Has anyone broken clays in flight with a rifle? (with proper backstop of course)

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jlbraun

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Just asking. I was reading Unintended Consequences and was thinking about this.
 
At a machinegun shoot where there's enough backstop so you can shoot a 50BMG rifle at a 45* angle into the sky... some friends and I brought a trap and clays. Most of us were able to break one or two per 30-round magazine using an AR-15.
 
I've done it a few times.

The day I whacked a double with an AR-15A2, I called it a day and went home.
 
I've done it with hand-tossed clays...but never out of a skeet/trap machine. I've watched my Uncle do it with Hickory Nuts (they weren't out of a machine either, but it hard to find one that throws Hickory Nuts). Golf & Ping Pong balls are fun arial targets as well (Ping Pong balls are slower).
 
Hand-tossed, yes. 3 in a row with a Mini-14 and a steep mountain as a backstop is my record. Fun. Mini is a better choice than an AR IMO, because of its geometry.

Once I tried shooting a 10/22 at a regulation trap field. That's pretty damned hard. Couldn't hit a damned thing.:)
 
Did it when I was a kid. We used 22's to hunt anything that moved. Got pretty good at it. Couldn't do that now with developments popping up everywhere. Used golf balls with a coach gun. That was a blast!
 
I haven't tried it, but I've seen it done more than once with a .22 and clays from a hand thrower/small mechanical thrower.
 
Just searched and couldn't find it, but there was a video on youtube that had a guy consistently breaking "curveball" clays thrown from a Trius trap. They looked to be some of the larger sporting clays birds.
 
Yes, on the strait away through not that tough. However on the curved throw I have a lot more trouble. I still can do it just not consistently.
 
Once hit a golf ball in flight. Range officer was playing around and driving a bucket of cuts down range. He said if I could hit one he would kiss my--- and call me "Sir!"

I fired one shot at the next ball and hit it squarely with a round of 7.62 NATO tracer. I was not using a rifle, but and M-60 Machine gun from the bipod so I guess it does not count. It was pretty much a straight away shot and pure unadulterated luck. I did not offer to repeat the display.

Summer of 1976 Ft Knox, Ky

He did call me "Sir" atleast, but reniged other wise.

-Bob Hollingsworth
 
I've hand thrown a few clays straight away and been able to break them with a rifle. I wouldn't always hit them, but impressed a few friends back in the day by being able to hit a few with an old SKS. It really isn't that hard to hit a few when they are going straight away.
 
I like to shoot quarters in mid air then put a postage stamp over the hole and shoot through the same hole again. :) -Winchester '73
 
Jim Watson said:
Jeff Cooper described shooting straightaway trap targets with a rifle. Said that there had been 4 out of 5 broken by a top Gunsite student.
Click to expand...

I attended an Advanced Rifle Class at Gunsite where Col. Cooper had us shooting Clays with our rifles. At the same set-up we tried busting them with a pintle mounted M-60... I have a picture of Jeff behind the gun.
 
A friend of mine in high school had his AR-15 out with him while him and his dad were on the ranch near a pond. A duck starts coming in, and his dad bets him that he can't hit it with the AR-15 (both of them have bushmasters). The kid, not to be upstaged, brought the rifle to his shoulder, took one shot, and blasted the bird "in half and then some" (his words). When his dad asked him to replicate, he refused. He knew when not to tempt lady-luck, I assume.

They were on probably 100 acres of private land.
 
Onbroard a US Coast Guard cutter on patrol in the Gulf of Alaska in the late 80's. The crew were shooting clays from a hand thrower with 870 riot guns using #8 shot. We were having a lot of fun, when someone said "Why not break out some M16's?" Well one thing lead to another, we had a great time and and some lessons learned
#1 full auto from a M-16 will not hit anything smaller then the ocean.
#2 missing 4 out of 5 clays shuts anybuddy up.
#3 Hitting 1 feels great.
#4 Shooting a M2HB .50 at anything is priceless
 
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I've shot some clays with a .22 pistol.

Had a friend hand throw them for me. I would typically hit 3-5 out of ten....with an Iver Johnson DA revolver.

I'm not sure if that's good or not, but the kids at the other end of the range thought so....they packed up and left in disgust.:cool:

Ed
 
Titanic Thompson once hit five tossed silver dollars in a row with his .45 (to win a bet, of course).
 
Did it with a .22 before... Browning take down rifle, rear sight folded down. Very much like shooting a shotgun.
 
I like to shoot through the holes in Lifesavers. I have yet to miss.
Mark
 
I've tossed clays to practice draw and point shooting with a handgun. Great practice. I think the Army used to do something like that for point shooting, but I can't recall exactly what the training regimen was.

I can hit fairly consistently on a good day from the holster if it's an easy toss and not more than 10-12 feet away. Don't try this unless you have a very good backstop and lots of open space downrange of your backstop.
 
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