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What is this talk i have heard lately of some pros hitting clays at 100 yards. I would think patterns would be 2-3 feet gaps by then and energy very little. Is this possible. And what would they have to use , 10 ga Turkey loads with a turkey choke??
Feedback??

This subject has been discussed to death on "the other" site. Lots of people say it is impossible, but several swear they have seen Digweed do it. The "theory" may say it is impossible, but I'm sure the guys who say Digweed did it were not lying, therefore it is not impossible.

I have seen a longbird game that may have been 100 yards and definitely was close to that, and it was being broken once in a while. Nobody did it consistently, but Digweed does things other people can't do.

Mr. Ben, he may be good, but he is only as good as his gauge and loads will allow. I think it is misleading if people think he is out there with 3-3 1/4 dram and 1 to 1 1/8 oz loads hitting clays at 100 yards. When if you put the clay on a still target and shot it all day long, maybe you can crack it. He must be using #4 shot or maybe even #4 buck shot and hitting it occasionally. Just wanted to know if anyone else has done it with standard clay/trap/skeet equipment & loads. I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Mr. Ben, thanks for the feedback, I have always enjoyed your posts.

I've not seen this but I've seen a guy use #9 Hevi-Shot and consistently (3 of 5) break clays at 60 yards.

I've personally seen George Digweed nearly do it in an exhibition shoot with John Bidwell at a Game Fair at Blenheim Castle in England two years ago. 100 yards, no. 85-90 (my guess) yes.

He started off at 50 yards shooting from the hip. Never missed. He then moved progressively away, still hip shooting until about 65-70 yards. From then on he used a conventional (!) style until at around 80 yards he started missing the odd bird. At what I reckon to be 85-90 yards he was hitting about one in three. Further than that and he missed them all.

The gun was an O/U 12 gauge for sure; a Kemen I think, with no extended chokes. Bidwells spiel included claiming George was using conventional Kent cartridges .... well he is a showman after all!

I should add that at least 2000 other people were present when I saw him, and he did it twice daily for three days running.

Digweed also holds the UK record for woodpigeon shooting over decoys, 661 in a day; not pretty, but impressive shooting skills.
He is hoping to qualify for the Olympics this year, not sure what discipline he will go for.

Here is a link to his website http://www.georgedigweed.com/

regards to you all,
Eug
Regards
Eug

What's he trying to qualify in?


And Moore 'n' Moore sportung clays had a 100 yard shot. If you made the shot you got a pin.

Digweed is a regular Olympic (bunker) trap shooter and has commented in interviews that this is one of his favorite ways to practice for sporting/FITASC.

I would think he would be trying out in that discipline.

Never seen it. Never heard of it. But with hevi-shot and a well matched shot-choke situation, why not?

We regularly shoot at targets that are 80-90 yards away. The club to which I belong has a weekly "games" shoot and ties are decided by shooting from that distance. The last shoot of the day is from long distance---break 5 in a row and you win the jackpot--$100. It is done several times a year.

driller, what loads & shot do you use when you do that?

Pigeonhunter,

I think its Double Rise Trap he's going for, not "bunker trap" which I take to be Olympic Trench. The present Double Trap gold medallist is also an Englishman, Richard Faulds.

At another Game Fair I followed Richard down the Sporting line, a very interesting experience. If the guy isn't on beta blockers he's into self hypnosis, I have never seen a power of concentration like it. He never appears to hurry, but is lightning quick, no wasted movement, just everything under tight control.

George is just what you'd expect from an ex butcher, a big jovial, shambolic, bluff sort of bloke. Richard is a modest and charming young man, very neat and dapper. In the last couple of years they have been shadowing each other in FITASC and I think George wants a head to head in Athens.

My problem with Georges' exhibition was I didn't have my 300 foot ruler with me, so it was all personal judgement. If you actually measure (not step out, guess at or estimate) 100 yards
it's a b****** long way!
Regards
Eug

Yes Eugene, 100 yds IS a long ways for a shotgun! It'd have to be a lucky shot! Some folks ARE luckier than others, they shoot more!

BP

Rogmatt---You asked what loads I use for the long range shoots at our club-----answer---For the last couple of years I have used a load that is not in any book I have found. It varies from published loading only because it is LOWER in speed and pressure than the lowest load listed for that paticular powder,wad,primer,hull and shot weight combo. I will tell you that it involves a STS hull,Win 209 or Nobel Sports primer,Longshot powder,a genuine Win AA F114 wad(the old style with the deeper shot cup) and 1 1/4oz of Remington Magnum 6's. The key to great patterns at long distance is reduced pressure and speed(just my opinion). The paticular load I use runs within a 1240 and 1260fps consistently over my chrono. 100 yard patterns thru my trap gun are NOT even,but it will consistently put 25 to 45 #6's in a 30 inch circle at that distance. My experience with this is that #6 or larger are the only shot that have the retained energy to get a break with only a pellet or two.

The best factory load for this that I have found is a Remington Gold Nitro Sporting load of 7 1/2's at 1300fps. ANY 12ga or smaller shell is allowed(no 10's or 8's)and I have even tried 3" mag loads in my 391 trap with no increase in the number of breaks.

Not to brag---but in the past year I have carried several $100 bills home from the shoot,as have others using much larger loadings.-------Psssst--26.5 gr. of Longshot is a good starting point in the 12ga.

For those who are not participants in "Race Games" 100 yards may seem like a long way, but in reality it is not. Several of the local clubs in my area shoot Race's one night a week. I use Federal Paper Super Handicap 1 1/8 ounce 7 1/2 for any shots out to 100 yards. When the going gets tough and you start to move back some times as far as 200 yards 1 1/2 of #5's at very high velocity will do the trick every time if you know where to hold. Trap shooters who typically play these games will be glad to take you if you ever want to learn how to shoot the really long stuff.

The last time I remember any long shot of any significance at a sporting clay tournament was at the SCA Nationals in Columbia Mo. in 1996. Andy Perkins had an international trap up in a man lift 40 feet in the air, thrown as a left to right crosser 125 measured yards out. Lots of folks paid their money and shot and missed and missed and missed. There were a few of us there who were familiar with the game "Towers" who did not miss.

So, are these 100+ yard targets supposed to be flat crossers on edge? I would like to see it and offer my congrats to the shooter that can break them consistantly with legal loads.

I helped a friend set up a snooker field with number 7 a rising but on edge R-L crosser, at 83 yards in the center of flight path, a 20 mph wind was also at the shooters back. I ended up behind a round bale near the center of the target path, listening to the target and could see it always. Pliiiiiinnnk as at least three pellets hit the target from a Nitro Sporting 7 1/2 shell and .035" choke, the shooter was making contact just not enough energy to break it.

Turned the machine in the wind slightly, put a 4X4 under the inside tire and made a curling target with at least 1/2 the belly showing but never got closer at the center than it was before, then it could be consistantly broken---on edge, I am certainly not good enough nor do I have a bullet good enough to do it.

Texas,
My apologies; I should have said that the clays George shot were pretty well belly on, or as near as could be at that range.

GBbluerock said
as far as 200 yards 1 1/2 of #5's at very high velocity will do the trick every time

and
“thrown as a left to right crosser 125 measured yards out. Lots of folks paid their money and shot and missed and missed and missed. There were a few of us there who were familiar with the game "Towers" who did not miss”

Every time? Did not miss? Here is a bet in gentlemanly sporting terms; you provide solid evidence of both these feats, witnessed by independant judges, and I'll buy you a ticket to Athens. My definition of "Every time and did not miss" will be 100 straight in both (I don't want to overburden your chums) If any bird out of the 200 is dropped or second barrelled, or the evidence is not forthcoming I'll settle for a bottle of "Lagavoulin" malt. Fair enough?

Regards
Eug

In that case Eugene, full belly showing, I will definately agree that it can be done and with quite repeatability, consistently, meaning every time, I have to say on a shooters given day it is, but most of us are not that good at that distance.

The same case in point, a snooker (make a break) setter, knows not to throw a full belly shot for target 7/8, as certain shooters will camp out on it once they have it figured out. Suprisingly, I have found that one of the leaders in the group will be some B or C shooter that can put the gun back in that spot repeatedly. He may miss the 1, 2 or 3 but is death on the 7

That is the most fragile presentation of a target, and shows the most captured diameter----all dome presents a stronger surface that also has several areas that the pellet is prone to glancing off of.

I have a few friends that I would not bet against them breaking 10/10, full belly, at 100 yards with their choice of choke/shell and a few times to practice. I doubt though, if I could consistently.