This is total MPSIMS and I’m putting it here because I don’t know many people IRL who would share my interest.
Background: Sporting clays is shotgun sport that involves shooting clay targets thrown from a variety of angles. It is similar to skeet shooting, however in that event, the targets are thrown from only two locations while the shooter moves through a number of stations arranged in an arc relative to the target throwers. In my round sporting clays, there were 10 different target trajectories scattered over five different shooting stations.
Anyway, I’ve messed around with skeet shooting in the past (probably more than 5 years ago), but had drifted away from it after kids were born and it became harder to find anyone to go with. Thanks to the fine folks at Living Social who offered a killer deal on a 50 target round of sporting clays at my local range, I am now back at it with a passion!! It turns out that I’m way better at sporting clays than I ever was at skeet. I actually went 19 for 20 at one point, which was pretty satisfying. This range also offers a 100 round woods course which looks VERY challenging. I scouted it yesterday and it looks like some of the stations are set up with only a very small window through the trees where you can even see the target. I’d like to work up to that course, but it will be a while. I’m pretty sore today and I actually only took about 60-65 shots on Saturday (spent a little time on the practice trap before heading over to the sporting clays).
Anyone else do this type of shooting? The one station I had trouble with on Saturday had the clays coming from directly overhead. For some reason I just couldn’t get the hang of those. Any tips?
What’s not to like? Walking in the woods, shooting at things, sometimes hitting those things, spending time with your boy shooting things…it’s all good!
You can get crazy and buy your own ATV, $40,00 clay gun, and go every damn day or be like the rest of us and just do it now and then and still have a blast.
I know people who play Disc Golf (aka Frisbee Golf). I haven’t had much interest, but similar with firepower is intriguing. I know it’s harder than skeet or trap (the third brother), and I’m sure I’d suck at it. But I’d like to try.
I’m retired and get to go at least once a week. My group shoots sporting clays, skeet, trap, and five stand. I’m West of St. Louis and we travel to various venues within 100 miles or so.
It’s always great to be with a fun group of like minded folks on a beautiful day. Tomorrow we’re going to the Olin Range in East Alton Illinois.
Most of us reload as well. It cuts the cost by a significant amount. It’s not unusual to go through 8-9 boxes of shells in one outing.
How often do you have to shoot those 8-9 boxes of shells (450 rounds!) to make it cost-effective? Do you shoot specific sporting clays / target loads?
I shoot a round about every 2 months or so with a couple of buddies of mine; scheduling is our big issue- one or the other of them is out of town every week it seems.
There are 25 shells in a box, so 8 boxes would be 200 shots. Most clays courses are set up for 100 targets, but we always manage to shoot a few extra, not for score, but to try and correct our errors.
I only shoot Winchester AA in 12 Ga. When we go to the Olin range, you have to shoot their shells, so that’s where I get most of my once fired hulls. I can buy once fired from them if I run short for two cents each, but one of my friends works there part time, so I get all of his hulls as well as my own. I can shoot four boxes myself and come home with 200-300 empties.
I load one ounce loads of #8 shot with Titewad powder and Claybuster wads. My current costs are about $5.20 a box of 25 shells. They sell retail for around $8-9 a box. I can load a box of 25 in about 6-7 minutes without breaking a sweat, faster if I have all my supplies pre-positioned.
I had a great sporting clay range before I moved. It was always a blast. That very last station always has two “rabbits” that were the bane of my existence. Screwed up 2 perfect sessions.
But yeah, nothing quite like walking through the woods and shooting at stuff that comes flying out from any direction!
Overhead ones are pretty tough since they are usually falling for the duration of their flight. I like to pick off the clays when they hit the apex of their flight path - that way, they are pretty much stopped in the vertical axis and I only have to worry about leading the clay in the horizontal axis. But, when they come down from overhead, that’s really not possible. In that case, it’s best to hit them as soon as possible since they’ll be getting smaller and be falling faster the longer you wait.
Ha! All this talk just has me wanting to do more!! I was looking for the rabbits on the woods course at my home range, but I didn’t see them, I assume they are there though. I didn’t get any rabbits on my 50 round course last Saturday, but since that is the “Dove” course I guess that makes sense.
It’s always fun to have a feather and fur target. That’s where you shoot at a flying target and upon report they release a rabbit target. Always hard to switch from an airborne to rolling hopping target.
About to leave and pick up my friends for our day at the Olin range.
I’m considering taking up skeet/trap/sporting clays. Looking for a good gun at a reasonable price, several have mentioned the Remington 870 Express. They can be had for not much more than $300.00. Comments?
Remington 870 series, Mossberg 5xx series, or maybe Ithaca 37 are the entry-level shotguns. Perfectly serviceable and of good quality. The purists may insist that pump shotguns aren’t suitable for clay sports, and you should get a double barrel, but screw them. If you get really into it, you can worry about that later, but the Rem is a good place to start. There are a few trim levels but the ultimate decision is if you want 12 or 20 gauge.
Whoops… I was thinking pistol ammo when I wrote that for some reason. I knew there are 25 rounds per box!
Anyway, I figured out why I couldn’t work out the math on the reloading; I was comparing to sale price Winchester or Remington heavy dove loads in #8 shot, and it was really hard to beat those, unless I was to reload the hulls something like 10 times, which I think isn’t safely possible.
I reload the AAs until the mouth starts to split or the primer pockets get loose. If I pick up a hull and the primer falls out, it’s shot (so to speak). With light loads like I use they can last quite a while.
Shot four games at the Olin range today. One Skeet, one Five Stand, and two Wabbit. Picked up some of the other fellows hulls, so I probably brought over 200 home to reload.
I’d not start with a pump gun only for the reason that it puts you at a disadvantage with report or true doubles. If you can, buy a Remington or some other auto-loader at the very least. You’ll have a much better time at the sport. I see a Mossberg 930 Field for about $460 on line or you might check local stores for a used Remington 1100 or 11-87
