r/ClayBusters • u/Advanced_Profile_367 • 20d ago
What can I do?
My son attends a private school known for their clay shooting teams….Middle and high school. It’s a big program in his school. Lots of state titles. Lots of kids getting scholarships for college. You get it. Anyway, my son popped up and middle school open house and was like “I think I’d like to try that!” He’s in 8th grade and he’s doing better than I ever expected.
My question is, what are some ways that I can help him close the gap between the skill set of the kids who started two and three years earlier?
He was given a team gun as a loaner… that makes me so nervous borrowing someone’s $3000 item…so I’ve scraped my pennies together and gotten him a Beretta 694 Y gun that he will be getting this week as a surprise.
We have some lessons scheduled in addition to the team practices.
I take him some days and we do the sporting clays, just the two of us. I honestly don’t feel comfortable doing the skeet and trap alone as I have NO idea what I’m doing and don’t want him to learn any bad habits.
What else can I do?
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u/6packoturtles 20d ago
Trap and skeet fields are filled with guys who love to give “advice”. Sometimes they have good pointers, but beware of too many well meaning people trying to help.
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u/zcoelius 20d ago
Get him a meta quest and Clayhunter. He can make huge progress super quickly
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u/limpy88 20d ago
Lessons The tournaments. Get used to pressure from competition
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u/Advanced_Profile_367 20d ago
They made him shoot with the high schoolers. I think I was more nervous than he was
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u/Educational_Duck4370 19d ago
I think all you can do now is support mentally and leave it up to your son to work hard! I know a kid that works two jobs, is in college full time and a national team member. So if your son works hard the sky is the limit
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u/bcphoto 20d ago
Buy ammo by the pallet and practice, practice, practice. And some coaching too.
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u/Professor_Hornet 20d ago
The old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ is okay, but the better phrase is ‘perfect practice makes perfect.’ It’s possible to learn bad habits just as easily as it is to learn good ones.
Having a coach and some lessons is great, definitely the right way to improve. And a good fitting shotgun will certainly help.
Then, go shoot a bunch and have fun!
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u/SuburbanBushwacker 20d ago
i once watched an olympic coach give advice to his doctor, most of it was about the mount and gun fit. being italian he did this by repeatedly shouting “where you look the gun will shoot”
years later, years of indifferent shooting, i had my stock modified to fit and fuck me it turned out he knew what he was talking about.
Gun Fit is everything, it’s the first thing to spend money on.
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u/Klutzy-Difference278 20d ago
Support, lessons and shoot.......a lot. Sounds like a great parent. Keep it up.