This morning, I shot my first ever round of sporting clays.
Happened at a range near Alma, Arkansas (that's pronounced "Owl-muh" for you non-Arkies).
Five different stations, ten shots per station, for a total of 50 chances at clay birds.
This is a once-a-month event put on by the Old Fort Gun Club.
As I pointed out in another post, Old Fort Gun Club is the fun club in my area, the one with all sorts of different shooters shooting all sorts of different guns, not the one that caters strictly to shotguns only.
This morning, there were about 40 shooters of all ages.
We were divided into two squads of about 20 shooters each and started at different points on the range.
As in the title of this thread, this was not high-dollar-gun-club sporting clays; this was rural Arkansas sporting clays.
In my squad, about half the guns were old beater pumps of various kinds, inlcuding my own Rem 870 pawn-shop special. My buddy, also a first-timer clay shooter, toted his Winnie 1300.
The other half of the guns were various types of semi-autos.
There were exactly three O/Us that I saw out there...one Sigarms Aurora, one Ruger Red Label, and one Baikal.
Lots of overalls and jeans, and t-shirts and even some camo and shorts. One guy was in shorts and sandals. Another enterprising soul had an improvised shotshell holder that was an Army pistol belt with the canvas canteen holder, sans canteen, on his hip.
My buddy carried his shotshells in a Wal-mart bag and put the required 10 per station into his pockets. My shotshell holder was a spare green fanny-pack.
One attractive lady in our group was shooting an H&R 1871 Topper single-shot 12 gauge. In the other squad, there was a group of very young shooters between 8 and 11 years, with three H&R topper single-shots in .410.
I hit 23 out of 50 targets.
Station one was a traditional double flying straight away.
Station two was feather and fur.....rabbit target left-to-right and overhead bird, with the shooter's option of which one was first. Second target on report.
Station three was two targets straight up simultaneously (My best station, as I cleared 9 of 10 including a one-shot double on the final pair. They were the targets that afforded the most rifle-like shooting).
Station four was a monster.....Two targets, one high, one low, coming at about 65 mph for a 90 degree deflection shot. The birds flew past the shooter down a creek with a gap in the trees only about 20 feet long to shoot in. I got only three out of 10 on that station......pure reflex shooting. I saw only one of the three hits that I got.
Station five was a traditional quail-type shot....two birds, with second bird going on report, and the shooter calling for left or right first.
Lady with the H&R topper shot a half-course, since she couldn't well take on doubles with a single shot. She popped 10 out of 25 birds.
My friend had a good time, but got only 4 birds.....He hadn't shot clays of any kind since he was about 14.
Very casual and relaxed. Lots of good-natured teasing. Lots of allowances for gun malfunctions (the Sporting Clays assistant director went through three shotguns and hit only two clay birds on the evil fourth station. His A-5 doubled and jammed on the first bird, and two grown men couldn't get the barrel to move again. His buddy's Rem 1100 fired one round and then wouldn't fire again, and he finished up with somebody else's Beretta).
Not a single cross word, not even when the trap arm lost its rubber lining on station three, and the second squad had to make do with only one clay bird at a time instead of doubles. Without the rubber lining, the trap would shatter a pair of clays, but would successfully throw a single.
Winning score was 45. Second place was 44. A couple of guys with old pumps also shot in the 40s.
Again, Old Fort Gun Club is all about getting new shooters into the game. They are almost uniformly friendly and easy-going, and not uber-competitive.
Sporting clays down.....Cowboy action, cowboy silhouettes, small-bore silhouettes, IDPA, three-gun, and a few others to go.......(I've already done NRA highpower out there as a non-member, and plan to go back, maybe even next weekend.)
hillbilly
Happened at a range near Alma, Arkansas (that's pronounced "Owl-muh" for you non-Arkies).
Five different stations, ten shots per station, for a total of 50 chances at clay birds.
This is a once-a-month event put on by the Old Fort Gun Club.
As I pointed out in another post, Old Fort Gun Club is the fun club in my area, the one with all sorts of different shooters shooting all sorts of different guns, not the one that caters strictly to shotguns only.
This morning, there were about 40 shooters of all ages.
We were divided into two squads of about 20 shooters each and started at different points on the range.
As in the title of this thread, this was not high-dollar-gun-club sporting clays; this was rural Arkansas sporting clays.
In my squad, about half the guns were old beater pumps of various kinds, inlcuding my own Rem 870 pawn-shop special. My buddy, also a first-timer clay shooter, toted his Winnie 1300.
The other half of the guns were various types of semi-autos.
There were exactly three O/Us that I saw out there...one Sigarms Aurora, one Ruger Red Label, and one Baikal.
Lots of overalls and jeans, and t-shirts and even some camo and shorts. One guy was in shorts and sandals. Another enterprising soul had an improvised shotshell holder that was an Army pistol belt with the canvas canteen holder, sans canteen, on his hip.
My buddy carried his shotshells in a Wal-mart bag and put the required 10 per station into his pockets. My shotshell holder was a spare green fanny-pack.
One attractive lady in our group was shooting an H&R 1871 Topper single-shot 12 gauge. In the other squad, there was a group of very young shooters between 8 and 11 years, with three H&R topper single-shots in .410.
I hit 23 out of 50 targets.
Station one was a traditional double flying straight away.
Station two was feather and fur.....rabbit target left-to-right and overhead bird, with the shooter's option of which one was first. Second target on report.
Station three was two targets straight up simultaneously (My best station, as I cleared 9 of 10 including a one-shot double on the final pair. They were the targets that afforded the most rifle-like shooting).
Station four was a monster.....Two targets, one high, one low, coming at about 65 mph for a 90 degree deflection shot. The birds flew past the shooter down a creek with a gap in the trees only about 20 feet long to shoot in. I got only three out of 10 on that station......pure reflex shooting. I saw only one of the three hits that I got.
Station five was a traditional quail-type shot....two birds, with second bird going on report, and the shooter calling for left or right first.
Lady with the H&R topper shot a half-course, since she couldn't well take on doubles with a single shot. She popped 10 out of 25 birds.
My friend had a good time, but got only 4 birds.....He hadn't shot clays of any kind since he was about 14.
Very casual and relaxed. Lots of good-natured teasing. Lots of allowances for gun malfunctions (the Sporting Clays assistant director went through three shotguns and hit only two clay birds on the evil fourth station. His A-5 doubled and jammed on the first bird, and two grown men couldn't get the barrel to move again. His buddy's Rem 1100 fired one round and then wouldn't fire again, and he finished up with somebody else's Beretta).
Not a single cross word, not even when the trap arm lost its rubber lining on station three, and the second squad had to make do with only one clay bird at a time instead of doubles. Without the rubber lining, the trap would shatter a pair of clays, but would successfully throw a single.
Winning score was 45. Second place was 44. A couple of guys with old pumps also shot in the 40s.
Again, Old Fort Gun Club is all about getting new shooters into the game. They are almost uniformly friendly and easy-going, and not uber-competitive.
Sporting clays down.....Cowboy action, cowboy silhouettes, small-bore silhouettes, IDPA, three-gun, and a few others to go.......(I've already done NRA highpower out there as a non-member, and plan to go back, maybe even next weekend.)
hillbilly
