How do I become good?

mr00jimbo

mr00jimbo

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Went out clay shooting with my 870 18". Orange hand thrower, although none of us knew how to use is much properly, though some of the clays thrown were within shooting range. I barely hit any. Very discouraging.
How do I improve? I could practice some more but should I get a longer barrel or with handthrown will it not matter? Also, is there any instruction I can recieve to make myself shake off any bad habits?
 
First of all learn to use the hand thrower, it can be very hard to hit the clays when they're flying all over the place. When you first start, the clays seem to be moving VERY quickly, and it seems like just as you get them in your sights, they are out of range, or hit the ground etc. But it's all just perception. Once you get some practice, you'll get smoother and faster, and the clays don't seem to fly nearly as fast. Where before you struggled to even get one in your sights, you'll now find that you have more than enough time to take aim and dust em'.

So don't get frustrated. Work on getting the clays flying nice and straight. It helps when you know where they're going at first. Then once that starts to get easier, work in some variation....which the hand throwers are great for!

You should also try and make it to your local trap/skeet/clays club. There you should be able to find someone to help guide you along. It isn't essential, but it can help. The biggest thing is to get out there and practice, practice, practice. No one is very good when they start out, it takes time. Even just you and your buddies going out for the afternoon will help you improve.
 
The first Ten Thousand birds are the hardest ones. After that they can start getting easier.

1) make sure your gun fits you
2) get a coach who will tell you where you are missing (after he ensures your style is right)
3) shoot more birds
 
If your goal is to become a really good wing shot, I would skip the hand thrower till a later time when you are really good and know how to read targets. Trap, skeet and sporting clays will all help you become a better shot and there will be no shortage of helping advice. Practice, practice, practice, probably will make you better, but understand that just shooting more is not always the best form of practice. If I were to start over, I would go to the nearest sporting range that holds registered competitive events and inquire about trained certified instructors and contact one and arrange as many lessons as I could afford. It may seem like a little much, but if you are in this shooting sport for the long haul, it will be a lot cheaper than haphazard hit and miss practice or getting bad instruction.
 
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I would also suggest that an 18" barrel is more suited to a tactical role, where a shotgun is normally aimed, not pointed as in wingshooting and the clay shooting sports.
 
+++++++What MAUSERMIKE SAID, IF YOU WANT TO SHOOT SKEET OR TRAP, GET RID OF THE TACTICAL BARREL AND GET THE PROPER ONE FOR WHATEVER SPORT YOU ARE SHOOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yes sirs!
Fall guy I am not too sure of the pattern because I can't test it against paper at the range (slug only, no shot rule)
I do need a longer barrel but I want to see how I do before investing; I know nothing about the chokes either and which is good for which application.
 
Yeah, I'm also getting into skeets with an 18" 870. It's all well and good to go out and get a coach...and lessons...and get a club membership...and a really nice over-under...but if you're shooting an express and hand throwns (like me) it might be cost prohibitive.

Get on the clays fast and try to be as smooth as possible. Also, with the hand throwers, swing them like a sword...most people snap their wrist. Swinging it like a sword puts a ton of spin on the skeets and they tend to fly where you want them to go.

As others have said, practice is everything. I've got the same rig you have and I generally shoot 90% (after three months of practice)...and I don't think I have crazy skill. Get out there more, and try patterning your gun...those 18" cyl bores spread out really fast...

Of course, I'm respectful of the comments given above, I don't think any of those pieces of advice would hurt your score... ;)
 
Are you allowed to shoot shot if you build and use your own frames? That's how I pattern shotguns at my rifle range. Generally, the club frames are too small so I built mine 40x40", which gives me plenty of patterning "real estate".


mr00jimbo said:
Yes sirs!
Fall guy I am not too sure of the pattern because I can't test it against paper at the range (slug only, no shot rule)
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Hankus said:
Get out there more, and try patterning your gun...those 18" cyl bores spread out really fast...
QUOTE]

18" or 32" cyl bores do spread, but not enough to make them ineffective on hand thrown targets unless the thrower is a significant distance from the shooter. With an 18 inch tube, I would say you need to make a deliberate effort to not spot shoot and keep moving with the shot.
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Going skeet shooting with the cousins tomorrow with my 18" 870 ... Last time wasn't good, but not bad either, I pretty much kept up with them. The one thing they loved was trying to hit one of those things from the hip with the stock folded ... :evil:
 
Hankus said:
Covey...did you actually read my post or just look for buzz words? My whole point was that an 18" 870 can do the job...:rolleyes:
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Yes I did!:) Did you read the other posts?:) Yes I do know that the 18 " 870 can do the job!:) My point was to emphasize that barrel length and proper ....yada yada was more of a handicap than the cylinder bore!:) I may have misunderstood your point on patterning and spreading pattern of the cylinder bore to mean that it was part to the problem hitting hand thrown targets? It is not unless you have the incredible hulk throwning them. :) If hitting targets was the objective? and not smoking em:D I would choose a cylinder bore for hand thrown clay:)
 
We get the odd guy comming out with an 18" gun, and Oldbadger and I had some fun one year with a 14" barreld Norinco he bought .
The biggest thing with super short barrels is that the swing REALLY fast!
Other than that, it's the same old thing.
Come up and swing past the bird, and the trigger should break as the gun gets in front and keeps moving.

I agree ,an 18" barrel for hand thrown target will work very well, but they are actually not designed for birds, but ground targets.
They come off easy, so why not just put the factory barrel on with an IMP choke on it and break more birds? The difference between the 28" and the 18" will be noticed right away in the handling of the gun.....
Cat
 
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