Shot my first sporting clays course this afternoon. Great fun and hugely challenging.
Three firsts for me: first time shooting sporting clays, first time shooting 5-stand (sort of a mini all-in-place sporting clays), first time shooting 20-gauge (range rental Browning Citori over and under).
Good thing I did tons of research and had a couple tutorials at the range. No reservations, first come first served, and I signed up first this afternoon.
Then one by one, in come the Wednesday regulars who completed "my" group. Veterans all, excellent shots and, fortunately, gracious hosts. They made me feel welcome, watched me closely, and offered tips now and them but didn't suffocate me with advice.
Although I thought I had plenty of ammo (three boxes, 75 shells) for the 50-shell sporting clays, serendipity intervened in one of the best shooters taking me to the 5-stand before the others got there.
When we finished, I had no time to buy more ammo before the group assembled and headed out to the sporting clays range. So I shot the usual four shots each at the early stations, then tapered to two shots at the later stations.
Then the entire group decided to shoot 100 rounds anyway, reversing and repeating the entire course. That is a dedicated bunch. I returned my range gun then came back and watched and learned more
The top shooters got around 45 of the 50 possibles each round. In my initiation, I was happy to hit 9 of 30.
The more you learn of it, the more sporting clays is like golf. New shooting situations/holes which are changed periodically to keep everything fresh.
By no means cheap ($18 for 50 shots, plus expected tip of about $4 to the bird thrower), but you get a lot for the money, and it takes a couple hours to complete a round. For ammo, figure about $5 a box of 25 shells, and you need three to five boxes, so that's about $37 for a 50-shot round and $51 for a 100-shot round.
Plus the cost of shooting equipment, which also is comparable to the wide range of money you can spend on golf equipment.
Walk a half mile to a mile or so, double if you go 100 shots. Nice suburban facility with lots of staff to keep it nice. Yeah, very much like golf. So much equipment to carry that three of our seven shooters used gun carts that look a lot like individual golf carts, e.g., three spoked wheels, push or pull.
Even if you travel light with one gun and ammo, that's about eight pounds of gun and 10 pounds of ammo (four boxes of 12-gauge). Doesn't sound like much, but it can get tedious.
Some shooters in a hurry or with infirmities ride in actual golf carts.
All seven us of used over and under shotguns, many expensive, although I was assured that semiautos like my Remington 1100 also are fine. The biggest guy used 28-gauge sleeves in his 12-gauge on the return round. I had forgotten such devices were available.
That diminished recoil just about doubled his ammo cost to around $10 a box. Supply and demand; 12-gauge is everywhere, some other gauges are not.
The top shooter used 12-gauge 3-dram equivalent with 1 oz of shot. I forgot to ask him which size, although 7 1/2 is max allowed, and usual range is 7 1/2, 8, or 9. The way he was shattering most his targets, I'm betting on 7 1/2, which is what several experts tell me they use in sporting clays.
Will I do more sporting clays? I'm not fond of demonstrating my incompetence in a crowd of experts, and I know they agree. Starting any new endeavor like this usually is more fun if you gather contemporaries at work or play and learn together.
If that is not an option, well, do your homework and listen carefully, and many experienced shooters will be helpful and kind in sharing their sport.
One guarantee for sure: Sporting clays is never the same and therefore never boring.
