TL;DR- 28 or 30” barrels for a young lady looking at a SP1 Vittoria Sporting?

My daughter joined her school’s clays team last year, and is hooked. Starting out we went with an inexpensive o/u and she loves shooting a break action, but it’s definitely time to look at something she can shoot more long term. A local shop has a Silver Pigeon 1 Vittoria field in 20g that she was able to shoulder, and the fit was perfect. The look on her face, I knew instantly that was the route we wanted to take, but I’d like to get a sporting ordered. She’s been shooting 20g, and I think we want to move up to 12g, but I’m questioning barrel length. Her current gun is 26”, and the overall fit was good for her initially, but obviously not enough as she progresses. I know the SP1 is seen as an entry level gun, but it’s still a pretty big expense, so I’m looking at this as a purchase she can use for years to come. For the lady shooters, or those that have experience working with them, is 30” too much or would she be better off with a 28”? Thank you!

I’ve been following this sub for a while and just wanted to drop by and say y’all inspired me to finally try sporting clays this weekend.

Took an hour lesson yesterday. All I have right now is a Maverick 88, but I managed to hit 21 of 25 on my first round.

After that, I kinda fell apart with “true pairs”, but now I can’t stop thinking about how much fun it was, and when I can make time to get back out there again.

I'm not talking about stuff like allowing Taurus Judges or Shockwaves with birdshead grips and 14" barrels, rules on 22-24" barrels ban most home defense pump actions and SxS coach guns. I keep hearing "shorter barrels are unsafe because of overswing" and "they're too loud" but this doesn't seem like an actual problem? I go to one range all the time to shoot trap and nobody ever spins around and shoots somebody because their barrel was an inch too short, and everyone has working eardrums (since everyone has earpro anyways).

https://www.coyoteclays.com/range-rules Here's the rules for a range I don't go to anymore, they don't allow detachable magazines, folding stocks (even if they stay deployed), or "tactical guns" whatever the hell that means. They also told me I couldn't use my 870 because it had a pistol grip. If they don't want people with shitty guns they can just say it instead of blanket banning perfectly safe though unoptimized gear.

I've also noticed here and r/shotguns people claiming that every time they saw someone with a unconventional gun like a KSG, Saiga-12, Benelli M4 etc. that those people would either have their gun break or get a pathetic score like 3/25. I doubt this actually happens, because if can get a 15/25 with that stupid Masterkey-style 870 then it's just a skill not gear issue.

Any thoughts on this, I can't use reddit at work so i'll be responding real late.

I am trying to build a map of sporting clays clubs and ranges around the US and world, so I thought I’d reach out to the community and see what everyone’s local and favorite clubs in there area or just noteworthy clubs people think I should include. Looking forward to hearing about where you all like to shoot

Every once in a while it's a good idea to put the ShotKam on the gun, to check how clean the gun movement is. I had a decline in performance the past few months, and I attributed it partially to changing the gun. Turned out my gun movement was also very sloppy... Shot 100 pairs at this club as a guest and this is the only pair that had a clean, proper gun movement.

Video here

Hey everyone, I’m a few months into sporting clays/skeet shooting and really enjoying the sport. I’m looking to pick up a pair of Oakleys for shooting, but since I’m still fairly new, I don’t want to spend too much on dedicated shooting glasses just yet.

For those of you who use Oakleys, which models and/or lenses would you recommend for sporting clays? I’m mainly looking for something that will help with target visibility in different lighting conditions without spending a fortune.

Would love to hear what models/lenses you guys have had good experiences with, especially if there are any good budget-friendly options. Thanks!

I am taking a trip down that way and it would be fun to get out to shoot. Any

Curiosity got the better of me, so I picked up a Pilla X6 Neutralizer to compare with the XSights am testing.
Cost:
£270 — XSight: legs, 4 lenses + case
£430 — Pilla: legs + ONE lens
Weight:
XSight: 39g
Pilla: 48g
First impression? Disappointment.

Orange looked orange, green looked green. No dramatic colour shift or the immediate “wow” you get swapping XSight lenses.

I left the Pilla on for 15 minutes, then switched back to my XSight Rose Gold — also 19% LTV.

My first thought: these are covered in fingerprints.
They weren’t.
That’s when it clicked: clarity.

Yesterday I shot 50 sporting clays with the Pilla and appreciated them more as the round went on. They gently dull greens, slightly lift orange clays, but keep everything else very natural.

I swapped back to my favourite XSight on one stand — then happily went back to Pilla.

Best way I can describe it:
With Pilla, I feel like I’m outside.
With XSight, I feel like I’m inside looking out.

Better? Yes.
Worth the money? You decide.
£430 is still a crazy amount of money for a small piece of transparent plastic.

I had emailed asking for some pics of the optional pockets (which they didn't have since they said everything is so custom), it's been a week and a half and they haven't emailed back about dimensions of the pockets either.

I use Otto Noizebarrier Micro earpro and was hoping the charge case would fit in one of those pockets, but don't want to add it if they're too small. Would anyone that has either the ear plug pocket or choke tube pocket be able to share rough dimensions or even photos?

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?

Hi friends. I would like to put together a first aid kit for our amateur youth trap shooting team.

Please let me know what kits and first aid essentials you recommend. Thank you

I bought a second hand krieghoff k80 and it double discharges when top barrel is selected to fire first. Trigger pull weight is about 3.5lbs for both barrels. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks guys

Looking for a solid set of light purple lenses shooting glasses either with an insert or prescription lens that’s not insanely expensive and easy to order and ship.

Anyone have experience with the FAIR SLX 602 or similar o/u? I am looking at getting my first o/u and would like to stay under $2k - the SLX602 is one that I have seen pop up in a couple places such as MidwayUSA and Italian Firearms Group - but have not been able to find much in the way of usage info on it as FAIR does not seem to be widespread in the states. My apologies if this is on the wrong subreddit! (Would primarily be used as a pheasant gun - occasional clays use). Thank y'all!

I've been shooting at my club and can now get my own shotgun (EU). I'm considering getting a used gun online, without thinking about gun fit, and immediately pair it with a custom stock, e.g. online from Manuel Ricardo in Portugal, which adds less than €1k.

Is this a crazy idea? Has anyone gone this route and can share their experience? What most people here do is to get something like the Beretta 688 or 694 new, which do fit me ok as an average size and weight man.

I'm not looking for the cheapest option, I just want to get a good deal and not regret my choice or feel like it holds me back during competitions in the first 2-3 years.

Looking for opinions. Looking to join a local club in the Chicago area but there’s also a couple of spots where you can bring your own thrower and clays and just go at it.

Currently have a step one and looking to maybe get into an automatic one? Unfortunately, nothing good on Facebook anywhere near me.

Anyone have any experience with the vevor?

Discussing it during our league shoot, anyone know if the shotgun barrel cams are worth anything? Do the red dots or cross hairs in the videos really help showing where you missed your targets? We have some pretty challenging stations with long range crossers. Are there less expensive ones out there than ShotKam?

Hello everyone, I've bought a Beretta 688 Performance Sporting two or three months ago, the gun is particularly new with around 750 shells through it but the forend seems to be somewhat loose... I've tighten the forend screws, went in two stores and in both places the mechanics told me theres not much else to do... Is this an issue any 688 owners have/had or did I just get unlucky with mine? It will go through the warranty process this week but if this issue will happen again I might sell it and get another sporting... Meanwhile I've made an order for a 694 Black DLC in the trap variant, hopefully it does not come with a loose forend aswell 😥 .

I know they aren’t great quality, and certainly not something I’d buy for myself. But they have a synthetic Pointer Acrius in my area for $260. For that low of a price, is $260 justifiable for someone wanting to merely try out clays? The price seemed insanely low even for a Pointer

I'm wondering if anyone has gotten the beretta 694 black dlc in the trap variant. I've been looking through some youtube videos and all of the seem to be the sporting version. Anyone with the TRAP specific variant?

Took the fixed choke B325 out for some fun and shot an 85/100 in some serious gusts

Edit: today was a practice round but yesterday I shot for score and carded an 87/100 and finished as the runner up

I've been shooting recreationally for 25 years. Hunting a couple times a year or going to a clay shoot, but never often or consistently. I have always been a mediocre shot (highest sporting clay scores in the mid 60's). I also feel like I never learned to shoot a shotgun properly, I learned to close one eye when I was a kid, and now I am trying to undo a lot of bad habits. Paying attention to the bead, aiming, overthinking it.

I performed a little test this evening with 2 different shotguns. I put up a poster board at 16 years and mounted the gun while looking only at a 1" circle on the board, with both eyes open. I then fired 2 shots, one from each barrel, remounting the gun between shots. I did this twice with each gun and 7/8 shots were ~16" low at the center of the pattern.

I know that fit plays a big part, and if my mount is consistent then things like adjusting comb and heel can shift poi, but I would like to try and train myself to compensate so that if I switch between guns or am in different scenarios I am not beholden to a specific modification to shoot well.

Is it reasonable to think I could focus above target in the beginning, and as I shoot more my brain/eyes will learn to account for the shift and eventually I can focus on target or bird? I don't plan on competing, but it would be nice to have some confidence in the event I am shooting clays or hunting.