I have been shooting Sporting Clays for the past couple of years and just not getting any better than 50. I swore I wasn't going to buy another gun, but today I bought a Browning Crossover Target. It is a Citori set up for clay target shooting.

Sunday, I borrowed a friend's Browning that was set up in a similar fashion and broke 69. I missed a few easy ones and should have been in the 70's. The top shooter in our group hit 79, so I felt good. I tried to buy the gun I shot, but the owner didn't want to sell it, even though he doesn't shoot it often.

I am looking forward to our next visit to the range.

Enjoy your new citori. They are great guns but remember it's the Indian not the arrow. (provided the arrow is straight)

Why do want to get better? Are you not having fun, are the effects of fresh air not benefiting you? Your new gun will help you score, but The True cost of getting better is TIME and AMMO. The more you shoot the better you will get... That is the more you shoot a week, every week. Back at the turn of the century, I had plateaued in the mid 30's/50. I went to 3 or 4 50 bird rounds every Sunday, and after a couple of months I was in the upper 30's/50. So I added 100 (4 rounds) Skeet on Thursday after work every week, and and would shoot Skeet or Clays on Saturday if I could get away with it. After a few months I about 42.27 /50 average and a 45, 46, now and then and one 47/50. But I was shooting 250 to 350 rounds a week plus 2 of my teen aged sons were shooting another 200-300 rounds a week. Shot and powder was very affordable at that time. Now if I get a few rounds in a month I'm happy (I had a stroke and took 3 years off) I'm shooting in the hi 20's-low 30's/50. I have the time of my life breaking birds, making the noise and being with "the gang" again. The Cost of a new gun is the cheap part( between the wife and I, we have 10 sporting guns in all 4 gauges 3-12's,4-20's 3-28's and 1-410 and it seems to be my favorite). One of the ways to have the fun sucked out of shooting is to have a jerk/cheat/unsafe person on your squad. Get them or at least yourself on a different squad right away! Ivan

Great gun, glad to hear you found a gun that fits you. I firmly believe that shotguns must fit the shooter, once they do the art of pointing and shooting comes together. IMHO shooting a shotgun should require no thought just point and shoot. Good luck and have fun.

I wish to disagree somewhat about the Indian and arrow analogy. I jumped up 20 birds! That was not all me, that was a gun set-up for the kind of shooting I was doing.

I am not a competitive person by nature and am not looking to break 100. I shoot with 6 or 7 good friends and we always have a good time. However, I am competitive enough that I don't always want to finish last. I had eye surgery several years ago and now have the best vision of my life. I can finally see the birds. My main complaint was that I was not improving.

I will shoot the new gun in a couple of weeks and see how we do. I hope to at least be in the 60's again and then maybe improve a bit.

I think you hit (no pun intended) on the key, the Citori fits you better than what you shot before. Now some extra practice and outscore your less competitive friends . Enjoy!

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220