Utility style shotgun on the clay range?

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Had a member shoot a round with his Norinco 97 riot 18" on Sunday. He got 7/25.
 
I am not a trap shooter. maybe a dozen rounds in several decades, but my best was with my 1100 in 28 gauge with a skeet choke - 24/25 with its 25" barrel. it was just one of those days when thew targets looked like garbage cans in slow motion.
 
whatnickname said:
Funniest thing I ever saw years ago was a guy at the World Skeet Shoot win the 410 event with a Mossberg 500. The other competitors wouldn’t even shake his hand. Serves them right, competitive shooters, particularly skeet and trap shooters, treat new-comers like they have an advanced case of pneumonia and in doing so hurt the sport by keeping new-comers away.
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I love my 410 Mossberg 500 with full choke 24" barrel. While I don't shoot skeet or trap with it much, I have outshot guys with their 12 and 20 gauges while quail hunting on a regular basis. And it is a fun gun for dove hunting too. In fact my 410 Mossberg 500 is my primary hunting shot gun for all small game.
 
I've shot clays with my shockwave, and with my 500 with the riot barrel on it. sometimes it's fun to practice with them. it's a whole different skill set with the shockwave.
 
Years ago I would place in the top 5 of our friendly skeet league. My shotgun of choice was a mossberg 500 with an 18.5 inch riot barrel. I beat several people with Berreta shotguns that cost more than my truck at the time, and a guy with a VERY expensive custom rig. He got a bit of attitude as he had the fancy gear and should have won, but he didn't have the skillset to go with the gear.
 
whatnickname said:
Funniest thing I ever saw years ago was a guy at the World Skeet Shoot win the 410 event with a Mossberg 500. The other competitors wouldn’t even shake his hand. Serves them right, competitive shooters, particularly skeet and trap shooters, treat new-comers like they have an advanced case of pneumonia and in doing so hurt the sport by keeping new-comers away.
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This is the exact opposite of my experience.
 
I use a cylinder choke tube in my 12 gauge when I shoot skeet, 7/8oz superlite handloads. Pattern density is very even at skeet range distances. Targets break with authority if I do my part. Most all my other guns that are not fixed choke have skeet choke restrictions, which is only a few thousands choke. My average is about 96% on the skeet range. Most of the time it's not the gun, but the shooter behind the gun.
 
kudu said:
I use a cylinder choke tube in my 12 gauge when I shoot skeet, 7/8oz superlite handloads. Pattern density is very even at skeet range distances. Targets break with authority if I do my part. Most all my other guns that are not fixed choke have skeet choke restrictions, which is only a few thousands choke. My average is about 96% on the skeet range. Most of the time it's not the gun, but the shooter behind the gun.
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Took my 12 and 20 target guns to the skeet range the other day - 95 degrees and 105 heat index. left my typical sporting chokes of LM/M in both. I am NOT a skeet shooter - will shoot it when nothing else is available, so no Wayne Mayes here.After 6 rounds in that heat, I had enough; worst score was a 22 (missed both at station 8) using my 12. It just got to be too much in the heat. BTW, I shoot 3/4oz reloads in both; those 28 gauge level shells in a 7.5 and almost 9# gun make shooting fun. Point is, choke doesn't matter as much as gun fit, mental focus and muscle memory in skeet.
 
I tend to differentiate between 'utility' and 'tactical' and think that HD can be anything you wish it to be. As to shooting any of those three 'types' of guns on a range, I don't see a problem with it as long as the specific club's rules are being followed and they are not disallowed. I don't own any 'tactical' anything, but I do have a Benelli Nova w/a black synthetic stock & forearm as well as a Beretta 390 also fitted w/black synthetic stock & forearm. Both get used for nasty weather waterfowl duty. I do take them to the range from time to time and shoot both skeet and sporty clays w/them. I've never had anyone object or even say a word about it. Both are fitted w/26" bbl.'s, I believe, tho the Nova seems the shorter gun. I've also had occasion to have some new shooters come out & shoot some skeet w/me and they only had 870 Express HD type shotguns, meaning short bbl.'s &c. Again, I never had anyone say anything objectionable or critical about it, tho admittedly we were shooting alone on a skeet field w/o other shooters on the field each time; however, we were seen by many. I think it important for a person to know how to use their weapon to best advantage. Skeet is a great game for learning/practicing basics. I've not had many young persons express an interest in learning shotgun basics, but I have had two out of three that only owned HD type shotguns being able to break targets on a skeet field that were in the low 20's w/their own guns after some practice and some discussion(s) involving dynamics and staying focused on the target to the exclusion of other distractions. Not sure that addresses the OP's Q, but that's my take and experience and I feel the same way were it to involve a break open single shot that lived behind the kitchen door at their grandparents' farm, if they didn't know how to use it or were uncomfortable about it's operation. A club's skeet or trap field provides a great environment and multiple targets w/o need for concern about shot fall or noise.
 
Short barrels and open chokes do make it tougher to shoot Trap, and some of the stations at Sporting Clays, but nothing wrong with a round of Skeet with such a gun.
 
I enjoy shooting pumps and semi-automatics with shorter barrels whether hunting or target shooting. I don't think it puts me at much disadvantage on skeet and clays compared to longer-barreled shotguns.

Here are my 18.25" 1954 Auto 5 and 20" 1952 Model 37, both with screw-in Sporting Clays chokes.

E95C6bo.jpg
 
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I don’t know about anybody else but I play clay games to practice for hunting so I use my hunting guns.

I could probably add a few hits per round with a specialty gun but that is way too expensive when I already have a perfectly serviceable shotgun.
 
a friend and i shoot a few rounds of trap with IC chokes in 12ga, my best at the 16 yard line is 23, but ryan who is 27 and fast as sin has shot 25,s and brakes them just about right out of the house. his gun is moving as he says pull. he shoots a cz o/u .410 for fun at sporting clays with 2.5" shells loaded with #8 shot and shoots in the mid 30,s most of the time.
 
I was mainly a rifle hunter and acquired shotgun as an after thought, then as a preferred home defense option. I think clay target shooting is a good test for your proficiency with a "utility style shotgun" -- home defense or self defense gun, brush or slug woods hunting gun -- or plain Jane hunting or pest control shotgun. We used to do clay target practice with different shotgun styles at the old home place on the mountain with a spring loaded clay pigeon thrower. I still have my hand slinger for clay pigeons. I'd do it on a practice day at the gun club, but not when there were formal scored skeet or trap shoots going on.

A clay shoot day open to newbie shotgunners and any style shotgun should be a gun club option to develop gun proficiency and safe handling practices among shotgun owners who are not formal sporting match competitors.
 
eastbank said:
a friend and i shoot a few rounds of trap with IC chokes in 12ga, my best at the 16 yard line is 23, but ryan who is 27 and fast as sin has shot 25,s and brakes them just about right out of the house. his gun is moving as he says pull. he shoots a cz o/u .410 for fun at sporting clays with 2.5" shells loaded with #8 shot and shoots in the mid 30,s most of the time.
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Then he's doing it wrong; you don't move the gun until you see the bird, because if the gun is moving, there is a very good probability it it moving the wrong way, and it is slower to recover from that than waiting for the bird. Unless, of course, the trap is an older model without an interrupter, then it is possible to 'read the trap'. People doing so are the reason they put interrupters on traps in the first place.

We used to stand next to or on top of the trap for riot gun practice, and with my 870 with the PGO. It is a lot of fun. Doing so at a meat shoot with a full choke trap gun is quite a challenge also.
 
ryan is second from the right and he does start to move his shotgun as he calls for the bird, i don,t know how low he holds on the trap house roof. the trap is a pat trap machine several years old.
 

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I have shot last season, my first as a club member, entirely with my Winchester SXP Defender 12 gauge, but with the 28" barrel on it. The 18" barrel was prohibited at the club, mainly for noise concern per my understanding.
Results? Well, I am better with a rifle...
Snobs? A few, but very few. Most guys did encourage me to get an "appropriate" gun though.
Shot mostly trap (90%), including a few doubles, but also skeet, five stand and sporting clays a few times.
Lots of fun, but would have liked a great gun designed for the task also, at least to see what is the difference. I simply don't have the money. Was mostly shooting to improve my shotgun operation skills, and they did.
No season this year, thanks to the pandemic. You guys are lucky to have the opportunity to shoot!
 
Calling your shotgun a "utility styled shotgun" is almost as absurd as calling your AR an "assault styled rifle"' Think about it. Why not just call it a shotgun?
 
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