Marc M Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Hi all, Having been looking through the Shooting Times and doing some web research on types of shotguns on guntrader.co.uk, I must admit to being somewhat confused. Can anyone see their way to possibly straightening this out for me? I've been looking at the different guns and notice they are often denoted as Trap, Skeet, Sporting or Game. They also have various chokes listed, I'm fairly confident I understand chokes as I've read quite a lot using the search facility but couldn't find anything about the different classes of guns. What's the difference and which would I need? From reading some of the clay shooting articles in ST I know there are disciplines of clay shooting called Skeet and Trap (although I have no idea what they entail :thumbs: ), and am assuming Game is for, well, shooting pheasants and such, but why are the guns different, and why is one more suited than another? I've previously shot 50 bird sporting (I think that's what it's called; different stands to shoot from, pairs, one then another or single birds flying over, correct me if I'm wrong?) which I really enjoyed and would want to continue with, I'd also like to be able to do some rough shooting for rabbit and pigeon when I'm up to par and the opportunity arrose, so which "type" of gun would I look for? There's a million and one other variables as well including barrel length, bore size, multi or fixed choke, O/U, S/S or S/A, boxlock, sidelock (again, no idea about these) and single or double triggers. Casting all these asside for a moment can anyone shed any light on the above? Yours confusedly, Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMMER BURT Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 :thumbs: you need a field/sporting multichoke this could be an over/under/semi auto skeet guns in the past normaly have 26inh barrels with fixed choke no good for pigeon shooting/rough shooting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Cheers Burt, I've read advice given to other newbies to the sport and have narrowed my own personal gun choice down to an over and under, single trigger with 28" barrels and if possible multi-chokes. I think this would give me an ideal compromise for both the clays and the live stuff. Just wondered what the differences in the trap, skeet, and game guns were? Is it mostly their barrel lengths, and the chokes (or lack of) that they come with? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Marc the main differance with a game gun is that it is lighter in weight so that it can be carried around for long times. Trouble is the lighter weight increases the noticeable recoil so it is not a good gun if you do a lot of clay shooting. I know, I have one. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMMER BURT Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 my mate john reynolds who shoots for England uses an over/under with 30" barrels with 1/2 and 1/2 he says you should be able to hit all possible targets with that combo. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMMER BURT Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 :thumbs: that is true a real skeet gun will only weight 5.3/4-6lb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 I hadn't thought about there being a weight differential, but now you mention it, it seems obvious, :thumbs: doh! So game guns sacrifice weight for felt recoil, as I suppose you'd potentially be carting it around for much longer periods and would probably shoot less compared to the average clay shoot, where carrying a heavier gun isn't as much of a problem given the reduction in felt recoil (or shoulder/cheek bruising for us newbies ) it would offer. It's all about compromise. Crystal. Cheers lads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 So to go back to another point I raised, what is skeet, and what is trap shooting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piebob Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 (edited) Marc, My understanding is that trap shooting is what could be called Down The Line (DTL). This is where you the clay traps are in front of you and the targets fly away from you. You start at stand 1 then move round to the next stand 2, then stand 3 and so on but shoot at the same targets. The angle therefore changes slightly each time you move. Skeet is where you have the traps at the side. The stand are set in a semi-circle and, again, you move round each stand. Most of the skeet stands produce crossing targets as the traps are at the side. Sporting clays you already know about - springing Teal, high pheasant, rabbit, etc. I'm not sure if I've explained this very well - a diagram would be much easier! Piebob P.S. Remember, this is only what it means to me - I suspect that the term trap shooting probably originated as simply meaning clay shooting and that when it all started, DTL was the only kind of clay shooting to be done. Now of course, we have sporting, skeet, DTL Edited October 7, 2005 by Piebob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throdgrain Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Skeet also has a high bird and a low bird, one flying towards you and one away from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piebob Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Found this site which has some diagrams of the layouts. http://www.clayshooting.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Piebob, That sounds straight forward enough in theory (no idea how bad a shot I'd be in reality of course :thumbs:), many thanks for your help. I've also done a bit of rooting around on the net and managed to find this website for the Clay Shooting Magazine which has loads of handy PDF documents detailing all the different forms of clay shooting. I found them really useful, understandable and intuitive, I'd recommend them to other newcomers to the sport without doubt. Thanks for all your help so far, plenty questions left in me yet though Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Hehe, great minds think alike, must've got our posts crossed in cyberspace there. Another good link for me to have a butchers at though, thank you! Throdgrain, so there's variaion in the angles and directions in skeet too, makes sense, hitting the same clay at the same angle/direction could get a bit repetative could it not? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenbears10 Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Marc the best gun is one that fits. sounds obvious but I did the same as you and looked at magazines, gun trader etc and thought a beretta or browning would be best. 10 mins in a gun shop with the guy telling me to try this one and that one and it was clear that different manufactures have very different characteristics. Once you find a manufacturer that does fit then most of their range will be a similar fit allowing you to choose how much you spend and if it is a sporting or game gun. It opened my eyes a lot and I was very happy with the gun I got on his advice. People will often let you try their gun at a clay ground so you actually see what they are like to shoot. I chose a game gun and when I go to the clay club I have a vest with a recoil pad after the first couple of times when my shoulder was black and blue after 50 clays. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardy Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 To get a feel of different guns in action you could arrange a lesson at a decent shooting ground. They will generally have several different types of gun available to try out. You could also try different grounds to vary the type of gun even further. When my ex gf wanted to get into shooting we tried out lots of different guns, from 2 shooting grounds & a few mates. Cos she was quite frail in the arms she had trouble holding up a 12b o/u without leaning backwards to start (not good!) & didn't like the extra kick of a 20b. After much trial & error we ended up with a Berreta 301 semi which she used for everything. She's gone but I still have it! Once you find one that works for you spend a few quid more & get it fitted properly (cost me just £60 to get one done recently). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the last engineer Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Marc , only because its you ,take a look at the link posted ,you will see the imediate differance to the skeet trap and sporting set ups and why http://www.kolararms.com/ any other questions ask away Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Marc , only because its you ,take a look at the link posted ,you will see the imediate differance to the skeet trap and sporting set ups and why http://www.kolararms.com/ any other questions ask away Martin Cheers for the link Engineer :thumbs: Very useful!! From what I've gathered so far, I'm not going to be able to "choose" which gun is right for me online, really I need to pick them up and play with them in a shop and see what "fits". I've done some digging with the search function and downloaded a few web articles for shotgun "gun fit" so will have a read through these, all in my bid to become the most powerful, kmowledgeable man in the universe.... oops, got a bit carried away there. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikky Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 http://www.rbamfordguns.co.uk marc if you have time go over to Bamfords near chorley...nearly all shotguns and very helpful..copy and paste the link for directions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 http://www.rbamfordguns.co.uk marc if you have time go over to Bamfords near chorley...nearly all shotguns and very helpful..copy and paste the link for directions Fantastic link mate, having shot air rifles I know of plenty airgun shops but hadn't even STARTED thinking where my local shotty shops would be... didn't know of any off hand either, cheers for the pointer! PS Will let you know re: going at the clays this Sunday, I might be available now, not definite, but maybe :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikky Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 ok mate..give me a bell..i need to make sure Ted is going up with all cartridges :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Mark, the main difference between a “Trap” gun and a “Skeet” gun is the height of the comb. The Trap gun has a very high comb which allows the shooter to shoot high on long “Going away” targets. This would be a pain on a normal gun, but on a Trap gun the shot is always taken “Gun-up”, so it allows you to aim the gun instead of reaction shooting. G.M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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