Sporting Clays

[Stepmac]

Originally Posted by Paul Harm

Steve, I have a couple of friends who shoot a "swing through" method. Now I'm not one to say what method to use be it pull away, swing through, intercept, or maintain lead; but when they tire a bit they start missing. Their timing isn't the same. A heavier gun keeps moving after the shot, a lighter gun is easier to start moving. So many things to consider - quess that's why we're not all master class shooters.

Hi Paul:

Muzzle swinging through the bird is an issue with me hitting the crossing birds when shooting skeet. I have a tendency to stop and then shoot on birds from the high house. I don't have as much trouble hitting birds from the low house, (I'm right handed.) The reason is obvious. When unwinding to place the gun before calling for the low house bird it is natural to swing back left and less so, (at least for me) to follow the bird from the high house where I have to wind up to chase the bird.

I have been shooting a very light Browning Gold Fusion and as I tire I note that it takes me longer to find the bird after its launch with this whippy gun.

It is a work in progress. I haven't received my RST shells yet, so I'll shoot my Sterlingworth this Thursday at clays. Looking forward to it. This will be my first Clays outting.

Someone here said that I should forget worrying about choke, so I'm going to follow his advice and shoot the F and M gun at clays. As soon as my RST loads arrive I'll shoot my Parker GH F and F. That will be fun!

Since I shoot my SC at trap I want to shoot my GH at clays and maybe try it with spreaders, at skeet. I'd like to be known as the "Parker Guy" at my club. Might as well.

Neither of my Parkers are prestine, but both are in excellent condition with shinny bores, good springs and have been cleaned out inside of all of that ancient gunk. So they are excellent shooters. No one else in the club shoots a Parker....so I'm the guy. Even if I miss, I'm at the top of the Parker heep!

[charlie cleveland]

blowem out of the sky steve...shoot one for me... charlie

[Stepmac]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

blowem out of the sky steve...shoot one for me... charlie

Will do.

I see that some of the Clays shooters don't bother to keep score. I'll probably try to do so in my head. We don't have a guy calling out "loss", etc.

My club is an excellent one, it has new equipment and dedicated members and the Clays range is new. I've watch'em shoot Clays a few times and am looking forward to trying it out. It certainly adds a new dimention to the Clay bird game.

However, live pigeon shooting must have been great shooting! Did they mount the gun when the bird took off, or before? I guess we call "pull" because they did too, to tell the guy to pull the string that opened the "trap" that held the bird.

I think they still do live pigeon shooting somewhere. Maybe in Mexico. I'm not going down there tho. Not in your life!

[Christopher Piercey]

I don't keep score when I shoot clays of any kind.

[Mills]

My wife and I shoot all the time and our main rule is . . . no keeping score

[Paul Harm]

Steve, really good shooters don't worry about chokes, but anyone wanting to hit more than miss might want to pay attention - at least when shooting skeet. It's a real handicap to shoot full chokes at skeet ranges. We do have bragging rights at my club and we play "skins" - buck a station. I don't like to pay too much money so most my guns are choked skeet in/skeet out [ or light mod.]. We have a pigeon ring - you can't see where the bird is going and the trap throws in a 360 degree circle. The damn thing was my idea, I put it in, and I CAN'T hit squat at it. Now that SxS has mod/ imp mod for chokes - the birds are sometimes a bit farther out. For a right hander shooting skeet - you always face the low house except station 7 and high 8. That will put you in the netural position so you can turn either way. Finding the bird really has nothing to do with the weight of the gun. Because I learned to shoot "gun down " I can look back at the house and find the bird. It's something you'll have to work out. Good luck.

[Christopher Piercey]

I shoot low gun, and when I call for the target I don't pick up the gun till I see the target..

[Paul Harm]

Chris, that's the way a lot of us at my club shoot. We also shoot International or Doubles skeet. At Doubles in the winter if both birds are hit with one shot we count it - us old guys don't like to stay out any longer than necessary. International is fun with gun down, no movement till you see the bird, and up to a 3 second time delay. The birds are also thrown differently. A high house and double on 1, 2, and 3. A low house and double on 5 and 6. Just a double on 7. On 4 a single high and low and two doubles. High first, then low first. Shoot 8 as usual. Eight is hard with low gun and a time delay. I'm getting too old for that one.

[Angel Cruz Ortiz]

That sound like a lot of fun Paul. I try to shoot clays the way I hunt. I keep the stock under my arm till the bird takes off.

[Stepmac]

I just this minute stepped in from returning from the trap club. Warm windy day in the desert. Shot a round of skeet and clays. I brought two guns, a Remington Model 11 in 20 gauge with a Polychoke and my Fox Sterlingworth, F&M. Set the Polychoke one knotch from ImpCyl and broke 23! Which is good for me. Hit all of my doubles, so my swing was working. I'm also getting it down where to place my gun when I call for the bird. That little 20 gauge doesn't kick a bit and it balances well, being all steel. Since it is a recoil gun it jumps a little, but it doesn't bother me and I acutally like that lump out there on the muzzle. I point with it. I was pleased with my score and the little Remington has graduated to being my "Skeet Gun" for a whle.

I found clays interesting and confusing. I'm so deaf that I can't hear a thing and I wear plugs and muffs. I can hear the report of the other guys' guns, but I can't tell where the noice is coming from so I have to pay close attention so I don't miss my turn or screw up the flow. Even tho the traps were numbered and there was a schedule at each of the five firing positions, I usually wasn't sure where to look for the bird. I held the gun low to see better. One of the double stations has a bird coming directly in and high and another that shoots directly out. It took me a bit to see the incoming bird and I broke it. By the time I saw the outgoing bird it must have been fifty yards away and heading for the horizon. I took aim, moved my finger to the rear trigger and let that old Fox gun bark, and darn if I didn't break it. The other guys laughed. Must have been 70+ yds! That gun must have a very tight full choke or it maybe it was the mythical Golden BB.

The Fox hit me pretty hard. A sharp, short kick. It didn't bother me, but if I had shot more birds it would have. I think I need to have the forcing cones looked at. It is a 1929 gun. I've been shooting a lot of autos, which only give you a push, but my SC doesn't bother me a bit. I can feel that Fox as I write this.

One of the members is an old fellow, he must be 6'6. He shoots a lot of guns. He was in the skeet group I shot with. He was shooting a pristine Model 12 full choked gun. He did well with it too, pumping away. Each bird he hit, he smoked. Some of the members are constantly messing with chokes, opening a box with a dozen, removing one and screwing in another. Other guys just shoot the gun they brung at everything. I liked my Polychoked 20 gauge. I was told today, that they throw erratic patterns at the tighter chokes, but are okay with the open chokes. I don't know, but the little Remington did fine for me today.