Fun Afternoon

[DanTheFarmer]

Hi All,

Nothing too dramatic to say. I just wanted to share that I had a fun afternoon with friends over shooting clay pigeons. These were the first clay pigeons I've shot. It turns out that when you and your friends are inexperienced a box of 90 targets lasts all afternoon! Some birds must have made 3 or 4 flights and I've still got about 1/3 of the box left.

Lots of fun. I hit a few and I started to develop an idea of where to aim in the second half of my session. It was fun to swap shotguns with my friends as well. I'm very happy with my Mossberg 20 gauge pump. I shot a few rounds through a friend's Franchi Affinity 12 gauge. It was interesting to feel the difference. The 12 gauge had more recoil and you could feel the semi-auto mechanism at work. The 12 gauge had a distinct double thump while the 20 gauge pump had one light push.

Off to cleaning and setting up the shotgun reloader.

Dan

 

[Frostbite]

Hi Dan,
I recently enjoyed my first clay shooting too. Lots of fun, similar experience with a good friend. How much does it cost to get equipped for reloading? Do you think you will save a lot of money doing so?

 

[DanTheFarmer]

Here are some typical reloading costs:

Press -MEC 600 jr. is a good first choice but there are plenty of other good ones as well, cost for this one is just under $200

Shot - 25 lb. bag is about $50.00 (25 lbs. X 16 oz./lb. yields 400 1 oz. loads)

Hulls - free at first, shoot factory loads and save the hulls.

Load Manual - approx. $25.00. Very important, shotgun reloading is very fussy about hull, powder, primer, wad combinations. Use only published loads...exactly as published.

Primers - $5.00 per hundred.

Powder - $25.00 per pound (that's 300 shells, plus or minus depending on your load data)

Wads - $10.00 per 250 wads.

Reloading scale - $75.00 but there is a wide price range on these.

I don't think I'll save money, but I enjoy the process so it works for me.

Checkout www.shotgunworld.com. They've got specific shotgun reloading forums.

Good Luck.

Dan

 

[cat_IT_guy]

Shooting informal clays can be a whole heck of a lot of fun. I enjoy skeet, sporting clays, and occasionally trap, but I think in all honesty I have the most fun shooting clays off a hand-cocked thrower in a corn field. Something about no pressure, I think, that makes it more fun and relaxing.

 

[WoodchuckAssassin]

Clay pigeon outings with my dad are always an event to look forward to. By far my favorite way to spend and afternoon.

 

[loose noose]

I've been shooting hand thrown trap for more years than I care to remember, in fact I taught my 4 sons how to shoot at a flying object using a hand trap, not to mention my one and only grandson (I've got 7 granddaughters).

I've since graduated to a Trius One Step, which is nice, especially if I decide to go by myself. I've belonged to numerous gun clubs over the years, and enjoy the sport of trap shooting, skeet, and clays different variants. However, I do believe the most fun I've had is shooting hand thrown trap out in the desert.

You might also find out that belonging to a club will allow you to get your reloading supplies at a substantial discount, that is wads, primers, and shot. Also the recovered shot sells at distinctly less than the bagged Lawrence never fired shot. Most of the guys at my present club shoot 7.5 shot and 8 shot and just a few shoot skeet using #9 shot, which is good enough to bust the clays.

Anyway glad you enjoyed yourself, and you might consider joining a club near you, believe me you'll save the cost of joining just by buying your reloading supplies from them.

 

[kBob]

Dan,

Sounds like fun and thanks for sharing with us.

Beginners often break more clays and drop more birds using the "swing through" method of shooting rather than developing a lead. Bring the gun up so it points behind the target and swing smoothly forward of it with out stopping to well before the target. As the point goes through the target pull the trigger and continue swinging. Some folks call this "Shooting through" I have seen a number of young kids that don't know any better than to listen and do what is said shoot 12/25 with this method first time out. It is what the NRA was teaching in the 1990s.

-kBob