I want to get into shooting clays and was wondering what the good machines shouod go for?
I would like to know/get advice about the following.

what is a good basic machine and how much will it cost?

what is a good auto throwing machine and cost?

looking to spend as little as possible.. but get something that will work well.
thanks

how is the do all clayhawk?

Maybe you will get some responses if you post in the Shotgun forum. I haven't shot off a foot-trap in years. The one we had was a Trius Trap if my memory serves me well. When getting into something new, I always go for a middle-ground (mid-priced)item. My thinking while you get what you pay for, the best value is usually found in the mid-priced range. If you go cheap, you can be disappointed by something that just doesn't perform well or last long.

Unless you absolutely have to shoot alone, I would suggest using the cheap, plastic hand traps. Decent mechanical traps are expensive and not very versitile. Hand thrown birds are much more fun and challenging.

^^^^^
This.

Trius Trap is what we used years ago, threw doubles and triples if you wanted. I must have pulled a million for #1 son.

I

Pat throws a great bird by hand. The plastic thrower will be cheap, but that Pat, he's a little expensive to rent. Once you get him, though, some fresh beverages will keep him throwing allll afternoon. He's a good chap.

I'm gonna practice and try to throw something you can't hit!

for about 25 bucks you can get a chinese made spring powered slinger at gander mountain. you need someone to operate it though. i've used one for years in the backyard. if you crank the spring down it will sling them pretty good. it does doubles ok but not reliably. i have mine set up on a little platform and by raising and lowering the rear, you can vary the angle of the bird. i like making it sling them about a foot off the ground for a challenge.

it ain't like a traphouse model but for $25 it's a lot of fun.

I have a do all trap, the one that goes in the receiver on your truck. It throws good doubles and rabbits also. But it takes up a lot of room. If I had it to do it over I would have bought 2 or 3 of the ones you mount on a 4x4 post and set those up like a skeet field or mini sporting clays range. The hand throwers work really good and they make a thing to put 2 together and throw doubles.

This one seems to work PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr6yopBUI-c

JH88,

Trius manual trap bolted to a mounted tire from the junkyard. For shooting solo, you can trip the trap for yourself with a long cord clipped to a waist belt. Route the trip cord to a grounded pulley behind you so that a step toward the clay trap trips the trigger latch. The movement, with the shotgun in the hands (not pre-mounted on the shoulder) is not unlike walking up on a live bird. Cost is a few bucks more than whatever you can get the Trius for. Looks like they now sell for 48 bucks.

http://www.opticsplanet.com/trius-bird-shooter-2-clay-trap.html?gclid=CIDstNLv2rsCFcxAMgod3SgA5A&ef_id=UsLvdAAABKZpEB4B:20131231162316:s

I like shooting clay pigeons. I bought a Trius Foot trap model from Optics Planet for $95 & the shipping was free. That was a couple weeks before Christmas. It's nice because you can shoot by yourself. It will throw the bird, hard left, hard right & everything in between depending on where you place the bird on the arm. Adjust the tension on the spring & they move pretty fast. Goggle it--it has great reviews.

A 12 volt battery model will be about $350 to $400 for a basic model with a foot pedal. They will all be straight aways----you will have to move to get the hard rights, lefts etc. Add another $300 or so if you want to add a wobble feature.

Take a look over on shotgunworld.com.

There should be some reviews and comments there.

Myron

You'll have to spend a lot more to get a little when it comes to pigeon throwers....

FWIW - I had one inexpensive machine and ended up leaving it at our shooting area so someone else could lug home their new "treasure". I went back to the manual throwers and am glad I did....hopefully they make some better options now.

Yep. That red plastic hand thrower is what did the heavy lifting in my life--that and a Trius trap mounted on an old snow tire.

The hand trap got me working with the basic mechanics of mounting and follow through and such. The Trius then took over getting me to master odd geometries.

One thing that I could do when I was alone was trip the Trius with a cord with my back turned to the direction of flight, throw a round in my auto-loader, turn and fire. That was not a drill you could really do safely with anyone else around. However, it got me working the shotgun, getting my feet planted well, acquiring the target and finishing the job.

If you use a couple of U-bolts, you can stick that red hand thrower on the end of a section of 3/4" PVC pipe. Yikes! Those birds come out fast!

rig up one of those red hand throwers on the end of an old golf club if you really want to make a challenge for a shooter. Talk about zingin' a clay out there. Add 3' of leverage on that red plastic and fling it...

the truis foot trap looks great. I think I will take the advice on using the hand thrower first.
I'll let you know how it goes
thanks the info

Hate to say it, but if you want to get into sporting clays, go to a sporting clays range!

Seriously- you can't even begin to replicate multiple stations, angles, speeds, etc. with anything resembling a throwing machine, at least not one or two, or more, of them.

Find a friend who knows something about sporting clays, go with him (her) to a range, and you will be money, time, and experience, way ahead.