Caught the Shooting Clay bug...

[odysseus]

So after going to a beautiful facility and having a day of awesome clay shooting scenarios (my first real experience of doing this versus goofing off on a few) I have kind of got the bug for doing this.

I have always been a pistol, rifle guy period. I don't own a shotgun. My question here for y'all is I am in the market, but I don't necessarily want to have only a 2 shot 12 gauge O/U traditional clay shooter. Perhaps I am too used to semi auto large capacity. Are the two things really alien to clay shooting? Are there good auto shotguns holding more than 2 shots that clay shooters use? Sorry if this sounds ignorant, I am sort of slowly looking into it and am posting here...

 

[Father Knows Best]

You will find guys using autoloaders for sporting clays, but the O/U rules. The main reason is that you get two different chokes. On any clays course, you will have stations that present two radically different shots. One bird may be distant and with an edge presentation. You'll need a tight choke to break it. The other bird might be a rabbit running left to right close in. You'll want a wide open choke.

You can get somewhat of the same effect in an autoloader by having different shells loads that pattern differently, but it will never be as effective as having a double with extended screw chokes. In fact, that's why most specialized clays guns have those extended screw chokes -- so you can quickly and easily swap them to get the exact combination you need for any given shooting scenario.

 

[kudu]

99.9% of clays courses will only allow a max of 2 shells in the gun unless a 'special' event is being held, so a mag extended auto or pump is not nescessary and hinders the shooter with it's added weight and drag.

Almost all of the good autos in use will hold 4 in the mag and 1 in the chamber, but it still only 2 shells allowed.

 

[odysseus]

Thanks, that made a lot of sense.

So now if I am into buying a O/U 12gauge, what best bang for the buck shotguns and choke systems should I be looking at? I shot a nice Beretta; I am not sure what the price on it would have been...

 

[Oldnamvet]

If you're going to do this a lot, drag out the checkbook. Don't try to be cheap. You're most likely going to need over $1000 for both the shotgun and the required ammo.

 

[IDriveB5]

there have been a couple threads on the CZ o/u's and people seem to really like them. they are a little more on the moderately priced side of things.

 

[Father Knows Best]

I was in the same boat about a year ago. I shopped and shopped and concluded that I couldn't get a decent clays guns for less than $800 retail. A really good one was gonna run twice that. So I bought used. I bought a used Browning Citori for $700. It had obviously been carried a lot in the field, but the action still locked up tight. It had already been ported and the barrels were threaded for Invector screw chokes. I've bought a half dozen Briley extended choke tubes to use with it. I expect it to last a lifetime.

 

[Scoupe]

Having gone through this recently, here's my advice.

Select the most gun you can afford, then figure a way to add another $300-$500 to the purchase kitty. A used Beretta 68x series, or a good used Citori would be great choices. You'll want the extra $$ for extended chokes, maybe an adjustable comb or butt pad.

I set myself back by first buying a Lanber 2097, which is a fine gun - just not up to the rigors of shooting 10-20 boxes of skeet a week. Should have saved the $600 and looked for Browning for just a couple hundred more. Instead I ended up learning the game shooting an older model Remington 1100 20ga on a standard frame.

Now, I got the bug bad, am shooting well and looking at my first (used) K-80Krieghoff with a tube set. $5000 gun that's gonna cost me almost $6000 because I thought I could get into to it cheaper with the Lanber.

If I had it to do over, I'd just go buy a used B-gun that I could use until I saved up enough to trade it in on a K-gun.