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Any SxS trap shooters out there?

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Acohill1 said:
It's at a gun club so I have no control. My brother is a member maybe he could make a request to slow down a course for us.
They are wary about MLs there and only let me shoot in one place. It's kinda smack dab in the middle of a bunch of neighborhoods.
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That’s why I quit my club. “ he’s too slow!” Or “ it’s not safe!” “ too loud!”
 
Sam squanch said:
That’s why I quit my club. “ he’s too slow!” Or “ it’s not safe!” “ too loud!”
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Yeah I kinda laughed when they told me they were worried about where I was gonna load "same place as everyone else?"... it's like dude the first person in danger if I have an accident while loading is gonna be me lol.
 
ZUG said:
The best thing for you to do in my opinion is to learn how to shoot a shotgun properly. You don't aim it like a rifle you point it like you would your finger - don't look at the bead - look at the target and open BOTH eyes when you are shooting. You MUST practice this to get good at hitting flying targets. Like others have already said your shotgun must fit you so when you raise it up to your shoulder your cheek comes in contact with the stock and your eyes sight down the barrel and automatically point at the target. ALWAYS look at the target not the bead of the shotgun and KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN ON THE STOCK - do not look up and lift your head away from the stock. Once you lift your head off the stock you will miss the target EVERY TIME! Get yourself a GOOD book on trap or skeet shooting from an EXPERT trap or skeet shooter - I recommend Kay Ohye's trapshooting books. He is one of the ATA's hall of fame members and a personal friend of mine for MANY years -since the early 60's. <https://traphof.org/inductees/details/1/124-ohye-kay>
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I've been hearing that forever. Experts say that. I could never make it work. Hitting is hitting and I can only do so by using the bead. I can't lead properly without it. I have no problem on actual birds, quail and grouse, which is the only use I have for a shotgun. But that's just me. I envy those who can consistently break clays. I can't relate clays to hunting.
 
I shoot skeet with most of my SxS. I really started testing myself this winter with the 16ga flintlock made about 1890? I was using sheep wool as wadding that is what you see in the video. I miss a lot but hit enough that I wouldn't go hungry if hunting.
 

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Acohill1 said:
okay good to know.... I've been looking at older percussion shotguns honestly id like a 38" fowler but money doesn't grow on trees. guess I've always wanted to learn to gunsmith so i may get my opportunity. Any advice on scalping a nice gun from an antique auction? i see a bunch out there with guns that look okay but I'm not an expert by any means i wouldn't even know where to begin picking out a nice old shotgun other than looking a price and what the seller tells me :/
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Talk to Brit.

He’s owned Pedersolis and has put a lot of rounds through them.
 
I shoot sporting clys and skeet with Pedersoli 1970's SxS, and also for bird hunting and bird dog training. Trap, I've had trouble with, it's pretty far out for low gun shooting. I've used winchester SL wads successfully, either pink or gray, the clay busters SL are cheaper and work the same, I can get 16 rounds per barrel between cleaning. Those Pedersolis are stocked high, which is generally good for the rising target that you get in trap.
 
I have shot a lot of trap and skeet a long time ago ,for trap I found that the original single barrel percussion live pigeon gun the best has these gun were specially built for trap shooting very straight and came in all bore sizes from 4 to 12 .
Feltwad
P1010001.JPG
 

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Havent read thru the whole thread....

But have you patterned the gun? And seen where the shot is landing in relation to the bead and your point-of-point (you point shotguns, not aim them right?)

I ask because a buddy was going nutz with his Pedersoli trying to do some turkey hunting. He finally shot at some wrapping paper and discovered the left barrel shot about a foot and a half down and left from point-of-point and the right barrel was shooting about a foot and a half up and right from point-of-point..... some practice and clear thinking might make that doable for turkey hunting, but no way in heck would I think I could be successful at trap or skeet
 
Just learned that the Hungarian ML trap team(I'm sure others as well) use (semolina) durum wheat in place of the wad.
. Powder
. Wheat
. Shot
. Overshot card
The weight of the shot immediately compacts the bottom half of the wheat column not allowing the shot to fall all the way through this is further cemented when you ram the over shot card down. The wheat buffers the shot keeping it uniform and with no wads to mess with the shot in flight it supposedly makes for VERY uniform and consistent paterns.
quicker reloads as well! It could help you keep up at the range.
 

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I went ounce.. with the modern guys.

It was allot of fun but..

5 guys shot before me including the doubles. You reload just in time to shoot again. You don't have time to do the doubles. It's real good practice..

You don't get to talk to anyone like there all talking waiting to go again.

It's fun though.

At my club they were cool about it. They had me load in the clubhouse before we started no caps of course..

after I shot one I thought wait too load till it was my turn.. so I was standing there, they were all like start loading that thing.
 
I didn't read everything but here goes on tips.. im OK at it.

One.. you kinda have to get the shot before the clay starts to drop.. there's videos on hitting dropping targets that are better than me..

It's not easy.

Things I had to work on I'll say was..

Learning where to shoulder for saying pull..

Swing threw like using a paint brush? Shoot in front..

A light gun 20ga no good for me. To whippy?. the heaveyer gun seems to have more momentum enough so where I follow threw on the swing.

Again I missed more because I shoulder wrong took longer to get threw the target and was pulling when it was dropping usually.

And the best advice will be.. there usually is a club pro. If it's a clay range gun club there someone there that's good. Ask them to watch you.

With modern I went every week.. it was like a free lesson from this waterfowl hunter that was always there.

They also all used the same cheap shot the club got in bulk for cheap..
 
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All three of my Pedersoli 20 gauges shoot to point of aim very well. Ditch the cardboard wads and go with lubed felt wads under and over the shot. I also use leather over powder wads. They shoot fine to 40 yards with either 1 oz to 1 1/8 oz of shot. Leather expands better to seal the bore and also flexes to make it easy to ram past chokes. I use olive oil and bees wax.
 
Pattern your gun on a small dot at 13 yds. It should be at least a tad high. Dead-on or low won't work for trap.
 
I'm lucky, as I was the skeet chairman of my club for 14 years. Unless it's a club shoot or a match with another club I shoot my doubles whenever I want. I load at a table between station 5 and 6, I wait till the current squad shooting get to 5,6 or 7 and step up and shoot. I let other members give it a try if they want and we all have a great time. Last year I had a 16ga flintlock SXS and I hit very few clays. I also use a Shotkam on the SXS-s and they are fun to watch at the clubhouse
Wayne
 
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11Bravo said:
Last year I had a 16ga flintlock SXS and I hit very few clays.
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I have a 16 ga double sxs that was built by J T Phillips in the 1980s. It has Cochren locks that are lightening fast and never fail to spark. If I didn't know better I would say when Phillips built it he had custom fit it to me. It will hold it's own against my 20 ga Browning Citori O/U. I haven't used it shooting trap but not too many birds get away in Sporting clay's and Skeet.
 

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