Does anyone here have any experience shooting clays? I'm looking at getting into the sport.

My current trap gat is a 28 ga. 870 but I'm looking at O/Us.

 

Bawlz

 

I have a $3,000 budget so I'm heavily considering just buying a 28" Ruger Red Label and using the extra cash for practice.

 

^ Good gun and spending on practice will always trump the occasional shooter with a $10K gun.

 

I went skeet shooting with an 18.5" mossberg tactical, all the old redneck guys were laughing at me when I pulled it out. It was my first time shooting a shotgun ever, and I hit 18 of the 20 clays in the first box, that gun is about $350.

 

i did some skeet shooting a while back and it was a blast.

used a standard remington (?) 12 guage pump with a tripod mounted thrower.

 

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It is fun, I love clay shooting. Our outdoor center has a deal about once a month to go shoot for about 4 hours for 30 dollars, and they give you a gun and everything.

 

I'm lucky that my wife and I can go out the back door, set up the trap and start throwing in a matter of minutes anytime that we want to. Wide open space FTW.

 

I prefer a 20" 12 gauge over/under myself.

Honestly, tarp can be shot with anything that fires, well, shot. How well you'll do is a matter of skill and / or luck. A Rem 870 is an excellent choice for a starter and is only one of the most common pump actions in the world. Kind of like the small block chevy of shotguns, often imitated yet rarely duplicated. Though, H&R Tried...

 

It would seem that most owners are happy with them and the people who weren't have moved on to Citoris. No one in my area shoots trap so it's damn near impossible for me to try a bunch of different guns.

From what I can tell, the only problems with the Red Label are its weight and the swivel safety.

This is a hell of a deal considering BPS wants $1,750 for the gun:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/70602-55.html

 

I can't get on many gun sites at work due to the firewall, but check www.gunbroker.com for pricing on new and used. Even if you don't buy there, the past sales section shows what things are actually SELLING for, not just listed for.

 

This is what I miss about Wyoming, CA sucks...

 

What discipline exactly are you hoping to pursue? You may want a different gun if you're shooting trap vs. sporting clays vs skeet. If you intend to shoot trap exclusively I'd suggest that you get a trap specific O/U, probably a Citori, or Beretta. The trap specific guns have a higher rib that is nice for climbing birds but a PITA for falling or level birds. If you want to get into sporting clays (which I highly suggest) or just keep your options open, I'd suggest more of a field type gun with a standard rib. You can go either O/U or auto in this class. I personally prefer sporting clays and like to be able to use the same gun hunting so I shoot a Beretta AL391. In O/Us I'd stick to Brownings and Berettas, or if you're really baller, Perazzi or Krieghoff.

 

Real men shoot clay with a handgun... But seriously practice with a decent shotgun is better than spending a lot of money on the shotgun itself. Never gotten into clay as I prefer long range rifles myself though...

 

Shot three games of trap today with my 28 gauge 870. First game, 23/25. Second game, 25/25. Third game 22/25.

Yeah, I'm getting pretty goddamn good.

 

plus 1 on th al391.... But I love my browning gold fusion!

 

now do that with a 22cal practice rifle.

 

I'm going to buy a Browning Citori 625 Field unless I can find a 12ga Ruger Red Label to try in the next couple weeks.