What to Bring to Practice

  • Ear protection.  Shooters tend to prefer in ear protection.  Over the ear headphones can make it difficult to properly mount the gun.
  • Eye Protection - safety glasses, sun glasses or Rx glasses.
  • Shells - if not provided by the team, make sure you bring 3-4 boxes of shells to practice.
  • Shotgun - Unless using a team gun, ensure you bring your shotgun
  • Shotgun Chokes
  • Water
  • Chair - for the parents
  • Golf towel - nice to have
  • Shell bag - you will be given one after you join the team
  • Team shooting backpack - you will be given a bag after you join the team
  • Closed toed shoes - no crocs
  • Dress for the weather, we are outside.

What kind of shotgun should I buy?

If you are like me, I wanted my new shooter to have a shotgun as soon as possible.  You may not know anything about firearms, know a little, or you may be an expert.  If you are on the newer end of the scale when it comes to clay target shooting, my suggestion is to try some different ones out.  There are a LOT of options and things to consider.  For clay targets, we typically shoot over and unders, also known as break actions, and we shoot semi-automatics.  Both have their pros and cons.

I want to stress that you do not need to rush into buying a shotgun.  We have team guns and Northlake has guns you can borrow.  It’s a big investment and new shooters are still getting stance and mount figured out.  What they like now is almost certainly going to change.  A shotgun is not like a pair of Air Jordans that may go out of style next week, they are meant to last many years.

Over and Unders are simple to operate, don't throw empty shotgun hulls across the field and require very little routine maintenance.  They do however tend to have more recoil.

 

 

Semi-Automatic shotguns typically have less recoil, however they are more complicated to operate and require more maintenance (more moving parts).  They also tend to filng empty shotgun hulls to the right or left.

 

The next questions I typically here are, "How much should I spend on a shotgun?" and "Can I just use one I have in the safe?"

Most of us are tempted to use Grandpa's old reliable Winchester pump he got when he was 12 and has been passed down through the generations and probably has legendary status.  And while that may be a great gun to go rabbit hunting with, it may not hold up to the rigors of clay target shooting.  Those typical old hunting shotguns usually do not have thousands of rounds through them.  One day of clay shooting can be more than most hunting shotguns see in a year.  During the 2022/23 Season, my son put over 2500 rounds (10 cases) through his semi-auto.  You want a gun that is reliable and built to handle that kind of torture.

Here is my list of guns that work well for clay target shooting by price point.  *Disclaimer/fine print - Some people will disagree with this list, that is ok.  This is my opinion.

 

            <$1K                                                                                           <$2K                                                                       >$2K
- Franchi Affinity Semi-Auto                                                     - Benelli Super Black Eagle Semi-Auto                     - Beretta 686 or 687 O/U
- Beretta A300 Semi-Auto                                                           - Franchi Instinct O/U                                               - Beretta A400 Multi Target Semi-Auto
- Yildiz O/U                                                                                  - Beretta A400 Semi-Auto                                          - Browning Citori O/U
- CZ O/U                                                                                        - SKB 90TSS O/U                                                           - Beretta 694 O/U
- Weatherby Orion O/U                                                                                                                                                  - Benelli 828 O/U

Remember that your child is probably going to grow.  My son started in 7th grade and could barely hold up a small 20 ga.  Now he is taller than I am and has surpassed me in ability to break clays.  As your shooter grows, you want to ensure the gun fits.  A gun that does not properly fit is no fun to shoot and can discourage any shooter.  See the Shotgun Fitting Section Below to learn more about how a shotgun should fit.  My suggestion is to take an afternoon and go to Scheel's, Cabelas and Bass Pro.  They all let you hold shotguns.  See what fits, what you shooter likes.  The office at Northlake also has guns you can try out and they are very knowledgeable about gun fit.

How do I know if a Shotgun Fits?

There are a lot of measurements on shotguns and you can go down a rabbit hole worrying about what a good fit looks like.  An important thing to focus on for new shooters is practicing their mount.  A good fitting shotgun makes that easier to practice.

Length of Pull (LOP) - is the distance from the trigger to the butt of the gun.  Too long and the gun is harder to mount consistantly.  Too short and you will be scrunched up holding the gun. You will not have good eye alignment and you will not be able to hit targets consistently.  The gun will also most likely slap you in the cheek and cause you to not wantto shoot much.  To measure LOP, look at the distance from the thumb knuckle of your shooting hand to the tip of your nose when mounting the shotgun. If you thumb knuckle is 1.5-2.5 finger widths away from your nose, then your length of pull is about right.  You can easily adjust the LOP by changing the pad on the stock to a thicker or thinner one.

Try this as an experiment.  Mount a shotgun while wearing a t-shirt.  Measure the distance between your nose and trigger hand thumb knuckle.  Now put on a heavy coat and mount the shotgun again.  Measure again and compare the difference.  It does not take a lot to modify your length of pull.

Two other main factors that play into proper gun fit are cast and drop.  These are not all of the variables in gun fit, just the ones I think are important.

Cast

The terms ‘cast-off’ and ‘cast-on’ are used to describe stock configurations for either a right-handed or left-handed person. This measurement is shown in the diagram below and is designated ‘G’. Cast is the measurement of the central line of the gun and the stock's butt.

 

RedheadTargetCast.jpg

Drop
Drop at has to do with the shooters sight picture. Since the shotguns we are using for clay targets do not rear sights, the shotgunner sights along the rib of the shotgun to focus on the target and the shooter’s eye is the rear sight.

The amount of drop is important on how you can see down the rib of the gun and see the target. Too much drop and the shooter’s eye will be too low and you will consistantly shoot under the target.  Too high and you will will consistently be above the target.

Here is a way to check both drop and cast.  Check that the gun is unloaded.  Have the shooter mount the gun.  Stand in front of the gun and check the shooters eye position down the barrel.  If the drop is correct, the bottom edge of their iris should sit directly on top of the rib.

 

To check Cast, the eye should be centered over the rib of the gun.

 

Some shotguns come equipped with adjustable combs.  These allow you to adjust the height and cast as the shooter grows.  Fully adjustable aftermarket stocks are also available for most Beretta or Browning shotguns.  Many of the newer Semi-Auto shotguns come with shim sets that allow you to adjust the cast and drop of the gun as well.  There are a lot of optinos for gettting a shotgun to fit.  If you want some help, talk to one of the team coaches.