Semi auto carry

[Idontknow]

Hi all 

Gone back to using semi auto for clays . 
 

however . Not 100% sure on what to do when carrying to stands .. I norm put a safty flag in . And carry it upright.  

 

But the other day just had people eye balling mE when walking around like this .. 

 

should I put it the slip every time.? 
Carry on with what I’m doing  

Or  as long as the flags in . Carry it however I want , ? 
 

thanks 

[Poor Shot]

**** em!

If you've got the flag in and are keeping the barrel pointed in a safe direction then who cares what others think?

I often eyeball semi auto carriers, especially if they are carrying something interesting.. 👀

[Spr1985]

Flag in and breach and barrels  skyward in my opinion is fine, the eyeballing is likely the traditionalists just having a dislike of semi autos I wouldn’t worry about it providing you are being safe. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by Spr1985

[Idontknow]

Kool that what I fort .

was just checking 

[B391]

I've had semi's and really like them, mine were in a slip or held vertical and always with a safety flag. Now I only shoot o/u's but only because I got fed up with picking up the empties.

I also look at peoples semi's to see if they are interesting and talk to the owners about anything intersting.

If some people are snooty about a semi auto which is carried safely then it is their problem not yours

 

[enfieldspares]

Semi-autos....damned nasty modern things unlike those traditional over and under guns that regular folk use. Pah! Breechloading self-loading shotguns predate successful volume made breechloading over and under shotguns. Fact! Browning's Auto-5 was designed in 1898 and patented in 1900 (so Wiki tells us). The Boss O/U dates from 1909, Woodward's from 1913 and Browning's was the 1920s. So next time I'd reply that you note they are using one of those new fangled O/U guns! LOL!

[Poor Shot]

Its the clay shooting equivalent of using extended chokes on a game gun.

It's harmless but people will stare and even shake their head in disappointment. 🤣

[Newbie to this]

Breach flag in and in view, barrel in a safe direction. Sounds like you already had this covered.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Newbie to this

[terence]

Always carry mine in slip semi or over/under  or pump main reason seen to many guns damaged after been hit with bits off clays

[Stephen-H]

10 hours ago, Poor Shot said:

**** em!

If you've got the flag in and are keeping the barrel pointed in a safe direction then who cares what others think?

I often eyeball semi auto carriers, especially if they are carrying something interesting.. 👀

 

10 hours ago, Spr1985 said:

Flag in and breach and barrels  skyward in my opinion is fine, the eyeballing is likely the traditionalists just having a dislike of semi autos I wouldn’t worry about it providing you are being safe. 

Both the above 100%

[Westley]

10 hours ago, terence said:

Always carry mine in slip semi or over/under  or pump main reason seen to many guns damaged after been hit with bits off clays

My thoughts exactly. I too have seen a lot of damage to guns from bits of clay coming down. Gun out of slip, shoot it and straight back in slip. I stopped using a breech flag because nobody sees it anyway.

[retromlc]

Our local shoot ask for flag in and carried military style, holding bottom off stock and barrels pointing up. I am considering going back to using a slip after watching some guns resting against a tree ( the rack was full) and slide and take 2 other guns with it clattering to the floor, you coulda heard a pin drop...

[Westley]

3 hours ago, retromlc said:

Our local shoot ask for flag in and carried military style, holding bottom off stock and barrels pointing up. I am considering going back to using a slip after watching some guns resting against a tree ( the rack was full) and slide and take 2 other guns with it clattering to the floor, you coulda heard a pin drop...

I have seen damaged wood, dented ribs and a complete, full gun rack collapse over the years that I have been shooting.  But slipped guns are not always totally safe. I was instructing at a BASC shoot many years ago and I saw an older gentleman carrying his gunslip upside down. I waited until he was on his own and advised him to turn the slip around so that the blocked end was pointing down. I got the "who are you talking to" look and attitude fom him. A while later I was aware of a small group of shooters all in a group discussing something. It transpired that said 'gentleman ' had broken the stock on his expensive English S x S  shotgun when the zip on his rather old gunslip had parted  !    🙄

[Scully]

You’ve done everything you’re obliged to do as far as I’m concerned. I sometimes carry mine holding it by the barrel, with breech/stock on my shoulder, with flag in, more or less the same way I carry an OU if it’s not slipped. 

[Rifleman22]

Mmmmm! If your gun is unloaded and safe the best way to carry it around at public shooting ground is in a slip, this protects the gun should you lose your footing and fall. Expensive to repair a damaged shotgun, also stops prying eyes, I have often come across the ‘’tut-tut’’ brigade, some of which just can’t wait to voice their opinion of how things should be done! There is generally a lack of understanding regarding semi-auto’s and some users don’t help by failing to pick up their empties (but this seems to cover a range of shooters) o/u users often walk away leaving spent cartridges laying around the stand! I always wonder why they cry when politely asked to pick them up?? Many modern semi-autos have a cut off device which can allow the shooter to lock the breech open when applied, unloaded, safety catch on safe, in a slip your more than covered! There’s plenty of good affordable semi automatic shotguns available to suit all budgets and can give a great deal of enjoyment on the clay range, so don’t worry about the frown’s and tuts , shoot safe and enjoy!

[yates]

I have nothing against semi auto or their owners. I have previously owned one. Safety is, however another issue on the clay ground. On a couple occasions on my local clay grounds I followed a couple of people between stands. On each occasion a person fired their gun without loading. Obviously they had walked between stands with a loaded gun. Very scary 

[Westley]

1 hour ago, yates said:

I have nothing against semi auto or their owners. I have previously owned one. Safety is, however another issue on the clay ground. On a couple occasions on my local clay grounds I followed a couple of people between stands. On each occasion a person fired their gun without loading. Obviously they had walked between stands with a loaded gun. Very scary 

Did you challenge them  ?

On 30/08/2022 at 12:17, Rifleman22 said:

Mmmmm! If your gun is unloaded and safe the best way to carry it around at public shooting ground is in a slip, this protects the gun should you lose your footing and fall. Expensive to repair a damaged shotgun, also stops prying eyes, I have often come across the ‘’tut-tut’’ brigade, some of which just can’t wait to voice their opinion of how things should be done! There is generally a lack of understanding regarding semi-auto’s and some users don’t help by failing to pick up their empties (but this seems to cover a range of shooters) o/u users often walk away leaving spent cartridges laying around the stand! I always wonder why they cry when politely asked to pick them up?? Many modern semi-autos have a cut off device which can allow the shooter to lock the breech open when applied, unloaded, safety catch on safe, in a slip your more than covered! There’s plenty of good affordable semi automatic shotguns available to suit all budgets and can give a great deal of enjoyment on the clay range, so don’t worry about the frown’s and tuts , shoot safe and enjoy!

Why do you need  the safety catch on  ?

[Scully]

7 minutes ago, Westley said:

 

Why do you need  the safety catch on  ?

I was wondering similar regarding this ‘cut off device’ which allows the shooter to lock open the breech when applied. 

[Westley]

I do wonder, reading some of these posts if the authors have ever owned or even used a semi auto shotgun  ?

Can we get one thing straight, a semi auto is no more, or less dangerous than ANY other gun. I have seen appalling gun handling by people with all varieties of shotgun. I will accept that the auto chucks out empty cases and a lot of these fall into areas where it is unsafe to retrieve them, but that is far less dangerous than the clowns who try to eject empty cases into the bin from a break open gun, and certainly less dangerous than the ******* who toss their empty cases all over the floor. I once saw someone have a bad fall on a DTL layout, moving pegs and standing on an empty case which rolled away, causing his fall. ALL guns are perfectly safe whilst stood in the gun rack, they only become dangerous when somebody picks one up  ! Having 17 years of experience of running a clay ground, being a qualified Safety Officer, Referee and Instructor, I use various types of gun for all types of shooting. It is NOT the type of gun being used that is dangerous,  BUT the person using it. I am a pigeon, game and clay shooter, using a different type of gun for each, but I have to say the worst offenders for total lack of muzzle awareness are game shooters, both in the field or on a clay ground. I have formed this opinion during my 60 plus years as a shooter, both observing them AND telling them about their gun handling. I may not be Mr. Popular, but I am still alive to write about it  !

 

[Penelope]

1 hour ago, Westley said:

I do wonder, reading some of these posts if the authors have ever owned or even used a semi auto shotgun  ?

Can we get one thing straight, a semi auto is no more, or less dangerous than ANY other gun. I have seen appalling gun handling by people with all varieties of shotgun. I will accept that the auto chucks out empty cases and a lot of these fall into areas where it is unsafe to retrieve them, but that is far less dangerous than the clowns who try to eject empty cases into the bin from a break open gun, and certainly less dangerous than the ******* who toss their empty cases all over the floor. I once saw someone have a bad fall on a DTL layout, moving pegs and standing on an empty case which rolled away, causing his fall. ALL guns are perfectly safe whilst stood in the gun rack, they only become dangerous when somebody picks one up  ! Having 17 years of experience of running a clay ground, being a qualified Safety Officer, Referee and Instructor, I use various types of gun for all types of shooting. It is NOT the type of gun being used that is dangerous,  BUT the person using it. I am a pigeon, game and clay shooter, using a different type of gun for each, but I have to say the worst offenders for total lack of muzzle awareness are game shooters, both in the field or on a clay ground. I have formed this opinion during my 60 plus years as a shooter, both observing them AND telling them about their gun handling. I may not be Mr. Popular, but I am still alive to write about it  !

 

Agreed.

Had one chap on our shoot last year who thought it was acceptable to carry his loaded O/U parallel to the ground by one hand on the action, whilst walking through a drive towards the guns. He did not like it when I shouted at him down the the beating line to raise his muzzles .

A Police officer, no less.

[Westley]

27 minutes ago, Penelope said:

Agreed.

Had one chap on our shoot last year who thought it was acceptable to carry his loaded O/U parallel to the ground by one hand on the action, whilst walking through a drive towards the guns. He did not like it when I shouted at him down the the beating line to raise his muzzles .

A Police officer, no less.

They are the worst offenders  !   🤣

[marsh man]

I very rarely look at the Clay Pigeon section but now more and more people are using semi autos in all the different forms of shooting I found this thread interesting , as already said , if the op is not sure on the safety procedure on walking around the ground carrying his auto and not keen on other clay shooters eyeing him up then all he need to do was put it in a sleeve while walking from one stand to the next , job sorted .

A few years ago it was the same on game shoots , some of the dyehard's didn't think the semi auto was the right gun to use on a traditional game shoot , we had one middle aged bloke who came on ours at least once during each game season , he was a lovely bloke and a very good shot , he always sleeved his gun at the end of each drive and even put it in the gun rack sleeved when traveling on the gun wagon , this I didn't blame him as some of the tracks were a bit rough and the safety strap to hold the guns in place was not always put on the hooks , he liked a bit of duck shooting so we soon got on the same wave length and often had a yarn , when I put the guns out on one of the drives he was on the last peg which was not very productive so I stayed with him to put the world to right , when he opened his gun sleeve he drawed out a semi auto , he had a few shots and picked his empty cases up with one these extended magnets , these went in his pocket and the gun went back in the sleeve and I very much doubt if his fellow guns ever knew what gun he was shooting and as far as I know he never got any remarks .

[Westley]

Excellent, as age and health take their toll if shooting a semi auto prolongs your shooting career, then do it  !

I agree on the slipped gun method too, I get fed up dodging over the shoulder guns in the clubhouse. 

[yates]

20 hours ago, Westley said:

Did you challenge them  ?

Why do you need  the safety catch on  ?

Words were exchanged but unfortunately not listened too and the gentleman concerned were politely invited to leave the venue 

[Westley]

6 minutes ago, yates said:

Words were exchanged but unfortunately not listened too and the gentleman concerned were politely invited to leave the venue 

Result then. I know just how difficult policing a shooting ground can be, you do rely on other shooters to at least make you aware of a problem. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Westley