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Thread: Guns of the Best Sporting Clays Shooters

  1. #1
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    Default Guns of the Best Sporting Clays Shooters

    Here is a very well written article from Shooting Sportsman magazine. It covers the guns and opinions from the top shooters. All of them are bird hunters too.


    http://shootingsportsman.com/seven-g...-seven-makers/

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    Cool article. All 32s except for one 34.

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    Yep and no guns under 8 pounds.

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    I always wondered how many great clay shooters actually get into changing chokes. I see that Mr Fennell shoots fixed and the same chokes out of his. I actually do in two of mine, one is a fixed choke mod and imp, the SxS. I feel like it messes with my head less, and makes everything just a tad more thoughtless. I've shot clays with a couple guys that I swear change a choke about every station. It drives me buggy. If it helps them then good for um.
    Last edited by Highstrung; 02-24-2017 at 10:02 AM.

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    There are really two camps when it comes to changing chokes. I never change chokes as do many of my fellow competitors. I find it distracting and allows to spend more time planning to address the pair.

    But there are still a few top shooters that change chokes fairly often. Derrick is one. He likes to change chokes but he wins a lot of tournaments. John Kruger is another, although he doesn't finish quite as well as he once did.

    For the most part, the guys at the top don't change much if ever. Many have gone to fixed chokes. The idea is to have enough choke to cover everything and forget about it.

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    My chokes don't come out. I feel like in the bird hunting part having both barrels choked the same gives me less to think about when you're dealing with wild birds. Honestly they're not that hard to kill anyways, but it's one less thing. I like repetitive. Granted I have shot most clays with a 391, it's a pretty one though. The choke hasn't been out since I've bought it.

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    I've heard a couple of stories from shooters where they were so caught up in changing chokes before their turn that they forgot to put one back in. Either that or it came loose and fell out.

    But at some point they realized they had been shooting without a choke. Neither had any damages to the threads

    Pretty interesting article. Thanks for sharing Gander
    Last edited by uga_dawg; 02-24-2017 at 10:48 AM.

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    There are shooters, myself included that will shoot threads if faced with a really squirrely rabbit targets at 10 yards. I don't do it often, maybe 5 times a year.

    Believe it or not, I was given that advice by one of the principal owners at Kolar when I asked if they offered spreader chokes.

    For the most part, sporting clays is not a thinking man's game. Less thinking, more letting your eyes drive the hands.

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    Quote Originally Posted by walt4dun View Post
    Cool article. All 32s except for one 34.
    There would be more 34" guns listed, but only one company represented will make a 34" barrel set.

    Gebben Miles (a Krieghoff Prostaffer) told me that if Krieghoff made a 34" barrel set, he'd be shooting one. Before he signed on with Krieghoff, he shot a Perazzi MX2000 w 34"barrels. All the US Perazzi guys (Cherry, Radulovich, & Seay) shoot 34" guns.

    There is a HUGE disconnect from what really works and what most people 'think' they like. It's all a matter of exposure.
    Last edited by Fish; 02-26-2017 at 10:02 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fish View Post
    There would be more 34" guns listed, but only one company represented will make a 34" barrel set.
    Why is that?

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    It's a combination of laziness, not understanding the market, and the reality that they can sell almost as many guns without going to the trouble of making a 34" barrel set. The reality - so there's a guy who is thinking about two guns, say a Kolar and a Perazzi. And so he's talking to his coach, Wendell Cherry for instance, and Wendell is a good salesman. So he buys the 34" MX whatever. So Kolar loses a sale. They're still not interested in running a batch of 34" barrels. But if they had 100 sets, they could make some of those sales.
    Last edited by Fish; 02-26-2017 at 03:58 PM.

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    When I spoke to Dieter Kreighoff a couple years ago he said I can sell 100 32" gun to every 34" gun. Not so sure about that but I'm not running to sales department for Kreighoff.

    I'm still talking to Kolar about doing a run of 34 inch barrels in the light version. They said they would need to oder a lot of 20 barrels.

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    Do y'all personally prefer 32s or 34s?

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    I went from one extreme to the other. For years, I shot my very light weight, extremely short barreled (24") quail gun at my monthly sporting clays club shoots. I eventually got to the point that I could shoot well enough to not embarrass myself or my squad. I defied all advice and just wouldn't be convinced I need a real sporting clays gun. At our yearly lesson sessions with John Woolley, he set up some long, fast crossers and had me shoot my stubby gun and then one of his real guns. Even though the lead is the same with either gun, the perception was that I was having to shoot about 1 1/2 school buses in front with the short gun but much less lead with the long gun. I finally got off the money and bought a real gun with 32" barrels. It took me a while to learn to ignore the extra 7 inches of barrel length and extra 2 lbs but it's clear that my equipment was holding me back.

    I'm not sure I'd notice or improve with another 2". After a point, it becomes a matter of gun balance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by walt4dun View Post
    Do y'all personally prefer 32s or 34s?
    If Krieghoff made 34's, I'd have 'em.

    I do have a Kolar with 34" barrels.

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    I have 2 Kolar with 34's. My Perazzi had 34's. I'd still say 34's are outliers in sporting. 80% are using 32's, 10% are using 34's and 10% are using 30's.

    It comes down to personal preference. Lead will look slightly different with different lengths

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