In Part One of this article, we took a look at how sporting clays operates and its origins. Today we turn to the shotguns used in the sport.
Sure, there are "sporting clays" shotguns from nearly every manufacturer in the business. But never apologize for going to the sporting clays with the shotgun you brought to the hunting field the autumn before.
Small-bore enthusiast? You╒ll love the challenge of marks you never get to see over your pointing dog. Diehard pump gunner? You╒ll find out just how well you can shuck 'em when that first true pair splits the sky.
Magazine gun or double barrel, the shooter with a gun that fits will enjoy greater success, and not just because the firearm prints an effective pattern where the gunner is looking. An ill-fitted gun, especially one stoked with heavy-duty cartridges, will likely rap you in the face or bruise your shoulders, arms, or chests with every shot.
Recoil is the number one detriment to shooting pleasure and effectiveness, making you lift your face from the gun stock and cultivating a flinch that won╒t let you pull the trigger when your brain says, "Now!"
Certainly one solution is a properly fitted, gas-operated autoloader, like the good Remington, Beretta, Benelli, and Browning guns that are fast becoming the firearm of choice among many elite sporting clays competitors. Gasses from the shell combustion are absorbed with operating the gun╒s action, hence reduced felt recoil and less shooter fatigue during a long round of targets.
When properly maintained, such guns are extremely reliable. In barrel lengths of 26 or 28 inches, they point naturally and swing beautifully, especially with a little weight added in the fore-end. No other design serves better as a school gun for the novice shooter, particularly young adults or smaller-framed women.
Long-barreled autoloaders can pull yeoman╒s service in the dove or waterfowl blind, can be fitted with a second, shorter barrel for upland game, or even big game, and are generally available for about half the price of an entry-level over-and-under sporter.
Best of all, given the incredible varieties of sporting ammunition, the single barrel with one choke is really no disadvantage; if a particular station offers the first target at some distance and the other one in our face, we simply load a shell designed for long-range efficiency in the chamber and a fast-opening "spreader" round in the magazine.
You can help relieve the recoil effect of any shotgun simply by turning to softer-shooting "super-lite" or "extra-lite" loadings offered by almost all of the major ammunition companies. In general, look for 2-3/4 dram equivalents, with 1-1/8 to 7/8 loadings in the traditional target shot sizes of 9, 8, or 7-1/2.
With quality components, such cartridges shove, rather than kick. They generally feature shorter, lethal shot strings and smash clays at unbelievable distances. Mainstream shotgunners are gaining more experience and confidence in these deadly little gems, especially Fiocchi or Estate╒s 7/8-ouncers or, for reloaders, some of the terrific recipes from Ballistic Products of Corcoran, Minnesota. Such cartridges easily make the leap from the sporting clays range to dove, quail, and woodcock, too.
With experience, we learn what loads are best in a particular firearm. Part of this has to do with matching the choke of a gun to a specific cartridges. Rule of thumb? Less is more, not only in lighter shot charges, but also in terms of bore constriction. If they have their druthers, most savvy recreational shooters will want gun barrels choked no tighter than improved cylinder. Skeet or even cylinder might be better, given the conditions.
But even with a fitted, open-choked gun fed premium ammunition, let╒s face facts. Shooting a conventional field gun at targets that closely resemble wild bird scenarios, the average shooter will likely mark...an average score. Maybe even less than that, depending on how self-conscious he or she is shooting in front of others.
Lots of shooters have an inflated notion of their gunning prowess because so few of them tally more than a sloppy record of actual shooting percentage in the field. The sporting clays scorecard doesn╒t blink, and for some, that╒s an eye opener.
To survive such a reality check and actually enjoy shooting sporting means keeping the game in perspective. No field gunner brings to bag every bird that flies in range; nobody breaks every sporting target, either. If the scorecard shifts undue emphasis on body count as opposed to "Did you learn?" or "Did you have fun?", simply leave the clipboard at the clubhouse.
Approach the game this way: given targets staged in realistic settings at appropriate size and speed, a well-fitted gun will perform as well as the shooter shoving it. From there, any rise in the learning curve means seeking instruction, investing in quality practice, and gradually adding equipment that can make the most difference once fundamental technique is in place.
The first impulse with most field gunners bitten by the sporting bug is to hustle out to fondle the long line of shiny new "sporters" filling gun shop inventories. Wallets open, bank accounts groan, credit cards sweat. But their itch begs the question: Will we break more sporting clays targets with a sporting clays gun?
That depends.
Certainly the game of competitive sporting clays has bred waves of technical targets thrown at extreme distances, speeds, and in extremely small windows of shooting opportunity. The world╒s best guns built for the game--those from Krieghoff, Perazzi, the better-grade Berettas and Brownings--are aimed at just such nasty targets and are constructed to absorb the thousands and thousands of rounds needed to become a truly proficient competitive shooter. They match this durability and weight with superb triggers, exacting stock fit, barrel modifications for more efficient patterns, and dynamic weight distribution for maximum dexterity.
Tomorrow Randy looks at shooting schools and books and videos that will make you a better shooter.
Copyright (c) 1997 Randy Lawrence. All rights reserved.
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