12 Stand Clays

[Rapier]

Is anyone here shooting 12 stand clays? If so, what gun/guns are you shooting?
Ed

[fabsroman]

I have heard of 5 stand clays, but never 12 stand. What is 12 stand like?

[Rapier]

Most of the larger clays facilities have 10 or 12 stand setups as well as 5 stand. The 10 stand is shot as 10 shots per stand and the 12 stand is normally shot as 8 birds for 10 stands and 10 birds for two stands. The totals for 10 and 12 stand clays are 100 birds.

The big difference between 5 and 12 stand, besides the bird numbers, are the different presentations. You have two trap machines per stand, set to throw two different birds. So you get a very wide variety of birds.

Started shooting 12 stand in March, it is very addective. I normally shoot at Santa Rosa Clays in Pace, Florida or Shoal River in Crestview, both have 12 stand programs.
Ed

[fabsroman]

Okay, let me see if I can sort this out a little. With 5 stand, are all 5 stands in a row, whereas the stands in 12 stand are spread out a little? I am just trying to figure out if your 12 stand is what I consider sporting clays. The sporting clays courses I go to around here have around 20 stands spread throughout a course. You walk from stand to stand until you shoot 50 or 100 birds, depending on how many you want to shoot. Some have more than 20 stands and others have less.

For the most part, I shoot a Beretta 391 Teknys sporting clays version on sporting clays and 5 stand. For skeet I use a Beretta 682 Gold Super Skeet and for trap I use the older model Beretta 682 Super Trap Combo. All of those guns are in 12 gauge and I am trying to buy a tube set for the skeet gun sometime in the near future. I also have a Beretta 391 Teknys sporting clays gun in 20 gauge, but I don't use it that much.

Any type of clays shooting is addictive. I started with trap because that is what my dad introduced me to. Then I started shooting skeet, then 5 stand, and now sporting clays. When I go to the range, I have a hard time deciding what I want to shoot.

[Rapier]

Yes, you have it.
Addictive, it is. We just have 12 stand setups around here. The range masters reset the course every Monday when closed. So you can never tell what is going to happen, untill you get to the range.

I have a few Brownings of various models and ga, a Dakota 12ga and one 391 Sporting Gold, silver side, in 20ga. Sold my 20ga 391 Sporting black gun and the 12 ga 391 Sprting Gold, just did not use them much, except to hunt with. Now I shoot clays and hunt with the same gun.

After 25 years of other shooting sports competition, I refuse to ruin my clays fun by getting involved in contests or matches. I go shoot, have lunch and shoot again. Love the challenge. Also, the 12 guys that shoot together on Saturday are all old competitors tired of competition. :)
Ed

[fabsroman]

I have shot all of one sporting clays competition and got 2nd place by a single bird. Ended up winning everything else that day. I won the flurry with a shooting/hunting buddy of mine and I won the 6 bird shoot where they threw 3 pairs of mini's flat out over the water. When I walked up to pay for that event and asked about it, the guy was explaining it to me and he finished by telling me that 5 guys already had 5 out of 6, so there would be a shoot off if I tied them. I just said okay. When I broke 6 out of 6, all he said was "interesting." My friends and I thought that was hilarious. What was tough was shooting 48 out of 50 on the flurry with the 2 missed targets being mine. We had to watch for a couple of hours as other pairs of shooters tried to beat us.

When I first started shooting clays at age 21, it was trap, and I started entering competitions. I did pretty well, but it just wasn't too much fun. Yeah, I like competing, but more so with my friends than total strangers. Maybe if I shot on a team competitions would be more fun. Personally, I compete against myself most of the time.

So, what gun are you using for hunting and sporting clays?

[Rapier]

Fab,
I usually shoot a 425 Ultra XS 20ga in the morning and go back in the afternoon with a 525 12ga or the Dakota 12ga. I like shooting the heavy gun second. The Brownings have 30 inch barrels; the Dakota has 32-inch tubes.

I took the 425 and 525 to South Africa with me in April, on a bird shoot. We did a bit of Duck, Goose, Pigeon, Francolin and Guinea Fowl hunting. We were over for 10 days in the sunflower fields of Free State. Great bird shoot. I took my 28ga and 20ga Citori custom guns to Argentina in June of 05, shot doves with the 28, it was a kick. Went to Mitchell SD in 05 and took my 391 Sporting gold. Prior to that I took my 391 sporting guns to Argentina 04.

We are putting together a little quail outing next month at a preserve in South Alabama. I will take my 1970 vintage 28ga Super Light steel frame gun on that outing. That super light is out of production but a great little mouse gun.

I just started shooting shotgun games in March, and only more than once a month about a month ago. I run in the mid 80s with the 12 and low 80s with the 20. The 1750 round day I had on Pigeons was pretty special....:) You can get a 425 so hot it sizzles the oil :D
After the trips, watching the guns work and not work, I came to love the Browning. In 04 I did not own an OU.
Ed

[fabsroman]

As far as reliability goes, doubles cannot be beat. However, in the recoil category, autos cannot be beat. I also like autos for most hunting situations because they can be loaded in a blind without having to maneuver them all over the place and I like that extra shell. If I were going to shoot 1,750 rounds out of my gun in a single day, I would choose my 391 Teknys because it seems to be the best on recoil.

No doubt in my mind that the o/u's are the classiest guns out there, but that is just my opinion.

With all the bird hunts that you have been on, which I can only dream about going on, I am surprised that you haven't done a lot more clay shooting.

Where in Florida are you located? My wife's parents are in Tampa, Florida and we visit once or twice a year at the least. Is there any good bird hunting down there? Any waterfowl? Last Christmas while I was down there, I saw so many ducks in the bay and her parents had 8 hooded mergansers in a storm water drain pond right next to their house. I was crying because I couldn't do any hunting while I was there.

[Rapier]

When we go to Rome, we do as the.....

The new SA govt only allows semi-auto shotguns into the country with a special permit and the special permit is never issued. Goes along with the drink fund box at security in the airport. :rolleyes: Want to clear your guns, contribute to the drink fund. So, nope, you would have to carry your OU. The govt allows semi-auto guns that were in country when the govt was formed, but no auto gun can be used on game birds, in any case. Pigeons and doves are considered vermin.

In Argentina, which is a whole different world, you bring it, you shoot it. There are only two autos to bring, the Beretta or the Benelli. The Beretta requires cleaning noon and evening, the Benelli only requires oil, however most guys do clean in the evening to insure a good start and finish on the next day. The dove shoots are 1,000 to 2,000 shot days (40-80 boxes).

The outfitters that I have been with all rent Benelli guns, nothing else. Saw a Benelli gun at Sier Safaris that had over 500,000 rounds through it. It looked and functioned like brand new.

When I took my 391, I was still cleaning when the OU guys were finished cleaning and finished with snacks at noon. In the evening they were rattling ice at me, in empty glasses, long before I finished cleaning the 391. The 391 is a great US hunting gun, 4-5 boxes, but a pain in high volume shooting. Just the opposite of what one might think.

I watched several OU guns break in Argentina (Remingtons & Winchester) and noticed that the Browning just kept on humming. The broken OU guns all broke at the forearm. I destroyed a Beretta OU in Africa, a box and a half into the first day, my guns were lost in shipping, I snapped the actuator off the forearm metal on the Beretta. No doubt it was old and well used.

The 20ga OU in a properly set up gun for volume shooting is not bad at all. It should be back bored, have extended forcing cones, be ported and have a good recoil pad, like a Limb Saver. Then the recoil is very manageable.

I live in Destin, between Pensacola and Panama City, about 7-8 hours drive from Tampa. We do have a good many birds but not very many waterfowl hunters. To much trouble for the effort and equipment VS the # of birds. Most folks here hunt doves and pen raised quail.

Since the tree huggers stopped any real effective control of the fire ants, the ground nesting birds have all but disappeared in our area. They started coming back after DDT was banned, but once the fire ants reached our area, that was it.

Now I pretty much shoot clays and eat chicken.:D
Ed

[fabsroman]

Ed,

This has been a great thread and it is great writing back and forth. I remember the first time I went down to Florida to meet my wife's parents. She warned me not to step on any ant mounds because they are fire ants and sting like heck. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. Never thought about the impact those ants can have on birds.

Waterfowling is tough work wherever it is done. Putting out decoys and blinds takes time.

My first o/u was a Browning Citori and I really didn't care for it. The gun had issues and Browning's customer service had issues. Hence, I no longer buy Brownings. The first Beretta I bought was the 682 Super Trap Combo. I liked it so much that I bought a 686 o/u for skeet, sporting clays, and hunting, but 3 years later I bought a SBE for hunting and the 686 was used only for skeet and sporting clays by me, but it is still being used by my dad for hunting. In fact, it is the only gun he likes to hunt with and he has beaten the crap out of it.