Clay Shooting Questions.

[Rookie_Rover]

I am very interested in clay shooting, I have only one major problem: I am very broke. I have a 20 Gauge 3" Modified single shot HR1871 that I annoy the local gobblers with, would this be a suitable scattergun for clays? About how much would it cost for me to get started in the world of clay shooting?

Any help would be very helpful, and thanks in advance for the answers. :)

[Classicvette63]

Welcome to HuntChat, Rover. The answer to your question depends on what type of clays you want to bust. I you and some buddies want to get a thrower and do it yourself, it doesn't much matter what you use. If you want to to go to a range and shoot skeet, trap or sporting clays you may want a different shotgun because doubles are hard to do with a single shot.:D

If you looking for a shotgun a pump or semi is going to be the cheapest. Semi's are more popular on the range but a pump will do fine. Check the used gun racks. A decent gun can be had for $200. If you come across a J.C. Higgins 12 ga. pump in good shape, buy it. They can usually be had in this area for about $100 and are worth every penny and then some.

For ammo, unless you reload, get the cheapie "gun club" shells. Not counting the cost of reloading equipment, you can reload a box of shells for about $2- $2.25. Buying cheap shells are about $3.50 a box. You have to decide if buying the equipment which is about $100 is worth it to you.

[fabsroman]

I agree with almost everything Classic posted. Now, here are the spots I disagree with. You can go to the range and shoot trap with a single shot. In fact, I use a single barrel over/under to shoot singles trap. Of course, shooting doubles trap is impossible with a single barrel, so I have the over/under barrel to shoot doubles with. I bought the gun as a combo set. Anyway, my point is that you can shoot singles of trap all day long. Just avoid the doubles which are shot as a completely different event/game.

As far as skeet is concerned, if the guys at the range aren't too stuck up you can shoot it all as singles. If you are just starting out, it is better to shoot them as singles at first because trying to shoot them as doubles is usually a waste of ammo and clay.

Once you try shooting singles of trap and skeet and look at others shootings doubles trap and skeet, 5 stand, and sporting clays, you can make an informed decision if you really want to pursue the sport and invest in additional equipment (e.g., new gun, reloader, etc).

When I started shooting trap and skeet, I started with a field grade Browning Citori that I bought with my dad and I used my dad's old Mec 600 jr. reloader to load shells. I would shoot Sunday during the day and spend the rest of the evening cleaning the gun and reloading for next week. After a year, I ended up spending the money on a Beretta 682 combo trap gun and a Mec 9000G progressive reloader. Cleaning the Beretta was much easier and reloading was much easier, which gave me more time for shooting. Right now, I have 3 shotshell reloaders and plenty of clays guns, but it is 12 years and thousands of targets later.

If you really decide you like shooting clays, you can buy the additional equipment as your budget allows. Oh yeah, if the budget doesn't allow for shooting at the range, buy a couple boxes of clays, a couple of hand throwers, find a couple of friends, and head out to a farm to do some clay shooting. Just remember to be safe about shooting clays thrown by a friend. If they are throwing crossers or quartering birds, make sure you do not point the gun at them at any time to begin tracking the bird. If they are throwing going away birds, have them stand beside you to throw them. If they stand in front of you, you might shoot them in the back. If they stand behind you, they might throw the clay into the back of your head.

Last but not least, do not park the car anywhere near where you are throwing the birds. I learned this lesson the hard way with my Taurus when it was 6 months old. I parked it right behind where we were shooting and we started throwing close, fast crossers. Well, one guy that hadn't thrown much gave it a try. I was watching as two other guys got ready to shoot the clay. The clay flew right at us, over our heads. The two guys unleashed all four shells and missed all four times. I turned around to see the clay break on the hood of my car. All I could say it "That should buff out."

The other lesson I learned regarding the car is that you shouldn't shoot high powered rifles off the roof or the hood when you are resting them on a sweater or your arm. The muzzle blast left dents in the roof and hood and chipped off flecks of paint. Needless to say, that car will remain my hunting, fishing, shooting, dog hauling car long after I buy a new one. I don't want to kill a new one like I have killed this Taurus.