Nite Ryder

I suspect most people recommend what they have and what they use, so it is with shotguns. I have several shotguns including Remington 1100's, and 870's, but I'm not going to recommend any pump shotgun for Skeet or Sporting Clays, to do so is foolhardy. In the past I've shot both of these games and from my own experience an Over/Under Shotgun in 12 gauge is the best choice. If you want something with lighter recoil, buy Feather Lite shot shells, or reload your own and load them down. You get money wrapped up in these shotgun sports fairly quickly, but it's a mistake to start out with a cheap 870 Express shotgun unless you just plain don't care what kind of results you get, or you don't expect to shoot often. Sometimes it is best to stop and think before you act. "The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory.” You will forget about paying a premium price for a shotgun quickly, if it serves you well, but you will regret buying something cheap when you realize it will never work well.

When my wife wanted a shotgun for Sporting Clays I built her a Remington 1100 with a shorter stock, and a shorter, ported barrel, in 12 gauge. She had been shooting a Winchester 97 some with a 20" barrel and decided she wanted a 12 gauge instead of handicapping herself with a 20 gauge. The 1100 worked well for her, but we discovered she had a problem with clay targets that were moving (don't they all). we found out her master eye was her left eye, but she was so right handed she couldn't wipe her butt with her left hand. She was never able to become a really good shot with a shotgun. Rifles and handguns didn't cause any problems for her, but with a shotgun, fit is everything.. You can always buy 'feather lite' shotgun shells in 12 gauge for less recoil, you can also reload your own, and load them lighter if recoil is a problem.

I've had more Beretta 682's and EELL's than any other shogun, and I loved them. I don't shoot Sporting Clays any more, but it seemed to me the 682's and EELL's that I had were a bit worse for recoil than some of the other O/U I owned at the time. All of my guns were back bored, and that should have made a difference, but it didn't seem to. Maybe the 12 gauge bores are just tighter in a Beretta than some of the other guns, but that sounds kind of dumb too. I used Krieghoffs, and Remington 3200's and 325's and the recoil seemed to be less in those guns. I haven't dabbled in the more expensive shotguns for sometime, so I have no idea what they are going for right now. I sold my last 682 for $2300, and my last EELL for $4200, that was about 8 years ago.

A pump shot gun does not work well for shooting Sporting Clays, unless you are darn fast. I have had more that one Browning A5 and I don't care for them, the Browning that worked best for me with Sporting Clays was an O/U 325 with a 30" barrel. I've also used Reminton 3200's, Krieghoff 3200's, and a Perozzi O/U, but the shotgun that I used the longest and did the best with was a Beretta 687 EELL in 12 gauge witha 28" barrel. If you are going to get serious about shooting this sport, start out with a good shotgun. If you are just going to shoot clay birds once in a while, anything will work. Get something that has choke tubes in it, you don't need something that is back bored or has any of the other custom stuff, however. Skeet and trap are far different than shooting Sporting Clays, so it makes a difference which you intend to shoot.

I've had a mid sized RIA 22TCM for almost a year now and I really like it. Mine didn't come with an extra 9 MM barrel, I bought my extra barrel from Armscor and had it cut down by a local gunsmith. I bought four 9MM Para mags (double stack) off GunBroker. Lockup on the 9MM barrel seems to be tight enough, because accuracy is better than I expected. This was the 9th 1911 I have and I've bought a double stack grip frame recently and a Pare LDA Carry model two weeks ago. I couldn't be happier with the RIA, altho I do think RIA's customer service could be better.

I've owned a BL22 Browning and loved it. It has a short lever throw and worked well for rimfire cowboy matches because it was fast. Another shooter became so fond of the rifle that he made an offer I couldn't refuse. I have a Rossi pump, and also a lever action Navy Arms '66, which is okay, but expensive (Uberti), neither of them worked as well as the Browning. One of our shooters had a Henry that he had nothing but trouble with, but I hear Henry's customer service is above reproach, still I would never want a Henry. I'd stick with a Browning if I were seriously going to shoot a 22 lever action, and I'd prefer a lever action to a pump. My 22LR of choice is a custom Ruger 10-22, but I hate their magazine, and a Sig 522 is looking pretty good.

I think you will find not all clubs offer a Wild Bunch category at their monthly matches, so it will depend on where you are and which club match you attend. Many of you might not know that the owners of SASS are 6 or 7 older men, who are known among SASS members as "The Wild Bunch". All of the rules pertaining to the SASS shoots are controlled by these owners, input from a group known as the "Territorial Governors" also has a lot to do with changing of the rules, but the owners always have the final say. The Wild Bunch shooting category was named after the movie of the same name. This category may evolve into more than what is offered and allowed now, but I look for the Territorial Governors to slow it down a bit, because it is still a part of cowboy actions shooting. I don't look for it to ever become a shooting sport that is not connected with SASS.

I started shooting CAS in 2006. Started with Ruger Blackhawks in 45 Colt because that is what I had. Didn't take long to buy everything in 357 (38 special). Started also with Marlin 1894 rifle and a SXS Coach gun for a shotgun. Now I have about 21 Ruger single action handguns, 4 each 97 Pump shotguns and 3 SXS coach guns, and too darn many rifles in assorted calibers. I tried a Colt Lightning clone for a rifle, and also an 1887 lever action shotgun, neither worked well for me. Speed is the name of the game, so light loads of 38 special cartridges in your two revolvers and in your lever action rifles works much better than 45 Colt or 44 Magnum. Some people prefer '66 and '73 clones (usually Uberti) for rifles because they can have a short stroke kit installed, but Marlins are hard to beat for the price and reliability. Shooters sign up to shoot in different categories, some are age based, some depend on choice of firearm, some depend on choice of costume. Boots, Cowboys type hats, and long sleeve shirts are required to participate. We usually have a lunch after our match, and a couple times a year we have a BBQ with steaks, baked potatoes and all the trimmings. I look at this as the most fun you can have with your pants on... The email address for our club is klamath.cowboys at hotmail dot com.

I'm hoping that after you have that pistol a while and have shot it a bit more, you will change your mind. True, it isn't like shooting s 22LR, but when it comes right down to it, it doesn't really hurt you. When I was in the military stationed in Korea I was on a pistol team. We shot every other day from 230PM to 430PM, we used older worn 1911's and ball ammo. Some of the shooters thought the recoil was tremendous, but they were new people who hadn't been around handguns and were fairly new to shooting. Most of them had heard the horror stories from GI's about the recoil of 1911, truly, that is all it is, horror stories. When it comes right down to it a 1911 firing 45 ACP ammo doesn't recoil near as much as some of the magnum cartridges. Try a 45-70 or a 308 Winchester in a handgun if you want to see what recoil really is. You will get used to a bit of recoil, you could also reload your ammo and load it down a bit.

I have two Ruger MkII's and two Ruger 22/45 (early models) that I've been shooting for sometime. One of the early model 22/45's has a Valquartsen upper on it with a red dot sight. These four pistols use two different styles of magazines, and aren't all that great to change if you happen to be using them in any kind of a timed match. I had a Kimber Rim-fire Target pistol that was made out of a light alloy, it was a worthless piece of junk, looked nice but didn't feed well. At the last gunshow I bought a Kimber 22LR conversion upper for one of my 1911's, it is far and away better than the Kimber Rim-fire Target. I've shot it quite a bit, no jams, it's becoming one of my favorites. The pistol with the red dot sight is so accurate you can hit a dime sized target dot at 20-25 yards all day long if you don't hurry your shots. I can't do that with the open sights on the 1911 with the 22 conversion. I haven't noticed a problem when switching back to the 45, however I just used one of my other 45 1911's instead of actually using that particular 1911.

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, but not new to shooting. I've collected firearms for most of my adult life, have shot many rounds of Sporting Clays, some Skeet, and have been into Cowboy Action Shooting since 2006. I'm retired from owning my own security business, which I ran for 31 years.