How to read a breaking clay?

[Chris1314]

Afternoon all

 

I had a lesson with Steve at Garlands on Wednesday while I'm still waiting for my licence to come through. Steve and I both felt it went very well considering how new I am to the sport and I hit a high percentage of targets. Left to right crossers and right to left rabbits were difficult so that's what I need to practice.

When I left the ground I had a thought while driving home about how clays break depending on how they are hit. In some cases it is clear to see that you have just clipped the edge or bottom by a small piece breaking from that side or the clay changing direction a bit. However, I hit targets which exploded into bits ranging from 5-15 pieces. Am I right in thinking that these have been hit squarely in the pattern or would the targets smoke, turn to dust, etc when its hit centrally?

 

Just so you know I was shooting a Beretta 686 12g (soon to be my first gun) with Fiocchi Top One 21G 7.5s plastic wad.

 

I know on a score card, a hit is a hit as long as there is a visible piece.

 

Any thoughts on the matter?

[humperdingle]

Depends on the type of clay target (mini, midi, standard, bunny etc) and how it presents itself.

 

A standard clay presented 'full face', will get dusted by a good shot, but the same clay shot on the profile edge, probably won't.

[Tim Kelly]

Not worth worrying about. If you only clipped it with one pellet on the edge of the pattern, what are you going to do about it? Just practice your shooting and be grateful for the chippy kills as you could easily have missed it!

[Danger-Mouse]

I suspect a lot depends on the choke you are using. The less gaps there are in your pattern the more damage you will do to the clay (presuming you hit it dead on).

 

I see it when I shoot DTL. One of the guys is very, very good and uses 3/4 and full and when he hits bang centre there is nothing but smoke left. He`s hitting with a tight pattern that also has a long column passing along the same trajectory so the direct hit absolutely destroys the clay. Whereas when I hit the clays with my much more open chokes the clays break but aren`t destroyed in the same way. Presumably because I have a wider pattern and less of a `comet tail`.

[Glenshooter]

And it also can depend on the speed of a clay. A slow (turning) clay needs a 'better' hit than a rapidly turning one. eg one pellet could cause a high rotational clay to fragment but a slower one may need more hits - due to the differences in centrifugal force on the turning clay.

[100milesaway]

When you take the centre out of a clay,usually with tight chokes,that means that your bang on it and you are probably over choked.Don't worry about choke use yet, a chips a chip.98 chips are still worth more than 90 balls of dust. from Auntie.

[muffin]

Enjoy and do not try to hard to figure everything out

[welshwarrior]

Ask Steve to explain it in detail don't let him off with a half answer he'll really appreciate it.

 

Then spend him my regards.

 

Daf

[Scully]

My nephew borrowed my Winchester 8500 Trap gun at Crabtree and although he gets good results with half an half in his Beretta he found he shot very well with the Winchester, choked full and extra full and has since borrowed it for an NGO shoot and loves the way the clays just obliterate into clouds of dust, so much so he has just bought it off me.

There's no need to 'smoke' them all, but it doesn't half make you feel good.

[Chris1314]

Looks like I'm just going to have to keep going as often as possible until I smoke one. That's the excuse I will use with my lovely lady, but I might forget to tell her when I achieve it. ☺

Daf, I will let you know what he says. I'll have to ask him at the end of my next lesson. He is a good laugh and really helpful. I don't want to upset him a the start and miss out on some pearls of wisdom.

[kingo15]

When I first started I tried to get my head all round it. I soon realised I was concentrating too much on what was happening with the clay.

Ask anyone who shot dubai I'm sure they would be happy with any form of chip haha.

As auntie says 98 chips are better than 90 smoked.

Mind you I'd settle for the 90 lol

[Hamster]

Reading breaks for beginners is like heel and toe driving the day after passing your test. There is just so much more to it than asserting you were a tiny bit in front just because you took the front edge off on a single shot, in reality you can't read each and every shot in isolation because it is not an exact science and certainly not helped by the random nature of patterns thrown by a shot gun.

 

There are lots of people out there who having read the negative musings of a certain gentleman (Andrew Jones if I'm not mistaken) who has spent months patterning and studying pellet counts, and/or watched slomo videos in the US forums of primarily going away Trap type targets which supposedly prove clays break randomly, have come to the conclusion that it's all mumbo jumbo .

 

The interesting stand out fact about this issue is how the more experienced you are the more convinced you become there is mileage in reading breaks and that those completely opposed to it tend not to be able to find themselves remotely close to any podiums .

 

My advice is to accept that there are at least two dozen more pressing areas to engage and improve on before worrying about the 1 or 2 birds that you will be spared from MISSING by reading breaks, when it happens it will come naturally.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Hamster