fixed full choke for sporting clays?

A

archerynut

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Calgary, Alberta
I've always used a pump shotgun for sporting clays thus far. I decided it was time to get with the program and try find an over/under that was within my price range, which is not very high. well I managed to find a gun I have agreed to purchase. the thing is the chokes on this particular gun are fixed/full. am I going to find myself terribly frustrated because I cannot hit anything? this is where my inexperience with shotgun sports really shines through. hopefully I have not made a bad decision. some advice would be appreciated. thanks gents.
 
You haven't made a bad decision here. Most of the guys I shoot with have old SxS which are typically full/full and they shoot without a problem. You will need to be more precise in your pointing and keep in mind the pattern will be smaller on closer range targets. If you find that you would like more open chokes, then as stubblejumper said, you can have the chokes opened up. Being that they are full chokes, there might even be enough meat there for thin-wall screw in chokes.
 
so the particular gun I purchased is a BRNO ZH-101. mainly because the price was right and I like the way it looks. here is the seller's picture. this is the actual shotgun.

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when judging fit, is there a single most important attribute to look for? the LOP of this gun is 13.25" which is just right for me. I'm not a big guy, so I would imagine having a well fitting gun is that much more important, am I right? I guess I will find out when the gun arrives if its a good fit. is there anything that can be done to a shotgun to make for a better fit?

almost forgot, no I have never handled this particular make and model. not sure where else I would find one in Calgary to try on for size. what I have shot so far have been browning Citori's only
 
If you bought the gun, shoot it, enjoy it, and until you've put some rounds through it, don't worry about the choke. I have an old Superposed in 20ga choked Mod/Full, and honestly I shoot it just as well as my Z-Sport 20ga with LM/LM.

There is no single measurement that is the most important; they all effect people differently. Lop is easy to adjust, either cut, or add spacers (may not look pretty, but it works), you can file down the comb, or raise it up with tape. Play with it.
 
It could be that the way it's fitting you, you're shooting too high or low.

Try patterning it as well... you could find both barrels don't shoot exactly to POA.

Fixed fulls will make some shots harder, for sure. However - with practice it shouldn't be that much of a hinderance. My first shotgun was an 1100 with fixed full, and shot upland/ducks/clays with that combo for years. Makes you a better shot. ;)
 
You can hit skeet targets with a Full choke with some effort. It's not ideal but it can be done. Skeet chokes or I/C is prefered. I would pattern the gun if were in your shoes though. Line a pattern board with the same loads you shoot clay with at the same average distance you intend to at, use two pattern targets, post the pictures. The reason you want to use 2 is to see the POI on each barrel. You need between 20 & 25" of even, reasonably dense pattern at your target range in order for you to reliably hit anything. A shotgun for Sporting Clays or Skeet should post it's pattern slightly above center in order to be efficient with it. 60% above center is believed to be ideal for these games. 65-70% above center for Trap, as you are generally shooting rising targets.
 
Maritime Storm said:
You can hit skeet targets with a Full choke with some effort. It's not ideal but it can be done. Skeet chokes or I/C is prefered. I would pattern the gun if were in your shoes though. Line a pattern board with the same loads you shoot clay with at the same average distance you intend to at, use two pattern targets, post the pictures. The reason you want to use 2 is to see the POI on each barrel. You need between 20 & 25" of even, reasonably dense pattern at your target range in order for you to reliably hit anything. A shotgun for Sporting Clays or Skeet should post it's pattern slightly above center in order to be efficient with it. 60% above center is believed to be ideal for these games. 65-70% above center for Trap, as you are generally shooting rising targets.
Click to expand...

I prefer a pattern closer to 50/50 for skeet.
 
oh man this is all good stuff. I actually have a notepad in front of me and I am taking notes on all the great tips and knowledge you guys. some of yous seem to have forgotten more than I will ever know. once I actually have the shotgun in hand I will do as suggested and "pattern" the gun. I would be so lost without Canadian gun nutz.
 
alrighty so I have my new-to-me shotgun in my hands. I'm not sure what its year of manufacture is, but it sure does lock up tight and actually takes a bit of effort to snap open. something I discovered which I have a question about. so it has dual triggers which I think is pretty neat. it appears as though the rear most trigger will accept two consecutive trigger pulls. considering I have not fired this gun yet, does this rear-most trigger fire the top and then the bottom, or the other way around. is it common to have the front trigger fire the top barrel and the second trigger for the bottom? I am assuming that I cannot shoot slugs, but buckshot is OK right?

when it comes to patterning my shotgun, how do I go about that, sounds silly. I'm assuming its a matter of placing a number of paper targets at different distances say 15 yards, 30 and then 50? and then shooting the same type of load I would be using for sporting clays. probably #7.5 always seemed to work well from my 590 I was using before. does this sound about right?
 
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