Our club is looking at buying a set of skeet machines. I would like to hear opinions on the various manufacturers machines.

My club has 4 fields equipped with Beomat machines, purchases a set every two,years starting in around 2001. All machines have around 500,000 targets on them. Very little maintainence issues. One capacitor, one main spring, two new arms, strip of spring steel that lets the stack of targets down after dropping one to the arm are replaced about every other year.

We run Beomats also. 5 fields plus 2 spare machines. We replace the brushes and o-rings annually (25-50 thousand targets per machine). Good machines. We run in temps anywhere from around zero to 100f. We use white flyer pitch targets.

Like the two post above, Beomat machines throw great targets and my club threw 2,000,000 targets with a set of them.

But warning, they are complicated and you need intelligent club members to work on them.

Our club has had great service from Laporte traps. We originally bought 6 of the older 10 column machines very well used from Black Wing in Ohio. They were in service on our trap fields for 5 years, and then replaced with new Laportes. The old machines were repurposed for a five stand course, where they sit outside year round and still perform very well. I can't begin to guess at how many thousands of targets they have launched. The bottom plates have deep, circular wear grooves. I am a retired carpenter, with minimal machine/mechanical knowledge, and yet I can work on these and repair them as the need arises. Don, at Laporte USA, is a great resource and has talked me through many fixes.

We have recently placed Mec machines on 2 of our three skeet fields, replacing some aging Beomats. By comparison the Mecs are incredibly simple machines and they throw excellent targets.

The Mecs offer tool free adjustment and similar to many modern machines the motor only runs to re-cock the machine. Worth mentioning, the footprint of the Mecs were a bit larger than the Beomats that they replaced, something you might want to keep in mind if space is tight.

The MEC machine is the former APEX machine that was made in Kansas City, Kansas. They were designed to be simple and repairable with ordinary hand tools. My experience with them has always been positive. Our club currently uses Promatic: also a machine that has given us good service.

I know a lot of clubs over the past ten years are going with Lincoln traps. They are affordable, and throw a good target.

We currently have Beomat on one field and are upgrading our other field. I am interested in the Sporter style traps due to the simplicity and parts availability, but have heard complaints about how they do not throw good consistent skeet birds.

Our club has Atlas machines for our 2 fields. We throw about 44,000 targets per machine in a year. One field has traps of about 7 years old and the other has 3 year old traps. I'm not crazy about the older machines but the newer ones use a stouter, longer-life spring and improvements have been made to reduce spring rod wear. Our newer machines are easy to adjust target flight without tools and maintain. The older machines are not as easy and need a large wrench to adjust. The company's customer service is very good. The machines are reliable in cold weather which can get down to below 0.

ps These machines run on DC power and need either batteries and chargers or a transformer. We run them with a transformer.

Beomats throw very consistent targets. They are great machines. I know of several Beomats that have thrown, well over, 1,000,000 targets with the only parts replaced being maintenance items. Beomats will need rollers, orings and microswitches. Matterellis are great also. Great dependability and good consistent targets. Matterelllis are easier to maintain and adjust. The only thing about Matterellis that is a PITA is replacing the throwing arm inserts. In my experience, those inserts are, about the only thing that requires yearly replacement..

I'd much rather repair a Matterelli than a Beomat. Matterellis are much simpler to disassemble. IE: A broken spring, on a matterelli can be replaced in a couple of minutes. A beomat is, at least, 1/2 hour if your are lucky.

Flip a coin. You cant go wrong with either manufacturer.

We had an old Winchester/Western machine that went for 60 years. It would still be going but for the lack of parts. It was as big as a washing machine and as dependable as the old Maytags

Those WW machines were great! I've shot a lot of targets out of them. The only down side to them was the limited number of clays they could hold. They were what we had before we bought the Atlas traps. Parts availability became a big problem indeed. The club I belonged to in the early 70s used them and they weren't new then.

We are actually replacing Winchester single stacks. Great machines, just not practical anymore.

What do they use at major championship shoots and the Olympics?

Promatic I believe

I have read posts suggesting Laporte have been used in the Olympics as well.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Laporte, Beomat, matarelli, GMV, Promatic.

The NSC in San Antonio uses LaPorte.

Our club has Due-Matics which I am impressed with. I am not certain how expensive they are, or how difficult to maintain, our guy is meticulous. They throw a very consistent target with virtually no breakage. The club throws White Flyer Blackouts which my understanding is a bio. The machines are very easy to adjust; up-down and in-out are on turn buckles, pitch-roll is on a big knob next to those other two. Speed adjustment is a twist on a lagbolt sticking out of the back of the machine that runs through the coil spring.

I would put the Due-Matic on par with the Beomat, would recommend either.