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clayflingythingy
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:43 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 311

Depending on where you live it may be easier to find a Sporting Clays course than a skeet field. I shoot sporting as I find shooting trap as exciting as watching grass grow....it's not my thing. Sporting is FUN. However, depending on your skills you may want to hire a coach for a day or at the very least buy a videotape or dvd on shooting sporting. I have watched quite a few shooters (mostly hunters) get frustrated when they shoot sporting for the first time.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:48 am  Reply with quote
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Location: Sothern Illinois

662, I think you should do what you like. I belong to two clubs, one is a rifle and pistol club and the other is a skeet and trap club. I also shoot at a local public shooting range that has sporting clays. I tried to get serious about shooting but found I didn't enjoy it. I didn't have the time to devote to it all. A friend of mine introduced me to sporting clays and that has become my favorite game. I shoot with a lot of friends but only for fun. I noticed I quit shooting with my serious friends. We went a couple weeks ago and we didn't even take a score card. I also shoot with what ever gun I feel like shooting. I'm not trying to impress anyone. Sometimes its an old pump and sometimes its a nice Browning. It doesn't matter, its just for fun.
I think you should try the serious stuff to see if you like it. You never know. If you do, you will have to get a serious 12 gauge. Nothing wrong with that.
Just see what you like. You can always quit what you don't like. Remember time is short, only do what makes you feel good.
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Bronco
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:56 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 158
Location: NW Florida

16gg,
Your last paragraph describes our range to a "T". We have skeet, 5 station wobble and a very nice clays range. Very informal Cool I shoot skeet and clays with hammer guns and an old English box lock, all 16ga of course, much to the delight of the other shooters. Even the really good shooters that can run a 100 are more than happy to shoot with a rookie like me. My son shoots his great grandfather's 16ga M12. Seeing a younger person (25yrs) shooting an old classic shows us old timers that the future of shotgun sports is good.


Last edited by Bronco on Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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662
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:15 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 358
Location: Houston

Thank you to all. I appreciate your replies. They help a lot and have given me plenty to think about.
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:20 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 12 Mar 2005
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Location: massachusetts

Bronco wrote:
16gg,
Your last paragraph describes our range to a "T". We have skeet, 5 station wobble and a very nice clays range. Very informal Cool I shoot skeet and clays with hammer guns and an old English box lock, all 16ga of course, much to the delight of the other shooters. Even the really good shooters than can run a 100 are more than happy to shoot with a rookie like me. My son shoots his great grandfather's 16ga M12. Seeing a younger person (25yrs) shooting an old classic shows us old timers that the future of shotgun sports is good.


Bronco, you are a lucky man. So am I. I am both a serious trap shooter and an informal skeet and SC shooter. However, I just recently left my old club behind. Things have gotten way too serious and exclusive. There are a small handful of ill tempered, intolerant, fussbudgets who demand everyone else conform to their way of shooting and thinking. The club's tolerance of that kind of bad behavior has begun to destroy it.

Last year I found home at a local club with a single skeet and a single trap field. We have a small but well maintained spring fed trout pond for catch and release flyfishing. The guys are very easygoing. Nobody seems to get too hot about stuff, because troublesome folks are not welcomed back the next year at dues time.

When I wish to do some serious practice, I simply wait until all the other guys have had their fill. I'll then spend a quiet hour by myself working on whatever it is that needs polishing. Nobody minds.

The skeet field is strictly informal. We shoot whatever gun we want in whatever style we want, in whatever gauge we want. The only thing we watch is safe gun handling and behavior. Everyone is as welcome as he or she makes others feel. Registered shooters who complain about the informal atmosphere are encouraged to go to the a registered skeet club within 2 miles to shoot with others of their kind. They either get the drift and join in or get the drift and drift away. Everyone makes us happy--some by coming, some by going.

In the afternoon, after the shooting is over, I can let old Hiedi sniff around the weeds and play an easy game of frizbee. I simply clean up any "puppy landmines" before I leave. nobody minds a bit. Dogs were not too welcome at the other club. I can bring a 3 weight and cast wets to the trout. On cold or inclement days, we sit at the table by the fire and have a very friendly, and often comical game of cribbage or three. There is always coffee and donuts for those who do.

i have found my place in the sun here. I have made more friends in a shorter time than anywhere else I've ever been. the folks suit me right down to the ground. Like I said, I'm a lucky man.
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sbs470
PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:45 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 10 Jan 2005
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Location: sheffield.Tasmania Australia

Hi 16gaugeguy
Where is this club of yours ? I started playing cribbage long before I bought my first gun.
sounds like the way a gun club should be.

good shooting
sbs470
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:00 am  Reply with quote
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Location: massachusetts

SbS, its in a small suburban town southwest of Boston, MA. The club is both low key and has a waiting list of applicants. We have room for about 30-40 active trap and skeet shooters. The rest of the membership is made up of rifle and pistol shooters plus a bunch of just general hunting and fishing guys. There is enough crossover interest that the groups support each other and work together well for the benifit of the whole.

ts probably among the last of its kind in the greater Boston area. I'd give the town's name but I don't think the members want or need the noteriety. There is something to be said about flying under the radar when you are a group of sportsmen and active shooters in a state dominated by the Kennedy clan.

I posted about the club, not so much to draw attention to it, but to the way it is run and how the members treat each other. I've belonged to other clubs where bad social behavior by a few hotheads and misanthropes toward other members is tolerated too much or where a small select group dominates and stifles the other activities and aspects of what makes up a socially and financially healthy club. My point is don't settle for a club that does not suit you. Keep looking until you find what you want. you'll be both happier and healthier and so will the club.


Last edited by 16gaugeguy on Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:29 am; edited 1 time in total
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revdocdrew
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:42 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 28 Dec 2005
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Location: Glendale, AZ

Mis an tropes? Is that like a lady pronghorn??
16GG-you're confusing me again Laughing
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:32 am  Reply with quote
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Ok I edited the spelling. It's misanthrope. Go look in a mirror. If there is one looking back at you, then you is never gonna be a happy camper. Laughing
D--o---e---s / t---h---a---t / h---e---l---p???
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sbs470
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:16 am  Reply with quote
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Location: sheffield.Tasmania Australia

16gaugeguy

sorry I can't make the club this trip.sounds like a place I would enjoy .just casual shooting who cares about the score ! and a dollar in if you fancy your chances .who gives a damn???????????? just a nice day out with your mates ! I'll take a life subscription.
good shooting
sbs470
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:36 am  Reply with quote
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Location: massachusetts

SbS, you are more than welcome anytime you make it stateside. Just let me know ahead of time. we'll spend the day shooting, fishing, do some steaks on the grill and have a couple of rounds of cribbage too.
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Ol' Southern Lawyer
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:11 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 339
Location: Peoples' Socialist Republic of North America

Lots of good info and advice here from the crew, as usual. I am about like you in that I shot a lot when a kid on the farm. Now 51, semi-retired (still practicing a little bit of law until I get the hang of it!) I am easing back into regular shooting routine. I'm lucky because I have access to trap/skeet and sporting clubs nearby.

So far, the advice given that I think is of most benefit here is to just HAVE FUN! I have friends who are into serious trap and we socialize at the bar, but I rarely shoot with them. I mainly shoot with like minded folks who think as I do that a bad day shooting beats heck out of a good day at the office!

Doc's comment on wobble trap is also very solid! Our club recently got a wobble set-up and it is closer to pheasant or quail hunting in the field than any other game. A real rush and good practice for bird hunts, too!

Shoot safe and have fun!

OSL

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Patrick Henry
Virginia Attorney, Legislator & American Patriot
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:34 pm  Reply with quote
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It's funny you should mention wobble trap OSL. It reminds me of one more reason why I left that other club behind. About 10 years ago, a couple of us noticed that the old Winchester automatic trap machine we had in house 5 was set up for wobble trap. We'd played the game at another club and boy it was fun, especially low gun like on a flushing bird. We got together, pooled our money and bought the right motor to make the trap rise and fall. It took quite a search to find it too. We installed the motor and proceeded to have a ball. most of the recreational shooters loved it.

That lasted about 3 monthes. There were a couple of those misanthropes I refer to whose average trap line score went a bit south during this time. They decided that it was from shooting wobble trap. They had the ear of the trap chairman and got him to remove the motor and toss it. They could not let the rest of us enjoy the game. It was not regular trap, so it had to go.

Now mind you, we had 5 traps at the time. This was the spare trap we used only for practice lines during ATA registered shoots. It sat pretty much unused the rest of the time, except when some of us got a hankering for wobble trap. Plus, it could be used for regular trap too. The guys and I who bought the motor were peaved to say the least. However, to keep the peace, we just let it go. most of the rest of the guys thought the matter was stupid, but they did as we did and said nothing. Otherwise, it would have degenerated into a big blow up as usual.

I hadn't thought about that incident for some years. but I'm sure the ill will it created had an effect on why I left that unhappy place behind. I am one of many who have moved on. The trap program there is now on the ropes. I could care less as long as the guys who caused the problems don't show up at my present club if and when the other finally closes up trap shooting entirely. 16GG.
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Ol' Southern Lawyer
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:19 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 339
Location: Peoples' Socialist Republic of North America

Wow, 16 GG...sounds like your club had a similar experience to ours. Regular trap shooters really got snippy about wobble. Rolling Eyes Fortunately, we have enough serious bird shooters in the club to balance out trappers and wobblers...so a peaceful co-existence exists for the moment. Wink Keep your fingers crossed for us! Most trap shooters at our club are a pretty friendly and fun bunch, but a few of the really serious trap shooters do exhibit some funny quirks, don't they?!

Happy shooting!

OSL

_________________
"The great object is that every man be armed!"

Patrick Henry
Virginia Attorney, Legislator & American Patriot
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Rem16
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:50 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 10 Feb 2006
Posts: 36
Location: Northeast Ohio

The gun club we go to, is about 20 mins away and offers skeet, trap, and sporting clays. Yes, there are the Perazzi guys, the majority of shooters choosing Berretas and Brownings, my type, using remington and winchesters, and the give this a try people. Everyone is friendly, and eager to welcome newcomers. Good club for both casual and competitive shooters.

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You can't decide between 20 and 12? The solution is the 16!
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