Question for the Clay Busters...

GC

GC

Well-known member
Skeet, Sporting Clays, and Trap shooters, what guns, chokes, and loads are you shooting? Specifically Skeet shooters. Another question for you stack barrel skeet shooters, do you have two different chokes in and bother with switching barrels for various stations, or do you just screw in two skeet chokes and not worry about it?
 
Weatherby Regency O/U
Sporting Clays both IC chokes
Trap I don't shoot anymore to boring!
Skeet, just screw in two skeet chokes and not worry about!
 
IC in both top and bottom will get you by on skeet. The actual skeet chokes are just a few thousanths off of IC.

BTW be sure and bring your shooting glasses. Station 8 will rain pieces of busted birds on you.

Have fun
 
I shoot mostly sporting clays but play around with it all. Of course in sporting it's always different. I shoot Brad's pure gold chokes, got a whole bag full of them. Typically I shoot Light-mod (.015) in the top & IC (.01) in the bottom but change around (all the way from a diffuser (-.005) to light full (.03)) depending on the set.

I don't like to play in his sandbox; but I'm good friends with Craig Kirkman ( click here craigkirkman.com Check him out, he is being inducted into the skeet hall of fame @ 34 years old this year). I shoot at his skeet range from time to time, I would go more but he makes me feel bad /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif. Of course he's a little tighter with the sub-gages but if I'm remembering correct he is shooting Kolar chokes in .008 & .007 in Krieghoff barrels. Oh yeah, he shoots 20ga in the 12ga relay too. I have caught him switching barrels before... not sure why, he was prolly just [beeep] with me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif.

If your interested I can talk with him & give you some better info (I'm going off memory here). However, if your real interested I can put you in contact with him.
 
For skeet,skeet & skeet in 12ga or 28ga makes no never mind

I have fallen of the trap line, I cant hit the broad side of a barn with a hand full of rice if'n I was standing in it
 
I shoot a Browning 425 O/U. I have probably put 10 to 15 thousand rounds through it in the last 10 or 12 years. Used to shoot somewhat competitively, and with leagues and practice, I was shooting about 200 to 250 shells per week.

The choke selection really depends on the station and course, however, I usually shot most of the courses I have shot with a Skeet and an Improved choke. Unless you are shooting a tournament, most of the courses are set up so you can shoot them with fairly open chokes.

I know most of the manufacturers don't want you to do it, but occasionally, I would shoot with no choke in at all. I just cleaned it really well, and I was good to go.

We have a SC course just south of Russell that I helped develop when I was a banker--the shots can range from 10 yards to 60 because of the terrain. I tend to bring more chokes along than I need to--better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them!

Have fun!

Tim
 
I shoot a 3.5" BPS 12, with a .675" Terror choke for SC. It throws an excellent extra full choke pattern at 40 yards, without the center density of regular full chokes. And, since the gun and choke are the same I use for waterfowling ..... I get the extra benefit of the practice. I know I lose some birds because of the tight choke and the pump action, but I don't shoot SC to get as high of a score as possible, but for the practice with my hunting gear.

Here's a typical pattern with a Thrilling (Challenger Brand) 1 1/8 oz. load of 7 1/2's at 40 yards.

Picture1042.jpg
 
I usually use a citori 20ga over and under for both skeet and sporting clays. When I'm shooting skeet I use a skeet one in the top barrel and either a skeet 2 or cylinder in the other. When I shoot sporting clays I usually use a impr in the top and skeet in bottom. I reload so when I get to some farther targets instead of shooting some #8 trap loads I will drop in some heavy 7 1/2 field loads to get me a little better long range density. I have not had any need to change chokes durring a shoot. When I shot trap I would use a citori 12ga with a modified full in one barrel and modified in the other. If we were shooting annie oakleys I would switch to a full in one and extra full in the other. I would only use the extra full if I was the second or third one to shoot. It seems to work for me.
 
I am not sure if you have heard this or not. But IMO the most important parameter is gun fit. My scores improved drastically when I finally found a shotgun that "FIT".

You need to go to a gun shop that specifically caters to the shotgun shooting sport. They should have 100's of shotguns on display.

Do not pay any attention to the name or model of the shotgun. Concern yourself only with the fit of the gun.

Obviously price is an issue, o set your tp price and only look at shotguns that are in your price range.

I have seen so many shooters increase their scores drastically when they find a shotgun that fits. It is that simple.

Chokes and everything else will be secondary.

Do not fall for the latest whiz bang shotgun, or the one with the most advertising dollars. Look at them all.

SKB is not a highly toted name, but it is a great shotgun.

So try them all. Tom.
 
Hogghead is right. A shotgun that does not fit is a bad thing. You might as well be throwing rocks at your target.

Another big issue is felt recoil. I always thought that I was a tough guy that would not be effected by recoil; until I tried a Soft Touch equipped 12 ga. Felt recoil is near zero. Concentration and follow through is much, much easier. If you have ever shot a double barrel, selected the wrong barrel/tigger and called for a bird, you will notice a flinch on your trigger pull. A little embarassing but quite telling.

I do not shoot competitively, but I shoot frequently. I watch the big dogs shoot at the club and really admire how they dust the birds about 4 feet above the trap house. I can't duplicate the 4 feet but I can, when I am on, get the satisfaction of a dusted bird with a full choke.
 
I've been shooting some skeet recently and after fiddling with changing barrels/chokes (O/U .20 gauge) for different stations I'm of the mind to just put skeet/skeet in and concentrate on breaking the target. I'm a duffer and am breaking around 23 per round average right now and want to focus more on the bird and have less distractions. Ya'll think I'm on the right track? Or am I negating the advantage (?) of two barrels and chokes?
 
Skeet or IC will do it for skeet. I have used Skeet 1&2 and all of the other possible combinations of cylinder, IC, Skeet, Skeet 1 and Skeet 2 and all will work fine.

Sporting Clays is where a pocket full of chokes comes in handy since each station can be quite different.

Trap can get a little crazy if your shooting doubles, handicaps, and some non standard games or targets. Most of the time I will use the full choke cause I can tell when I'm hitting them right by how well the target gets smoked by the tight pattern. I found that I got a bit sloppy with the more open chokes on trap, and I tended to drop a target for lack of concentration.
 
I shoot Sporting. My 12 Gauge MX-12 Perazzi is fixed choked and is constricted .009 in bottom barrel and .016 in the upper barrel.
 
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I've been shooting some skeet recently and after fiddling with changing barrels/chokes (O/U .20 gauge) for different stations I'm of the mind to just put skeet/skeet in and concentrate on breaking the target. I'm a duffer and am breaking around 23 per round average right now and want to focus more on the bird and have less distractions. Ya'll think I'm on the right track? Or am I negating the advantage (?) of two barrels and chokes?



Except for Station 8, Low 1, and High 7, all of your shots will be approximately 21-25 yds.

To use your pattern to best advantage, one probably won't want to use more than .010 constriction, .005 is probably plenty, and I wouldn't argue against .000 either.

But you know better than anyone else. You need to pattern to be sure.
 
Seems like I'm breaking birds plenty hard even the ones beyond the stake and I don't think I can blame any misses on too thin a pattern. When I miss, I just flat miss. So the twin skeet choke tubes just simplify things... I think. I'm in the process of learning foot position, hold points, where to look, and where I need to be breaking the birds. I've been looking over the Todd Bender Cheat Sheet some. I'm a danged perfectionist, it's a curse... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
When I was competeing all my guns had fixxed chokes, F&F for INT & American trap Trap, SK&SK for INT Skeet. One of my old trap guns has been rechoked to tight IC and IM for shooting birds at Spaniel Hunt Tests and I does a very nice job at Sporting Clays and Trap doubles.

AWS
 
God bless the Skeet shooters, and Skeet is a great place to learn fundamentals of shotgun shooting.

But if you will need to learn more if you ever shoot at anything more than perfect clay targets thrown on an open skeet field.
 
Browning 525's 12 through 410. You can use cylinder, skeet or improved. Some guns despite having the same choke shoot tighter than others but judge it by how the birds are being crushed. Use the most open choke that still gives solid breaks. Your objective should be to break the bird at the center stake so range is not needed which means skeet choke is ideal. When you are first starting out you may have many misses or weak breaks but over time you will improve. Best advice (in addition to gun fit) is team up with some guys that have been doing it for a long time and you will get years of advice that will help you not develop bad habits. Most club guys like me love to help new shooters. Also look at what they are shooting. It would be better to buy a used higher quality gun than a new cheap one. When you shoot 10000 shells a year like many of us do the crap guns quickly show what they are made of. The good news is there are many great guns out there that don't cost a lot of money.
 
i shoot a Benelli Cordoba with a briley diffusion choke...works like a charm, love that combo...for trap i usually go to a modified choke, and for sporting clays unless its a long shot, i stick with the diffusion.
 
Browning 525 with adjustable comb and butt plate (RAD). I don't the 12 ga anymore and shoot strictly 20ga, 28ga, and .410 through Briley Ultra-Lite tubes. My tubes pattern very well with .005 choke constriction in all 3 gauges.

I cannot say enough about proper gun fit. If it don't fit, you can't hit.

The best training video out for skeet is Todd Bender's DVD through Sunrise productions. I am training two young shooters and we go over all of hs fundamentals on the DVD on a regular basis. It's the best $65 you will ever spend on this game, I promise.
 
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