Shooting Clays

[Bagpuss 0]

I have a silenced shotgun which according to the makers should be limited to 7.5 28g subsonic carts.

I have shot clays with friends and been quite succesful with it , however on a proper sporting set up, I was rubbish, the insructor said I was being held back by the weight of the gun and the slow cartridges.

I would like to get another but for some reason favour a SBS even though the instructor said a sporting OU would be better for game and Clays. Is he correct?

What do you shoot and Why?

[SportingShooter 0]

Well, its a convention that Clays nowadays are shot with an O/U and you decide which model you go for by the type of clays you shoot. i.e. a Sporter is designed for Sporting Clays, a Trap model is designed for Trap(DTL, ABT, Olympic Trap etc) and a Skeet gun for Skeet. If you are mainly going to be shooting Sporting clays the a Sporter is the one to go for. You can shoot clays with any gun but the different models have different Ribs, weight distribution and stock dimensions.

 

You most certainly can shoot clays with a Side by Side, nothing to stop you but more serious clay shooting is dominated by the O/U.

 

Personally, I shoot all forms of Clays and I have Trap and Skeet gun, I dont find the need for any others i.e. a Sporter as my main disciplines are Trap and Skeet and on the occasions I shoot Sporting, I find either suffices.

 

If I were you, I would buy an O/U Sporter and then you are in a good position for all types of shooting, Clay, Game and Rough with no problems. A Sporter is set up very similarly to a Game gun.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards

SS

[sounder 9]

what can i say ss you have it covered well done best of luck wiht the shooting

cheers sounder

[Bagpuss 0]

thanks for the advice

[The one 8,494]

I heard a o/u handlesthe recoil better ????

[SportingShooter 0]

I heard a o/u handlesthe recoil better ????

Yes and No.

 

The O/U tends to be heavier and so soaks up more of the recoil but you can also have light O/U, such as the Beretta Ultralight which are only 5.95 lb which is very light even lighter than most S/S.

 

You can have heavier S/S but they tend to be around the 6.5 lb mark. Some say the S/S will have more muzzle flip than the O/U but it all depends on the control and balance of the gun. I have shot O/U that have flipped many many inches off target at the muzzle.

 

Regards

SS

[wag 13]

that is great advice S/S, also lots of people now use a SEMI AUTO 3 SHOT for clays ,i for one do.. there lighter less recoil but i use my auto for everything bar pheasant shooting .and shoot real well at clays with it .

[Guest JohnGalway]

Wag,

 

How do you get on using the semi-auto? I don't mean scores but with other shooters. There was a clay shoot here not so long back, I went to observe. I left the semi-auto at home. A lot of people asked me why I wasn't shooting since I owned "a shotgun". So I would ask in reply what they thought of SA's at clay shoots. Everyone said they'd no place there so the snobbery is alive and well in my local village anyhow.

[wag 13]

Wag,

 

How do you get on using the semi-auto? I don't mean scores but with other shooters. There was a clay shoot here not so long back, I went to observe. I left the semi-auto at home. A lot of people asked me why I wasn't shooting since I owned "a shotgun". So I would ask in reply what they thought of SA's at clay shoots. Everyone said they'd no place there so the snobbery is alive and well in my local village anyhow.

 

 

i can honestly say john that i have never had any trouble from other clay shooters in all the years i have been using a SEMI AUTO , i shot in the lincolnshire poachers clay league for years with a SEMI AUTO ,i also shot the clubman shoot with one for a few years , but i know where your coming from john some shooters dont like the fact the you cannot see if the gun is loaded out side the cage when the bolt is foward , i see alot of clay shooters now days that use SEMI AUTOS with the bolt back with a bung in the action with a red or green tag showing that the gun is empty .

[sounder 9]

well my in put into this on the clays side,i could never use a sbs as to the focus as i look down the barrel,but thats just me ,now i am a o/u man for clays, but to a auto i have it's well good enough for clays i have use it many a time and shot well with it. i know alot of lads that use them,why in my thinking people don't like them is that for reloading is slow, noisey,always a pro beside you that likes to hear a pin drop when shooting and for choke choice is limited,other than they a fine gun for clays

 

cheers sounder

[SportingShooter 0]

I have had bad experiences on Competition lines for Trap Disciplines. Personally, I have never used an auto in a Clay comp, but I was "Teaching" a girl to shoot and she was using a Beretta AL 391 to superb effect, hitting more than me with my O/U.

 

The problem came when she entered a DTL competition. The Referees on EVERY stand were complete and utter Pigs to her. DO THIS, DO THAT. They made it so damn hard for her, even though there is no rule against it, that she switched to an O/U which took her months of getting used to again.

 

Even though, I pointed out on several occasions there was no rule against it the referees refused to budge, Until I had words :whistling: (President springs to mind ) But by then it was too late.

 

But anything other than a Competition, I would have no problems using an auto for clays, and there is nothing bar local club rules that can stop you. I would turn up and make them live with it

 

Regards

SS

[Guest JohnGalway]

I might do that next year just to piss them off.