Hey y'all, this past weekend I went shooting with my father and two of my friends. We took a Mosin Nagant, Mini-14, couple ruger 10/22s, some one brought a ruger 30-06 (can't remember what it was), and a 20 guage remington 870. We started off small with the .22s and worked our way up the ladder till at the end of the day we only had the shotgun left. I won't lie we were all pretty skeptical about it and how much fun it would be to shoot it after the others. We were at a state park here in colorado and there are several stations depending on what you are shooting. There are no range officers or anything it is purely self run. We went to the shot gun range and broke out the 870 and my father pouned off a few rounds and we started grinning. We were the last ones there so we ran around the field and found several unbroken/half broken clays (we didn't care) bout 80 all told because the sage brush had caught many of them and gave em a nice soft landing. I have to say that was the most fun we had all day long. We would throw them for each other and we hit 90% of em (granted we couldn't throw them too far). I have always wanted to get into clay shooting and now I am really hooked. I am looking for a good shot gun that can serve as both HD and clay shooter (moneys tight). I really liked my dad's 870 but wasn't too sure about it being 20 guage. What about Mossy 500s? 590s? Do I need a 12 guage? Do I want a semi auto? I think I like pump to be honest. I didn't even notice the recoil of the 20. I know I'm all over the place with my questions, but I would like to know. I don't want a wood stock I don't think and I want as large a magazine as I can get for HD. What types of barrel am I looking for? I am extremely new to this subject so any advice is desired. I really respect your opinions.
Shooting clays is truely alot of fun and I never seem to get boared with the game. I've been doing it for just over 30 years now. As far as a shotgun for home defence and clays.... thats a difficult one for me to suggest one shotgun for both. Alot of guys and gals that go to the club I shoot at use mostly autos or over and unders. However, there is also a fair amount of pumps used here. I have both an auto and a couple of over and under clay target shotguns. I use the auto alot lately. My brother on the otherhand, being the frugal person that he is, bought a Mossy 500 pump a couple of years ago and then purchased an aftermarket short barrel, a tactical stock and extension for the tube magazine for this shotgun. This pretty much converted it to a good home defence shotgun. When he goes shooting clays with me he changes back to the stock 28" barrel, the stock magazine tube, and original wood stock and this works for him quite well. Theres alot of aftermarket goodies made for the Mossy 500 and the purchase price of this shotgun is very reasonable IMO. You could do this with a 870 as well. Well theres my thought on how to have both a HD/Clay shotgun. As far as recoil goes if you're shooting AA trap/skeet loads even in 12 ga. they dont have much recoil.
You tempter....you are sent by the gun devil no? I'll PM you Gojubrian. Well I will try to PM you. I sent one but am unsure as to wether it was successful or not. I am extremely interested.
2hot2handle you answered some of your own questions in the OP. I'll add, that I shoot clays for fun & competition...I use a Rem 870 pump w/ the stock 28" barrel. Others use semi, pump, Remingtons, Mossbergs, Winchesters, etc. can't go wrong with any on the list. As far as a 20 ga., I don't think you'll get the range to be successful in competition. Not unless there's a 20ga. class. As far as using a security shotgun (18" barrel) you'll never get the range you need from it 12ga. or 20ga. Get yourself a good shotgun with a long barrel (28") and have fun. You can always buy a short barrel later for the gun you buy and change barrels depending on the use; HD or Clays.
Yeah it does doesn't it? hopefully it will go through. underfire. my dads 20 guage we were shooting with has a short barel. im assuming 18 in. and we noticed we couldn't chuck the clays too far or it was almost impossible to hit em.
^ You need to buy a good clay pigeon thrower if you dont have a range close by. The hand throwers are O.K. but you need to get a spring operated thrower to get the diastnce more toward "real". At least where I'm at alot of people shoot Trap, skeet, and sporting clays at the club I belong to and we have alot of fun. Good friends can be made in this sport.
