doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Vintage shooting - a proper scoring system?

The guys to watch out for are the ones who both have "the gift" AND take things very seriously. I'd submit that Mr. Ted Williams was one such, in the sport of baseball.

Vintage clays should be kept as simple and as fun as possible. I shoot with the Rocky Mountain Vintagers, and score keeping is optional. It's about the guns, lads, the guns!

I agree with Walt Snyder 100% and I am NOT a clays shooter. About 8 years ago I shot a round of 50 SC targets at Blending Pines- my first SC shoot. I shot a 12 M12 field gun 28" Full, three other guys shot various 12 O/U's with chokes tubes, and an area gunsmith shot a beautiful M42 .410, also full choke. I broke 33/50, the three dudes with the O/U's broke 37-39 out of 50, but the man with the .410 broke 43/50 and was High shooter for that round. Handicap=-schmandicap- he already had enough going in with that pipsqueak .410 and yet he beat us all- Go figure. RWTF

Chuck H would probably say: " Told ya so"

"Vintage clays should be kept as simple and as fun as possible."

I couldn't agree more!

See the target, break the target. The more I break, the funner it is! Funnest is when I break more than anybody else.

Geez, I thought a vintage gun and 7/8oz loads were acceptable excuses for mediocre shooting. I would feel stupid, shooting as I do, with a Z-sport.

Now all my secrets are out. It usually goes like this;
Buddy - "I beat you by 15 targets."
Me - "I am shooting a 105 year old hammer gun with the wrong chokes (regardless of what they might be)."
Buddy - "Oh yeah, you shoot that thing pretty well."
CHAZ

All jokes aside, I do think that the vintage shooter has a decided disadvantage that deserves a compensating system to even things up a bit.

I shoot a non-selectable single trigger choked cylinder/mod on a a clay presentation that is thrown at about 45 yards. It's a wicked presentation to say the least. I find I often have to shoot the clays in reverse order from what is practical to get the proper choke on the proper clay.

If people are swapping chokes or guns mid-course to get a better score, there deserves to be a handicapping system for those that stick with what they've got, shoot lighter loads and are sticking with the chokes (or non-chokes) they have.

Am I the only person that thinks every choke down from whatever is optimal for that course deserves a +1 handicap per choke or some other system?

I guess it's just sour grapes for me because I can beat these guys with their own guns, but I have to take sh&t from them for shooting a less efficiently choked gun for the courses.

If breaking the most targets wasn't a goal of the shoot, why shoot? Why not just smoke cigars and drink brandy and "hangar fly" (talking about something you're not doing)?

On the otherhand, organizers might want to consider shifting the focus a bit and adding awards for fun stuff like: largest smoke screen (black powder guys), lowest score, highest score per gauge, most double crossing shots broken with one shot, most zero score stations, etc. You get the idea.

I recall a aerobatic flying club I belonged to had a lowest score without zeroing any maneuvers for rookie year competitors that was given at each contest. It was a much covetted leather belt with all the aerobatic symbols tooled into it.

Okay Chuck and Rook: I admit to using a superposed when bragging rights are at stake. And, I'm saving up for a Z-sport�