Sporting Clays Anyone ?

[prairieviper]

I used to be a serious competitor and shot for fun as well. I finally quit the competitive stuff. Too much travelling, too costly, too much cheating/misinterpretation of rules, too much time spent and too much commitment.

In short, it ceased to be fun. I loved just shooting for fun, but I got into handgun stuff more and haven't shot sporting clays in years. I may have to give it a go with some friends in the new year.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Sporting Clays can become addictive.

"Can become" is way too mild of word!

I warned a friend that 410's were addictive. He had been a AA Trap shooter when in his 20/30's. After his third shot with a 410 on Sporting Clays, he caught the addiction! In the next 4 to 6 weeks, he had bought about $30,000 of 410's. His wife bought almost $60,000 in the same time frame. He bought fine American and German Modern guns, She bought mostly vintage English doubles.

Most I ever paid was around $2500 for the 32" 725 Sporting in 410. Then about two weeks after that, Jaque's had a early 60's Browning Superpose 28" 410, Factory rebuild for $5800. It was really hard to resist, knowing how my 12 and 20 gauge Superposes handled, but I knew it would never score better than my 725!

One of the last shoots before Covid shut everything down, my brother and I went to a fall shoot at Richland County Fish & Game, just outside Mansfield, Ohio. The first station was 3 true pair coming from behind your right shoulder and passing about 10 yards to your right at about Mach 3! Over the course of the day only 2 people cleaned that station! Popeye and myself. Popeye had helped teach me back in the 90's; He used his 12 ga. O/U Berretta 682, I used my 410 Feather XS, Most others ended up using their choicest swear words!

YES, I'M AN ADDICT, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ivan

 

[Narragansett]

"Can become" is way too mild of word!

I warned a friend that 410's were addictive. He had been a AA Trap shooter when in his 20/30's. After his third shot with a 410 on Sporting Clays, he caught the addiction! In the next 4 to 6 weeks, he had bought about $30,000 of 410's. His wife bought almost $60,000 in the same time frame. He bought fine American and German Modern guns, She bought mostly vintage English doubles.

Most I ever paid was around $2500 for the 32" 725 Sporting in 410. Then about two weeks after that, Jaque's had a early 60's Browning Superpose 28" 410, Factory rebuild for $5800. It was really hard to resist, knowing how my 12 and 20 gauge Superposes handled, but I knew it would never score better than my 725!

One of the last shoots before Covid shut everything down, my brother and I went to a fall shoot at Richland County Fish & Game, just outside Mansfield, Ohio. The first station was 3 true pair coming from behind your right shoulder and passing about 10 yards to your right at about Mach 3! Over the course of the day only 2 people cleaned that station! Popeye and myself. Popeye had helped teach me back in the 90's; He used his 12 ga. O/U Berretta 682, I used my 410 Feather XS, Most others ended up using their choicest swear words!

YES, I'M AN ADDICT, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ivan

Wow! Buy that man a fried baloney sandwich and some baloney salad.

 

[Skeet 028]

I am a skeet shooter but have shot a "few" rounds os Sporting. I had one of the premier sporting courses in Maryland 2 1/2 miles from Home...so I had to shoot there a bit Owned by a former skeet shooter name John George. I shot my K-80 with 20 ga tubes...Best I ever shot was a 98 shooting a really pretty Caesar Guerini 20 ga with 32 inch bbl. Beautiful high grade gun. I almost bought that thing. I shot some Intl Skeet but too hard to find fields. My real passion at one time was live pigeons. Shot the World Championship shoot a couple times Actually came home from Guadalajara Mx the first time 600 dollars more than I started with and bought a pigeon gun on my way at a small shoot in Texas. It is very hard to compete in pigeon shooting...unless you are rich. The little club I shot at in Sudlersville Maryland has 5 skeet fields 3 or 4 Trap with wobble and a very nice 5 stand...One of the oldest skeet clubs in the United States about 96 years old

 

[Narragansett]

I am a skeet shooter but have shot a "few" rounds os Sporting. I had one of the premier sporting courses in Maryland 2 1/2 miles from Home...so I had to shoot there a bit Owned by a former skeet shooter name John George. I shot my K-80 with 20 ga tubes...Best I ever shot was a 98 shooting a really pretty Caesar Guerini 20 ga with 32 inch bbl. Beautiful high grade gun. I almost bought that thing. I shot some Intl Skeet but too hard to find fields. My real passion at one time was live pigeons. Shot the World Championship shoot a couple times Actually came home from Guadalajara Mx the first time 600 dollars more than I started with and bought a pigeon gun on my way at a small shoot in Texas. It is very hard to compete in pigeon shooting...unless you are rich. The little club I shot at in Sudlersville Maryland has 5 skeet fields 3 or 4 Trap with wobble and a very nice 5 stand...One of the oldest skeet clubs in the United States about 96 years old

The betting system that gous on is big dollars. Not for me

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I like to shoot SC's in warm weather for fun.....I built my own skeet field where I and my select friends can shoot 24-7 for fun. I have a 4 ft house and a 10 ft house. Set up 90 degrees to each other with 9 shooting stations laid out in an oval out front. I have 18 different shooting presentations plus doubles.
Much Much fun.......Wish I could light it to shoot at night.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I got into it late, after trap and skeet but it was one reson I went to a "Rotor" unit insted of my Mec, for loading shells.
I did not mind loadin a few flats on the Mec but the 500 to a case , made me upgrade, to enjoy SC, with the 100 rounds, needed.
Finally ended up loading 7.5's at 1145fps for my O/U's , to get my higher scores, with lighter recoil and faster adjustment time
for the 2nd shot.
I never got good enough to shoot 1oz #8's to get scores over 85.

However, our couse was set up differently every 3 months, so you could not "Master" the leads on birds at all the stations.
Reno Trap Club, Clays was a fun course, befor they had to close.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

I highly recommend some form of sport clays or skeet. Good times can be had. Nothing like a covey rise over pointers, though, in the wild.

 

[BigBoy99]

I tried it once and got a perfect score. I missed EVERY one!

 

[Markpixs]

Long-time sporting clays shooter and still love it, stopped competing during the pandemic and now just couple of rounds of skeet with pals every weekend. Like pistols, we all have a variety and debate the best options, semi-suto, O/u, SxS or pump (then it's gauges, for me 28 is the sweet spot, .410 for humbling but will take 12 or 20 sometimes when I haven't kept up with reloading.
LeHigh Valley is a great venue, have been to most clays courses within three hours of northern Virginia, M&M (worth the drive and best run tournaments), Bull Run Sporting Clays (the closest), Flying Rabbit to the south, Hopkins and Schrader on the MD Eastern Shore. Always meet good people and always fun.

 

[Markpixs]

I tried it once and got a perfect score. I missed EVERY one!

Been there, done that.

 

[bgrafsr]

I started out using a Remington 870, but quickly graduated to an over/under. Always had fun and shot with 2 or 3 good friends. Due to my infirmities now, I haven't shot Clays or Trap in several years.

 

[M29since14]

Bill, sorry to hear you're not able to participate. I hope some day things get better and you can find a way to get back at it. Good luck, sir.

 

[bgrafsr]

"Can become" is way too mild of word!

I warned a friend that 410's were addictive. He had been a AA Trap shooter when in his 20/30's. After his third shot with a 410 on Sporting Clays, he caught the addiction! In the next 4 to 6 weeks, he had bought about $30,000 of 410's. His wife bought almost $60,000 in the same time frame. He bought fine American and German Modern guns, She bought mostly vintage English doubles.

Most I ever paid was around $2500 for the 32" 725 Sporting in 410. Then about two weeks after that, Jaque's had a early 60's Browning Superpose 28" 410, Factory rebuild for $5800. It was really hard to resist, knowing how my 12 and 20 gauge Superposes handled, but I knew it would never score better than my 725!

One of the last shoots before Covid shut everything down, my brother and I went to a fall shoot at Richland County Fish & Game, just outside Mansfield, Ohio. The first station was 3 true pair coming from behind your right shoulder and passing about 10 yards to your right at about Mach 3! Over the course of the day only 2 people cleaned that station! Popeye and myself. Popeye had helped teach me back in the 90's; He used his 12 ga. O/U Berretta 682, I used my 410 Feather XS, Most others ended up using their choicest swear words!

YES, I'M AN ADDICT, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ivan

Used to like going to Jaquays. Their selection of guns was awesome. I ended up buying a Beretta 391 Urika in 12 gauge for my wife, and she started shooting trap with me at our Club. We haven't shot in several years now, but the gun will stay with her after I'm gone.

 

[SS336]

Sporting clays is a lot of fun. I have shot a ranges in 5 states, they're all different and challenging.
Trap and skeet are the same every time you call "pull".
Trap and skeet are quite a bit cheaper to shoot than sporting clays, which like everything else, is getting a little pricey.
All the shotgun games are fun and will make you a better shot. Try them all.

 

[RudyN]

There is a Sporting Clay Range close to me and I have gone a few times and it is a lot of fun.

 

[44MOshooter]

NO..........Shooting Quail over a pointer......Or a hot Dove shoot is the most fun.

My Dad was an avid quail hunter, he took his vacation during the opening week of quail season here in Missouri.
During quail season we went every weekend, and hunted Sat. and Sun.
I started hunting over his prized bird dogs when I was 7 years old, with a Stevens 410 single shot w/tenite stock.
Sadly we have very few quail in our state anymore.

 

[cowboy94916]

I shoot Sporting Clays at least once a week, usually more, with a group of friends. I am lucky, that I have 5 Clays courses within an hours drive and of those, 4 less then 30 minutes out. We are all in our mid to late 70"s. Two of the guys have macular degeneration and have had to relearn how to shoot, using the opposite side. I applaude them, it really stings when we get beat by a blind men, who can't hear that are shooting from the wrong side.
We compete with the high man having to buy a round of drinks after, we are done. We all get our daily exercise in walking a mile per round carrying shells and lifting guns. So much for gym or therapy.
For evenings I shoot trap twice a week in 2 leagues.
I reload for 12, 20 and 28 ga. on hornady 366's recently gave up on 410"s sold both O/U and reloading equipment.
A while back, I decided, I needed the thin the herd on shotguns. So, I decided, to performance test every repeater I owned on the Sporting clays courses. To make it more ineresting and better choice for grouse hunting guns I shoot 5 rounds starting gun down and 5 rounds gun mounted, with each gun.
As I porgressed, I started to eliminate guns by category and gauge O/U, SxS ,Pumps and Autos, It has been enlightening to say the least. I have eliminated about 40% of my shotguns and know they were the poorer performers in each group for me..
The guys, I shoot with keep telling me I should shoot gun up only. But, I actually have a number of guns I shoot better gun down. They are now earmarked as my grouse guns.
I lost three Beretta o/u to my son's and a grandson, who each beat me with one of my guns. The standing family rule is you beat me with my gun, its yours. (Once in life time blood relatives only LOL I have lot of friends who want to be adopted.)

I find Sporting Clays more enjoyable then Skeet or Trap because the course is continually changing. After hundreds of rounds I am still challenged by the changing stations. Also, If I eleminate a few more shotguns I can justify something new to try.

 

[Harv 24]

I shoot sporting clays (almost) every Wednesday with our group of 2-6 guys and the occasional gal. It's great fun, and down here in Texas you can shoot all year.

You can shoot all year up here in Wi too.... And we do.

 

[44MOshooter]

My Dad was an avid quail hunter, he took his vacation during the opening week of quail season here in Missouri.
During quail season we went every weekend, and hunted Sat. and Sun.
I started hunting over his prized bird dogs when I was 7 years old, with a Stevens 410 single shot w/tenite stock.
Sadly we have very few quail in our state anymore.

My Son was a natural shotgunner in sporting clays and trap. He made the Missouri 4H state sporting clays team.

That year 4H held the National shooting and archery competition in Rapid City, SD.
That year the Missouri clays shooting team took the National title, and my son ranked 2nd in the Nation that year in shooting clays individuals competition
He was also on the University of Missouri shooting team. He got all that from his Papa the avid quail hunter

 

[44MOshooter]

NO..........Shooting Quail over a pointer......Or a hot Dove shoot is the most fun.

I agree,
Those pointers are hard to beat, great memories

 

[Narragansett]

I belong to a club in GA that has 5 stand and sporting clays. I have never tried it. For 25 years I was a trap shooter shooting 20-25 thousand targets targets a year. I remember when sporting clays was developed. I used to take trap instruction from Frank Little( one of the best to ever shoot the game), and i asked him what he thought of it. He said " It is a game designed to make a poor score acceptable " so I never tried it. IMO, if you want a difficult game, shoot trap. You will have it mastered when you can break 100 on a regular basis in a 100 target event