Sporting Clays

    We all strive to improve our scores on the shooting grounds and increase our consistency in the field. We take lessons; read articles and books; watch videos; change guns, chokes and cartridges—all in a continuing attempt to improve. The clothes you wear and the accessories you use when you’re shooting are too often overlooked, although the proper choices can improve your performance.

Socks
Let’s start at the bottom, with the feet. What price can you place on having dry, warm feet in the field or feet kept cool by wicking, anti-friction athletic socks on the shooting grounds? In recent years there have been some amazing technical improvements in the comfort and function of socks. The Danner CoolMax line with X-static antimicrobial fibers are among my favorites, though there are several brands making similarly great socks. Look for the proper fit and cushioning for all-day comfort and CoolMax or similar fiber to wick away moisture and keep feet cool and dry. If I’m in tick country, I wear socks with Insect Shield, formerly known as Buzz Off.

Boots
Boots and shoes must provide traction, support, comfort and stability. Although the majority of clay shooters opt for running shoes, I prefer something a little sturdier like the hybrids of running shoes and hiking boots. These offer light weight and comfort with the above-the-ankle support of a light hiker. If you are a FITASC competitor, pay particular attention to the tread—a pattern that’s too aggressive could impede your footwork on the more diverse target presentations if you are shooting from a hoop and not a paved station. In the UK the light hiking boot with more ankle support seems to be the preferred footwear.
    I have never seen a golf cart used on a shooting ground in the UK, and as everyone walks courses carrying guns, cartridges and kit, a good boot is worth its cost. A hunting boot needs to be built for comfort and support for those long days in the field. Modern materials like Gore-Tex and Thinsulate combined with light leathers such as kangaroo give modern hunting boots the comfort, lightweight support, stability and traction that is essential to every clay shooter.
    I must confess that I have enough shoes and boots to make Imelda Marcos envious. I have boots to suit every shooting scenario, with Chippewa snake boots, Russell Bird Hunters and boots from Danner and Irish Setter being among my favorites.
    A leather barrel rest is a must-have boot accessory for the clays ground. It snaps through your shoelaces so that you can rest the gun muzzles on your boot without leaving ugly marks.

Clothing
During a day of shooting you will be on the course or in the field for several hours, and your clothes should keep you comfortably cool or warm, according to the climate. Today’s materials designed for the professional athlete and sportsman offer lightweight insulation, breathability, UV sun protection and fibers that help regulate body temperature in any climate by wicking away moisture. Several layers are always best, as you can add and remove them to establish the comfort level that lets you perform your best. The golfer’s rain suit and a large umbrella are always good ideas in case of sudden showers or lack of shade.
    Clothing should allow freedom of movement. Avoid anything too constricting, but also avoid clothes that are baggy, as they may snag or bunch and impede your gun mount.
    Your choice of clothing has both psychological and physical effects. Not only should clothes be functional, but you should feel good in them as well. Feeling good about yourself creates confidence, and confidence will help improve your performance. Retail outfitters like Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and L.L. Bean have their own brands of technical clothing, as do specialty manufacturers like Under Armour, Barbour, Le Chameau and Musto. The more traditional field clothing can be found from Filson and Orvis.

Gloves
There is no Swiss Army knife of gloves. You will need several pairs to match the criteria of what, where and when you will be shooting. Your choices are simpler than with hunting, as the majority of sporting clays competitions take place during the spring and fall, hopefully in pleasant weather. For the rest of the year you can choose not to shoot if the weather is too hot, cold or stormy.
    Competitors do not require insulated gloves; they must be able to “feel” the gun and have a good grip for increased control. So competition gloves must be unlined and fit snugly. Golf gloves are perfect, and most “shooting gloves” are designed along this line. Perforated leather gloves with mesh backs keep hands cool in hot weather, and the new, close-fitting synthetic gloves are excellent options. For cold- or wet-weather shooting, competitors need a pair of insulated, waterproof over-mittens to keep their hands warm and dry between stations.
    Most competition shooters use over/unders or semi-autos, but recreational shooters and hunters practicing on clays may use side-by-sides, often in smaller gauges. For shooting a side-by-side, the GripSwell glove serves well both on the shooting ground or in the field. Its layered protection is specifically designed to protect the barrel hand of the shooter, keeping fingers out of contact with hot tubes and allowing excellent control.

Shooting Vests
The name Bob Allen is synonymous with the standard shooting vest design that is worn today, and the international-style vest that bears the company logo is everything a shooting vest should be. The long, pocket-to-shoulder, leather shooting patch with vertical stitching permits a snag-free, smooth and consistent gun mount. Most important, the adjustable back belt allows the weight of the cartridges to be carried on the hips, not the shoulders, enabling effortless movement with each gun mount and swing. Deep, double cartridge pockets are leather trimmed and riveted at stress points, and split side vents help isolate the pockets to minimize unwanted movement during the swing and mount. Handy internal zipped pockets and external pockets for shooting glasses and a scorecard top off the perfect vest.
    Warm-weather vests have mesh backs and panels to promote air flow. Or there is the half-vest, which is simply the bottom half of a full shooting vest that buckles around your waist and sits on your hips. Another popular alternative is a belt and shell pouch—the main pocket holding cartridges and a second front pocket holding miscellaneous items. If you shoot FITASC, the belt and shell pouch alone are not an option, as the rules require that you begin “with the heel of the gun touching the body under a horizontal line [the so-called FITASC line] marked on the shooter’s vest  . . . by some permanent means.”

Hats
Definitely an essential bit of kit. Your hat protects you from the elements—sun, rain, snow or freezing cold. The proper hat for the conditions keeps your head warm or cool, keeps the rain off of your shooting glasses, and in strong sunlight the brim creates shade. Looking from shade into light enhances your vision. On the shooting grounds the hat’s brim covers the gap between your glasses frame and your forehead where a shard of clay could enter. I have as many hats as I do boots, and I never venture afield without one.

Shooting Glasses
Shooting glasses are compulsory on the clays ground, and the lens material must be able to resist a pellet strike without shattering. I believe shooting glasses should be required in the field when hunting as well. On the clays ground there are strict rules governing the direction of fire, and glasses are more for protection from shards of broken clay than from an errant pellet strike. In the field, especially when hunting in cover, there is always a chance of being struck by shot fall.
     In addition to impact protection, shooting glasses offer essential protection from ultraviolet rays from the sun.
     Finally, shooting glasses enhance your vision—and the better you see, the better you shoot. There are a bewildering number of shooting glasses on the market. Deciding which is appropriate depends on light conditions, types and colors of targets, and the backgrounds against which you are shooting. (For more on eyewear, see “Through Multi-Colored Glasses,” Sept/Oct ’08)
    In low-light conditions your pupils enlarge to allow more light into your eyes, resulting in softer focus. In bright light your pupils constrict to reduce the amount of light entering your eyes, allowing for sharper focus. You need to choose the tint that allows as much light as possible to enter your eyes without causing you to squint. If you are shooting in a murky gloom, then a clear or light lens would be a good choice; if there is a bright, blue sky, a medium/dark lens would work better.
    Targets move against varying backgrounds, and you need to choose the lens color and degree of tint that offers the best contrast between the target and background. The color needs to enhance the target and suppress the background. For example, for an orange target against a background of green trees, the best choices would be vermilion or purple—both of which suppress green and enhance orange.
    The choice of amount of tint and color is an individual one. You will need to experiment to find the best combination for you. As a rule of thumb, light orange and yellow work well for poor light conditions, vermillion is a good all-arounder, and bronze or toffee are best for bright days. I also would recommend anti-reflection and polarized coatings.
    To avoid carrying several pairs of glasses, a frame with interchangeable lenses is the best option. The frame should sit high on your face, so when your head is lowered in the correct shooting position, your eyes are looking through the centers of the lenses. Contemporary frameless glasses allow an unlimited field of view, with no frame to restrict your vision or block or obscure the target. The arms of the frame should have sprung temples and curled cushioned arms to keep the glasses from slipping while you shoot. An adjustable bridge allows the proper positioning of the glasses, encouraging airflow and preventing fogging.
    Most shooting glasses are available with prescription lenses or inserts, and I recommend shooting glasses made with single vision for seeing clearly at distance. Be sure to avoid vari-focal lenses.
    Over the years I have shot with Zeiss, Post 4 and Decot glasses, and all have given me great service. For the past seven years I have used Randolph Rangers, and in that time I have had only two frames—a testimony to the glasses’ durability. Due to my advancing middle age, an ever-increasing prescription seems to be keeping pace, so I have many lenses of different degrees of tint and color. But I invariably end up using a combination of sunset orange, vermillion and bronze, according to light conditions, target colors and backgrounds.

Ear Protection
I write this with the constant buzz of tinnitus in my ear, the result of shooting at a very early age without ear protection. The report from a shotgun—up to 150 decibels—is louder than the noise generated by a jet aircraft taking off, though not as sustained. Clearly, long-term, unprotected exposure to shotgun blasts will cause permanent hearing damage. It is not instantaneous, but if the noise continues over a long period, it is irreversible.
    As with glasses, hearing protection is mandatory on clay shooting grounds but often ignored by hunters in the field. With the range and variety of modern hearing protection devices, there is no excuse for not protecting your hearing. Choices range from simple foam plugs to custom-fitted digital plugs that allow normal hearing but block out or compress sound at 82 decibels. Muffs also range from a simple format of complete suppression to the same technology as the digital plugs. Many believe that muffs offer better protection. Because some of the noise is transferred through vibration of the bone surrounding the ear, with the muff cushion fully enclosing the ear, the vibration noise is suppressed.
    I like the freedom that the custom digital plugs allow. I can hear and converse normally with fellow shooters, have enhanced hearing in the field and still enjoy full protection. They are expensive, but shooting is my full-time occupation, and wearing them nearly every day allows me to keep what’s left of my hearing from further deterioration. I also have a pair of digital muffs. When you are sitting in a duck blind with a whistling wind and freezing temperatures, they double as ear warmers. I always have been a fan of Peltor earmuffs, and I go to my good friend Jack Homa at ESP for in-ear digital plugs.   My friends and clients wear a myriad of makes, with Pro-Ear and E.A.R. being well represented.

Bags
Whether you ride in a cart or walk, all of your ancillary kit and cartridges need to be readily accessible. The sporting clays tote bag must accommodate cartridges, chokes, glasses, hearing protection, towel, sun block, bug spray, water and snacks. So a well-designed bag will have the pockets and room to accommodate these items and more. Rolled handles should be padded for comfort, and a wide, padded, removable shoulder strap is a must if you are walking the course. The bag bottom should be flat and hard, and the bag easy to open and access. Outside pockets should retain their shape, and secure, solid zippers will keep everything safe.

Gun Slips
A gun slip is essential for transporting a shotgun in a vehicle and is a great idea on the course. Providing a comfortable carry, it safely restricts access to the trigger, and its padding protects the shotgun. In England, where competitors walk, everyone carries their gun between stations in a gun slip. Leather and canvas are the best gun slip materials, and the lining should be padded sufficiently to guard against damage but not be too bulky. Beware of synthetic linings that can cause corrosion—lamb’s wool is the best lining choice. Look for a buckle-flap closure or a strong, full-length plastic or brass zipper lined to avoid marking barrels or a gun’s stock, a reinforced muzzle end, and a wide shoulder strap for comfortable carrying.

    Clothes and accessories have a major impact on our outlook and well-being. They influence our confidence, and the way we look, act, think and perform. Choose wisely, and these items will enhance your performance and the pleasure you derive from shooting.

    Chris Batha’s book, Breaking Clays, and his DVDs, “Mastering the Double Gun” and “Take Your Best Shot,” can be ordered by visiting www.chrisbatha.com.