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So I went out shooting sporting clays Saturday for the first time. 13 stations, 50 clays total and I hit 24. I'm happy with those results since I wasn't expecting to hit over 15 or so my first time out. I've got the poly choke II on my Saiga 12 and had it set on modified based on advice from one of the guys I was shooting with. After we finished, he made the comment that he should have changed his choke to a full choke on some of the stations where the clays were farther out. Is this sound advice? Does anyone have a general rule of what choke they use at certain distances?

 

I think the best part of the day was when the third guy made the joke that I should get a long barrel gun for skeet/sporting clays and leave the Saiga 12 at home. I beat him by 4 shots and asked him what did he think of my "home defense gun" now. :) He had no comment. LOL.

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So I went out shooting sporting clays Saturday for the first time. 13 stations, 50 clays total and I hit 24. I'm happy with those results since I wasn't expecting to hit over 15 or so my first time out. I've got the poly choke II on my Saiga 12 and had it set on modified based on advice from one of the guys I was shooting with. After we finished, he made the comment that he should have changed his choke to a full choke on some of the stations where the clays were farther out. Is this sound advice? Does anyone have a general rule of what choke they use at certain distances?

 

I think the best part of the day was when the third guy made the joke that I should get a long barrel gun for skeet/sporting clays and leave the Saiga 12 at home. I beat him by 4 shots and asked him what did he think of my "home defense gun" now. :) He had no comment. LOL.

Clay shooters are a very helpful group ... and a bit traditional and can be VERY snooty (depending on the level you are shooting and the particular crowd).

 

First off, advice to increase choke is a very sound one. The "how much for what distance" has been debated alot. Couple of schools of thought ... some top shooters only use 3 ... near, middle and far (for skeet, mod and full). Others will use many more iterations. (adding cylinder, imp mod, ext full, etc)

 

As a bit of "learning" .. the choke is related to the numbers/names that the tubes have, but true choke is a result of shot dispersal. I don't remember exactly, seems like they take a 30 inch circle at 30 yards. Skeet has some percent of pellets in the circle (assume you've got point of aim = point of impact), imp cylinder has a bit more, all the way up to full. I don't remember the percentages, but the bottom line is ... the only way to know the true choke you have is to spend time and ammo at the patterning board ... and end up counting a BUNCH of pellets ...ugggg. Most of us assume the name/diameter of the choke is close enough.

 

Now, most "serious" clay busters prefer some medium length over/under. They have a nice balance and are known to handle the ridiculous number of rounds these guys practice with very well. Sponsored shooter told me he had just got an pallet of shotshells delivered to his house for this years shooting, it was 45,000 rounds!

They consider pumps an challange (?) but a semi is an abomination :) I'd guess that the Saiga (semi AND assault rifle looks together!!! oh my) scared some and maybe offended others? heheheheh Good job beating the "hater"

 

If you are shooting to get to know your saiga better, more power to you! If you love the sport and want to progress ... eventually you are going to try a gun with a rib/bead and see how much easier hits come. And if you get rich and snooty you'll be buying a Krieghoff ... or some other $15K dollar gun just sure that it'll get you an extra bird or two when it counts :o

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one of the guys at my club just got himself a krieghoff... He got it for a VERY good price or he wouldnt have. Best part is... my gal still schools him every week with her Winchester Super X3. And before that, she was doing it with her Baikal MP153... ( which I paid $160 bucks for!)

 

The gun doesnt make the shooter... SKILL makes the shooter. I can shoot a perfect trap round with my Saiga 20 gauge... and HAVE on several occasions...

 

 

:smoke:

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Well, there's an old saying "it's not the arrow, it's the indian!" Not to contradict the fellow that was helping you out, but unless you had some extremely long distance clays stations, modified and full were way too much choke for most sporting clays. The average American sporting clays presentation will rarely have targets over 45 yards and can easily be shot with skeet or improved cylinder choke. In a single barrel gun, you have to choose the tighter choke (choke for the longer target) and make do up close. That's the real advantage of a double barrel gun, two chokes. I've been a serious clays competitor for 18 years now, and I shoot improved cylinder about 96% of the time in a single barreled gun and my standard chokes in the over/under are improved cylinder and light modified. I suggest you try improved cylinder next time, most other chokes have a very conspicuous "optimum range" where they are too tight before and the pattern thins out too much beyond, but the improved cylinder is a "linear" choke and will provide a very uniform and effective expanding pattern out to about 60 yards.

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have improved cylnder as my default when I shoot my saiga 12 with polychoke.. Works well close, and I'm better than my buddies at long range. friends tend to be a bit better at close range.

Edited by volkov
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