjustment, bringing the total range to roughly 14 to 15¼ inches. Both left-hand and right-hand cast configurations are available, complete with a dedicated palm swell. For a gun at this price point, MSRP sits around $2,049, that degree of fit customization is genuinely uncommon. Most competitors in this bracket hand you a fixed stock and wish you luck.
Three competition series choke tubes ship with the gun (typically Improved Cylinder, Light Modified, and Modified), and automatic ejectors keep your rhythm between stations. The mechanical trigger includes an integral barrel selector, and SKB says the 90TSS trigger system was designed to reduce creep, pull weight, and overtravel. In 12 gauge with 30-inch barrels, expect the gun to land around 8 pounds 10 ounces, substantial enough to soak up recoil over a long day, with enough heft to carry momentum through your swing.
On the Course
This is a sporting clays gun first, and it behaves like one. The weight distribution tends slightly muzzle-forward, particularly in the longer barrel configurations, which rewards a deliberate swing and helps with follow-through on crossers and quartering targets. Shooters who've run the 90TSS across multiple disciplines, trap, skeet, five-stand, generally report that it holds its own everywhere, though the adjustable stock hardware can occasionally snag during a fast, unmounted gun start. For pre-mounted disciplines, that's a non-issue.
The real audience here is the club-level competitor or serious recreational shooter who wants a dedicated clays gun without financing a Beretta DT11. Newer shooters benefit enormously from the adjustability, since a gun that actually fits will teach you more in fifty rounds than a poorly fitted one will in five hundred.
What Sets It Apart
In a market crowded with Turkish-made over/unders of wildly varying quality, the 90TSS distinguishes itself with that stock adjustability package and the SKB service reputation. The company operates out of Omaha and has built a following among scholastic and SCTP shooters in part because they stand behind their product, quick turnarounds, reasonable repair policies, and genuine accessibility when something needs attention. That matters more than a lot of shooters appreciate until the day they need it.
The Bottom Line
The SKB 90TSS Sporting isn't trying to be a bespoke Italian competition gun, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. What it offers is a thoughtfully engineered, adjustable-fit over/under with honest construction, reliable mechanics, and a price that leaves room in the budget for a case of targets and a few flats of shells. For the shooter who values function over flash, and who'd rather spend money on trigger time than on engraving they'll never look at mid-mount, this is one of the more compelling options on the rack.
Shop SKB
Take a look at the 90TSS Sporting here at Somarriba!
Comments