doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shooting Clays with a SxS

Had fun yesterday shooting clays with a serious clay shooter. He's the reining senior champion here in Colorado (or at least he was) and he's still very competitive even in his 80s. He was shooting his favorite stack-barrel and my son and I were shooting our normal hunting side-by-sides. It was sure fun to finally get out and about in the sunshine and the breeze and... after a bit it got me to thinking about just how well a nicer Spanish sidelock tolerates the relatively-inexpensive Remington and Federal 12-gauge loads available at the ranges in our area. I opted for a flat of the Federal one-ounce loads but they still seemed fairly sharp to me. Both guns were a bit hard to open at times (my 557 Arietta normally digests RSTs as a course of habit, although it is in proof for 1 1/8 ounce 2 3/4 loads). I'm guessing that if I'm going to be doing much more of this, I'll need to either find a reasonable supply of Winchester AA Lightweights or lean to reload again. The maroon Federal shells we were shooting seemed to be all over the place in terms of report and recoil.

Try Win Super-X in the 1-oz load, silver box. Pretty soft shooting.

I've done just the opposite Lloyd. I've hand thrown hundreds of clays over the last few weeks for my boy. He's a bit bigger now, normally off somewhere else with other obligations. Taking advantage of the hunker, he's improving a noticable bit. We could go to the regular clays range, but we've also mixed in a bunch of pistol and longer range rifle shooting at the same shooting area. He even got the tannerite bug out of his system. Been throwing them all away, but I suppose I should check if steel head hulls will reload a time or two. Have fun with it.

Lloyd,
SxS's are all I shoot at sporting clays anymore. I've been using the Estate SS target loads and really like them. Loaded at 1 OZ. and 1180 FPS they shoot much softer and cleaner than the typical Federal, Winchester, and Fiocchi target loads in my 6 1/2 lb. 12 ga. guns.
The 12 ga. 2 1/2 chambered Churchill gets the RST 1 oz. loads however.
Karl

Estate IS a good shell.

Of course you know it's a Federal product. The first run of that stuff was smokey and dirty. They learned quickly.

It's currently the best available 'promo' load, at least in 12 gauge in my opinion.

Last test results I saw indicate they use about 3.5% Antimony shot.

Gun Clubs are about 2%. The 'old' Herter's were 1% (essentially chilled shot).

I won't buy Winchester anything, except AA and that usually only in 410 because I want the hulls. Winchester Universal is pretty crummy stuff.

I'm sure Federal would love to hear about those 'all over the place' shells. That's contrary to the experience of nearly everyone else. Federal makes good consistent ammunition in my experience, even in the lower priced line.

I shot my Garbi 101 12 bore yesterday at Deep River Spoeting. It is a somewhat heavy gun at around 7lbs and 6 oz with 29 1/2" barrels.
I was shooting the Winchester Super Target, I believe they were 1 ounce and around 1180 FPS.
The club house at DR was selling the same shell in 7/8 ounce at 980 FPS.
A guy who was shooting with us bought two boxes. They sounded like a 22 going off every time he pulled the trigger.

I shoot a heavy MX8 as my everyday sporting gun. Even so I prefer a slow load ....... either 1 or 1 1/8 oz. at under 1200.

When I shoot my S X S guns I use the same loads. Contrary to some here I won't go less than 1 oz. in a 12 ga. I don't shoot soft stuff except when I am entered in a tournament that sets the birds that way, I.e., a "charity shoot". Lower velocity is no detriment to good scores, even on long stuff. It is, however, a help to gun management under recoil. Or, said another way, it helps get you on the second bird without wrestling or conscious mental effort. One bird in a 100 bird match is all it takes to put you in first place of your class, or HOA.

Best, SRH

I shoot Estate SS in 12 and 20. WW Super Taget in 12 and 20 are also pleasent loads. WW Universal are banned at one club I shoot at. JUNK

bill

If you can find them, try some 7/8 oz loads. You will be surprised at the efficiency and the soft recoil. Yes, for 40 yd targets something of a heavier payload is useful, but closer than that 7/8 is all that is needed.

Only use 7/8oz fibres in my s/sides for clays and they do the the job.Comfortable to shoot in lighter weight guns.Use them more often than not in o/u `s too! Mostly 7 1/2 shot but prefer 8`s if I can get them.