Anyone here into sporting clays?

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I had my first taste of shooting sporting clays this past weekend and, much to the chagrin of my wife, I'm hooked. I'm going to start looking into an affordable/reliable/accurate shotgun soon. I really liked the Browning over/under we rented but I don't have ~$2k to shell out yet. Pun intended.

A Charles Daly Miroku caught my eye as a possible entry level gun for about $600. Does anyone here have any experience with an older piece like this?

Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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This is how it starts. Then comes the embarrassment . 'The wind took it" is not an acceptable excuse. You get the specialized gun and load special rounds. Tinted glasses of course, and a wide brimmed hat (overhead shots rain down). Gloves, jodhpurs , vest. Then, the better gun, the wind sock and air speed meter, hooked into a ballistic computer. I just use my hunting gun and an old vest. My son is embarrassed but I don't care.
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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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Downside to the older shotgun is that they are typically fixed chokes. While not the end of the world, definitely hampers you for clays, as the pattern may not be great for trap, or is great for trap, but not good for 5 stand. For a couple hundred more you can get one of the CZ O/U shotguns made by Huglu- I've had mine for almost a year now, and it's been a solid performer, if a little lightweight.

That said, I'm not a great clay buster, but I have fun. One of my buddies outshot me two weeks ago with an old fixed choke Remington from the 1960's- but he's also been doing it since he was a kid.

You'll want to get whatever you buy correctly fitted to you for length of pull for sure. Mine was too short out of the box, but a Kick-eez pad fixed that issue for me and made the recoil more manageable.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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I enjoy sporting clays, though don't go out nearly often enough. When they charge by the clay and you just have to keep trying that one station, it adds up...

I'll second the CZ suggestion from Shinzen. I have the Redhead Deluxe (now called something else) that I got lightly used for around $700. It's a really nice OU and a good value.

One thing I've seen with some of the cheaper models is that they are really stiff to break open and many don't eject the shell when opened. The CZ Redhead is smooth to open and ejects the shells. Not necessarily deal-breakers, but definitely nice to have.
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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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I too have recently found this "New" hobby. So much so that I went out and bought a Beretta A300 Outlander. My Local Carter's Country had a $600 same as cash 12 month deal that I couldn't pass up. Great semi auto out of the box. Maybe with time I'll upgrade, but for now clays are bursting in front of me!
Never confuse knowledge with intelligence.

Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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I've shot several over-unders but keep going back to my semi-auto. I've found that shooting a couple hundred rounds in one sitting is a lot more comfortable with a semi-auto than an o/u. While I'd like a high end o/a for the sake of having one, I'd probably still shoot the semi-auto the bulk of the time.


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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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Forgot to say: I love dusting clays! Skeet, Trap, 5 stand, sporting clays, taking a hand thrower to the abandoned quarry, they are all awesome. I'm not still, steady, or patient enough for still targets. Even on something like Hickock45's range, I'd get bored shooting pistols or rifles. I can shoot clays until my shoulder can take no more, anytime I go out.

I've never been great at it. When I was shooting a lot, I was generally hitting 80% to 85% regardless of the discipline. I've only gotten out a few times a year of late, and I'm happy if I get 70%.

My Dad was my primary shooting buddy until I moved to Wisconsin 10 years ago. He and my mom just retired and are moving out here this fall. I'm hoping we can go back to weekly trap shooting next spring.


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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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I went out for the first time about a month and a half ago and am in the same boat... It's tons of fun! I have like 1 friend who wants to go ... maybe every couple months, so I've been trying to recruit. Luckily, my youngest has 2 weeks of Army leave starting this Friday and he's jazzed to go, which has, in turn, made me all jazzed. :clap:

I picked up a $299 Rem 870... seems to work great. Maybe because I don't have a lot of skeet comrades telling me how much better it could be? LOL, we'll see.

Glad you had fun too!
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Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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Maccabee wrote:Looks like I'll finally be going out again this Sunday. Signed up for a lesson since I don't know what I don't know about sporting clays. Also betting I'll be shopping for a cheap o/u by Monday. :D
I cannot stress this enough. Shoot what you've got until you are limited by it. Then you will have the "knowledge" with which to buy your new shotgun of your dreams. I dove in to deep to start and ended up going back to the simple (cheaper) shotgun.

Also, the fees for the shells plus the fees for a round of clays add up quickly.

Enjoy the shooting.
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Liberal Condescension or Conservative Paranoia; A hell of a way to run a democracy.

Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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Rickoshay wrote:I cannot stress this enough. Shoot what you've got until you are limited by it. Then you will have the "knowledge" with which to buy your new shotgun of your dreams. I dove in to deep to start and ended up going back to the simple (cheaper) shotgun.

Also, the fees for the shells plus the fees for a round of clays add up quickly.

Enjoy the shooting.
Good advice, but in order to shoot what I've got I have to actually have to have something. :)

Re: Anyone here into sporting clays?

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Maccabee wrote:
Rickoshay wrote:I cannot stress this enough. Shoot what you've got until you are limited by it. Then you will have the "knowledge" with which to buy your new shotgun of your dreams. I dove in to deep to start and ended up going back to the simple (cheaper) shotgun.

Also, the fees for the shells plus the fees for a round of clays add up quickly.

Enjoy the shooting.
Good advice, but in order to shoot what I've got I have to actually have to have something. :)
Touche
Fortuna Peratus Renumerat

Liberal Condescension or Conservative Paranoia; A hell of a way to run a democracy.

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