Went clay shooting for the first time!

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I

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
Yesterday a buddy came up from NJ and I went and bought a mossberg maverick 88 12 gauge.

We got about 100 shells for the range and headed out to give it a shot.

Neither of us ever fired a shotgun before. I tried reading the owners manual but it proved to be more confusing than useful.

I managed to load up a single shell without any issues and from there we were off an running so to speak.

What FUN! We bought a case of clays and a hand launcher and went to town. boy did we suck! We couldn't hit a clay if our life depended on it. I think out of 80 or so tries we hit about 8 clays. My best was out of 6 shots I hit 3 towards the end.

My friend is licensed in NJ so after we locked up the shotgun in case in his trunk he drove home with it. (legal)

I don't have any other experience with a shotgun but for the money this lil home defense shotgun really can't be beat.
 
Last edited:
Raduque

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
Firearms may not be toys, but you can still have fun shooting them.

Edit: And if the OP was being safe (safe handling, ear/eye protection, etc) what does it matter if he called it "play"? As long as they weren't horsing around, pointing the gun at each other, etc.
 
Leymenaide

Leymenaide

Senior member
Feb 16, 2010
752
368
136
Texashiker said:
You beat me to it.

Firearms are not toys, they are nothing you "play" with.

Aim ahead of the clay. It takes a lot of practice, but clay shooting is a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

Please go to a NRA school and take a class before you hurt somebody.

For the record I killed my first game bird 46 years ago.
 
I

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
Raduque said:
Firearms may not be toys, but you can still have fun shooting them.

Edit: And if the OP was being safe (safe handling, ear/eye protection, etc) what does it matter if he called it "play"? As long as they weren't horsing around, pointing the gun at each other, etc.
Click to expand...

wasn't using eye or ear protection. Though next time I will. The ears were ringing for a few minutes after we were through. No worse than a night out at a loud club tho.
 
I

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
Texashiker said:
Even though you used the firearms in a safe manner, you were probably going to catch a lot of flack for the title.

My daughter is good at skeet shooting, but she does not like to do it.
Click to expand...

We had no idea what we were doing. I'm sure there is proper technique for throwing the clays.

How far is the shot accurate?
 
mvbighead

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
1
81
IceBergSLiM said:
We had no idea what we were doing. I'm sure there is proper technique for throwing the clays.

How far is the shot accurate?
Click to expand...

That depends on the choke being used, and the shot being used.

Typical lead shot through a modified choke should be good up to 50 or so yards. The further out you get, the less tight your pattern is. However, given random shot spread, you may or may not hit your target... especially at those further distances.

The big thing with clay shooting, in my opinion, isn't so much lead as it is swing. You will need to lead some, don't get me wrong, but following the target will lead to more hits.
 
GuitarDaddy

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
1
0
Be careful with the boom stick you might hurt yourselves :)

Next time take someone experienced with you, its a lot more fun if you learn how to do it properly. Now that your accustom to the sound and the recoil you need to learn how to actually shoot
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
My friend is licensed in NJ so after we locked up the shotgun in case in his trunk he drove home with it. (legal)
Click to expand...

So, you're saying you don't have a driver's license? Or, do you seriously need some sort of license in NJ to possess a shotgun? And, I thought NY's gun laws were bad.

NY: Go to store, purchase shotgun. Fill out form for the background search. 5 minutes later, exit store with shotgun (when I bought shotguns for my kids, I had to put them in my name, because they were under 18.) Put in car, drive wherever you want to. Or, are you under 18 years old??
 
Blackjack200

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
15,995
1,688
126
DrPizza said:
So, you're saying you don't have a driver's license? Or, do you seriously need some sort of license in NJ to possess a shotgun? And, I thought NY's gun laws were bad.

NY: Go to store, purchase shotgun. Fill out form for the background search. 5 minutes later, exit store with shotgun (when I bought shotguns for my kids, I had to put them in my name, because they were under 18.) Put in car, drive wherever you want to. Or, are you under 18 years old??
Click to expand...

IIRC you can't have a gun in your car in NJ unless you are transporting it to/from a range or hunt or something.
 
Kirby

Kirby

Lifer
Apr 10, 2006
12,028
2
0
i've been meaning to go to a clay shooting course about half an hour away. i've been before, but we just used the range.
 
nboy22

nboy22

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2002
3,304
1
81
My friends and I just went shooting last Sunday. I took some videos with my t2i and Rode Videomic. We were shooting a couple of 12 gauges at clay pigeons, a semi-auto .223 and a semi-auto .308. Here's a slow-mo video of my friends shooting (I was behind the camera so I'm not in it unfortunately.) It's a little long due to the slow-mo, but there's definitely some cool parts like where they just start unloading bullets with the .223 and .308

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWDzsE3RjNI&feature=channel_video_title
 
moshquerade

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
56
IceBergSLiM said:
Yesterday a buddy came up from NJ and I went and bought a mossberg maverick 88 12 gauge.

We got about 100 shells for the range and headed out to give it a shot.

Neither of us ever fired a shotgun before. I tried reading the owners manual but it proved to be more confusing than useful.

I managed to load up a single shell without any issues and from there we were off an running so to speak.

What FUN! We bought a case of clays and a hand launcher and went to town. boy did we suck! We couldn't hit a clay if our life depended on it. I think out of 80 or so tries we hit about 8 clays. My best was out of 6 shots I hit 3 towards the end.

My friend is licensed in NJ so after we locked up the shotgun in case in his trunk he drove home with it. (legal)

I don't have any other experience with a shotgun but for the money this lil home defense shotgun really can't be beat.
Click to expand...
yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw! ;)
 
preslove

preslove

Lifer
Sep 10, 2003
16,754
64
91
Texashiker said:
You beat me to it.

Firearms are not toys, they are nothing you "play" with.

Aim ahead of the clay. It takes a lot of practice, but clay shooting is a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

Bullshit. Guns are the toys of gun nuts. Your guns are just toys that you play with, and you pretend that they're tools.
 
HAL9000

HAL9000

Lifer
Oct 17, 2010
22,021
3
76
preslove said:
Bullshit. Guns are the toys of gun nuts. Your guns are just toys that you play with, and you pretend that they're tools.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Gun Nut: "I use my AK47 as a tool, I train with it every day."

[People turn their backs]

Gun Nut: "Pew pew pewww!"
 
JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,544
924
126
It would have been easier if you had a choke on the gun and a longer barrel to line up the shots. I have a 20 gauge Beretta O/U shotgun that is great for sporting clays.

It helps to lead the clays a bit before you squeeze off the shot.
 
T

Tea Bag

Golden Member
Sep 11, 2004
1,575
3
0
I go once every year and have a blast (pun intended). Some guys are amateurs like me and go once in a blue moon, but they have a handful of guys that do it weekly/competitively. The best part is they let you shoot their bitchin' trap guns; a tad bit better than my POS single shot break open. Last year I went though 150 rounds myself. I had fun, but I don't think my shoulder did :)

I need a new gun :D
 
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