# What clay sport is a field gun best used in?



## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

I'm on vacation & tried sporting clays for the first time. I used a 26" barrel / modified choke / 16 guage / #8 field loads. I did pretty bad. This is the first time I've shot in years & the first time doing sporting clays. I'm somewhat blaming it on the short barrel, the modified choke & the fact that I've never used this gun before or shot sporting clays before. I had fun & would like to do more shotgun shooting. I might even get my daughter & wife involved. The problem is I want to be able to just use a field gun & not have to go out & buy a clay sport specific gun or pay thousands of dollars to shoot. SO:
1) Out of trap, sporting clays & skeet, which one can a plain field gun be used on best.
2) Then, what barrel length & choke should be used.
3) Finally, can a 20 guage be used.

Thanks,


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## Hoppe's no.10 (Sep 16, 2007)

sgc said:


> I'm on vacation & tried sporting clays for the first time. I used a 26" barrel / modified choke / 16 guage / #8 field loads. I did pretty bad. This is the first time I've shot in years & the first time doing sporting clays. I'm somewhat blaming it on the short barrel, the modified choke & the fact that I've never used this gun before or shot sporting clays before. I had fun & would like to do more shotgun shooting. I might even get my daughter & wife involved. The problem is I want to be able to just use a field gun & not have to go out & buy a clay sport specific gun or pay thousands of dollars to shoot. SO:
> 1) Out of trap, sporting clays & skeet, which one can a plain field gun be used on best.
> 2) Then, what barrel length & choke should be used.
> 3) Finally, can a 20 guage be used.
> ...


Field guns don't work particularly well at trap - other than for casual/fun shooting - because they shoot fairly flat. Dedicated trap guns are designed to shoot high because you're always shooting at a rising bird.

Field guns work pretty good for skeet but only if they have a fairly open choke - skeet or IC. You can of course shoot skeet with tighter chokes but if you're concerned about your score you're handicapping yourself with anything tighter than IC.

Any SC course can present close in targets that are better shot with open chokes and further targets where a modified choke is called for. But generally speaking on most non-tournament courses IC will be just fine for a single barrel gun and IC/Lt. Mod. for a double. But again it all depends on how the course is laid out. Standard field stock dimensions work well for skeet and SC. 

20ga. is just fine for skeet, just OK for SC unless you're a really good shot or if you're not overly concerned with your score. Standard 20 ga. target load is 7/8 oz. Works just fine for skeet and the closer SC birds. Trap is really a 12 ga. game.


Longer barrels are in vogue with 28" being pretty standard on dedicated skeet guns up from 26" a few decades ago, on most dedicated SC guns barrel lengths are 30" - 32" up from 28" - 30". Trap barrels - 30" - 34". If you're starting out don't be concerned with barrel length just concentrate on shooting whatevers' on hand.
Hope this helps.

Hoppe's no.10


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## MERGANZER (Aug 24, 2006)

You can shoot a field gun for those sports but you said you haven't shot in quite awhile so I would say its the shooter not the gun in this case. Get a gun you are comfortable with and shoot shoot shoot. Se how much you get better and then decide what you want to do. 20 Ga works fine IC or mod choke in single barrel guns and IC and mod in doubles. Lots of different grades of "field" guns too. Check to make sure your gun fits you first that can break a lot more clays just by doing that.

Good luck 

Ganzer


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## KLR (Sep 2, 2006)

I'd pretty much agree with Hoppe's advice. If your just doing it for fun and to get more familiar with your field gun (which is a great reason to take up shooting)- then I'd pick the sport that most closely represents the shots you take in the field, and use whatever gun you have.

I enjoy SC for the simple fact that I get some excersize with my shooting (not a cart rider) and I like the variation that each target presents.


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## Amy1976 (Oct 3, 2007)

We shoot trap almost every Tuesday at a local sportsman club.
I use a 20 gauge Remington 1100 w/ a vented rib, modified choke, 28 inch barrel.. 
I shoot Remington shells, sporting loads.
Last week I got 43 out of 50 rounds. I do just as well, and sometimes better than the guys using 12 gauges, and trap guns. 
I will say that the guys I shoot w/ aren't real fond of me using a semi-auto,
as my shells eject out so far/fast , whoever is standing to my right gets hit w/ my ejected shell. (Good thing the boys I shoot w/ love me:lol


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## Hoppe's no.10 (Sep 16, 2007)

Amy1976 said:


> We shoot trap almost every Tuesday at a local sportsman club.
> I use a 20 gauge Remington 1100 w/ a vented rib, modified choke, 28 inch barrel..
> I shoot Remington shells, sporting loads.
> Last week I got 43 out of 50 rounds. I do just as well, and sometimes better than the guys using 12 gauges, and trap guns.
> ...


Nice shooting but again - trap if you want to be *competitive* is a 12 ga. game with dedicated trap guns. Have shot many ATA (American Trap Association) events and *EVERYONE* who is serious about their scores shoots a 12 ga. *dedicated trap gun* - be it a $12,000 + Lujtic (sp?) a M12 trap configuration circa 1953 or a "Plain Jane" Browning BT-99. 43/50 is a nice score but it won't get you much more than a ho-hum/yawn - if even that - in an ATA shoot. At 16 yard singles your breaking birds at around 35 - 40 - 45 yards depending on how quick you shoot. At these distances 7/8 oz. 20 ga. target loads run out of steam *very *quickly. In all the ATA matches I've shot in over the years I've never seen *ANYONE *shoot a 20 ga.

As far as your semi-auto tossing shells into your "neighbors" field of vision this may be fine amongst friends but would be considered totally unacceptable by those who view trap shooting as something more than just a lark. How would you like stepping up to the skeet station just as the previous shooter cracks open his/her O/U and the ejected shells slap you in the face/torso? Even worse in trap as the shooter to your right is about to mount his/her gun and anticipating a call for the bird but then is struck by an ejected shell. 

To someone looking for guidance in the shotgun sports your post presents a "come-what-may" attitude in regards to trap shooting. For what it's worth I am not a serious trap shooter but I nonetheless have much respect for those who approach this demanding sport seriously and spend much time, effort and $$$$ in pursuit of it's goals while still maintaining decorum.

Hoppe's no.10


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## Amy1976 (Oct 3, 2007)

My shells usually land between their feet. Sometimes they get hit in the knees.
I NEVER said my shells were in their line of vision/hit their torso. And where we shoot, we call our own.
Again< I shoot w/ friends. When they line us up, I make sure one of my boys is on my right. 
I/we shoot for fun. Its competitive between us, but thats all. Just bragging rights, if you will. BTW, my 43 out of 50 may be HO-HUM/YAWN to YOU, but something I'M proud of.

Please forgive my so-called "come-what-may attitude". That was not my intention. 

I do view trap shoots as more than a "lark". I use this gun because its mine, and what I have available. And what I'm comfortable with. Would I go to an ATA shoot w/ this gun? Of course not. I didn't realize the OP was going to ATA shoots, either.

Simply put, you CAN use a 20 gauge field gun to shoot trap. (Which was one of the OP's questions.) 

I guess I'll go back to my fishing threads....


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

Thanks all. Hoppe's thank you especially; that was just the information I was looking for. I'm looking to do some grouse hunting this fall, so I think I'll switch over to the IC choke and try some skeet next time. Also, I've been eyeing that new Ithica model 37 pump in a 20 guage. Does anyone have any thoughts on it?


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## Hoppe's no.10 (Sep 16, 2007)

sgc said:


> Thanks all. Hoppe's thank you especially; that was just the information I was looking for. I'm looking to do some grouse hunting this fall, so I think I'll switch over to the IC choke and try some skeet next time. Also, I've been eyeing that new Ithica model 37 pump in a 20 guage. Does anyone have any thoughts on it?


Thanks for your reply. A lightweight 20 ga. pump with a skeet or IC choke is a great grouse/woodcock gun. You can't go wrong with it. I started hunting pheasants circa. 1960  with a 12 ga. M37 28" barrel/modified choke. After pheasant hunting started going to hell in Michigan and I really got into grouse/woodcock hunting - and not having much $$$$ - I had the barrel cut back to 26" giving me a cylinder choke and had the bead remounted. Killed a lot of pats with that combo. The gun was unfortunately stolen in a break-in and I used the insurance money to move into SxS, O/Us. About 1995 or so I took a nostalgic turn and bought a 20 ga. Ithaca New Classic. Beautiful shotgun but I was just to old to master shucking that pump for the second shot so it unfortunately had to go. Nevertheless a great grouse/woodcock gun. One of my favorite bird hunting photos is in a book by David Michael Duffey entitled _Bird Hunting Know How_. It's a photo of a grinning ol' time bird hunter with a pat and an American Water Spaniel - his shotgun - clearly an Ithaca M37 20ga. .

Hoppe's no.10


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## KEN WES. (Dec 13, 2005)

sgc, a 20 ga pump with screw in chokes will work good for skeet and informal trap and sc shooting. I've used my mossberg 835 for all 3 with good results, and its a 24" barreled turkey model. I just change chokes, i/c, mod. or full depending on the application. What counts is if it fits you and feels comfortable to you. 
amy1976, if a 20ga 1100 is what you have and it works for you on trap use it, you cant shoot what you aint got. but I would get a shell catcher that mounts on the reciever. I have one on my 12ga 1100 trap model and it works good. it keeps the empties from flying and bother others and if you reload you keep you hulls. they are only a couple of bucks and just snap on and off.


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## love2fish93 (Jul 22, 2007)

I was satisfied with a 23/50 on sporting clays with a mossburg 500, 28" barrel and a x-full turkey choke without knowing. It was also the first time I had shot the gun too. I think the accuracy is not in the firearm, but in the shooter, although adaptations may help.


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## ajmorell (Apr 27, 2007)

love2fish93 said:


> I was satisfied with a 23/50 on sporting clays with a mossburg 500, 28" barrel and a x-full turkey choke without knowing. It was also the first time I had shot the gun too. I think the accuracy is not in the firearm, but in the shooter, although adaptations may help.


23/50 isn't too bad considering the x-full choke. I shot 40/50 with a mod choke/30" barrel last week. I think that sporting clays, sporting clays are most representative of what you will experience in the field as far as types of shots and distances. Out of trap, skeet and sporting clays it is one that you don't need a dedicated gun to do well with IMO (not saying that you need a dedicated trap gun to shoot well at trap or skeet, my dad shot 74/75 trap with his Rem. 1100).


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## MERGANZER (Aug 24, 2006)

Amy, on a side note. They do make a device for your 1100 for trap shooting that catches your shell so it doesn't eject towards others. It is designed to catch one shell at a time so if you are in sprting clays with multiple shots it will not work but for one shell they work nicely and avoid any conflict from the guys you are shooting better than lol sorry to get off topic but you can get them through cabelas and they are not expensive.

Good shooting 

Ganzer


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## brdhntr (Oct 1, 2003)

Amy1976 said:


> My shells usually land between their feet. Sometimes they get hit in the knees....


This will prevent that. 

http://www.tandsshellcatcher.com/12Photos.htm


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## ajmorell (Apr 27, 2007)

brdhntr said:


> This will prevent that.
> 
> http://www.tandsshellcatcher.com/12Photos.htm


Yep those work quite nicely. I have one for the 1100 I'm shooting. Like mentioned earlier not much good for doubles on the SC range but for singles and on the trap range it works great. It is particularly nice if you reload too so you don't have to worry about searching for your shells.


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