Trying Sporting Clays tomorrow. Help!

[Father Knows Best]

I'm going to shoot sporting clays tomorrow for the first time. Any advice? I have a Browning Citori 525 O/U with 28" barrels, and a selection of extended choke tubes for it, and I have four boxes of Winchester sporting clays shells. I've shot some skeet before (that's why I bought the Citori), but I've never done sporting clays or trap, and it's been about two years since I saw a skeet field.

So ... any tips for how not to severely embarrass myself?

 

[revrat]

So ... any tips for how not to severely embarrass myself?

Yes. Go fishing.







Seriously, go out and have a good time. That's all it's about anyway. Don't worry about being embarassed by the teal or the rabbits.

 

[W.E.G.]

Ditto on the go fishing.

I pretty much quit the clay-bird games 15 years ago. But, at the time, I could reliably break 20 out of 25 on the skeet field.

So I "tried" sporting clays on a new course that had just opened at Prince George's County Public Shooting Center.

Man, did I suck.

If I had sufficient interest to shoot the course over and over, I'm sure my scores would come up to a number I wouldn't be embarrassed to report on the internet. I shot the course one more time - the next year. The place looked like a war zone with the way the trees near all the stations were all blasted to oblivion.

You'll need a lot more than four boxes to get the hang of it. Four CASES would be a good start.

 

[Superreverb]

and a selection of extended choke tubes for it

IC/IC - that's all you really need, based on my experience.

Relax and have fun. That's what it's all about. really....

ETA: You can also show up a bit early and shoot a leisurely round of skeet beforehand to warmup/reacquaint

 

[RNB65]

SC is cool! I've been doing it for 20 years and I still suck.

Go with IC and don't worry about changing chokes. Keep your expectations realistic. Breaking 25/100 would be good for a first effort.

SC can be very hard or very easy depending on how the course is setup and how the trapper throws the clays. Tell the trapper that you're a newbie and ask for some easy presentations. Tip the trapper at the end of the round.

A few suggestions on SC etiquette --

Action open at all times.
Don't load shells until you're in the shooting station (not as you're approaching it).
Be ready to go when it's your turn.
Study other shooters and observe how they setup and where they break the bird.
Keep your head down and don't stop the gun.
Have fun!

 

[RecoilRob]

Our courses require 100 rounds for score..not counting trap malfunctions, birds prematurely breaking or other reasons to need more ammo. I'd take another couple of boxes just to avoid scrounging from your shooting partners later in the round.

Sporting Clays is a diabolical invention. The birds are diving (LOTS of diving), curving and weaving their way through the trees. REALLY hard to lead them properly when shooting downhill, bird curving and dropping to the left, and you don't see it until it is over 25yds out......UGHHHHhh..Miss...Miss.

Best advice I can offer to you is that you CANNOT embarrass yourself. Everyone on the field had to start sometime and a new SC shooter will often hit 20 or less birds...out of 100. Have seen some really accomplished Trap and Skeet shooters reduced close to tears by the game. It is really different and will take some time to get used to the different presentations and situations.

Have fun! Be a good shooting partner and try as hard as you can. You'll do just fine! But, don't expect to hit 80+ your first time out.

If you want to mentally think about the leads, try to get your head around dropping, and REALLY dropping birds....that are also curving one way or another. Leading and hitting them was the hardest for me.

One word of caution.....Sporting Clays is known as Shotgun Cocaine around here. Really addictive and fun game! Good luck!

 

[Dave McCracken]

First, congrats. You are going to have a great time.

Second, Cylinder, IC and LM are the best choices for darn near all SC targets unless you're shooting at a large competition. Stick two of the above chokes in your Browning and enjoy.

Do not obsess about hitting them all. That comes later.

Be safe. The 4 Rules and the others listed above are not optional.

And stay hydrated. As hot as it is, one can get dry fast.

HTH....

 

[retrieverman]

My advise is to not try sporting clays at all. It is too addictive. Like others have said, I have shot skeet and sporting clays for years and still am not consistently very good at either, but I can't stop myself from going.

If you just have to go, take an improved cylinder choke and don't say you weren't warned.

 

[2RCO]

Odds are you won't be the only one that sucks. Most of us do it's still fun though. My advice never have the fanciest most expensive gun there you look like an even bigger **** when you have the least clay broken. It's sad cuz I've been there. Although I went on a local businessmen's shoot really nice guns and everyone sucked so it was alot of fun.

 

[throdgrain]

I shoot sporting clays every week. You'll need at least four boxes of cartridges, most courses are 100 bird so that will be one course

I use Improved Cylinder for everything on sporting clays, and havent had call to complain yet. Most important though, have fun

 

[SX1guy]

I agree with the IC chokes or maybe Mod see what works best for you....keep your gun moving, I find Swing thru method works best for me, focus on the bird right out of the house...

let us know how you do...?

 

[Father Knows Best]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I certainly won't have the fanciest, most expensive gun there. I bought my Citori used a few years back. It's a field grade that had obviously seen a lot of field before I bought it for $700. The blue is completely gone from the underside of the receiver, for example. Of course, if I really wanted to go low rent, I could take my 1901 vintage Winchester 97 that is silvery-gray all over, or my 20" cylinder bore external hammer coach gun, but I like my chances with the Citori a little better.

I'll let y'all know how I do. It's a beautiful day today (sunny with a high in the mid-70s), and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[PJR]

Bring extra shells. If the second bird of a following pair comes out broken you reshoot both targets. I can't recall the number of times I've leant shells to shooters who only brought four boxes for a 100bird round.

Don't worry about your gun. The target has no idea how much your gun costs or how nice it is. It only knows whether the pellets are on the mark.

 

[243winxb]

I/C chokes, no. 8 hard mag. shot.

 

[KiltedClaymore]

have fun. shoot like you hunt. and avoid the rabbit. i dont know what super rabbit that machine immitates, but i sure aint seen it yet in the wild. not sure i want to

 

[Father Knows Best]

Well, I'm back, and it went well! I shot 30/50 on the first course, and 28/50 on the second, for a total of 58/100. My host shot 28 and 31, so he beat my by 1 in the overall. The third guy in our group, who hunts but has never tried any of the shotgun games, shot 39/100.

I think that as sporting clays courses go, this wan't a particularly difficult one. We only had one rabbit (shot four times, of course), nothing coming from overhead, and only a couple of stations had true pairs (lots of report pairs and a couple of singles). The rabbit wasn't actually that difficult, as you could see it clearly the whole way, and the one jump was pretty predictable. I was shooting 3rd in our group on the first course (with the rabbit), so I had plenty of time to observe it before having to shoot it.

Unfortunately, the fact that I had high score on the first course meant I had to shoot first on the second course, which may be part of the reason that my score dropped a little on the 2nd half.

For those of you who in the area, the club was the Minnesota Horse & Hunt Club in Prior Lake: www.horseandhunt.com . We shot the "Uplands" and "Bluff" courses, which are supposedly easier than the other two courses.

Most important, of course, is the fact that we had fun. I'll definitely be going back, but I need to save my money. They charge $22/round for non-members ($16 for members). With shells at $7/box and 2 boxes per round, that means my two rounds this morning cost me $58. That's a lot of dough, so I probably won't be able to shoot clays more than a few times a year.

 

[Dave McCracken]

"The fact that we had fun"...

Great! In between expensive rounds of SC, do some skeet, trap or wobble.

And 5 stand, when possible. All are fun, all help you shoot better...