First day clay bashing!

[evolution380]

Well not entirely accurate but the first chance I'd had at going up and on my own with my own gun not being supervised or by the instructors side with their gun.

 

ANYWAY

 

To cut a long story short, I ended up staying there for four hours, I was excited and thoroughly enjoying myself. Shot a few Skeet some 50 Sporting etc. But then one of the guys I'd tagged along with had a new trap gun so he wanted to grab that and run a DTL so thought I'd have a bash!

 

I managed 18/25 had another go and managed 19/25, I did feel very confident and some left me wondering how did I miss them.

 

ANYWAY

 

There seems to be more than anything upcoming a lot of DTL events, with a club memorial 100 bird on next Sunday which I'd like to shoot in, I think it would be good experience. So I can probably get 2 or 3 practice sessions in before then. Probably 6 or 7 lots of 25. I don't expect to be competitive but I'd just like to give it a good go and score the best of my ability.

 

I know this is a common theme but I couldn't help but notice that I wasn't dusting any of my targets, I was Fragmenting them the majority of the time and clipped no more than 2.

 

I was using 1/4 choke first barrel and 1/2 choke second barrel shooting Hull Comp X 28g PW

 

Now I'm new to this discipline so would like to mix things up on the practice sessions to learn what is best for me. So two questions

 

- With the Chokes I currently have available I can either stay at 1/4 and 1/2 or opt for 1/2 and full or full and full. Is any tighter choke than I'm currently using anything other than optimistic I feel confident in going tighter but should I go to the extreme or just move it a notch at a time? I'm using Miroku back bored 30 inch barrels with invector plus chokes. My 1/2 choke is extended but both my fulls are Flush Fitting, is this ever done? So if I use half and full I'll have one barrel with extended choke and one with Flush Fitting choke, not seen this myself?? I could potentially buy a 3/4 but I'd rather not for now.

 

- secondly i'm going to buy another thousand cartridges, I fancied the hull superfasts or the gamebore velocity plus. I'll be getting these as I need a FW for shooting at some other grounds and at an upcoming country fair. I wouldn't like to litter the place with plastic wad and doubt they're allowed. Open to suggestions but I can pick up either or of these for £175 a thou and I'm trying to keep cart choice to best value for the practice.

 

I'm aware that fibre can spread the pattern so I'm trying to consider this with the choke choice also.

 

I'd rather just change everything now early on than get used to 1/4 and 1/2 and then regret it further 'down the line' no pun intended.

 

I don't expect be to competitive but any guidance would be greatly appreciated as I would like to learn and advance with the assistance of those that have been there and done it.

 

I shouldn't be up at 3.45am contemplating such menial things but here I am, so please help/share your experience with choke cartridge changes and choice.

[steve d]

If i was you i would forget about the chokes, leave the 1/4 and 1/2 in and shoot a few thousand through it first. You can re evaluate after that if need be.

Its too easy to become paranoid about chokes and it will do your head in

Edited August 18, 2017 by steve d

[motty]

If you want to crunch the clays a bit more, stick the half and full in. Go with whatever cartridges take your fancy. You may also be getting less convincing kills because you are taking them a bit later ( just an assumption, as you are a novice).

Your scores are good, considering your inexperience, but you may find your scores dip slightly if you do change to tighter chokes (you may be getting the odd 'lucky' kill with the outside pellets of your pattern).

[Duckandswing]

I shoot 1/4 and 1/2 and don't seem to dust them with this choke configuration. But hey, a hit is a hit. I'd rather wing 50 clays, than dust 25 and miss 25.

[evolution380]

Thanks all.

 

Thanks Guys

 

I do have 2 x 1/4 chokes so may sell one and get a 3/4 and meet somewhere in the middle 1/2 and 3/4 is some kind of middle ground I suppose?

 

My problem is I Barely ever see the shot to know where the clay is in relation to the shot. I suppose I could have a lesson and ask to stick strictly to DTL for it to gauge what is working best for me.

 

One of the guys was consistently dusting every target on skeet and scored 25/25 back to back. However on DTL he used 1/4 & 3/8 and wasn't dusting anything just fragmenting. The other chap with the trap gun was dusting the majority and he had 1/2 & 3/4.. this is what got my mind ticking in the first place. Not saying I'll be dusting anything with 1/2 and 3/4 but my mind is saying you won't know if you don't try!

 

I should have walked away as soon as they started talking about Chokes!

[SpringDon]

I'm afraid to say I hate you.

I spent 2 years trying to shoot clays and barely got to 50% hits. It's just not fair, you come along and get scores like that immediately. It must be infringing my human rights. Some how.

[Westward]

I suggest you use Half/Full for DTL and Quarter/Quarter for Skeet and Quarter/Half for Sporting.

[grrclark]

As said above, it is likely at DTL that you are not killing the bird early enough and hence not getting spectacular breaks. Trap disciplines where the clay is getting further away from you all the time favour a tighter choke.

 

If you are happy changing chokes regularly then use tighter for DTL with the more open choke in the barrel you fire first. Also no harm at all in having one extended and one flush fitting choke.

 

I would suggest though that you keep practising DTL with the chokes that you have in the gun currently, they will do the job just fine, and see if you can get better breaks by killing the bird a bit earlier.

 

A few weeks ago I was involved in running the European DTL Championship and even the very best have chippy breaks at time, they all count.

 

Hull Comp X are a nice soft cartridge and do the business, but either of the cartridges you are looking at are good options and you will notice a difference. Don't fret about patter spread with fibre wads just now, if you point the gun in the right place the clay will break.

[blade]

The Kent velocity are good cartridges and not a bad price.where you shooting at evolution sounds like orston ?

[evolution380]

Thanks All, do appreciate the advice! Is always a hard subject from reading other threads as there are always slightly conflicting points.

 

Nothing to hate here Springdon I struggled to get above 50% on skeet when I was having a go yesterday I thoight about the shot too much! I seem to Fair better with instinctive shooting such as DTL especially as lead doesn't come into it as much.

 

I'm still working on the lead with a few skeet shots and the various sporting styles so a long road ahead! DTL feels a lot more instinctive and point and shoot, seems to fair me better but I'm looking forward to learning for myself lead and understanding lead and shot placement for many shots even those I haven't had chance to shoot yet.

 

The lessons have faired me well but FITASC in my opinion is very different to the many styles of throws that the 50 bird brings in to play. same with skeet on lessons I've never actually gone around each peg and shot a full skeet layout at anyone time! So it takes a lot of practice I imagine. That was my first skeet layout yesterday.

 

Fortunately I've immediately befriended some very good shots, the one who was consistently shooting 25/25 on skeet was kind enough to take me under his wing and shoot another skeet layout with me afterwards giving me pointers as I wasn't giving some enough lead and missing behind. I wouldn't have known this without him saying so. I welcomed his advice and I shot 18/25 which for my second go I was very happy with. However if I was on my own or with people that weren't such good shots willing to give advice I probably wouldn't of scored anymore and missed just as many behind.

 

Going to continue having lessons but have them specific to a discipline and run say 2 full skeet layouts and work on weaknesses and such same with Sporting and DTL have more coaching for the disciplines and shotsand know where I'm missing them and how to get them in the first place. That's my problem not being able to see the shot string to know where I missed to correct it.

 

Very much love the sport already though, some bloody lovely people about.

 

Sorry for the long stories!

[Crumpler1991]

I wouldnt use 1/4 if i was shooting dtl u get the spread but wont get shot string

[grrclark]

You typically wont see your own shot so don't try to look for it. Your head should still be down on the stock and not trying to see a ball of soot.

 

When a more experienced shot knows (not guesses) when they have missed behind or in front, etc they are not seeing the shot, they are judging based on the relationship between the barrels and the target.

 

Also knowing where you have missed is only part of the solution, knowing why you missed there is more relevant.

 

Some people buy a shotcam so they can see later that they were high or low, in front or behind, but unless you know why you arrived at that point it doesn't really help. For example is lead on a target achieved by site picture or gun speed?

 

Going to a good coach is the right thing to do.

 

Put all thoughts of choke and cartridge out your head, ignore when people talk about a length of shot string or anything like that.

 

Get a good coach and learn from the ground up. How you place your feet, how square your shoukders are, how you angle yours hips are all arguably much more important than what choke is in the gun.

 

Shooting the scores you have you already have a natural eye and timing, a good coach will make that much more repeatable and reliable.

 

If you post the area that you are in i am sure you will get some great recommendations from other PW members.

[wymberley]

Thanks all.

 

Thanks Guys

 

I do have 2 x 1/4 chokes so may sell one and get a 3/4 and meet somewhere in the middle 1/2 and 3/4 is some kind of middle ground I suppose?

 

My problem is I Barely ever see the shot to know where the clay is in relation to the shot. I suppose I could have a lesson and ask to stick strictly to DTL for it to gauge what is working best for me.

 

One of the guys was consistently dusting every target on skeet and scored 25/25 back to back. However on DTL he used 1/4 & 3/8 and wasn't dusting anything just fragmenting. The other chap with the trap gun was dusting the majority and he had 1/2 & 3/4.. this is what got my mind ticking in the first place. Not saying I'll be dusting anything with 1/2 and 3/4 but my mind is saying you won't know if you don't try!

 

I should have walked away as soon as they started talking about Chokes!

Don't pay too much attention to this. It's highly likely that those lads didn't know how their guns were patterning and there's no reason to suggest that putting those nominally bored chokes in your gun will perform the same as whatever theirs' were. Given time, the gun will tell you what's needed.

[evolution380]

Well decided to have a play today. Changed to 1/2 and full choke with 1/2 in the top barrel firing first.

 

Scored 21/22 and 22/22 all first barrel hits except for 3 of them over the 50 birds. Leads me to believe that the full choke for the second shot is a little too tight for me at the moment! But practice makes perfect! And I'm booked in for another lesson on Thursday as I've never had a lesson on DTL only skeet and sporting!

 

Watched the British open shoot off after a few DTL's and a chip butty/chat with a few folk.

 

Absolutely brilliant shooting from a 16 year old junior girl who scored 100 along with 4 blokes followed by another 25/25 and then won the head to head from station 4! Fantastic to watch!

 

Brilliant for me too as it gave me a great opportunity to understand skeet a little better with the rules as well as gun hold positions and break zones! I'm going to watch a lot more as with skeet it all whirls round my head being new and I lose track and can't string together a very good score

 

With DTL I think of nothing else, I need to understand skeet a lot more so it feels the same!

[Highlandladdie]

It's a personal thing, but I find 1/2 & 3/4 a good balance for me. If you are on them quick you don't need a lot of choke.

 

Interesting what wymberley says, we patterned my beretta next to a lads browning with fixed choke 3/4 & full. My 3/4 was as tight as his full.

[Westley]

Thanks all.

 

Thanks Guys

 

I do have 2 x 1/4 chokes so may sell one and get a 3/4 and meet somewhere in the middle 1/2 and 3/4 is some kind of middle ground I suppose?

 

My problem is I Barely ever see the shot to know where the clay is in relation to the shot. I suppose I could have a lesson and ask to stick strictly to DTL for it to gauge what is working best for me.

 

One of the guys was consistently dusting every target on skeet and scored 25/25 back to back. However on DTL he used 1/4 & 3/8 and wasn't dusting anything just fragmenting. The other chap with the trap gun was dusting the majority and he had 1/2 & 3/4.. this is what got my mind ticking in the first place. Not saying I'll be dusting anything with 1/2 and 3/4 but my mind is saying you won't know if you don't try!

 

I should have walked away as soon as they started talking about Chokes!

Do NOT sell the 1/4 choke, you may find, with practice, that you will be happy using 1/4 and 1/4 for most of your shooting. I have used this combination for both skeet and ESP for many years with a reasonable degree of success. If I shoot DTL it will be 1/2 and 3/4 or Full, dependant on the targets. I also use Comp X 28 gram, plastic wads or fibre wads and they work well enough through my Browning. If I miss any birds it will NOT be the fault of gun or cartridges, I can assure you. Do not forget that you get 3 points for a first barrel KILL, regardless of if it is a ball of dust or just chipped !

Edited September 2, 2017 by Westley