[Suprman]

some friends and I are going to shoot skeet this weekend and I'm not so sure i'll be able to do it with my shotgun.

S&W 3000 (870 clone) 2 3/4 12ga 4+1 18" barrel

what ammo do you usually use? i have 100rds of walmart bulk 7 1/2 shot and 25rd Remington low recoil 00 buckshot (given to me for free)

 

[EJR914]

Re: Will my S&W 3000 12ga be able to shoot skeet?

some friends and I are going to shoot skeet this weekend and I'm not so sure i'll be able to do it with my shotgun.

S&W 3000 (870 clone) 2 3/4 12ga 4+1 18" barrel

what ammo do you usually use? i have 100rds of walmart bulk 7 1/2 shot and 25rd Remington low recoil 00 buckshot (given to me for free)

Yes, that shotgun will do fine for skeet. Does the shotgun have any chokes? If so, make sure you match the choke to the distances with which you'll be shooting. One in the middle should be fine, but still, make sure what distances you'll be shooting the clays.

Use the 7.5 shot, target ammo from Wal-mart. I use a similar round when I shoot clays.

If this is your first time, do not be discouraged. It does take a little bit of getting used to. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the proper technique for shooting a moving flying target with a shotgun. Always follow through and keep moving through the shot. Its a big help.

Also, depending on the distance of the clay, you may want to lead the clay slightly. And depending on the clay's speed. It kind of a guessing game at first, but you will catch the hang of it and be able to calibrate lead depending on distance and speed.

Remember the shot will be in a cylinder shape, and not flat and one dimensional like a pizza pan. You want the clay to fly into the cone, resulting in a hit.

Remember all your gun safety and ya'll should have a great time.

Watch this video if you would like, it should help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUbhw-rA ... re=related

 

[gunsmoker]

Re: Will my S&W 3000 12ga be able to shoot skeet?

That shotgun, with no choke (cylinder bore) and the 18" barrel, will be great (perfect) for many of the shots you will be presented with in skeet. It will be a little too wide-patterned for a couple of them, the ones that are positioned a lot like trap where they start far away from you and head directly away from you too. But if you have the right skills, you should be able to break 20+ out of the 25 shots per round of skeet.

The fact that it's a pump should not matter. I've smoked a lot of true pair clays with my Mossberg 500. If not for the artificial rule of one shot per clay target, I think I could pump fast enough to fire 2-3 times at each bird if I had to.

12 gauge low-brass birdshot in sizes #8 or 7.5 is what I use, because it's cheap.
If I wanted to pay more to increase my odds of breaking a couple more clays, I'd use #9 shot, which has a lot more (but smaller) pellets in the payload.

 

[Suprman]

Re: Will my S&W 3000 12ga be able to shoot skeet?

Thanks guys! I wasn't receiving emails to new reply, but checked today and see that GPDO helps me out once again!

No chokes on my gun, its pretty basic (for $150 I didn't mind for my first Shotgun) but it seems to do any job well. I'm glad i can use the 7.5 shot as Not much money right now. Should be fun. I'll watch that video a couple times to get me going.

 

[corey541]

Re: Will my S&W 3000 12ga be able to shoot skeet?

you'll be fine. My Mossberg 500 with a short barrel has proven just as effective as my Remington 1100 with a 26" barrel.

Be safe and have fun, but be warned, you'll want to make this an every weekend thing(not necessarily a bad thing)

 

[Suprman]

Re: Will my S&W 3000 12ga be able to shoot skeet?

Wow that was alot of fun!! Can't wait to do it again!

the guns they had set up for us to use were mostly 20ga 26in barrel over/unders and one 12ga 26in barrel over/under. I must preferred my 12ga 18in pump, but only because i was used to using it. The guy that was instructing us was great and started calling me Rambo due to using my "street sweeper" and having my glock on my hip. He was pretty funny saying things like "I'll make sure to call him before i come over to his house" and such. IF anyone in the LaGrange area or hell within a few hours drive (we drove from Downtown Atlanta area) I would highly recommend http://libertyhillsportingclub.com/ ! They were very good with all our guys (and girls) who haven't even shot a gun before and the rest of us who have mostly only shot static targets. It was a very good experience and i believe it made a few people want to shoot more and even maybe get there own gun!

anyways, I think i found another fun activity to do. next time I'll try to get the GF to come as i think she would enjoy it and would help her learn to shoot moving targets instead of paper targets at our range.

here's a few pics from the day.

 

[gunsmoker]

Glad you had a good time !!

P.S. Every year in the late summer or early fall, I organize a GPDO & G.C.O. shotgun day at some local clay-busting outdoor range. For the last two years it's been held at the Wolf Creek / Tom Lowe Shooting Grounds range not far from the Atlanta Airport.
It's always fun and we always have some "home defense" type shotguns mixed in with the sporting models. They all bust the clays if the barrel's pointed in the right place when the trigger gets pulled!

Hope you can make the next one, probably in September 2011.