How to teach my kids to shoot clays?

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baddarryl

New member
Hi all. I took my son out today for his first session with his 870. I let him shoot a few stationary clays from about 15 yards just to get the feel of the gun. We then transitioned to hand thrown clays and out of about 20 he only hit one. By this time his shoulder was getting sore so we quit. He did not seem to lose confidence which is good. I however quietly thought he would do a little better. I told him to let the bird enter his sight plane, find it, swing through and engage when the barrel and bird intersect. I could not think of a better way to explain it and am really not sure that is best as I myself am novice with wing shooting.

What can I do to help and encourage him? Thanks.
 
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First things first. Read the note below. After he leans how to hold the 870, take him over to the trap field and shoot from about the 8 yard line, if he is still unsuccessful, ask around to find a good shotgun instructor and let him work with your son. A father teaching his son to shoot, is like a husband teaching his wife to drive... :mad:
 
Could be that he's having trouble with the hand thrown. The place I go has machines so every throw is repeatable. When I took my wife and friend there they both missed the first who knows how many after I told and shown them what to do. Then as soon as they hit a few they figured out what was going on. Then we could switch to random throws.
 
Could be that he's having trouble with the hand thrown.
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That is what I am thinking. It was the first time at our new gun range and we used to loaner thrower at first. It was acting up so I switched to hand thrown. I think I am going to get my own. I can throw somewhat consistently, but not good enough for him I am sure.
 
I find beginners need an easy repeatable target at first. If there is a skeet field available low 7 station fits the bill. On a trap field you can set the machine to throw straightaways and shoot from right behind the traphouse. Your new shooter is not really going to grasp all the great advice about lead and swing and follow through,etc. for a bit. That very first one that they hit will be completely by accident since they don't know what they're doing. But let me tell you that sight of the target shattering because of what they did will light a fire that may last a very long time.The light will come on and they will be receptive to anything they are told because they want to do it again. I have shot hundreds of thousands of clay targets and I still remember hitting that first one. A new shooter can make a lot of mistakes and still manage to luck into a straightaway but you can put the odds in their favor by having a good clay target shooter help the newbie mount the gun properly which will allow them to have their head up and eyes LEVEL while shooting. New shooters tend to bring the gun to their shoulder parallel to the ground and then lay their head over on the stock which leads to all kinds of problems.Good luck and enjoy the experience.
 
Those inexpensive throwers are fine. Most have a spring tension adjustment so you can throw some pretty slow stuff. If the shooter wants straightaways they just stand beside the thrower ( keeping in mind the safety of the thrower operator) or they can get angle targets by moving away from the thrower sideways.
 
If it's important to be sure he continues with it, he has to enjoy it.
Missing is not fun.
It would be far better to find a genuine instructor or he most likely will get discouraged and quit even trying.
By genuine instructor - that's someone who not only knows how to do it, but can communicate and teach how to do it.
There must be some around your club.
 
There are target loads and the there are the other target loads. You don't mention your son's age or size. A fixed breech gun like an 870 can be pretty punishing even when loaded with so called "standard" 1-1/8 ounce, 1200 FPS, 12 gauge ammo. It can be ever worse if the gun doesn't fit the kid or he isn't mounting it properly.
 
He is 11 and kinda small. 74 lbs. 20 ga, Remington STS, 2 3/4, #8, 7/8 load, 1200 fps. through a youth model Express with synthetic stocks.
 
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My dad did the same thing with me! It's hard to really teach him as every shooter eventually develops their own method. Teach him safety and how to properly shoulder it and make sure he gets plenty of trigger time. Don't worry, soon enough he'll give you a run for your money ;)
 
What can I do to help and encourage him? Thanks
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First, get a gun that fits him
Second, get him some lessons
Third, don't assume you can teach him unless you are a qualified instructor
 
The gun might fit him pretty well; much better than a full size 870. How is the pad? My 870 came with a crummy hard one that I replaced with a Remington SuperCell pad for $20 per the suggestion of Zippy13.

One thing most don't get is that 20 gauge guns almost kick as hard as a 12, because they are lighter. Some 20 gauges are/were built on 12 gauge frames and that made them heavier and better to soak up recoil. You can add some weight to the gun if you have someone fill a couple of spent hulls with shot. Tape the crimped end up good so they don't leak shot and be sure to use expended primers. Place a couple of those in the tube between the spring and the retainer (whatever it is called on the newer 870's) to add some weight. Some also put a bag of shot in the bolt hole of the stock.

You can also try some low recoil 20 gauge ammo with only 3/4 ounce of shot to reduce recoil if it is a problem.

Regardless, it is well worth it to get the boy some lessons. Often there are inexpensive group lessons offered for the kids. Look around.
 
OP here: Finally took both my kids (12 and 13) to a NSSA club sponsored youth lesson. They took to it quite well and I even learned a bit. Very affordable and we'll worth it. Was good to step back and let someone else teach them although it was not easy for me. Vast improvement in one lesson. We will be back. Thanks all.
 
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Was good to step back and let someone else teach them although it was not easy for me.
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It never is - remember this though when your SO wants to join in the family fun! n Just something about that third party, kinda like my kids when it came to baseball. I could show or say thew same thing, but it had to come from "Coach" to mean something and they learned it........ ;)
 
I started my grandson who was 8 at the time with a friends H&R topper youth gun in 28 ga it had a modified choke, of course all singles he finally grew enough and was doing 18-19 with the topper so I moved him into my 20 ga O/U skeet gun was long before he got into the 20's, then one day at station 7 I switched gun with him and he feel in love with the 12 ga wasn't long before a 25 came his way. He was always good at listening to instruction. I've had many a shooter come up and mention how safe he was, he is 29 now.
 
Good getting him some lessons, and YES, it is hard.

As a fairly accomplished instructor and multi-discipline competitor, I have had my boys take lessons from some of the top shooters. What they learn coupled with what you teach them is a great foundation.

I literally just taught my boys the safety rules, muzzle control and awareness and the basics to start off and then handed them off to various others for technique.

Shotgun fit is everything. My 13 year old has shot 2 major practical shotgun matches this year, both in one day (250 rounds plus) and then 2 major 3 gun matches. The first shotgun match, he missed 11 of 12 of the flying birds and asked for a sporting clays class because he hated missing. By the third match, he hit 20 of 25 aerials and in the last match he hit them all. We tweaked fit a bit and that with a good class, now he runs the 12 guage like a boss.
 
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