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Favorite Ammo
Topic Started: April 9, 2018, 8:54 pm (93 Views)
USAJasonKelvie
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What's your favorite "Factory" ammunition and why?

I will start.......

For the price I have been a big fan of the Clever 1oz 8 shot for my athletes. They seem to pattern well and I have yet to run into any issues with performance. I am a big believer in low dram shells for youth so I tend to error on the side of less recoil when it comes to breaking clays! :D
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ClayCoach
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USAJasonKelvie
April 9, 2018, 8:54 pm
What's your favorite "Factory" ammunition and why?

I will start.......

For the price I have been a big fan of the Clever 1oz 8 shot for my athletes. They seem to pattern well and I have yet to run into any issues with performance. I am a big believer in low dram shells for youth so I tend to error on the side of less recoil when it comes to breaking clays! :D
I agree completely that 1 oz low dram equivalent shells (<1200) fps are ideal for most youth shooters (the majority of whom shoot relatively light weight and often ill-fitting field guns without parallel combs). We furnish the majority of our shooters 1 oz 2-3/4 dram 8's; those who average >23 or so and who have purpose-built trap or target guns (heavy, parallel combs, custom fit) are allowed to shoot 1-1/8 oz 2-3/4 dram shells if they wish. The extra 1/8 oz of lead might gain one a small fraction of a target out of 100, but the typical kid will miss many more targets than they gain if they start lifting their head or develop a flinch from excessive recoil. We have had several kids run 100's/200's straight with 2-3/4 dram 1 oz loads... they're all that is needed for 16 yard trap.

Why doesn't the League offer appropriate shells like this in the Cabela's Bulk Ammunition Purchase Program? I've brought this up before with League management but my concerns fell on deaf ears. For the past few years the only shells that have been included in this program are 3 dram or 3-1/4 dram loads (1 oz 1250 or 1290 fps and 1-1/8 oz 1200 fps or 1250 fps) - these are handicap loads and are absolutely inappropriate for use by typical "fun league" youth shooters, especially for singles trap.

I contacted the buyer for Cabela's two years ago asking if they could offer more appropriate target loads for trap/youth shooters, and it looks like they have improved their offerings in this regard. I see on the Cabela's web site that they do now offer "Light Recoil" 1 oz 1060 fps and 1-1/8 oz 1050 fps loads, these would be GREAT for getting new/novice shooters started! They still don't have typical 2-3/4 dram loads however (other than the LR/low recoil loads they still only offer 1250/1290 fps 1 oz and 1200/1250 fps 1-1/8 oz loads). That the League has not included these low recoil loads in their ammunition purchase program is befuddling; it would be great to eliminate the 3 & 3-1/4 dram offerings and replace them with youth-suitable 2-3/4 dram shells.
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CoachSchwarzott
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I am not fan of what cabellas offers, it is a nice thing they are doing and They were cheaper. I am running Winchester super x, the 12guage is 3 1/4 dram and it is a fast load. The recoil on it really isn't that bad. I honestly, didn't notice an increase.

I like the federal or remington trap rounds. I wish maybe the league could set up an account with a few companies that we could buy under the leagues account. Set it up as a prepay ship, in NYS it would have to go to a FFL dealer becasue it's NYS. This would allow a team to choose many different vendors and ammo types, allow all teams in the country to buy at a huge discount, skip the middle man and hopefully save the teams a lot of money. This could be done fairly easily and could be set up a few different ways.

Forward thinking, I would love contacts with gun manufactorers and ammo companies and shooting supply companies and set up almost a vendor event for the Western NY area where shooters from young to old could come to a club, try out different guns, look at gun accesories and try them out. To me, this would be awesome. I just don't have the time right now to do this.. I am recruiting people to help me with this lol
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USAJasonKelvie
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Great points!

I can't argue with either thought and obviously agree with the League offering more appropriate ammunition to its participants.

I can see pro's and con's to the League getting in the ammo business. I am not 100% sure it's the market we should be in as laws regarding the purchase and selling of ammo differ in each state. We have spoken to all of the major ammunition manufacturers and we have yet to receive an offer we think will help the teams in our League.

With Federal ammunition's national office right here in our own back yard, one would think that they would be all over this.

Assuming we were able to get a program in place, would we just limit it to 12 gauge trap loads? Or should we be considering 20 gauge and skeet options?
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kipyoung
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I don't really think the league needs to get into the ammo business. And frankly, the ammo from Cabela's was a big enough disappointment, we said no way this year. It is working fantastic to have kids purchase their own. Many kids figure out what they like and that's what they want. What they don't want is some bulk ammo from the team that they don't like.

What the league can do is continue to inform the manufacturers of their nationwide participation numbers. This will give the manufacturers the information they need to work with their re-sellers (who are in the ammo business) to offer sales at strategic times of the year. If Remington, Winchester, Federal, and others know that 30,000 kids are going to be looking to purchase two cases each (minimum) for the upcoming season, they would be CRAZY to not offer $4.99/box sales Feb/Mar and Aug/Sept.
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CoachSchwarzott
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Economy level shells:

Federal Top Gun (1st choice)

Remington Gun Club

Estate (yellow red and green box) not the whitebox which are European imports and are slow in cold weather and stuck in my Gun

Federal target and game. a cheaper version of the top guns sold at Walmart (they’re ok at best)

Everything else is a trial by fire. Rio’s are popular but I had those sticking, Fiocches shot great but also stick.

Premium ammunition have no issues except price.
Winchester AA (my 1st choice)
Federal Grands (very good and on sale)
Remington STS
B&P

The premiums AA and Grands have sales every summer, $20 rebate per flat. You have to cut the bar code and mail them to manufacture
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