Sporting Clay help

coaken

coaken

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Algoma Manitoulin
Ok guys need some help hear. I will be going to a Sporting Clay shoot for the first time on sunday using my Hunting rig as I can't afford the toys you guys can. It's a Browning sweet sixteen with a full choke. The gun seems to work pretty good on Pheasants. Or should I use my Ultimag with a modified choke?
Can you guys give me some pointers on how to pick up the targets as quickly as possilbe. (I don't want to be embarassed to much as the guys I am shooting with go quite often):D
 
you may want to consider going /w the modified choked gun, so your patters cover more area... just a thought...

at my club, most of the new shooters like myself use modified, but the more experienced guys will shoot a tighter pattern
 
I am not a regular Sporting Clays shooter. One thing I do know is the guys you are with will certainly be giving you advice all the way along. Maybe too much advice. One tip I might offer is to make sure your stance offers you the best range of motion in the "kill zone". In other words, make sure you have the best position for when you are pulling the trigger and following through, as oppossed to being in a comfortable postion to first see the bird. I see an awful lot of shooters pushing the gun away from their face as their feet, knees and hips have reached their maximum turn. All they have left at that point is to keep moving the gun with their arms only. The face comes off of the gun and you hear......lost bird!

Regarding the gun, most casual sporting ranges are set up for rather close shots, so a full choke might be a little tight, but if you point it well and it hits live birds...it will probaly be fine for sporting.
 
What choke you use depends on the course of fire, I usually shoot the sporting clays course at Hamilton with a skeet choke switching to a mod for a few of the long shots so from the choices you listed I would go with mod.

Cedar Valley is correct on the stance thing, set up so that you are facing the point at which you will shoot the clay and then recoil your body towards where it is being thrown from.
This allows you to uncoil as you track the clay and shoot from a comfortable position.
Have fun and break them all.
 
CV gave you some excellent advice in setting your stance for the best shot. Try not to go first in the group if the rest of the guys dont mind. That way you can get a good look at the targets a few times while learning the game.
Your full choke is on the tight side going by what most shooters use but going to a mod will only give you a pattern a few inches bigger. If you shoot both guns equally the 835 might be the better choice but if your more comfortable and familair with the Browning shoot it. My Remington 3200 is my trap gun but also doubles as my sporting gun. It has fixed chokes which are on the tight side of Improved Mod and Full. Thats over choked by some peoples standards but I love the way it vaporizes targets instead of just breaking them in pieces.

Have fun
Tim
 
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Which of the two guns are you more comfortable with? That should be the deciding factor instead of how it's choked. I'd rather have a tight semi-auto that I was familiar with than a pump gun with a more open choke. Unless you are very experienced with a pump gun, you'll have enough to think about without having to remember to pump the gun on true pairs.

The most important thing in any clay target game is whether you are seeing the bird. You have lots of choke and don't need to rush. See the target as early as possible, focus hard on it and keep swinging your gun. On the close targets don't worry about your choke. A more open choke gives you inches and we usually miss in feet.

Make sure your ammo isn't larger than 7-1/2 shot size which is the limit at most clubs. #8 shot would be fine as well.

Don't fret about your score. Enjoy yourself and when you ink dot a target with that tight choke you'll understand the attraction of the game.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. I have the problem of rotation shooting from the far left house and swinging through the left side. I couldn't figure out why I had such a hard time until I had a buddy watch me. He told me I was stopping my pivot.
As for which gun I'm more familiar with, I started on a pump 22 yrs ago (had the Mossy about 3 yrs) and only have had my Grandfather's Sweet Sixteen a year but have tried to do most of my shooting with it lately so I am thinking wash.
Busy on Sunday morning Tim? :)
 
They'll show you the target presentation first, just so you know what to expect (not that that ALWAYS helps; I once shot an overhead going-away stand that used those mini targets that look like dimes on speed, and by the time I got on track, they were already too far away to hit with more than one or two pellets). The real challenge in sporting clays is adapting to the different leads, and since you haven't had a chance to practice the same lead over and over and over again, all you can do is use The Force :D
 
Where you guys going Dan...Twin Creeks? I've been wanting to head up that way again for a while but have been busy. This Sunday it's my day to open up the Harrow Club......at least I'll be able to shoot. When you going to come out there? Not this weekend but next weekend is the last or second lastfun/meat shoot of the year before we start getting ready for the ATA season.

Have fun
Tim
 
Ya Tim we are going to Twin Creeks. I will bring it up at the club after the Wild Game dinner is over with. Try and arrange a club day. I am looking into a Model 12 20 ga for the wife, so maybe I will bring her along.
 
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