Anyone ever shot sporting clays? I don't mean just throwing skeet. I mean the actual sport of sporting clays. Took my 12 year old son Brennan to Elk Creek Sporting Clays on Sunday for our first experience and had a great time. Sporting clays is sort of a combination of golf and skeet. You go thru 14 stations which each have two electronic throwers all of which are at different angles, distances and loft. Each shooter has a scorecard to mark hits. Only 2 problems - 100 rounds of shotgun make your shoulder sore. And the second problem was that Brennan beat me. I scored 46 and he scored 58. And he was shooting with a single shot Rossi youth 20 gauge with a 20 inch barrel.
Used to go regular. Both my sons worked (high school jobs) local shooting club that ran sporting clay range. They would get invited to shoot and got pretty good at it. We normally do the 50 round course ,much nicer on the shoulder ;D http://www.ravenwoodlodge.com/clays.html
They have one just across the vally from me. I hear them all the time. Close enought to hear, but not to close to disturb, like gun shots would upset me. I shoot clays in the back yard, but haven't gone "big time" yet.
Go give it a shot (pun intended ) if nothing else to get some ideas on setting up some throw patterns on the 'home range'. Caution, it is addictive to shoot sporting clays...
It is funny heritage and comfort, that I return often to my first shotgun, a 20 Ga Win 370 Youth single shot, despite all the other choices available in my safes. It is really worn and comfortable., I like it that way. Somehow, I expect that it explains your son's proficiency (other than just flat out kicking the OMs A$$). B.
I got room in my closet for another shotgun. Ya hear that KT? Make a 12 ga and I'll buy 2! Sporting clays is much better than Trap and far superior to Golf.
[quote author=mondodestructo link=1285043145/0#6 date=1287358369]I got room in my closet for another shotgun. Ya hear that KT? Make a 12 ga and I'll buy 2! [highlight]Sporting clays is much better than Trap and far superior to Golf.[/[/highlight]quote] Hey, maybe we could combine Frizbee golf and skeet shooting. One guy on offence, the other on defence. ;D
I see all the fun things that you do with your son (and all the quality time you spend with him). If I put myself up for adoption would you be interested? Seriously, my wife is in education, and with all the AWOL/horrible fathers I hear about it is good to see one who is making a good job of it.
Sporting Clays is fun and has more variety than skeet and trap shooting. More like hunting reals birds.
This^...We go about once a month here in Tampa, FL. I'm on the board of a charity shoot in Jan. This has become the choice of charity events as it takes a lot less time than golf and you get to shoot guns! Just bought an Xplor Unica from Beretta, its amazing.
The local Isaak Walton League that I belong to has sporting clays in the warm months. They have one rabbit station on their course. Those can be really tricky to hit, with all the bouncing and hopping they do. I kind of wish they had more than one rabbit station so I could get more practice at it.
We just stay there for a couple of rounds and let the counter thingy keep a total of our clays. That's one of the fun things about it: You can shoot as many of a particular target as you like albeit it's going to cost you. What I don't like about it: If you shoot precision rifles you tend to hold on your target all through your trigger pull. It takes me a few (okay, more than a few) shots to get accustomed to sweeping the barrel as I shoot. Maybe I'm just an uncoordinated putz but I like aiming, not sweeping. I constantly stop the barrel when I'm firing on target which doesn't help you in clays.
It's a whole different world. I was suckered into it by a young lady and a retiree at a local range. I had just finished my hours volunteering at the Conservation range and they invited me out for a round. I ran 60% first time out, which impressed me enough to make me trade in a crappy PSL-54C for a pair of O/U shotguns (20 and 12 gauge). My wife and I go out and let the course work us over about once a month. Sadly the FFA kids are much better at it than either of us are.
My gun club has a very active group. I recently bought a browning shotgun and enjoy casual clay target shooting. I've gotten a lot better than I thought I ever would. It's very satisfying hitting a moving target. Everybody should try it once.
This^...is true but don't go nuts like I did and buy yourself a Browning Ciroti O/U that's a small fortune. I still have it and it's a beauty but I've found a reasonably priced Beretta field gun will do just a well for you. And it's a helluva lot more versatile. I just picked up the Beretta Xplor Unico with that metallic green receiver...the gun is downright cool and so well made it's fondled by all who see it. For $1500 its a bargain, I think...
This^...is true but don't go nuts like I did and buy yourself a Browning Ciroti O/U that's a small fortune. I still have it and it's a beauty but I've found a reasonably priced Beretta field gun will do just a well for you. And it's a helluva lot more versatile. I just picked up the Beretta Xplor Unico with that metallic green receiver...the gun is downright cool and so well made it's fondled by all who see it. For $1500 its a bargain, I think... [/quote] Close! I got a Browning Gold Sporting Clay model. I looked and looked for an O/U that I could justify but they're just so expensive.
This^...is true but don't go nuts like I did and buy yourself a Browning Ciroti O/U that's a small fortune. I still have it and it's a beauty but I've found a reasonably priced Beretta field gun will do just a well for you. And it's a helluva lot more versatile. I just picked up the Beretta Xplor Unico with that metallic green receiver...the gun is downright cool and so well made it's fondled by all who see it. For $1500 its a bargain, I think... [/quote] Close! I got a Browning Gold Sporting Clay model. I looked and looked for an O/U that I could justify but they're just so expensive.[/quote] Good call. There is a limit to how much money you can spend on a clay gun and actually have it translate into a better score.
