Not fishing related but I trust this board.
- This topic has 24 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated Sep 4, 2008 at 9:28 pm by
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My father has recently started shooting clays quite a bit and he has dragged me in with both feet. We use to hunt quail but this is my first real experience with the clays. Yesterday we went to a Father Son shootathon where we were shooting skeet. We did very well winning the father son and I won the Overall. I started with my old trusty Remington 1100 – 20 gauge that I have had since I was 12. But switch to Dad’s Benelli Cordoba 12 gauge after the first round.
I’m thinking it is time for me to upgrade and start shooting with my own gun. Any suggestions on a good “All Around” 12 gauge for Sporting Clays, Skeet, and Quail Trials (I’ll be running one of my uncle’s dogs in some trials) I have looking at the Benellis and Berettas but I know there are others. I would like to stay with the semi-auto and be able to change chokes for application.
I have been teaching Dad how to Fly fish and he has been taking me Shooting which makes for some fun Cast and Blast days with Dad. The comparisons of the two sports on a technique comparison has been quite eye opening. The shooting has greatly improved my casting and being able to “slow it all down” like fishing – has greatly improved my shooting. This has been the first time that I have shot regularly in 25 years.
My preference is for a SxS but I have a friend who swears by his Benelli’s for off season clays and training his dogs….
Kevin-
I’ve been a competitive sporting clays shooter (up until the past year or so with the high prices on shot) since 1997. My wife and I shot Sporting with a couple who was on Team USA twice.
My advice to you is to first decide if you want to shoot an O/U or an autoloader. Autoloaders will give you a significantly lower felt recoil impulse. It’s possible to shoot a 1 1/8 oz shell all day long in an auto without taking the pounding you would through an O/U. The downside is that you only have one choke selection (sometimes might be important in Sporting) and you may loose your hulls if you shoot at a place where “dropped” hulls become club property.
Lemme put it bluntly. If you’re thinking about an autoloader, the only one worth considering is the Beretta 391. Berettas are bombproof and last forever. The Beretta gas system is the best in the business. Don’t be swayed by the Benelli claims of cleaner shooting – the Benelli is a recoil operated shotgun and it will pound you into the ground like a tentstake. Browning Golds are good guns but they can be somewhat finicky in terms of what loads they like. Remington 1100/1187’s are OK, but really don’t hold up to the pounding of much shooting all that well.
In O/U’s, the only two worth considering under $5,000 are the Brownings and the Berettas. Pick whichever one feels better to you. Brownings are narrower and deeper and typically a bit heavier out front, Berettas are thinner and a bit wider and normally balanced between the hands. Of the two, the Beretta 680 series (686, 687, 682) are truly “lifetime” guns – they can be rebuilt as they wear. I’ve got my shooting partner’s old skeet gun with over a quarter million rounds through it (he used to shoot 60 – 75K rounds per year) and it still locks up like a safe. The Browning will eventually shoot itself loose, but that will be after about 350K rounds.
If you’re really feeling flush, a Krieghoff or Perazzi is about the pinnacle. Totally different feels, but it’ll be the last gun you “have” to buy.
My choices for an all-around gun:
Beretta 391 w/30″ barrel
Beretta 686 White Onyx w/30″ barrel
Browning Citori/525/625 w/30″ barrelIf you want more info (or B.S. if you don’t like what I’m saying) just let me know and hopefully I can help you from making some of the mistakes I made.
Oh yeah, when it comes time for a reloader – don’t even question it – buy the MEC. I’ve loaded on a 9000G for years and now have 9000H hydraulics in all 4 gauges. Only way to fly. 🙂
I second the Beretta 391 KP. The guys who run Flint Oak in Kansas (a big time hunting club with clays and birds) have both steered me in the direction of this gun and both of them know their stuff when it come to guns and shooting stuff out of the sky. I am in the process of buying this gun myself. Just looking for the perfect deal…. 🙂
Joel
I agree with Abe and Joel, I’m in the Beretta camp. Abe’s descriptions of the differences between Beretta’s and Browning’s is the most clear I have seen. My 4 loaders are also Mec’s, I stocked up on lead when the outrageous price for
Abe, I really appreciate the help. I have shot my old 1100 for a long time (all field work) and Dad had his 1100
Kevin, I used to shoot a lot of clays back in the day when I did not have KIDS and I would tend to agree with the advise that others have given you. Abe hit it on the head with the O/U suggestion and I really like my Beretta Onyx in 20ga. It’s the perfect bird gun but, a little under powered for the long crossing shots that you find on the clays range. I have a silver Pigeon Beretta in 12ga that is great for clays. I would like to also add that having the gun fitted to you is big help. Oh…..I you like clays don’t ever start shooting Service Rifle ;D
Something that I didnt mention was all the different games you can play with a shotgun. I didnt know that there were so many ways to play and what the difference was between all of it. I use to hear people talking about “Trap” and “Skeet” shooting, then started hearing people talk about “Sporting Clays”. I thought it was all the same deal but they are all completely different.
I was rocking on the skeet this weekend because it was more like shooting quail, pheasant and chuckars which is all I had had ever done (I started that when I was 6). I was averaging 22 out 25 per round. This was the first time I had shot skeet. A couple of weeks ago we went and shot Sporting Clays which was much more difficult but more fun to myself. That day I hit a mere 47 out of 100 and Dad smoked me on that getting a 90 out of the 100.
I have yet to try the other games “Trap” and “5 stand” and I do not even know what else there is. But I know that I want to learn. There were years (from the mid 80s to 2000 that I did not even shoot a gun because it just wasnt for me) But with family getting back into the trials part with the dogs, it has got be back into the game.
It is more fun than golf and closer to my roots. Thanks everyone for your help.
I mentioned this in another thread but http://www.uplandjournal.com/
I hate the rabbit, local course has a station that a second target comes out of the first target IF you hit it.
Talking about fit. I started the day shooting my Rem 1100 which I had and had not altered since I was a kid. It is to small for this type of shooting but feels real good in the field when slinging it up fast to hit a bird. I’ll have to change my ways on that.
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