Skeet Shooting

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So I was invited out to Beaver Pond yesterday to go skeet shooting. I had never been skeet shooting and its been about 10 years since I handled a shotgun (Love handguns though, and they had a cool little setup for shooting steel, which I loved) and I have to admit, that was some of the most fun I've had in a while. we did 5-stand and so everyone was trying to beat every body else and for my first time, I didn't do half bad. My arms sure are sore today though as I can barely lift them. I probably shot a couple hundred shells in a couple of hours.
Now the wife is pissed because I want a shotgun to add to my collection....
any of you guys love shooting skeet? I seemed to have a hard time using one eye over the other....when I shooting pistols, I leave both eyes open.

What do you guys recommend as a nice light 12ga shotgun to start off with?
Would like something that I can throw fiber optics on...I shot a guys Benelli yesterday with fiber optics and made it so much easier.
Plus, I'm used to fiber optics on my pistols.
 
IMO putting fiber optics on a shotgun is like putting spinner rims on a super car. It's will not help the performance of the shotgun at all. Fiber optics will block the lead you need to accurately hit the skeet.

My personal shotgun is an affordable stoeger 3500.
http://www.stoegerindustries.com/m3500-shotgun

The only disadvantage I have found is the recoil/reload doesn't like the lower power target loads.
1 1/8oz load is the minimum the gun likes.
 
I love skeet shooting, Only had a chance to go once over the last year myself.
A mossberg 500 with a 26in. barrel would be a nice all around shotgun to start off with. You can find fiber optic beads to put on about any shotgun. I like using a front bead only on my shotguns, it makes it easier for me to get on target.
As far as the one eye over the other you need to see if your right or left eye dominant.
 
I don't get to go out to a skeet shooting place often. Although I have three throwers that we take out about once a month. I shoot both eyes open, we bird hunt a lot so I like to keep them
Both open so I don't swing into something hunting. I put optics on my gun made me shoot high so I took them off. My go to
Semi auto gun is a cheap Charles daily with a 28in barrel , I beat the crap out of it hunting and it keeps going. Also have a cz up lander and a stroger both 26in over unders that I prefer for skeet or upland hunting. If your not shooting much I wouldn't spend a whole lot, there are guns designed just for soothing skeet and they get expensive fast
 
Im left eye dominant, but seem to shoot better with my right eye, since my right eye is pretty much dead on with the barrel of the gun. only problem is I use my left eye to follow the target and takes too long for me to switch eyes to hit target.
I have an astigmatism and having the fiber optic on the front makes it so much easier for me to focus...just like on my hand gun, I have to have a blacked out rear with a colored front, rather it be tritium or FO.
 

These shells will make you a better shot.
A shot gun you don't aim, more point in the direction your target will be at, if your swing with the target stops you'll be behind even if you stop when you pull the trigger. One of mine doesn't have a bead and I'm still accurate.

Have you thought of shooting left handed since your left eye dominant?
 
I did try it yesterday and it was very uncomfortable. If I can keep my right eye open and close my left with a target coming from the left, I can usually hit it. its when the target is coming from the right and I need to follow it with my left eye then switch eyes to aim.
 
Used to shoot semi-competitively locally when I was a teen. I'm a Browning guy. Just held our 13th annual New Year's Day skeet shoot at our property. Used to be a lot more competitive, but as kids get older and guys get married. Had a skeet range set up for trick shots and comps, a plinkin range for kids and a hand gun range yesterday. Honestly, these days I prefer relaxing and hitting 85-90% of what's thrown than a competition setting.
 
I shoot skeet/trap a good bit. Please don't get any kind of fiber optics or site on your shotgun. Thats not the intentions of the sport.

I shoot a beretta onyx 686. Highly suggest any beretta over and under shotgun.
 
My daddy and I used to go shoot at a club every Sunday after church 15ish years ago. I started with my 870 dove gun. Daddy was using his Ruger Red Label. I went and bought an EAA (russian) over/under for a little under $500. That was some of the most fun I had. Still use the O/U when I go dove hunting.
 
Hard to beat an 870 or 1100. I've shot with about everything. My favorite is still my Mossberg pump, just cause I like to piss of the guys with the big money guns with a cheap and indestructible pump. :sniper:
 
frankenyoter said:
Hard to beat an 870 or 1100. I've shot with about everything. My favorite is still my Mossberg pump, just cause I like to piss of the guys with the big money guns with a cheap and indestructible pump. :sniper:
Click to expand...


a gun is only as good as the operator...
 
I shoot either a Remington 870 with a modified choke or my old 1941 Ithaca M37 bottom eject with a full choke barrel. Both are cheap and reliable guns. I outshot a lot of people in high school on our shooting team with them.

The key to following the clay as it's being thrown is to have the butt of the gun tucked under your armpit slightly, you look at the throwing machine, follow the clay as it leaves, shoulder the gun, start your swing, lead it, and dust it! It took my coach a while to get me in the routine, but it damn sure helps me get on the clay sooner and more accurately.

You also have to notice if the clay is rising or falling as well as contemplating your lead distance. There's a lot to be processing in your mind all in a short period!

If you want to be able to see better, wear some orange shooting glasses. Since most clays are orange topped, it makes them easier to see and gives you some safety as well. I've gotten to where I can't shoot unless I'm wearing ear plugs, it's a good habit to get in to.

As @Loganwayne said, you point a shotgun and put it where the target it going to be. There's really no need to close one eye either, I usually don't.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
The key to following the clay as it's being thrown is to have the butt of the gun tucked under your armpit slightly, you look at the throwing machine, follow the clay as it leaves, shoulder the gun, start your swing, lead it, and dust it! It took my coach a while to get me in the routine, but it damn sure helps me get on the clay sooner and more
Click to expand...
This is the biggest difference I've seen from someone who shoots skeet only and someone who hunts. I learned to start my swing and bring my gun up from my hip as that's how you carry when hunting takes longer but with practice just as effective
 
I only use that method when I'm shooting clays/skeet. I do what I gotta do when I hunt!
 
I've never been able to shoot the "proper way" at a range but get me in a field or woods hunting quail or grouse handling a dog or two I'll hit as many if not more than most people I hunt with lol
 
Most fun I had was with my Mossberg Maverick88 with nothing but a little brass pin on the front of the barrel. I could slay clays with that little $100 shotgun. I got a new Mossberg 535 ultimag and love it for the turkey barrel and all the chokes it came with but the red fiber optic on the front of the standard length barrel took some getting used to. I'll be getting another O/U if I find myself shooting more. For now, it works to sit on the back of a pickup truck and blast clays with friends.
 
Back
Top