This is the first in a two-part installment on the Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge.

The Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge is arguably the most difficult long-range match in the world. It is held each year on a large ranch near Glenrock, Wyoming. Competitors come from all over the globe for the opportunity to pit their skills against each other and the demanding course of fire, which consists of steel targets arrayed from 800 yards out beyond 2,000.

It’s safe to say that the skill set of the assembled collection of shooters is unrivaled—at least as far as long-range shooting at steel under practical field conditions goes. And yet, the majority of the 300 shooters who participated head home after the two-day ordeal feeling beat to a pulp by the experience.

Simply put, the competition is brutally unforgiving. If there’s any weakness in your gear, load development, marksmanship skills, trajectory calculations, wind calling, or mental focus, this match will expose and exploit it to your detriment. It’s a meat grinder, but that’s part of its appeal.

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performing PRCs

While you won’t win this match through preparation alone, it is certain that you will lose—and badly—if you don’t put your time in before the range goes hot that first morning.

Every high-level shooting competition requires a degree of prep, but with matches as demanding as the Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge it takes on an extra level of urgency.

The following is a rundown of what I did in the weeks and months prior to making the 450-mile drive from my home to Glenrock.

Team Effort

Even though I’d be shooting the match as an individual, during the preparation process I worked closely with a group of friends who I planned to squad with. This included Scott Seigmund, the vice president of Accuracy International of North America, some of Scott’s AI team shooters I’ve come to know over the years, and two of my buddies from Montana—Chris Gittings and Owen Koeppen who were competing in the team division. Shawn Burkholder, the owner of Hawk Hill Custom Barrels, also joined our crew.

.300 PRC Bandwagon

Scott and his boys shot .300 PRCs the year prior and had good success with that round so Chris, Owen, and I decided to shoot it as well. In previous Nightforce ELR matches Chris shot 6.5s (both the 6.5 SAUM and 6.5 PRC) and had several podium finishes.

But the consensus was that the .30-cal magnums—the .300 Norma Mag., .300 PRC and some .300 Win. Mags.—had an edge over the 6.5s at the location where the match is currently held.

The two main reasons for this are the high winds at the ranch—it is smack dab in the middle of a wind farm—and the thick sagebrush cover that dominates the landscape. The big .30-cal bullets handle the wind better than the 6.5s, while the sagebrush makes it more difficult to spot misses. The smaller 6.5s get eaten up by the foliage more readily than the harder-hitting .30s.

Cartridge Components

Not only were we all shooting the .300 PRC, but we planned to all use the same components for our handloads, which we acquired in bulk. Our bullet of choice was Hornady’s 230-grain A-Tip, which is one of the best .308-caliber match bullets on the market. It is blessed with a high BC (.823 G1, .414 G7) and like other A-Tips it is manufactured to exacting tolerances to minimize variations from one projectile to the next.

ADG Brass

For brass, we turned to Atlas Development Group, which makes excellent high-quality cases. I’ve used ADG brass many times over the years, including in my ultimate open-country rifle build, and have had nothing but excellent results.

AI AXSR Chassis Rifle and Hawk Hill Customs Barrel

Most everyone on the squad was shooting Accuracy International AXSRs, which are among the best sniper rifles currently fielded by military and law enforcement and are one of the most accurate rifles period. Scott got us lined up with barrels from Hawk Hill Customs. With a 1:9 twist, those 30-inch barrels had no problems propelling the 230s at 3000 fps.

But as you’ve no doubt heard, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Running cartridges full tilt is a risky proposition in a high-volume long-range match. Performance tends to get more inconsistent at the ragged edge of maximum velocities and the chances of getting a case stuck, blowing a primer, or experiencing some other calamities go way up.

Instead, we all set a target velocity of 2940 fps, which is more than respectable and would keep our bullets supersonic well past 2,000 yards in the thin Wyoming air, but which was also mild enough to diminish the chance of some mid-stage mishap.

Hodgdon H1000 Powder

I helped secure 64 pounds of the same lot of H1000 for our group. I’ll tell you what, I was feeling a little cocky about that coup. That powder, one of the mainstays for long-range magnums, has been unobtainium since the global pandemic.

All of us running the same cartridge using the same batch of bullets, the same type of brass, and the same lot of powder—at the same speed no less—was going to make our collective load development a snap and give us an edge over much of the field. As I’ll get to in a bit, it turns out my celebratory cork-popping was premature.

Gun Prep

Whether you’re getting ready for deer season or prepping for a big match, it makes sense to go over your gear with a fine-toothed comb—particularly your rifle and scope.

I had been shooting my AXSR a fair bit in the months prior to the match, leveraging its multi-caliber capabilities to test 6.5 PRC and 7 PRC ammunition. Even so, I stripped it down, gave all the fasteners and components a thorough cleaning and inspection and reassembled it.

To make sure my scope—a Nightforce ATACR 7-35×56 with the Mil-XT reticle—was dead nuts level in its Spuhr mount, I used a Short Action Customs’ Final Scope Level and Accessory Kit.

That SAC scope level has been a game changer for me. When shooting at extreme long range, even the slightest cant in the reticle will throw your trajectory off. In conjunction with the plumb line in the accessory kit, the leveling base lets you set the orientation of the reticle so that it is perfectly vertical.

Barrel Break-In

Before I got down to the serious business of load development, I needed to break in my new barrel. There are numerous schools of thought about how to break in a barrel, or whether it even makes a difference.

For most applications, particularly with hunting rifles and rifles that will be shot mostly within 1,000 yards, I’m skeptical about the benefits of an ornate break-in procedure. But there’s no doubt that a barrel will speed up after a certain number of rounds and making sure it has stabilized its velocities is critical for generating precise ballistic calculations.

In light of that, I decided to follow Scott Seigmund’s recommendation, which was to break in the barrel over the course of the first 100 rounds. Here’s his method:

1. Shoot five rounds and clean (repeat four times for 20 rounds total; cleaning procedure below)
2. Shoot 10 rounds and clean (repeat four times, bringing the round count to 60)
3. Shoot 20 rounds and clean (repeat twice, for a total of 100 rounds)

Velocity Gain

I shot factory Hornady 212-grain ELD-X ammunition during the break in. The first 30 shots were consistent, averaging 2920 fps. Then the barrel sped up. I chronographed the next three groups of 10 shots at 2935, 2938 and 2939 fps, for an average of 2937 fps. I got another bump with the next 40 shots, where the barrel sped up to 2952 fps.

I was 100 shots into the process, but didn’t feel my barrel had totally settled in. So, I shot two more 10-shot groups and recorded an average velocity of 2965 fps. At this point, the barrel had gained 45 fps.

I needed to start developing my load for the match since my time was limited, but every time I cleaned the barrel during that process I’d shoot more of the factory ammo, which was all from the same case, to see if the barrel picked up more speed.

When all was said and done, that factory ammo shot 3004 fps on average, for a total velocity gain of 84 fps.

Cleaning Procedure

When it was time to clean, I removed my Thunder Beast 338 Ultra SR suppressor and unscrewed the barrel from the chassis. That’s accomplished by loosening a 4mm set screw on the side of the chassis and then using a 1-inch wrench that fits in the flats machined in the barrel a couple inches below the muzzle.

Being able to pull the barrel so easily made cleaning a snap. I’d spray some Hoppe’s Elite down the bore and then push a couple wet patches with my .30-caliber jag and cleaning rod. After letting that soak for a few minutes, I’d switch to a rod with a copper brush and give it 10 strokes back and forth. (When using a brush, always wet the bristles with solvent first.)

After that I’d run three wet patches through the barrel. The first one would be filthier than a USMC Sergeant’s mouth while inspecting his platoon. The second is always moderately dirty. And the third should be more or less clean.

At this point you have a decision to make. The fouling from the powder has all been removed, as has most of the copper. But if you want to really get as much copper out of the bore as possible (I did), let the barrel sit for a while so the solvent can really work. Wait at least five minutes (10 to 15 minutes is even better) and run another wet patch down the bore. If the patch comes out bright blue, it means you’re still removing copper. Repeat this process until the patch only has a hint of blue. (FYI, since many jags are brass, which contains copper, you’ll get some blue on your patch no matter how little copper remains in the bore.)

Accuracy Gain

During break in, I also measured every group the factory ammo produced. I started by shooting and measuring five-shot groups (since that was the cleaning interval), but then switched to 10-shot groups, which is a better representation of the rifle’s performance. It’s also in keeping with the round counts during the match, where you might shoot up to eight rounds a stage.

I wasn’t expecting magic at this point since those groups were all shot from a cold, thoroughly cleaned barrel—but I was curious to see how those factory 212 ELD-Xs performed.

The first group through the virgin barrel was an encouraging .773 inches. But the next three groups opened up to 1.210 inches on average.

At this point, I shifted to 10-shot groups. The barrel definitely tightened up. The next 70 shots of 10-shot groups averaged 1.18 inches. Under normal circumstances, going from a 5- to 10-shot group will see a bump in group size of about 25 percent. So the fact that groups with twice as many shots had an average dispersion just as tight, is a good thing.

Then my last three 10-shot groups tightened up even more, averaging .928 inches. Between groups I’d let the barrel cool as long as it needed so that the area around the chamber was barely warm to the touch. At this point I was feeling pretty good.

Consistent Factory Ammo

One thing I noted about that factory Hornady ammo is that it shot consistently in terms of its velocities as well. The standard deviation of those first 120 shots (measured in shot strings that varied in sizes of 5, 10, and 20 rounds) was 14.8. That’s about as good as it gets with factory ammo.

Load Development

My fervent hope whenever developing a load is that it progresses smoothly and quickly toward eye-popping accuracy. I thought the cards were tipped in our collective favor with our .300 PRCs for several reasons. One, Scott and his team shot a similar load the year before with good results. Two, we were all pulling on the same oars by virtue of having identical components. Three, our aggregate experience with long-range shooting and precision handload spans many decades.

With stars in my eyes and hope in my heart I got to work at my reloading bench.

Brass Prep

All brass, no matter how expertly crafted, has a certain amount of variation from one piece to the next. You can see that in neck wall thickness, headspace (most commonly measured from the case head to the mid point on the shoulder on bottle neck centerfire cartridges), overall length, neck diameter, and so on. Necks in particular are susceptible to dings that throw them out of round, so before loading it makes sense to run them through a mandrel to make them uniform and concentric.

After taking my initial measurements on 10 pieces of brass, I ran them through a neck mandrel on my Forster Co-Ax. I then trimmed the brass to a uniform length on a Giraud Power Trimmer, which also chamfers the interior and exterior of the neck.

I was pretty happy with the results, but as my load testing went on I felt there was room for improvement. I added a step of running the new unfired brass (I had 400 pieces total) through a SAC Sizing Die with a .333-inch neck/shoulder bushing.

This uniformed my brass beautifully in terms of neck diameter and shoulder length. A neck diameter of exactly .3335 inches on every case ensured my bullets would be gripped with the same amount of tension, which is critical for peak precision. Uniform shoulder setback is beneficial for consistency too.

Here’s some extra information for those who might care. The degree of constriction on my bullets—meaning the difference between the bullet diameter (.308 inches) and the interior diameter of the neck (.3055 inches)—was .0025 inches. Generally speaking, neck constriction between .002 and .004 inches is a smart bet—so .0025 inches is right on the money. To calculate the interior diameter of the neck you take the exterior diameter—in this case .3335 inches—and subtract twice the neck wall thickness, which on the ADG brass averages .014 inches. So: .3335 inches – .028 inches = .3055 inches. 

Ladder Testing

There’s a lot of hokum around how to conduct a ladder test and what the significance of it is. The common wisdom is that you shoot small samples of different charge weights and measure their velocities to find flat spots, or “nodes,” in the results. The theory is that a flat spot indicates forgiveness in the charge weight—meaning you can be off in your powder charge by a tenth or two of a grain, and still have similar muzzle velocities.

I have some good news and some bad news here. The bad news is that this theory is a pile of hot garbage. These nodes don’t exist. When reloaders think they’ve come across a node all it really indicates is that their sample size is too small.

Most reloaders will load only a small number of rounds at a given charge weight. Sometimes, that number is as small as one, but rarely does anyone load more than five rounds at each weight. This is done to save time, money, and barrel life. 

But for gathering statistically valid data, these sample sizes are insufficient. I’ve done a lot of searching for these nodes with three- and five-shot samples. I noticed that when I repeated the tests multiple times and overlaid the data that the velocities versus charge weight behaved in a linear fashion, the nodes disappeared. 

This has been borne out by my friends at Hornady—specifically Jayden Quinlan and Miles Neville—who are two of the company’s chief ballistic nerds. They’ve conducted controlled experiments with massive data sets that show these velocity nodes are a myth.

The good news about nodes is that you don’t need to bother looking for them. Instead, use your ladder test to simply arrive at a target velocity and then start testing for accuracy.

H1000: Old vs. New

My share of the 64 pounds of H1000 we got for the match was an eight-pound container. Because I like to gather data, I wanted to compare this new lot of H1000 against some of my older, pre-pandemic H1000.

I quickly saw there was a bit of a difference in my velocities. The older H1000 was about 25 fps faster per given charge weight than the new stuff. While 76.5 grains of the older lot got me around 2940 fps, it took 77.0 grains of the new H1000 to hit the same speed.

That didn’t concern me much, but the differences in accuracy did. My first efforts with the new H1000 didn’t impress me. I shot three five-shot groups that averaged 1.516 inches, which for this rifle and application is terrible. With the older powder I shot one five-shot group that measured a tidy .590 inches with an SD of 10.3, which was much more encouraging.

Testing Other Powders

The fact that the new H1000 powder didn’t seem to agree with my rifle and loads threw a monkey wrench into my vision of having our whole team running identical loads. Turns out my squad mates were having similar struggles finding a load that would be competitive in the match.

Some had better results when they switched from Federal 210M primers to CCI 250s. Their velocities got more consistent, and accuracy improved.

I didn’t have that option, as my primer selection was limited to the 210Ms. So I started messing around with other powders. I shot N565, Retumbo, N170, and Reloder 26, as well as more of my old lot of H1000.

I got the best results with N565 (.680-inch average), RL 26 (.710-inch average), and my old H1000 (.648-inch average). That data is based on multiple five-shot groups.

Final Match Load: 77.5 Grains of H1000

Because I had the most data with the old H1000 and had the best results, that’s where I focused my efforts. I was running out of time and needed to finalize the load in order to dial in my ballistic calculations.

I had shot a lot of groups with the older H1000 with charge weights from 72.9 grains to 78.0 grains. Across that broad range of velocities—which varied from 2775 fps to 2960 fps—my groups averaged the .648 inches, as mentioned above, and my SDs were right at 10.9.

Within that range I seemed to have better results between 76.0 grains and 78.0. At 78.0 grains the load was running a little hotter (2960 fps) than I cared for. But when I knocked .5 grains off that charge, I landed right at 2940 fps and everything tightened up. I shot six five-shot groups to confirm. The averages of my groups (.540 inches) and SDs (9.3) would be competitive.

It’s worth noting that during my struggles to find a good powder and powder charge, I burned through a lot of ammunition and spent a lot of time making the hour round-trip drive to my gun range. All told, the barrel break-in and the load development required 373 rounds to complete. That’s a good chunk of my 30-inch Hawk Hill’s barrel life, which based on how I run it should deliver peak performance for 1,600 rounds. I liked where I ended up, but I’ve never worked quite so hard to develop a load.

Reloading Equipment Used

To get peak accuracy from any handload you need to have consistent and concentric ammunition. In addition to the brass prep mentioned above, I used the following gear to craft my ammunition.

I primed my brass on a Primal Rights Competition Primer Seater. For speed and accuracy, no other priming system can match it. I can prime 100 cases in eight minutes on it, with all the primers seated to a precise depth, which the user can adjust. In the case of these .300 PRC rounds, I seated the 210Ms .003 inch below flush.

I threw my charges with my bank of three RCBS Matchmaster Powder Dispensers. They are capable of dispensing charges that are accurate to plus or minus a single kernel of powder and, once calibrated, are in perfect sync with each other. With three running at once it makes loading a couple hundred precision rifle rounds much quicker.

I seated the bullets in an Area 419 Zero Turret Press with a Redding Competition Seating Die. I replaced the seating stem that comes with the die with Redding’s VLD stem, which worked perfectly with the shape of the 230-grain A-Tips.

I don’t think I’ve ever loaded such concentric rounds. Measuring bullet runout on the ogive with a Sinclair Concentricity Gauge and Mitutoyo Digital Dial Indicator I had measurements as low as a fraction of a thousandth, with some maxing out at .002 inch, which is terrific.  

Cleaning the Bullets

Before seating the 230-grain A-Tips, I cleaned them using a technique Scott Seigmund told me about. This is necessary because A-Tips come from the factory with a coating of lube on them, which should be removed before loading.

Hornady ships the A-Tips with a felt Crown Royal-type bag you can use to wipe them down, but that gets old quick when you have dozens of rounds to load. Instead, spread out a lint-free shop rag and dump your bullets on it. Sprinkle acetone on the bullets and rag. Roll the rag like a burrito and grab both ends. Rock the bullets back and forth in the rag for a minute and that will remove the lubricant without damaging the projectiles.

Truing

Truing a load means different things to different shooters. I’m using it in the common, less-technical sense, meaning it is the process by which you get a ballistic calculator’s predicted results to line up with what you see the bullet do in the real world.

Since I burned through so much of my unfired ADG brass and supply of bullets during load development, I didn’t have much cushion to work with.

The course of fire for the Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge has a maximum round count of 160 rounds and I had exactly 182 pieces of unfired brass left over. While I didn’t plan on shooting 160 rounds at the match, I didn’t want to tempt fate by rolling into Wyoming with a bare minimum of ammunition.

Shooting Groups at 100 and 600 Yards

I started by checking zero with three rounds at 100 yards, which hit dead center and measured .165 inches. I was shooting with Chris and Owen, who did the same thing. Happy with our results, we moved to the long-distance range.

We painted steel targets at 600 yards and got solutions from our Kestrels. At 2940 fps my elevation adjustment was 2.7 mils. I held for the 9 mph crosswind and shot a good group which indicated my calculated elevation correction was correct. So far, so good.

Chris’ and Owen’s loads were quite a bit slower than mine. Chris was pushing his 230s at 2830 fps while Owen was at 2885—an indication that we all had to go our own way to find what worked best in our rifles even though we were shooting the same components through barrels that were produced consecutively from the same batch of steel. They dialed their corrections and shot well at 600, too.

Stretching It to 1,000 Yards and Beyond

We had a handful of targets from 1,000 to 1,400 yards to shoot, and at 1,000 yards my data still looked good. I was running Applied Ballistics on a Kestrel 5700 Elite and Hornady’s 4DOF on my phone. In addition, I had a Sig Sauer Kilo10K-ABS rangefinding binocular with AB on board. I had to manually adjust the environmentals on the Sig 10K to accurately reflect the temperature, but once I did that all three units were basically in sync.

That said, I started to have difficulties on the 1,400-yard target. Chris and Owen were both spot on, but my shots weren’t grouping as tightly as they had been. My impacts were landing close to the target but not connecting. The only thing that took a hit was my confidence.

Had I gone through all this work only to end up with a rifle and load that dipped into mediocrity at longer distances—where the majority of the targets would be?

Desperation Time

Those thoughts were racing through my head as we packed our stuff to head home. I grabbed my rifle by the suppressor and felt it give a little, and my stomach lurched. I didn’t mention it to Chris and Owen, but told them I was going to do just a little more shooting and sent them on their way.

I don’t know when my suppressor had come loose, but it is one of the cardinal rules of long-range shooting to obsessively check your gear. In fact, Chris and I, who often partner during team shooting events, have a term for it. We call it doing a Macarena, as our hands go through a head-to-toe motion to make sure everything is in order on ourselves and our rifles before starting a stage.

After screwing the suppressor down tight, I reengaged the targets at 1,000 yards, 1,100 yards, and 1,400 yards. My shooting was tighter than a gnat’s nether regions. I was ready for Wyoming.

Running on Fumes

Expending those extra rounds was necessary but cost me some of my valuable remaining handloads. All told, I shot 53 rounds that day, and had fewer than 130 left for the match. 

As a backup, I reloaded some of my once-fired brass, but as you might know, there’s usually a difference in velocities between virgin brass and cases that have been previously fired. I think this is because virgin brass expands more than fire-formed brass in the chamber—even if it has been fully resized, which mine was. So, some of the powder charge goes to that effort, resulting in reduced muzzle velocities with virgin brass.

To compensate, I dropped the powder charge in those resized rounds by two-tenths of a grain and hoped they’d shoot as close to 2940 fps as possible. 

Final Thoughts

Despite spending a lot of time and resources preparing for the match, I was rolling into Glenrock with fewer rounds than was ideal. But there’s no shortcut when shooting something as difficult and competitive as ELR. If you leave anything to chance or otherwise half-ass it, you’re courting trouble.

It took me 373 rounds to get my rifle squared away, but in the end it was shooting groups averaging in the .5s (with a spread between .259 inches and .840 inches) and with SDs hovering right in the single digits or just above. For a .30-caliber magnum, that’s excellent performance—and good enough to win even the Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge.

As it turned out, my fellow shooters on the Accuracy International squad and I did shoot well. We also encountered some major difficulties along the way—which I will detail in the second installment of this story.

The post Prepping for the Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge, One of the World’s Toughest Long-Range Matches appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Best Overall		Trijicon RMR Type 2	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Distinct features that set it apart from the rest of the field.
Most Versatile		Burris Fastfire 4	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary The Swiss Army Knife of red dot sights.
Best Enclosed Emitter		Aimpoint ACRO P-2	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary A rugged and reliable red dot.

Narrowing down a list of red dot sights is like determining the best flavor of ice cream. There are a ton of options out there. Most perform really well. Some are excellent. And, rarely, you’ll find a dud among the bunch.

I spent the last few months shooting and evaluating a host of red dots for this review. To help simplify things, I focused on red dots for handguns rather than open the field to those that are purpose-built for other firearms. Even with that fence around the project, it was an enormous undertaking. I’ll cover the Trijicon MRO, Bushnell Trophy TRS-25, Sig Sauer Romeo 5, and other red dot sights for carbines down the line.

One thing that’s clear is that the best red dot sights for you comes down to three main factors. First, what is your intended use? For recreational plinking at the range, it’s difficult to go wrong with any of the sights out there. But when your needs are more specific and demanding, the field narrows. For deep concealment, micro sights are the way to go, but they are more difficult to use than sights with wider windows. If you need your sight to endure extremely harsh environments, then you might need to choose an enclosed emitter unit, which tends to be a bit bulkier and more expensive than open emitters. If competing at a high level in shooting competitions is your thing, you won’t want to cut corners on objective lens size, dot sharpness, and other features.

This dovetails into the second factor, which is your budget. You can pick up a reasonable sight for about $100 or so, including one to mount on a defensive pistol that you’re counting on to potentially save your life. But as you spend more, you’ll get better feature sets, improved quality, and more sophisticated engineering. While you can spend more than $400 on a red dot—and some of the best run in that $400 to $600 range—there are a lot of great sights to be had between $300 and $400.

Lastly, there’s the X-factor of what looks cool to you. As the saying goes, what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to accessorize. And when we add something new to any of our guns, most of us want it to look good. By that yardstick, some of the best red dot sights have a greater visual impact than others—and it doesn’t always correspond to the price.

• Best Enclosed Emitter: Aimpoint ACRO P-2
• Best for Competitive Shooting: Trijicon SRO
• Lightest Weight: Sig Sauer Romeo Zero Elite
• Great Field of View: Sig Sauer Romeo1 Pro
• Best High-End Concealed Carry Sight: Trijicon RMRcc
• Best Overall: Trijicon RMR Type 2
• Most Versatile: Burris Fastfire 4
• Best Budget: Crimson Trace CTS-1500
• Best Micro: Swampfox Sentinel M
• Best Shotgun/Pistol Crossover: Holosun HE509T-RD
• Best Low Profile: Leupold DeltaPoint Micro
• Best for Fast, Close Shooting: Leupold DeltaPoint Pro 6 MOA
• Excellent All-Around Sight: Vortex Venom
• Ultra-Rugged: Steiner MPS
• Best for an AR-15 Pistol: USO DRS 2.0
• Best RMSc Enclosed Emitter: Holosun EPS Carry

Things to Consider When Buying a Red Dot Sight

Red-Dot Skills

If you haven’t shot with a red dot, you will need to sharpen your skills. Shooting with a red dot sight seems intuitive, but there’s definitely a learning curve. Plan on doing a lot of dry-fire practice if you want to become proficient.

Mounting Red Dot Sights

Then there’s the matter of the different mounting standards, called “footprints.” There are numerous footprints out there and you can usually get a plate that will connect your specific firearm to a given red dot reflex sight, but be sure to do your research before buying one.

For the best handguns, some of the most common patterns include the Docter/Noblex, Trijicon RMR, and Shield.

Battery Life

Most red dots run on either CR 2032 or CR 1632 3-volt batteries. The run times you see published will range from a few hundred hours to several years. What to make of this? The fact is that battery life will vary depending on the reticle size and brightness setting you use, along with other factors. As a rule of thumb, you should swap out the batteries on your red dots once every year, just to keep them fresh and make sure they don’t conk out on you at an inopportune moment.

Best Red Dot Sights: Reviews and Recommendations

Best Enclosed Emitter Red Dot: Aimpoint ACRO P-2

John Snow

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Key Features

• Weight: 2.1 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 15x15mm
• Reticle: 3.5 MOA dot
• Adjustments: 10 settings, four for NV
• Battery Life: 50,000 hours        
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

The Aimpoint ACRO P-2’s enclosed frame and waterproofing capabilities make this a rugged and reliable red dot.

Pros 

• Extremely rugged
• Great optical clarity
• Excellent ergonomics

Cons

• Pricey

Product Description

When I was putting together a new handgun for bear protection, I topped it with this sight. The Aimpoint ACRO P-2 checks all the boxes I needed and excels in terms of reliability and survivability.

The main virtue of an enclosed emitter is that it is protected from the environment. I spend a lot of time in grizzly country, both in the mountains and in low-lying river bottoms. Between the snow that’s typical at elevation and the mud and debris that’s part of any river system, there are a lot of ways for a red dot to get clogged with gunk. The ACRO P-2 has flat windows on either side of the unit that can easily be wiped with a shirt sleeve to clear the glass.

The ACRO also has best-in-class waterproofing: it is submersible to 35 meters (115 feet) so you can dunk it without harming it in any way. The P-2 also has much improved battery life over the original ACRO and can deliver up to five years of service on a single CR 2032.

The 3.5 MOA dot has round, crisp edges, though when the intensity level is jacked up to the max (there are 10 settings, four of which are for night vision), the dot has a fair bit of blooming. On the plus side, there isn’t any lighting situation where the ACRO’s dot will wash out. The buttons that control the dot intensity give very positive feedback, which allows them to be manipulated while wearing gloves.

The optical clarity of the unit is among the best in the field. There is very little color distortion and no optical distortion while looking through the sight. Picking up the dot and recovering it while shooting is a snap. It is very forgiving.

All this performance, however, comes at a cost. The ACRO P-2 is among the most expensive red dots out there, but it is a serious professional-grade tool that is well worth it.

Best for Competitive Shooting: Trijicon SRO

John Snow

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Key Features

• Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 26mm
• Reticle: 1, 2.5 or 5 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 8 brightness levels, two for night vision
• Battery Life: 3 years
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

The Trijicon SRO’s 26mm objective lens makes it easy to reacquire the dot during rapid shooting competitions. 

Pros 

• Generous sized objective lens
• Great ergonomics
• Tough

Cons

• Spendy

Product Description

Looking through the Trijicon SRO is like staring out of a large picture window with mountain views. It’s a thing of beauty. The generously sized objective lens measures 26 mm in diameter making it easy to find and reacquire the dot during rapid shooting. That quality is a big part of the reason why the SRO is my top choice for competition.

In addition to that is the bomb-proof construction and top-notch engineering of all Trijicon’s red dot offerings.

The SRO is offered with three sized dots depending on your needs: 1 MOA, 2.5 MOA, or 5 MOA. I opted for the 2.5 MOA model, which strikes a great balance between size and precision and handles any shooting chore well.

For a larger sight, the SRO manages to sit relatively low on the slide. That makes sighting through the window that much faster and helps the sight co-witness with irons more easily.

The SRO has a tiny bit of optical distortion, but not enough to detract from the sight’s performance. In fact, with its large objective lens, the SRO handled tracking and target transitions better than any other red-dot in the test.

The ergonomics on the unit are fabulous as well. The windage and elevation adjusters have medium-sized slots that can accommodate a regular screwdriver bit or thin coin and offer positive feedback with each click. The sight has 150 MOA of w/e travel with each click moving the sight 1 MOA. The battery tray is easy to access and doesn’t have to be removed from the pistol when putting in a new one.

It has eight brightness levels, two of which are for night vision. The sight can be set to automatically adjust brightness levels as well if you choose.

And, for those of you who want to take your guns underwater, the SRO is rated waterproof to three meters (10 feet) and has drain holes in the side of the housing.

Lightest Weight: Sig Sauer Romeo Zero Elite

John Snow

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Key Features

• Weight: .5 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 20mm
• Reticle: 3 MOA dot
• Adjustment: Eight settings
• Battery Life: 20,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The Romeo Zero Elite is a wisp of a red dot, tipping the scales at a dainty .5 ounce. Its compact profile makes it a good choice for smaller concealed carry handguns.

Pros

• Light weight
• Good value

Cons

• Inconvenient control button

Product Description

I’ve been running a Romero Zero Elite on a Glock 19 for a while now and it has stood up to some rough use and a lot of rounds.

It’s a basic unit with a 3 MOA dot with eight brightness levels. It’s also offered with a 2 MOA dot within a 32 MOA circle for those who want a larger reticle. A small button just behind the objective lens controls the unit. While unobtrusive, the button is a little hard to reach, especially if you have sausage fingers, and a bit of a pain to manipulate. If my fingers were dirty—from doing a lot of shooting, say—I had difficulty adjusting the brightness without getting a greasy smear on the inside of the objective lens. Not a deal killer by any means, but it is pesky.

Other than that, I had no complaints with the Romeo Zero Elite. The optical quality of the sight is pretty good. It has a metal shield you can install to give the polymer-framed unit more protection if you like. The zero is easy to adjust via the recessed windage and elevation controls that use a tiny hex key wrench.

Another thing in its favor is its affordability. It’s one of the best red dots for the money. With a CR 1632 on board, it delivers up to 20,000 hours of run time.

Great Field of View: Sig Sauer Romeo1 Pro

John Snow

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Key Features

• Weight: 1 ounce
• Objective Lens Size: 28x17mm
• Reticle: 3 or 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 12 settings, 2 for NV
• Battery Life: 20,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The Sig Romeo1 Pro is a great all-around red-dot sight that can function well for either personal protection or competition/recreational shooting duties. Its generous window dimensions—28mm wide and 17mm tall—make it one of the faster red dots to shoot. It’s easy to pick up the dot on the initial gun presentation and reacquire it under recoil.

Pros 

• Very shootable 
• Good ergonomics

Cons 

• Not rated for 10mm Auto

Product Description

I’ve been using a Romeo1 Pro on my Sig P320 for a couple years, and it has served me well. The housing is made of machined aluminum and has withstood daily use and abuse with only a couple scratches to show for it. The aluminum forms a bit of a lip in front of the sight’s window, so you can bang the housing against hard surfaces without touching or damaging the glass. The molded aspheric glass lens is multi-coated to reduce distortion. The optical clarity of it is very good, though the image does have a slight blue tinge, which is common with many reflex sights.

On the unit’s left hand side are two buttons to pick among the Romeo1 Pro’s 12 brightness settings, two of which are for night vision. The sealed electronics on it are rated to IPX7 waterproofness, which means it can be submerged to 1 meter for 30 minutes.

The battery compartment is located right behind the object lens and can be opened with a slot-head bit or coin. This allows the shooter to change batteries without messing with the pistol’s zero. It uses a CR 1632 and has a published run time of 20,000 hours. To conserve battery life, the unit will power down after a period of time and turn back on when moved.

The sight has a whopping 100 MOA of windage and elevation travel. If you find yourself needing all that, you might want to double check and see that your pistol’s barrel isn’t bent. The sight uses two small slot-head adjusters that move the dot 1 MOA with each click.

The Romeo1 Pro is also available with a 6 MOA dot. It’s worth noting that this particular unit isn’t rated for 10mm Auto use. For that you’ll want to upgrade to Sig’s Romeo2 1x30mm enclosed emitter.

Best High-End Concealed Carry Sight: Trijicon RMRcc

John Snow

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Key Features

• Weight: 1 ounce
• Objective Lens Size: 13mm
• Reticle: 3.25 or 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 8 brightness levels, 2 for NV
• Battery Life: 4 years
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

The Trijicon RMRcc is a beautifully engineered micro red dot with best-in-class ruggedness, and a smart suite of electronic functionality. It’s an expensive, professional-grade sight designed to take you to hell and back, should the need arise.

Pros 

• Extremely rugged
• Smart electronic features

Cons

• Small window
• Expensive

Product Description

The Trijicon RMRcc comes with dots that subtend either 3.25 or 6.5 MOA. For a dedicated defensive pistol, the 6.5 MOA dot would be hard to beat, though a 3.25 MOA dot makes the sight a bit more versatile for precision work.

It has eight brightness modes that can be cycled through with the generously sized buttons on either side of the aluminum housing. The top level of brightness has a retina-burning intensity that allows the sight to function well in the brightest possible conditions. The bottom two are meant for night vision gear.

The electronics allow the user to either lock in a particular brightness level, which is useful for competition and certain hunting scenarios, or it can operate in an automatic mode where the reticle brightness rises and dims in relation to the available ambient light.

The unit is sealed against the environment and is submersible to 20 meters (66 feet), which is one of the reasons that many armed professionals gravitate toward it and its bigger brother, the RMR Type 2. It comes with drain holes on the side of the housing so that water drains away.

The window is a little cramped, which makes the sight a little harder to acquire (and reacquire) while shooting. That means it might not be the best pick for someone with beginner-level skills who isn’t as committed to mastering the platform.

Changing the battery requires the user to remove the sight from the pistol, so checking and possibly readjusting the sight’s zero will be necessary.

The adjustments on the Trijicon RMRcc are more coarse than many other units, with each tick mark moving the point of impact 3 MOA. At 25 feet, that amounts to about ¼ inch shift per click. The slots in the windage and elevation adjusters can accommodate standard size slot-head bits easily or even the back edge of a knife, so no special tools are needed.

This sight uses the Trijicon RMRcc mounting standard.

Best Overall: Trijicon RMR Type 2

Trijicon

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Key Features

• Weight: 1.2 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: .83 x .63 inches
• Reticle: 1, 3.25, or 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: Eight settings, two for NV
• Battery Life: 4 years
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

The Trijicon RMR Type 2’s distinctive features set it apart from the rest of the field and justify its lofty price tag.

Pros

• Built for hard use
• Good ergonomics
• Great engineering

Cons

• Expensive

Product Description

After spending months testing this whole field of red-dots, I had to pick one as the winner. It’s a Sophie’s Choice scenario for sure—but rules are rules, and the Trijicon RMR Type 2 got the nod as the overall best red dot sight.

For starters it’s difficult to find anything to criticize about this sight, other than perhaps its price. But you get what you pay for, and when you slap your money down for one of these, you’re getting a hell of a unit.

The RMR sights have a couple of distinctive features compared to the rest of the field. One is the drain holes on either side of the housing that keep water and other debris from collecting around the emitter. The other is the curious shape of the housing, with its concave top. Both these elements hint toward the end users that Trijicon had in mind when developing the sights: serious professionals who rely on them for their lives.

The utility of the drain ports is obvious. Whether Marines are on patrol in a swamp or a Special Operations unit is using scuba gear, they want their sights to be clear and good to go at all times. The shape of the housing mitigates hard impacts and protects the glass from damage. The Trijicon RMR Type 2 is rated waterproof to 20 meters (66 feet).

There are a couple dozen different variants of the Type 2 to pick from with various mounting systems and dot sizes. It can be had with 1, 3.25, or 6.5 MOA dots. Mine, a 3.25 MOA dot, is bright and crisp. The unit has minimal optical distortion (though the glass does have a noticeable blue tinge), eight brightness settings to pick from (including two for night vision), and a four-year run time from a CR 2032 battery. If desired, the sight can be set to an automatic mode that adjusts reticle brightness based on ambient light.

If you’re looking for a pistol or small arms sight that can do it all—personal protection, concealed carry, target shooting, hunting—the RMR Type 2 is it.

Most Versatile: Burris Fastfire 4

Burris Optics

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Key Features

• Weight: 1.7 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 27x18mm
• Reticle: Four user-selectable options
• Adjustment: 3 brightness levels
• Battery Life: 26,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The Burris Fasfire 4 is the Swiss Army knife of red-dot sights. 

Pros 

• Multiple reticles
• Versatile design

Cons

• Some optical distortion

Product Description

With the push of a button on the right side of the unit’s housing, you can cycle through four reticles. The reticles include a 3 MOA dot, an 11 MOA dot, an 11 MOA dot surrounded by a 50 MOA circle, and a 3 MOA dot surrounded by a 50 MOA circle with the addition of two “wings” that effectively form a horizontal crosshair.

Each of these reticles has useful applications. The 3 MOA dot is good for precise shot placement and general handgun use. The 11 MOA dot is good for bright lighting conditions and would work well for turkey hunters and slug-gun hunters. The 11 MOA with a circle is good for personal defense and CQB scenarios, and the 3 MOA circle with wings can handle close and mid-range shooting. It can also be a good option for wingshooting as well. The intensity of these reticles is controlled by a button on the left side of the unit, which has three levels of brightness.

As the late-night TV pitchmen say, but wait, there’s more! The Fastfire 4 is also the only sight in this roundup that converts from an open to closed emitter design. It comes with an environmental shield that screws on to the back of the unit and encloses the emitter. While this won’t make the Fastfire waterproof against submersion, it will prevent rain, snow and dirt from clogging the LED.

The Fastfire 4 comes with a cross-slot base so you can easily screw it on to a Weaver or Picatinny pattern mounting surface. With the weather shield installed the weight of the unit is right at 2 ounces. With the base removed the Fastfire has a Docter/Noblex footprint, so with an adapter you can mount it to a handgun and it won’t be too bulky.

The wide objective lens makes reticle acquisition easy, but the glass does have noticeable optical distortion.

Best Budget: Crimson Trace CTS-1500  

Crimson Trace

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Key Features

• Weight: .65 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 21x15mm
• Reticle: 3 MOA dot
• Adjustment: Automatic
• Battery Life: 20,000 hours
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

Not only is the Crimson Trace CTS-1500 budget friendly, but it could also win an award as the most idiot-proof ultra-compact red dot sight on the market.

Pros

• Simple design
• Affordable 
• Light weight

Cons

• No frills

Product Description

The 3 MOA dot on the CTS-1500 is a perfect size for general defensive pistol use, and thanks to the unit’s polymer frame it tips the scales at a scant .65 ounces even with the CR 2032 battery on board.

The CTS-1550 doesn’t come with much in the way of bells and whistles, but it does serve its primary function well. The dot auto adjusts to lighting conditions for hassle free use and the battery has a published run time of 20,000 hours. I’ve had one mounted on my Kimber Mako R7 for nearly a year and it’s still going strong.

One nice element of the CTS-1550 is the notch cut into the rear of the housing, which allows the shooter to more easily co-witness with their iron sights. This can help with dry-fire training while getting used to working with a handgun-mounted red dot and also serves as a useful backup should the sight fail for some reason.

It has a J-Point / RMSC footprint, allowing it to attach to any compatible pistol. Since this is a micro compact, the dot can be a bit trickier to pick up in the objective lens, but that’s the tradeoff for its high degree of concealability.

The lack of a gasket between the unit and mounting surface means you need to be careful when using it in wet conditions as moisture can seep into the battery compartment. It’s an easy thing to check, however, by removing the two fasteners that secure the sight to the pistol. You’ll just need to check zero after remounting the sight. Fortunately, adjusting the point of impact is a simple and painless process.

Best Micro: Swampfox Sentinel M

Swampfox Optics

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Key Features

• Weight: .82 ounces
• Size 16x16mm window
• Reticle 3 MOA dot, manual adjustment 10 levels
• Adjustment: Manual
• Battery Life: 12,000 hours. active, 50,000 hours stand-by
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

Competition among micro-sized red dots is stiff as there are a lot of good options to choose from. In this crowded field, the Swampfox Sentinel M strikes an attractive balance between features, optical quality, and price.

Pros

• Sleek, minimalistic profile

Cons

• Some optical distortion

Product Description

Like other micros, the Sentinel M has a minimalistic profile that will fit well on smaller pistols with narrow slides. Among those are the Glock 43X and Glock 48 MOS, Sig P365XL, Springfield Hellcat OSP, Canik Elite SC, S&W Shield 2.0 Optics Ready, Walther PPS M2 Optics Ready—basically any pistol with an RMSc footprint can accommodate one.

Shooters will argue about the merits of exposed controls on red dots for concealed guns, but I like the easy-to-use buttons on either side of the Sentinel’s aluminum housing, which cycle through 10 different brightness settings. It also has well-marked windage and elevation dials that adjust with the tool that ships with the unit or a small slot-head driver.

It runs on a CR 2032 battery and has a published run time of 12,000 to 50,000 hours. The Sentinel M comes with smart electronics. It will go into battery saving mode after four minutes of inactivity but reilluminates when the unit detects movement. If you turn the unit off, which you do by holding down the “-” for three seconds, the Sentinel returns to your previous brightness setting when powered back on.

Like other micros, the Sentinel M has an exposed battery compartment on the underside of the housing. To help seal it from the elements, it ships with a thin rubber gasket that you place between the base of the sight and the slide. That provides it with an IPX7 waterproof rating (one meter for 30 minutes).

It’s thoughtful touches like these that make the Sentinel M an appealing choice and one of the best red dot sights of its type.

The unit’s optical quality is good—not great—but certainly up to the standards of other micros. And the quality of the dot is clean and sharp enough for the defensive pistol work that it is designed for.

Not that aesthetics are the most important consideration for a micro red dot, but they are a consideration. The finish on the metal, the sharp lettering on the logos, and the attractive shape of the housing are nice elements too.

Best Shotgun/Pistol Crossover: Holosun HE509T-RD

Holosun

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Key Features

• Weight: 2.25 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 16x23mm
• Reticle: 2 MOA dot or 2 MOA dot in 32 MOA circle
• Adjustment: Automatic or manual with 12 levels to choose from.
• Battery Life: 12,000 or 50,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The dual reticle options on the HE509T-RD make it a viable option for both pistols and shotguns and even rifles, for that matter.

Pros

• Dual reticle options 
• Enclosed emitter
• Solar backup power

Cons 

• Some image distortion 
• Heavy

Product Description

Holosun has a devoted following among many top-level competitors who run red dots on their guns. The company makes no-nonsense task-driven sights that are rugged and incorporate useful technology at reasonable prices. Many other brands of red dots are manufactured by Holosun, in fact, which is a testament to their quality.

The Holosun HE509-T is an enclosed emitter in a titanium housing. The titanium has a few benefits, including reduced weight, improved strength when compared to aluminum, and resistance to saltwater corrosion.

It has two user-selectable reticle options, a 2 MOA dot or a 2 MOA dot surrounded by a 32 MOA circle with four “positioning points” located at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-o’clock. Depressing the “-” button for three seconds toggles between the two. When running the circle/dot reticle, the HE509-T will last for 12,000 hours, while running the dot alone bumps that to 50,000 hours.

These reticles make the HE509T useful for both pistol and shotgun applications, and rifles too, for that matter. It’s a fine red dot for shotguns, especially with the reticle on the circle/dot setting.

The sight can be operated in two modes: automatic and manual. On automatic, the sight adjusts the intensity of the reticle based on ambient lighting conditions, while in manual the shooter sets the reticle brightness. In manual mode, the sight has 12 levels to choose from, two of which are for night vision.

About the only issue with the sight is its optical quality, which has a bit of distortion at the edges.

The sight uses a CR 1632 battery that is in a tray that slides into the right side of the unit and is secured by a single slot-head fastener. This allows the battery to be changed without removing it from the firearm. When the battery runs low the reticle slowly blinks to let you know, which is a nice feature.

Despite its titanium housing, the emitter weighs 2.25 ounces, making it one of the heavier in the roundup. The HE509T comes in two versions, with either a red or green reticle. The green bumps the price by about $35. It has its own mounting dimensions but comes with a RMR pattern plate and an adapter for the Glock MOS system.

Read Next: Best Red Dots for Turkey Hunting

Best Low Profile: Leupold DeltaPoint Micro

Leupold

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Key Features

• Weight: 1 ounce
• Objective Lens Size: 9mm
• Reticle: 3 MOA dot
• Adjustment: Eight settings
• Battery Life: 30,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The DeltaPoint’s low profile makes it an excellent option when deep concealment is desired.

Pros 

• Low profile
• Enclosed emitter

Cons 

• Limited to Glocks and Smith & Wesson M&P pistols

Product Description

When the DeltaPoint Micro appeared, it challenged the conventional wisdom concerning micro red dot sights. It mounts on the rear sight dovetail the pistol and most of the electronics hang off the back of the slide. The sight itself is a small tube—only 9mm in diameter—that acts like a ghost ring with respect to the pistol’s front sight.

It’s an ingenious design, but one that shooters were a bit leery of because of the small sight aperture. Would it be difficult to pick up the dot on presenting the pistol and after recoil?

Those are valid questions. The answer is that the system works very well. Because the DeltaPoint Micro employs the geometry of the pistol’s iron sights, it is very easy for the shooter’s eye to align with the optic. As a bonus, should the sight go down, the tube can be used as a ghost ring with the front sight.

Among current red dots there isn’t another out there that has such a low profile, making the DeltaPoint Micro ideal for carry where deep concealment is desired and one of the best red dot sights for this purpose.

The system isn’t without its limitations however. The biggest is that it’s currently only available for two types of pistols: the Smith & Wesson M&P and the Glock. Of course, those two account for a huge chunk of the worldwide handgun market, so there’s no lack of potential customers. But if you rock a different model, the Micro isn’t an option for you at the moment.

The other issue is that installation is a bit more involved than with many other red dots, as you have to remove the rear sight to gain access to the dovetail. That’s not a huge deal, but it isn’t as simple as just screwing it onto a mounting plate.

One thing I like about the Micro is that it is an enclosed emitter, so you don’t have to worry about dust and lint getting into the works and gumming it up.

The sight has a 3 MOA dot. I don’t know if it is a function of the sight’s design, but this dot isn’t as sharp and round as other DeltaPoint offerings, but it isn’t so much of an issue that it affects how the sight performs.

The elevation adjustments on it are generous. The DeltaPoint Micro has 100 MOA of elevation and 180 MOA of windage on tap. The point of impact adjusts via two small Allen key fasteners that are recessed into the housing. It has eight brightness settings that the user toggles through with the large button on the battery housing.

Best for Fast, Close Shooting: Leupold DeltaPoint Pro 6 MOA

Leupold

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Key Features

• Weight: 2 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 20mm
• Reticle: 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 8 settings
• Battery Life: 1,600 hours
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

When it comes to getting lead on steel and paper quickly, no sight performed better in the test than the Leupold DeltaPoint Pro 6 MOA. Its large, bright dot and exceptional optical clarity make it a no-brainer for this kind of shooting.

Pros

• Excellent optical quality
• Large, bright aiming point
• Convenient battery compartment

Cons

• Expensive
• Sits high on the pistol

Product Description

Like all Leupold DeltaPoint’s, this model is wonderfully engineered. The toolless battery compartment/adjustment button is convenient and clever. Pushing on the button allows the shooter to cycle through eight different brightness settings.

The coin-slot windage and elevation adjustments have 60 MOA of travel. They adjust in 1 MOA clicks and give excellent tactile feedback when turned.

The battery life figures that Leupold gives are much lower (and more realistic, to be honest) than you’ll see with other sights, but it’s worth keeping the dot brightness to a lower setting or making a point to turn off the sight when not in use to get more from the battery.

To harden the sight, Leupold encloses it in a metal shield that wraps over the optic. This bumps the weight to 2 ounces, making it one of the heavier open-emitter sights in the test.

Excellent All-Around Sight: Vortex Venom

Vortex Optics

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Key Features

• Weight: 1.1 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 20 mm
• Reticle: 3 or 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 10 settings
• Battery Life: 30,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The Vortex Venom is one of the most popular red dot reflex sights currently offered—and for good reason. It’s a solid, all-around red dot that works well on handguns, shotguns, AR-15s, and other rifles.

Pros

• Jack of all trades

Cons

• Humdrum styling

Product Description

The Vortex Venom doesn’t bring any fancy technology to the party, but what it does have is a generous window, a crisp 3 or 6 MOA dot that can be adjusted to any of 10 brightness levels, controls that are easy to manipulate and a solid housing made of aluminum that can take a beating.

You can also switch the sight to “auto” mode where it adjusts the reticle brightness according to the ambient light.

The slot-head windage and elevation adjusters are easy to dial in. The sight has 130 MOA of elevation travel on tap and 100 MOA of windage elevation, with each click of the adjusters moving the POI by 1 MOA.

One feature that has attracted a lot of shooters to Vortex’s products is their generous no-questions-asked warranty program. Basically, if you manage to break it, Vortex will replace it. Critics say that’s borne of necessity because the company doesn’t make optics as durable as others. Be that as it may, however, the fact that Vortex does stand behind their offerings and they’ve earned a lot of loyal customers because of it.

Ultra-Rugged: Steiner MPS

Steiner-Optics

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Key Features

• Weight: 2 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 20x16mm
• Reticle: 3.3 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 8 levels (2 NV)
• Battery Life: 13,000 hours
• Battery: CR 1632

Why It Made the Cut

The Steiner MPS is a rugged enclosed emitter that also has exceptional aesthetics.

Pros 

• Rugged 
• User friendly

Cons 

• Can be tricky to mount on different platforms.

Product Description

The Steiner MPS is arguably the sexiest pistol reflex sight out there. It has head-turning futuristic lines that visually set it apart from this crowded field of the best red dot sights. For that reason, any gun owner who values the aesthetic impact of their gun will want to consider the MPS.

But this sight is more than a pretty face. It’s a rugged and capable enclosed emitter with user-friendly ergonomics and a distortion-free sight picture. And, while not cheap, it runs about $100 less than the Acro P-2, so it has that going for it as well.

The 3.3 MOA dot is round and crisp—one of the sharpest in the test. The MPS has eight brightness settings on tap (two for night vision), that are actuated by the “+” and “-” buttons on the unit’s left side.

The MPS’s battery compartment sits on top of the metal housing and takes a CR 1632 battery that provides enough juice for 13,000 hours of run time. To conserve battery life, the MPS automatically shuts down after 13 hours.

To enhance the MPS’s survivability, Steiner added two beefed-up panels on either side of the sight and recessed the objective lens in the housing. With this added degree of protection, the sight only weighs 2 ounces.

The slot-head POI adjusters give excellent feedback with each click. The unit has 90 MOA of travel in both windage and elevation with each click moving the dot 1 MOA.

The MPS fits an ACRO footprint and comes with a Docter adapter plate. Plates for other mounting patterns are available as well.

Best for an AR-15 Pistol: USO DRS 2.0

USO Optics

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 Key Features

• Weight: 1.9 ounces
• Objective Lens Size: 24x16mm
• Reticle: 6 MOA dot
• Adjustment: 10 brightness settings
• Battery Life: 2 to 3 years
• Battery: CR 2032

Why It Made the Cut

The USO DRS 2.0 is the easy-button for equipping your AR pistol—or any firearm with a Picatinny rail—with a red dot. It comes with a nicely constructed base that has a cross pin that will secure the sight into a Pic rail’s slots.

Pros 

• Simple to use
• Good optical clarity

Cons 

• Need to re-zero after changing the battery.

Product Description

Once mounted, adjusting zero on the DRS 2.0 is simple. It has two well-marked adjustment dials for windage and elevation that offer 1 MOA of reticle movement per click. Click is a relative term, though, because the recessed slot-head dials operate with friction and not with any type of audible or tactile feedback.

The 6 MOA dot is easy to pick up and see in the sight’s objective lens and can be adjusted to any of 10 brightness settings. The dot intensity is controlled with two easy to manipulate buttons on the unit’s left-hand side. The DRS 2.0’s optical clarity really impressed me. It exhibits minimal distortion.

The housing is made of aluminum and to trim a bit of weight it is skeletonize on the sides. Even with the Pic rail mount adapter, the sight only weighs 1.9 ounces. You can ditch the Pic rail mount if you want and get adapters that will let it mount on Glocks, S&W M&Ps, HK VP9, and others. Its base footprint is the Vortex Viper pattern.

The DRS 2.0 runs on a CR 2032 and has a 2-3-year run time depending on how it is used and the dot intensity setting. To conserve battery life, the unit shuts off after 12 hours of inactivity.

Best RMSc Enclosed Emitter: Holosun EPS Carry

Scott Einsmann

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Key Features

• Weight: 1 ounce
• RMS Shield Footprint
• Battery: CR1620
• Max Battery Life: 5,000 hours
• Length: 1.62 inches
• Width: .95 inches
• Height: 1.07 inches
• Window Size: .58 x .77 inches
• Eight brightness settings and four night vision settings
• Dot Size: 2 moa, 6 moa, 2 moa dot with 32 moa ring 
• Red or green reticles available 

Pros

• Bright, crisp dot
• Easy to change battery
• Good option for concealed carry or turkey gun

Cons

• Can bloom if setting is too bright

The Holosun EPS Carry mounts on guns with RMSc, Holosun K, Leupold DeltaPoint Pro, and Sig Sauer RomeoZero optic cuts or mounting plates. It comes with screws of various lengths (use the longest that will work) each with Blue Loctite already on them. Holosun recommends torquing the screws to 15 inch-pounds. 

The battery door is located on the right side of the optic and is accessible without removing the red dot. Holosun says the battery life is 5,000 hours, which is about 200 days. It’s not the five-year battery life of the Holosun 507 K, but changing a battery once every six months is still pretty damn good. 

The 6 moa dot on my EPS Carry is crisp and round. This is exactly how a dot should look, but many red dot sights come up short in this feature. The EPS Carry’s glass has a slight blue hue, which is common on red dots. 

I slammed the front of the EPS Carry into my tailgate ten times to rack the slide on my empty XMacro. Then I dropped the unloaded gun from chest height so that it landed, red dot down, onto a gravel road. I picked up the handgun, loaded it, and confirmed my zero at 25 yards. The only evidence of this round of battery was some slight character marks on the housing. It held zero and functioned great throughout the rest of my range session. After a few hundred rounds, I repeated the test, and once again it was unfazed. 

This isn’t a torture test meant to see if I could break the EPS Carry or to see if it’s worthy of use in the apocalypse. It’s a test that gives me confidence that if the optic takes a hard hit, it will keep its zero and continue working. -Scott Einsmann

Read the full Holosun EPS Carry review to learn more about the optic and see how it held up against the Trijicon RMR in a down pour.

FAQs

Final Thoughts on the Best Red Dot Sights

The best red dot sights bring a lot of benefits. They increase accuracy at all ranges but they’re especially effective beyond 10 yards. Red dots make shooting on the move easier and they’re also helpful for shooters with aging eyes who have trouble keeping the front sight in focus. But to be effective with any red dot sight, you need to practice with it.

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I use a variety of pistol shooting drills to hone my skills, but it wasn’t always that way. There was a time in my life when I’d proudly exchange my hard-earned cash for ammo, drive straight to the nearest shooting range or gravel pit, and burn it all without even setting up a target. It was second in stupidity only to the days that I didn’t wear ear protection when shooting. There was some overlap.

I’m not sure if it’s age, wisdom, or the requirement to be financially responsible, but these days I feel that every round I fire should have purpose. It’s an ethos I can live with, considering that ammunition isn’t unlimited these days—even for a gun writer. Time and ammo are finite resources, so replace volume with quality.

Even if you’ve only got one box of ammo to take to the range, you can run through pistol shooting drills that will test and develop a variety of fundamental skills. With just 50 rounds, here’s a range session that you’ll actually benefit from.

Step 1: Dry Fire and Warmup Shot

Rounds: 1 

Distance: 7 yards

Set up a single IPSC/USPSA or other silhouette target at 7 yards. Start from a holstered or low-ready position with an empty gun. Set up a shot timer or use a shot timer app, and at the starting beep, draw or raise the gun, aim, and dry fire. Focus on deliberate movements, a good grip, good sight picture, and a crisp trigger pull. When you’re ready to go hot, load a single round in the pistol and repeat the drill with a live round. 

The Takeaway: Unless you specifically want to run drills without warming up, it’s helpful to run through a few dry fire draw cycles to grease the wheels so to speak. Drawing, getting a good sight picture, and dry firing will help loosen you up and get you in a good frame of mind. The live round cements it. 

Step 2: Bill Drill, Two Repetitions

Rounds: 12

Distance: 7 yards

Par time: 5 seconds

Tape up the impact from your warmup shot and keep the single target at 7 yards. The first of these pistol shooting drills is the Bill Drill. Start from the holster or a low-ready position. At the starting beep of the shot timer, draw, raise and aim your pistol. Fire 6 rounds as quickly as you can into the center zone of the target. Fire quickly, but not so fast that you miss the center zone. The Bill drill focuses on skills including grip acquisition, drawing, target and sight picture acquisition, trigger pull, and maintaining focus through the long string of shots. Repeat the drill.

The Takeaway

Record your times and track your progress. An experienced pistol shooter should be able to finish in 3.5 seconds or less. If you can get to 2.5 seconds, you’re doing really well. Only clean hits count in this drill. If you missed some center-zone shots, slow down and concentrate more on your grip and sight picture. If all your shots are clustered tightly in the center, speed things up a bit. Keys to doing this drill well are getting a good grip and sight picture before firing the first shot. 

Step 3: X-Drill, Two Repetitions

Rounds: 8

Distance: 7 yards

The X-drill has several variations, but you can run it with just 4 rounds per repetition. Set up a second silhouette target alongside the first, space them about 1 yard apart. You’ll still be shooting from 7 yards, starting from a holstered or low-ready position. At the timer’s beep you’ll draw, raise the pistol, and fire a single shot at the center chest zone of target one. Then you’ll move diagonally and fire a second shot at the center head zone of target 2. You’ll quickly drop down and fire a single shot to the center chest zone of target 2. In an X-like pattern, move back across and fire a quick, well-aimed single shot at the center head zone of target 1, completing the drill. Repeat the drill.

The Takeaway

You can run this pistol shooting drill in a different order, but the point is to focus on all the skills covered in the Bill drill, adding transitions between large and small targets. You want to shoot the larger center chest zones quickly, but you have to slow down to hit the center head zones precisely. Run the drill as quickly as you can and still hit all four zones. If your hits are all dead center of the target zones, try to shoot it faster, but not so fast that you miss.

Step 4: El Presidente, Two Repetitions

Rounds: 24

Distance: 10 yards

Par time: 10 seconds

The El Presidente drill is one of the best-known pistol shooting drills, and it will test all your skills. Set up a third silhouette target and move all three frames back to 10 yards. You want the targets to be equally spaced, about a yard apart. You’ll start this drill facing away from the targets with your pistol holstered and loaded with six rounds. Have another magazine loaded with six rounds in a magazine carrier or pocket. Mind your muzzle direction if you do not have a holster. At the sound of the timer, you will turn towards the target, draw your pistol, and shoot the center zone of each target twice. Then, drop your magazine, reload, and shoot all three targets again with two rounds each. Repeat the drill.

The Takeaway

The El Presidente drill incorporates all the previously mentioned skills like grip and sight picture acquisition, target transitions, and adds some movement and a reload. It’s an excellent drill to incorporate many skills, and if you can pull it off clean in under 10 seconds, you’re doing well. This means you hit the center zone with every shot. If you’re missing some center zones, you might be trying to shoot too fast, or not acquiring a good sight picture with each shot. Slow down and focus on smooth movements and clean shots. As you get comfortable, you will speed up.

Read Next: Best Handguns, Tested and Reviewed

Step 5: Confidence Group

Rounds: 5

Distance: 3-7 yards

After running all these pistol shooting drills, you’ll have five rounds left. It’s always good to leave the range on a high note, and a great way to accomplish that is to slow down, set a target close, and simply shoot a slow-fire, five-shot group for accuracy. Even if that means a ragged hole from three yards, that final work on your sight picture and a clean trigger squeeze is an ideal way to  boost confidence while finishing out your range session. 

Final Thoughts

Pistol shooting isn’t easy, and it’s even tougher when you’re not getting quality practice. With ammo being as expensive as it is, you’ll see the most benefit by focusing your time and energy on quality practice that will truly improve your skills. These pistol shooting drills will help you sharpen up, whether you’re shooting your bear protection pistol or the micro-compact 9mm that you carry every day—with just a single box of ammo.

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Trap is one of the most popular shooting sports in America, and it’s also a great way to introduce anyone to shotgun shooting. All you need is a shooting vest, gun, and box of shells to get started. It’s also one of the easiest shooting disciplines for enjoying immediate success, simply because of its format—you’re shooting at clays that are mostly going directly away from your shooting position. But if you want to become an accomplished trap shooter, you will eventually need a gun that’s built for the sport. That gun doesn’t have to be overly expensive, though it will cost you more than the average pump shotgun. Or, if you have the financial means, you can pay for a high-dollar over/under.

A good trap gun weighs a bit more than a field gun. That added weight helps reduce recoil and keep the barrel moving, which makes it easier to track clays and break them. A high rib and adjustable stock also makes a good trap gun, because you want your shotgun to shoot high. Most trap shooters instinctively hold below the clay bird, and that extra rib height and an adjustable cheek piece on the stock will give you a better sight picture. Whether you’re looking to join a trap league with your buddies or win the Grand American, there’s a shotgun to fit your budget.

1. Browning BT-99

This is the gold standard when it comes to single-barrel competition trap guns. The BT-99 is built with one purpose in mind: to smash clay targets at distances of 16 to 27 yards, and it’s exceedingly good at that task. It was originally built in 1968 by Miroku, discontinued in 1995, and then brought back by Browning in 2001. The base BT-99 comes with a satin walnut stock, 32- or 34-inch barrel with ivory front and mid-beads, and an Invector-Plus IM choke tube, plus a recoil pad for $1,559. If you want to step up in price, you can add options like Graco adjustable stocks with GraCoil Recoil Reduction systems and upgraded wood and metal finishes. If there’s a young competitive shooter in your family, the Midas model offers a reduced (13¾-inch) length of pull. BT-99 shotguns are heavy—over eight pounds—but that’s a good thing when you’re shooting hundreds of targets a day. The barrel is also ported to dampen recoil. Check availability here.

2. Fabarm Axis RS 12 Trap

The Axis is one of the most underrated competition guns on the market. It comes with class-leading features, like free-floating 32-inch barrels (there’s also a model with 34-inch pipes), an adjustable rib, tapered bores, integral recoil reducer, and adjustable comb. The Triwood stock finish is classy and eye-catching and five extended choke tubes come standard. The overall weight of these guns is close to nine pounds, so recoil won’t be an issue, but your arms may be a bit tired by the end of the day. Construction quality is second-to-none and the fit and finish resembles that of a gun that would cost five figures. I spent a day breaking clays in Texas with the Axis RS 12 and shot it extremely well. That was due in part to the adaptability of the Axis platform, but also the superb balance of this gun. The base price is around $4,700, which is actually a bargain considering the quality of this gun’s construction. Left-handers have to pay an extra $160 for a lefty stock, but all these guns are back by a five-year warranty. If you’re in the market for a high-end over/under, save your pennies and buy the Axis.

3. Tristar TT-15 Trap

Much like Browning’s BT-99, the TT-15 belongs to a family of trap guns that all share the same action but have different features. And these Turkish-made guns have become go-to shotguns for budget-minded shooters. Some of the features that come standard on the TT-15 guns include ribs with three adjustment points, adjustable walnut stocks, ventilated barrels, and color-coded Benelli/Beretta-style extended choke tubes. The Deluxe model even comes with a drop-out trigger group, something normally reserved for much more expensive target shotguns. Prices for these guns start at just $1,250, which is an excellent value for a single-barrel trap gun with all the features you’ll find on the TT-15 Trap. There’s also an over/under double-barrel and single-barrel combo option with two barrel sets if you enjoy shooting skeet or sporting clays. Check availability here.

Read Next: Expert Shotgun Shooting Tips from Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays Pros

4. Stevens 555 Trap

If you want a simple, affordable single-barrel trap gun, this is it. The 555’s aluminum receiver is scaled to gauge (12 or 20) and features a steel insert that strengthens the breech. The Turkish walnut stock has an oil finish and comes with an adjustable comb that can be raised or lowered to fit the shooter’s face. With its 30-inch barrel, the 12-gauge version weighs in at 7.5 pounds. It’s a reasonable weight for a trap gun, but definitely on the lighter side Three choke tubes come standard as does a chrome-lined barrel for maximum longevity. This is the ideal starter gun for a new trap shooter, and there’s a compact model available for smaller shooters. New trap shooters want a gun that is basic and affordable, but functional, and the Stevens 555 delivers on all three accounts. Check availability here.

5. Caesar Guerini Invictus V Trap

The Invictus isn’t your average trap gun—it starts at nearly $16,000—but for serious competitors who want one of the best guns for clay shooting, this Italian-made beauty is certainly one of them. The Invictus system is modular and can be adjusted as the gun wears in, which means this gun can be tuned to perfection hundreds of thousands of rounds into its operating life. It also comes with Guerini’s superb DPS trigger system, which is the closest thing you’ll find to a precision rifle trigger in a scattergun without an aftermarket upgrade. The top rib is adjustable from 60/40 to 120 (where the bottom of the pattern is 20% above the bead), so there’s not a target within range the Invictus wont break. Three or five MAXIS competition chokes come standard, as does a hand-rubbed Monte Carlo Stock with DTS 4-way adjustability. Not only is the Invictus built like a tank (the unsingle weighs in at 9 pounds, 5 ounces), it’s also quite beautiful, with ornate Italian engraving on the coin finish receiver. If you’re worried about damaging that finish, don’t—the metal is protected with Guerini’s Invisalloy finish.

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The Bill drill is one of the most simple and common drills for checking key pistol shooting skills—even if it might look like you’re trying to do your best John Wick impression at the local range. To the unknowing observer, it might not seem like much of a drill at all. However, doing the Bill drill well takes concentration and skill. 

Setting Up the Bill Drill

It doesn’t get much simpler than the Bill drill, which is named after Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat. All you’ll need is a single target. Any silhouette target with a center vital zone will do, but it’s most commonly done with a USPSA/IPSC cardboard target. 

Set the single target up at 7 yards. Starting position is facing the target with your pistol holstered, hands hanging at your sides. Most people will use a strong-side hip-mounted holster, but it’s an excellent drill to run from your appendix carry holster.

Shooting the Bill Drill

You’ll want to use a shot timer while shooting the drill to track your speed. At the “beep,” draw your pistol and fire six shots into the center zone of the target as quickly as you can. That’s it. 

To run a clean drill, all shots must be in the center zone of the target. If you’re shooting the drill in under five seconds, you’re doing pretty well. 

The Bill Drill Takes Skill

Sounds simple, right? Draw from the holster, blaze away, you’re done. It’s not as easy as you might think. The bill drill puts several skills to the test: draw/grip acquisition, sight acquisition and maintenance, trigger pull, and grip maintenance. Sure, you want to go fast, but succeeding at the Bill drill forces you to slow down and do things properly. Speed comes only with practice.

Draw and Grip Acquisition

You better get a good grip on your pistol before you skin that smoke wagon. Many competitive and practical applications require aptitude for drawing your pistol and getting the first shot off clean. If your grip isn’t where it needs to be, you won’t be able to maintain it on follow-up shots in any situation, whether you’re in a USPSA match or getting charged by a grizzly.

Sight Picture

Don’t believe the lore that says you just need to point a pistol. If you’re not aiming, you’re not hitting anything past a few feet. Getting a solid sight picture before you crack the first round off is imperative to keeping the rest of your shots in the center zone when running a Bill drill. Like other skill sets, if you slow down for a millisecond to set your sight picture, you’ll likely see your times and accuracy improve. Watch your sight picture and as soon as it falls back into place, touch your next round off. 

Trigger Press

A good, consistent trigger pull is key. To shoot ultra fast, you have to smack the trigger, but if you’re seeing lots of left impacts for a right-handed shooter, it might be time to slow down or work on the direction of your trigger pull. Make sure you’re pulling straight back. 

Grip Maintenance

The glue that holds your Bill drill together is good grip maintenance. If you’ve set your grip properly, you’re off to a good start, but to really go fast, an absolutely rock-solid gorilla grip is a must. With each shot your pistol is experiencing dramatic motion, and your grip is the only thing that keeps the sights falling back into the right place when the slide snaps back into battery. If your grip starts to slip, your accuracy and speed will both degrade. 

The Bill Drill is Versatile

The basic Bill drill is a tangible measure of your shooting skills, but you can also adapt it to just about any gun at any range. You’ll see youtube personalities use it to compare rifles. With some variations, it’s an excellent drill to test your position building, target acquisition, and position maintenance for any firearm.

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The El Presidente drill is one of the most widely-known and useful drills for testing your pistol shooting skills. It was created by Jeff Cooper while training with South African presidential protection personnel and it’s a great framework for developing and coordinating your own pistol skills.

During our week-long gun test at Gunsite Academy in Paulden, AZ, which was founded by Cooper, we tested this year’s best handguns and even tested a field of best 1911 pistols. We fired close to 10,000 rounds of pistol ammunition, and a big part of our test protocol was to run pistols through standardized drills to see how they compared to one another. 

The El Presidente drill may have been designed with the 1911 in mind, but it’s an incredibly useful drill that you can shoot with any handgun. It’s easy to set up, tests your skills, and is one of the best ways to measure your proficiency. 

How to Set Up the El Presidente Drill

Shooting the El Presidente drill requires three targets. Generally, you’ll use silhouette-type targets like the Gunsite paper targets or USPSA/IPSC cardboard silhouettes, but the specific type of target you use isn’t critical. 

Place your three target stands approximately one yard apart, parallel to the firing line. You want the targets to be at the same height. This drill is traditionally fired from 10 yards. For most the accurate timing results, you want to use a shot timer to start your run and track your times.

Running the El Presidente Drill

Starting position for El Pres is on the firing line at 10 yards, facing up-range (away from the targets), with your hands in a surrender position. Your pistol is locked, loaded, and holstered, and you want a spare magazine at the ready. 

At the “beep” of the shot timer, you will turn toward the targets, draw your pistol, and fire two shots into each target. You’ll then drop your magazine, reload, and fire two more shots into each target. Your time stops when your last shot is fired. 

The targets can be shot from left-to-right, or right-to-left, it doesn’t matter, but they all need to be shot twice, then twice again after a reload. It’s helpful to turn into the gun, or pivot towards the side that your holster is on. 

Tips for Shooting  the El Presidente Drill

The El Presidente drill tests several key skills—and how well you use them together. It will show you where you are strong, but also where you need improvement. Every element of El Pres is designed to test a skill, and understanding it can help you improve both your time and your proficiency. Mastering each step of this drill means making your movements smooth, deliberate, and efficient.

The Turn

The El Presidente drill starts with a curveball. Simply turning around, drawing your pistol, and acquiring your target are simple tasks, but combining them smoothly and efficiently takes practice. 

When turning toward the targets at the beep of the timer, you should pivot smoothly, toward the side that your holster is on. If you’re right-handed, pivot to the right. Pivoting around the gun reduces the distance that the gun needs to travel before drawing, and you should acquire your grip as you turn. As soon as you’re pointed downrange, pull the gun from the holster. If you’re using an appendix carry holster, turn towards your strong side.

Lead the turn with your head, looking to lock in on the first target while you’re still moving. You should pivot on one foot, swinging the other around smoothly. A common mistake is for shooters to take little steps as they turn. This costs precious time and concentration. If you’re pivoting to your right, your left foot should swing freely around and land in a stable stance position. By the time your foot hits the ground, you should be locked onto target and drawing the pistol.

Drawing and Aiming

The most important part of drawing your gun is getting a solid grip established before you pull it from the holster. If you have to take time to adjust your grip after drawing, you’ll lose time and focus. Dry-fire practice can help you correctly index your hand on your grip and draw the gun smoothly every time. 

When you’re drawing your pistol, you should already be locked onto the target. Bring the gun straight out of the holster, drive it toward the target. At this point, it’s critical to take a fraction of a second to establish a good sight picture on target. Because it’s a timed drill, your inclination will be to start shooting as soon as you see the sights over the target. If you take the time to establish your sight picture and make a precise first shot, it sets the rest of your drill up for success. If you don’t establish that sight picture, you’ll flounder through the drill.

Shooting and Transitioning

Timed drills like El Presidente test both your speed and accuracy, and unlike what you want to do for slow, precise shooting, you will definitely be smashing the trigger quickly. To do this while maintaining acceptable accuracy, it’s critical that you’ve built a good position, solid grip, and obtained a good sight picture. 

Because there’s so much movement involved, you’re depending on your grip and position to keep your sight picture and alignment intact through rapid firing. Watch your sights, yes, but you don’t have the time to fine-tune every shot. With strong fundamentals, you can fire fast strings and maintain good accuracy. 

Once your sight picture is established on the first target, fire two shots as quickly as you see your sights fall back onto target. As you’re firing the second shot, move your eyes to the center of the next target, and bring the gun straight there. Check your sight picture, fire two more shots, and repeat. You’ll be able to shoot more quickly and accurately by focusing on your next target while you move the gun than by looking at the gun or the sights.

The Reload

The reload is a stumbling block for many shooters. It’s a skill that takes practice and familiarity with your equipment—but also patience. This step is easy to rush, and that can cost you precious time when things don’t go smoothly. 

As soon as your sixth shot is fired, your support hand should reach for your spare magazine while the strong hand presses the magazine catch. Smoothly and deliberately load the new magazine, making sure it’s seated securely. You can use a speed loader if you’re shooting a revolver. Then engage your next target.

Mastering the pistol reload is a subject unto itself, but the biggest takeaway for a smooth reload is to go slow enough to do it correctly. You’ll never cut time by fumbling. Also, position your magazines so that they’re easy to grab, and index them so that the bullets are facing in a direction that doesn’t require extra movement to turn and load them into the gun.

In What Order Should You Shoot the Targets?

Every gamer has tried to hack out the fastest method to shoot the El Presidente drill, and ultimately it comes down to your preference. Some folks like to shoot left-to-right, others prefer right-to-left. Some shooters switch directions after the reload, some repeat what they did on the first string. Ultimately, a lot of that is lost in the wash, and most shooters should just experiment and see what seems to help them maintain their concentration the best.

Keeping your Concentration

Although this drill is simple, there are lots of places to falter. That will cost you time and accuracy. To shoot the El Presidente drill quick and clean, you need to be focused on each step completely, not the one ahead of or behind it. This is why establishing good position, grip, and sight picture are critical. If any one component begins to slip, your focus will be on that, not the task at hand. 

Read Next: How to Shoot a Pistol Accurately

Interpreting your Target

As a standard measure, a proficient shooter should be able to successfully shoot through the El Presidente drill in 10 seconds or less, with all center-zone hits. You can’t miss fast enough to win, so accuracy should be your first priority—speed will come with more practice.

Your targets can tell you a lot about where you can improve after shooting El Pres. Wild shots on the first target can mean that you’re not taking the time to acquire a good sight picture—something that I need constant reminding of. Horizontally strung shots on the second and third targets can mean that you’re sweeping the pistol too fast and breaking shots wide as you move through the course of fire. 

The most sage advice for shooting the El Presidente drill is that if your shots are straying from the center zone of the target, slow down and focus on making accurate shots. If you’re shooting slower, and all your shots are grouped tightly in the middle of the center zones, you can speed up.

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Best Pump		CZ-USA 612 Field	SEE IT
Best Semi-Auto		Beretta A400 Xcel Sporting	SEE IT
Best Over/Under		Zoli Z-Sport	SEE IT

Sporting clays is the most challenging of the shotgun sports. It’s also become one of the most popular because, well, it’s fun. Also, every sporting clays course is unique, unlike American skeet and trap, which is the same at any range. Sporting clays gives you the opportunity to attempt a variety of difficult shots that require good form and shooting instincts as opposed to the muscle memory you need to excel at skeet or trap.

Although you will see many professionals shoot high-priced over/unders on sporting clays, the casual shooter doesn’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to find their own best shotgun for sporting clays. For instance, if you are a wingshooter, your duck or pheasant gun (properly choked) is likely ideal for sporting clays.

If you are thinking about getting into sporting clays, a hunter who wants to sharpen your shooting skills, or an advanced target shooter looking to upgrade, here are three shotguns designed specifically for sporting clays for beginners, intermediate, and experienced shooters.

Best Pump Shotguns for Sporting Clays Beginners

• CZ-USA 612 Field
• Remington FieldMaster
• Browning BPS Field

Best Semi-Auto Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

• Franchi Affinity 3 Sporting
• Beretta A400 Xcel Sporting

Best Over/Under Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

• Weatherby Orion
• Browning Citori CXS
• Zoli Z-Sport

How We Picked the Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays

If price were no option, the very best shotguns for sporting clays cost north of $10,000. But if you’re a beginner to intermediate shooter who’s looking to up your game, all of the guns on this list present a good value. Prices range from less than $400 to $7,500. Many of the guns on the list make for excellent crossover guns that will work well for sporting clays and hunting. All combined, the authors of this story have decades of shooting and hunting experience and we’ve shot all of the guns included here. 

Shotgun Platforms for Sporting Clays

Since you will need a gun that holds at least two shells to shoot sporting clays, single-shot guns are out. That leaves over/unders, side-by-sides, pumps, and auto-loaders as suitable sporting clays firearms.

Over/Unders for Sporting Clays

Over/unders are the most popular style of sporting clays shotgun among those who want to purchase a shotgun specifically dedicated to this pursuit. Over/unders come in a wide range of price points. A serviceable double starts around $1,000 and the high-end break-actions will cost north of $30,000.

Over/unders generally break clays better if you buy one that has been built for clay shooting. This is because over/under stocks are more likely to be cast dependent on what hand you shoot with. Right-handers will have more cast on the right side of the stock, and vice-versa for lefties. Most over/unders have longer barrels—from 28 inches up to 34 inches—which makes for a smoother, balanced swing on clays. Some doubles will also have ported barrels to tame recoil and make it easier to get on the second clay bird.

Semi-Auto Shotguns for Sporting Clays

Auto-loaders remain a sporting clays favorite. Even some professionals shoot them as opposed to the more popular over/unders. Beretta’s gas-operated models are shooter favorites because they fit a variety of different body types and pattern evenly. Many women and youth shooters enjoy shooting the early 300 series Berettas, which is proof they have a remarkable fit as they were not designed for women or teenagers, but both generally shoot them well.

Gas-operated semi-autos have the added benefit of dampening recoil, making them extremely comfortable to shoot. They are not overly expensive, and if well maintained, will provide reliable service. The downside of gas-operated autoloaders is that they get dirty, particularly with cheap ammo. This means a regimented gun cleaning is necessary to avoid a shell hanging up in the action when you’re trying to break the second clay.

Pump Shotguns for Sporting Clays

Pumps are reliable, but you also must work the action manually to load a second shell and then get the gun on a speeding clay. But in this shooting discipline, you often have the time to pump the gun and crush the second target. There will be some stations that are more demanding and require a quick second shot, but if you can break doubles on skeet with a pump gun, you can do the same on sporting clays.

Best Pump Shotguns for Sporting Clays Beginners

CZ-USA 612 Field

CZ-USA

SEE IT

Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Action: Pump
• Capacity: 4+1 
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-inch 
• Chokes: C, M, F
• Front Sight: White bead
• LOP: 14.5 inches
• Overall Weight: 6.2 pounds
• MSRP: $399

Pros

• Reliable and inexpensive

Cons

• Turkish-made shotgun

I’m a serious clays shooter, but if I were just starting out and wanted a mechanically reliable, yet relatively inexpensive shotgun, I would select a CZ-USA 612 Field. The 612 runs superbly on the sporting clays field. I’ve shot one, and it’s a fine-pointing clays gun. I wouldn’t hesitate to carry it while tromping through pheasant fields or sitting in a duck boat blind. These guns look nice, shoot well, and are mechanically bulletproof. The simplicity of a pump-action gun means there’s very little that can go wrong. It can get dirty and wet and still operate to its potential.

The 612 Field features a 28-inch barrel with ventilated rib, which along with the added action length of the pump gun receiver, brings the overall length to 49 inches, which is about as short of a sporting clays gun as you want to use if you’re an adult male shooter. Available in 12-gauge, it features three removable choke tubes and a 3-inch chamber. This is a no-frills gun that should last several generations if properly cared for. It’s a versatile gun as well. You can shoot clays and hunt any bird species with it. And it costs under $400. —Dana Farrell

Remington FieldMaster

Remington

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Key Features

• Gauge: 20, 12
• Action: Pump
• Capacity: 4+1 
• Chamber: 3½-inch, 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 26-inch 
• Chokes: IC, M, F
• LOP: 14 inches
• Overall Weight: 7.4 pounds
• MSRP: $600

Pros

• Very durable and an upgrade from the Express.

Cons

• RemArms is still a new company, so it’s too early to say what the future holds for their firearms.

RemArms, the company that now owns Remington shotguns, rifles, and handguns, discontinued the 870 Express last year in favor of the 870 Fieldmaster. The Fieldmaster is an upgrade over the Express and has proved to be an incredibly reliable firearm too. I torture tested the Fieldmaster in 2022, and the only way I was able to get the 3-inch gun to fail was by caking the inside of the action with a dirt clod and then completely submerging the gun in my family’s fishing pond. But with a quick field strip and wipe down, I was back to shooting.

The Fieldmaster comes with three chokes (IC, M, and F), so you have more options when shooting clays—the Express only came with a modified choke. Since the torture test, I have shot the Fieldmaster on skeet with no choke with fantastic results. Most shotgun manufacturers will warn against shooting chokeless, because it could damage the threads but I have never had an issue doing this with any of my shotguns. The action bars have a smooth metal finish to make pumping the 870 plenty slick, critical when you are shooting doubles. There is also a soft recoil pad affixed to the buttstock to dampen recoil. The stock and fore-end are American walnut and the steel receiver and barrel (26- or 28-inch options) are finished with a rust-resistant coating. —Joe Genzel

Browning BPS Field

Browning

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20, 28, .410
• Action: Pump
• Capacity: 4+1
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 26-inch 
• Chokes: IC, M, F
• LOP: 14¼ inches
• Overall Weight: 7.10 pounds
• MSRP: $800

Pros

• Hefty overall weight makes the BPS easier to swing through the target
• Good option for lefties

Cons

• On the more expensive side for a pump shotgun.

In the last decade many gun manufacturers have been making clays guns lighter, specifically auto-loaders. The Browning BPS Field, however, weighs nearly 8 pounds. Though this may sound counterintuitive, heavier, well-balanced guns are easier to keep swinging through the target than light ones. It’s harder to stop a gun that weighs 8 pounds versus one that weighs less than 7. The BPS Field is available in every gauge but 10 and 16 (there is a 10-gauge Field Composite variant) with blued 26- or 28-inch barrels. It has a tang-mounted safety, which is more convenient and accessible for lefties than a trigger group-mounted safety.

Reloaders (and your trap shooting partners) will love the bottom-eject feature of the BPS. Instead of sending a spent hull off the course, it falls at your feet. You don’t have to go around searching for hulls to reload. Browning paired the Invector-Plus choke system (IC, M, and F) with the BPS. That reliable set of tubes that has been a mainstay of the Citiori. There is a thick recoil pad at the end of the buttstock, and the fore-end has grooves on either side of it to place your hand to make pumping the shotgun smooth. —J.G.

Best Semi-Auto Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

Franchi Affinity 3 Sporting

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20
• Action: Semi-auto, inertia
• Capacity: 4+1
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 30-inches
• Chokes: IC, M, F
• LOP: 14.5 inches
• Overall Weight: 7.1 pounds (12 gauge)
• MSRP: $1,129

Pros

• Reliable semi-auto at a fair price

Cons

• Does not include as many features as top-end guns

The Franchi Affinity 3 Sporting is probably the best shotgun for sporting clays you’ll find at this price point. The Affinity 3 series is well-regarded as reliable, affordable, and sweet shooting, and their sporting version is no exception. The gun operates on an inertia driven action that’s similar to those found in Benelli shotguns—Franchi’s sister company. The minimum recommended load for the 12 gauge version of this gun is 3 dram, 1 ⅛ ounce loads, so you’ll have to keep an eye on that when selecting target ammo. Otherwise, this gun has some nice adjustability options with shims for cast and drop so you can get the gun hitting where you want it. It also comes with a cushy TSA recoil pad. —Alex Robinson

Beretta A400 Xcel Sporting

Beretta

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20
• Action: Semi-auto, gas
• Capacity: 2+1
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 30-inches, 32-inches
• Chokes: C, M, F
• LOP: 14.25 inches
• Overall Weight: 7 pounds, 7 ounces
• MSRP: $2,219

Pros

• Feature packed
• Light recoil

Cons

• Gas guns tend to get dirty faster

I’m a long-time Beretta loyalist. Their shotguns are reliable, and most shooters shoot them well. Some of the best sporting clays shooters in the world rely on them, like Scott Robertson or Joseph Fanizzi.

Beretta has a long lineage of auto-loaders, the most recent of which is the A400. The A400 replaced the ever-popular 391 platform, which in turn replaced the 390.

Ask any reputable sporting clays instructor and he or she will tell you an auto is a good way to go when starting to get serious about the clays game. They’re not too expensive, and customized parts are readily available, allowing you to balance and adjust the gun to your liking and shooting style.

The Beretta A400 comes in close to 20 model variations, but for the sake of this article we’ll stick with the A400 Xcel Sporting. This latest model replaces the “Xcel” which you’ll still see on many clays courses. You can’t miss it with its blue receiver.

The gas-operated A400 is available with either a 28-, 30-, or 32-inch barrel. The MSRP is $2,219 and the gun comes with all sorts of cool features like enlarged controls, Blink gas operating system, and Beretta’s Kick-Off recoil reduction system. Altogether, these features make for a soft-shooting, fast-cycling semi-auto. If you’re a hunter, the A400 Xtreme Plus is the best option for you. That gun won our review of the best duck hunting shotguns, and it’s plenty capable on a clays course. —D.F.

Best Over/Under Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

Weatherby Orion

Weatherby

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20
• Action: Boxlock over/under
• Capacity: 2
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 26-inch 
• Chokes: IC, M, F
• LOP: 14 inches
• Overall Weight: 7 pounds
• MSRP: $1,049

Pros

• Should be able to find at least $100 less than MSRP

Cons

• Should purchase aftermarket chokes

Weatherby’s shotguns are often an afterthought because the company is most well-known for making bolt-action rifles. But the Orion has been a mainstay in the Wyoming gunmaker’s lineup since the early 1980s. The Orion was first built to Weatherby’s specifications by SKB in Japan, then Fausti, and now ATA, a Turkish manufacturer. It’s not an ornate over/under—the metal finishes are blued and there is no scroll work on the receiver—but the wood-to-steel transitions are seamless. A boxlock break-action, the Orion has automatic ejectors and a selectable safety. The checkered Prince of Wales stock is more rounded than a pistol grip or straight English-style stock. A stepped rib 26- or 28-inch barrel leads to a single brass bead at the muzzle. The sidewalls of the barrel are vented to take weight out of the gun (the 12-gauge is 7 pounds and the 20 weighs 6.2 pounds).

You get three chokes (IC, M, and F) with the Orion, though it would be nice to have a cylinder and light modified choke included. Because they have two barrels, over/unders present the unique opportunity to shoot two different patterns from the same gun without the annoyance of removing and inserting different chokes. This is useful on a sporting clays range because you’ll be dealing with different target presentations at a variety of ranges. However, you can’t take full advantage of the Orion’s patterning capabilities without a full range of choke tubes. But still, this is a gorgeous over/under for less than $1,000 and there are plenty of aftermarket chokes at your disposal. —J.G.

Browning Citori CXS

Browning

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20
• Action: over/under
• Capacity: 2
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 30-, 32-inch
• Chokes: F, M, IC
• LOP: 14.75 inches
• Overall Weight: 7 pounds, 10 ounces (28-inch barrel)
• MSRP: $2,530

Pros

• Capable on the clays course and in the field

Cons

• Not a true competition gun

The Browning Citori line celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023 to the delight of gold trigger fans everywhere. There are a ton of different Citori models, and the CXS version is what Browning describes as a crossover clays-hunting gun (hence the “X” in the name). Here’s the bad news first: The CXS is a little heavy for a dedicated upland bird hunting gun and it doesn’t have all the features of a true competition gun. But as with any crossover, you have to give up a little specialization in order to gain versatility.

A few years ago, I wanted a gun that I could practice with seriously on the sporting clays course and then hunt with in the fall. For this purpose, the CXS is perfect. Sometimes I don’t mind carrying a heavier shotgun when pheasant hunting, but I do mind missing roosters. The weight and balance of the CXS is perfect for my tastes; it’s balanced right in the middle and weighs under eight pounds (I’d stick with the 28-inch barrels if you intend to hunt with yours). The fact that I shoot it on clays during the summer helps me avoid making an awkward mount and bad shot on that first rooster of opening day.

The gun has some nice features, including: Invector-Plus Midas grade extended choke tubes, triple trigger system (which allows you to adjust length of pull by sliding the trigger forward or back), a mid bead, moderate palm swell, hammer ejectors, and Inflex recoil pad. The stock is a handsome Grade II American walnut (so not too fancy that you feel bad about abusing it in the field). 

There’s not much in terms of adjustability, but the gun fit me well out of the box and comes to my shoulder quickly. That’s helped me kill plenty of roosters, and crush clay targets, too. —A.R.

Zoli Z-Sport

Zoli

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12, 20, 28
• Action: over/under
• Capacity: 2
• Chamber: 3-inch 
• Barrel Length: 28-, 30-, 32-, 34-inch 
• Chokes: IM, LM, Mod, IC, C/SK, Skeet 2
• LOP: 14.5 inches
• Overall Weight: 8 pounds, 7 ounces (32-inch barrel)
• MSRP: $7,500

Pros

• Incorporates many features of a top-end clays gun at a lower price point

Cons

• None

You can spend what it costs to buy a new car on a pricey over/under shotgun. But for most of us, there’s honestly no reason to throw down more than $10,000 even if you are a dedicated shooter. That’s why I love the Zoli Z-Sport, which starts at $7,500. Available in 12-gauge with barrel lengths of 28, 30, 32, and 34 inches, this Italian-made shotgun is an ideal choice for shooters looking for an affordable high-end sporting clays shotgun.

The Z-Sport is available in a flat, mid-height and adjustable height rib models. All Zoli over/unders feature actions, trigger plates, and monoblocs built on forged steel, plus removable trigger groups. An optional BHB system allows you to fine tune the balance of the gun using incremental weights placed under the fore-end and in the grip. This is a gun that truly stands with the best of the best in terms of mechanical integrity and aesthetic appeal. —D.F.

How to Choose the Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays

Gun fit is the most critical component of picking the right sporting clays shotgun. You’re shooting at small targets that are typically moving faster than live birds during a hunt, so there’s less margin for error. That said, it’s difficult to be sure a gun off the rack properly fits. You should start by going to a trusted gun dealer with a knowledgeable shooter behind the counter. Also, many shooting ranges will have days set aside for manufacturers to allow any shooter to test their guns on skeet, trap, or sporting clays. Call your local range and find out if there are any such events scheduled and if the shotgun maker is sending someone to represent their company. That person should be able to fit their firearm to you and give you an idea of the ideal length of pull, cast, and drop for your shooting style and body type.

If you’re buying a shotgun off the rack, one trick I use is to mount the unloaded gun—pointed in a safe direction—with my eyes closed. Once I am comfortable with the position of the gun, I open my eyes. If my dominant eye is looking straight down the rib, that’s a good sign. You can also mount the gun and look into a mirror to see where your eye is aligned. If it’s not straight down the rib, then there is likely an issue with the cast of the stock. It’s also a good idea to bring along a gun that you shoot well and one that you don’t. This will help a competent sales person or gunsmith understand what gun fits you best.

Why Trust Outdoor Life?

Since 1898, OL has been a leading authority in testing and reviewing hunting gear, fishing tackle, guns and shooting equipment, and much more. We have more than a century-long history of evaluating products, and we’re now bringing that expertise to online reviews. Our editors are experienced outdoorsmen and women, and most importantly, we’re trained journalists. We prioritize field testing and objective data when reviewing products. We conduct interviews with gear manufacturers and engineers as well as outdoor experts so that our readers have an understanding of how and why a product works—or doesn’t.

Advertising does not influence our gear reviews and it never will. While we always focus our coverage on standout products—because we want our readers to be aware of the latest and greatest gear—we also cover the flaws and quirks of any given product.

Final Thoughts on the Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays

The best sporting clays gun for you is the one that fits you and your budget well. You don’t need to spend a fortune in order to shoot high scores. You just need practice. Most of the sporting clays shooters I know shoot in order to sharpen their skills for hunting season (and because it’s fun). So, it makes sense that most field guns will perform just fine on the clays course. However, if you are pursuing sporting clays as your primary passion, it’s wise to go with a high-end gun that can be easily adjusted to fit you precisely. 

Best Pump Shotguns for Sporting Clays Beginners

• CZ-USA 612 Field
• Remington FieldMaster
• Browning BPS Field

Best Semi-Auto Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

• Franchi Affinity 3 Sporting
• Beretta A400 Xcel Sporting

Best Over/Under Shotguns for Sporting Clays 

• Weatherby Orion
• Browning Citori CXS
• Zoli Z-Sport

The post The Best Shotguns for Sporting Clays of 2023, Tested and Reviewed appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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If you want to get better at something, it’s worth learning from the best. As a guy who likes to shoot at small pieces of steel at very long distances, I’m always looking to up my game. The same goes for my shooting partner, Chris Gittings, with whom I’ve shot any number of sniper-style team matches over the years.

Lucky for us, we’re both good friends with Sean Murphy and Greg Hamilton. For a long-range competition shooter that’s like being a basketball player who’s tight with Jordan and Pippen. Except in this case, both these guys are like MJ.

Simply put, Sean and Greg are the most dominant two-man shooting team in the long-range rifle game today, and they’re arguably the best duo in sniper comp history. Every long-range sniper match worth winning, they’ve won. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that when they’re in the lineup, everyone else is basically vying for second place.

Here’s a brief list of their notable first-place finishes:

• Mammoth Sniper Challenge: Three-time winners
• Vortex Tactical Sniper Challenge:  Three-time winners
• Competition Dynamics Team Challenge: Three-time winners
• Real World Sniper Challenge: Three-time winners
• Coleman’s Creek Sniper Challenge: Two-time winners
• Sniper’s Unknown Challenge: Two-time winners
• Guardian GTI Team Match: Two-time winners
• Wyoming Tactical Rifle Championship
• 3rd Special Forces Group Sniper Competition
• Bushnell Elite Tactical Sniper Challenge

Their track record of success has been noticed in some very elite circles, including our special operations community who regularly call on Sean and Greg, who go by SG Concepts, LLC, to train them in the finer points of long-range shooting and team marksmanship. (Sean’s and Greg’s day jobs are with Nightforce Optics and Proof Research, respectively.)

They also offer occasional classes to civilian shooters—you can inquire about their availability at info@sgconceptsllc.com—where they teach everything from basic rifle prep and marksmanship, to gear loadouts for endurance shooting competitions, to solving advanced problems that you might encounter in a match under time pressure.

I’ve had a chance to watch them in action up close, and it is something else to see how smoothly they work together, how efficient their communication is, and how quickly they come up with solutions to complex shooting problems and ring steel.

To get a feel for how Sean and Greg work their magic, I arranged to have them train me and Chris over the course of a few days. I wanted to see what they could do to help us get to the next level. While their focus is on team shooting competitions, the skills they teach are equally applicable to shooters who compete on their own and to hunters who like to go afield with a buddy. When you think about what goes into successfully hunting the backcountry with a partner—the gear prep, the communication, the need to stay positive in the face of adversity—it dovetails with the lessons Greg and Sean teach.

Team Shooting Skills

Sean and Greg break their training curriculum into four categories: basic precision rifle skills, basic team skills, advanced shooting skills, and advanced match skills. Over two or three days of training these build on each other and I’ll touch on each.

But I want to cut to the chase and highlight the most critical skill of all for an effective shooting team—communication.

Communication is Key

Having a shooting partner is not unlike having a spouse. You’re going to have good days, bad days, times when you mesh perfectly, and times when you’re out of sync with each other.  

The only way to navigate the inevitable hiccups and to overcome obstacles is through solid communication. More than marksmanship skills and more than rolling with the best gear, communication is what makes the difference between success and failure in a team shooting match.

Communication touches every aspect of the process. It influences how well you and your partner prep for the match, it concretizes your strategy for how you approach a stage, it mitigates and prevents mental errors, and it will pull you out of the ditch when your plans go haywire.

This was, by far, the most important takeaway during training with Sean and Greg. While there are some circumstances where less is more, for the most part you won’t go wrong over communicating with your partner.

Here are some specific examples of things to review with your partner. Prior to the match you should have a gear checklist that the two of you share. Who’s bringing the spotter? Does someone have a backup tripod in case one goes down? Is one person in charge of getting snacks and food?

After the stage brief is another opportunity to over communicate. Did you both come away from it with the same understanding of the course of fire? How are you going to approach the stage?

Before you step up to the line make sure you’ve checked each other’s gear to make sure everything is squared away. And so on.

Prepping For a Team Match

Obviously, you need to make sure your kit is ready to go. Ammo loaded. Verified dope entered into your electronics and printed on hardcopies for backup. Fasteners checked on your gun, rings, bases and anything else that needs screws to hold it together.

When it comes to shooting with a partner, however, there’s another layer to this.

Know Your Shooting Partner’s Gear

“You need to know your partner’s gear as well as your own,” Murphy says. “So in the middle of a stage when they forgot their support bag, you can dig it out of their pack and not burn too much time.”

Know Your Partner’s Strengths and Weaknesses

This is a more esoteric, yet still vital, element to succeeding in a team match. Who on the team is better with wind calls? Is shooting from unsupported positions more difficult for one of you? Is your partner particularly skilled at finding targets? All these details will help you shape your strategy and shoot more effectively.

Making a Plan

The stage doesn’t begin when the RO says, “time starts now” and the buzzer goes. It begins with the stage brief, which determines your plan of attack.

“Listen closely during the stage brief,” Murphy says. “Greg and I treat the RO like a third teammate. We ask questions and get as much information as we can. To the degree the match format allows, we’ll use the RO’s knowledge to the fullest.”

Once the brief is complete, you and your partner need to settle on a plan and divide the tasks accordingly. Who’s ranging the targets? Is the first shooter responsible for building their position, or will the other person help them get tripods, bags, and other supports in place?

This is also the time to review all the instructions and make certain you understand exactly what the stage requires and allows. Do you have to shoot the targets near to far? Or can you go left to right? “Gamers” get a bad rap—and some shooters take cutting corners too far—but there is nothing wrong with thinking through the stage and figuring out if there’s a better way to skin that cat. The ability to envision a stage creatively is a skill that separates the top shooters from the middle of the pack.

From Hero to Zero

One example of the need for mental focus was when Sean and Greg ran Chris and I through a relatively complex stage with an involved stage brief. Like most shooters, we were fixated on finding the targets, getting solid behind the rifles, making sure our wind calls were on point, and ringing the steel in the time allotted.

We started with rifles and pistols ready next to a shed and on the command to go, Chris ran ahead to shoot the steel. I had to wait until he was done shooting and crossed back over the starting line before I could take off. We did this with both pistols and long guns.

Chris cleaned the stage no problem, sprinted back, and off I went. I threw my Proof Conviction down, found the targets and hit them all in order—a clean fast stage. Yet after my last shot Sean didn’t stop the timer. I looked up at him and he just smiled. I wracked my brain. Did I engage in the wrong order? Was there another target I didn’t find? Did I not actually hit the last target?

Panic started to set in. Not knowing what else to do I whacked the last target a couple more times, but Sean still didn’t stop the timer.

After we timed out—and scored a zero—Sean reminded us that the stage brief indicated that time stopped when shooter number two ran back across the starting line. In all the excitement I forgot that detail, as did Chris. What should have been a great stage turned into a wreck.

Sean and Greg built up the challenges to create mental stress for me and Chris, and learning to operate under that stress was one of the most valuable facets of their training.

Making the Shot

As important as the whole process is around being an effective shooting team, the most critical element is hitting your targets in the time allotted. Obviously, foundational marksmanship skills are essential. But beyond the basics of establishing natural point of aim, breath control, trigger control, and knowing how to drive the rifle and manage recoil, there’s a lot that goes into getting hits when shooting as a team.

“Do what you have to do to make the shot,” Greg says. And by “you” he means you and your partner.

“The non-shooting partner should always be doing something,” Sean says. “That can be providing a physical support, blocking the sun from the shooter’s eyes, helping spot impacts.”

The point is to figure out what you can do to make your buddy’s time behind the trigger go more smoothly and increase the odds of him or her getting hits.

Up Close and Personal

Sooner or later in a team match you’re going to end up in a cramped position where you and your partner will literally be on top of each other. Even if there’s plenty of room for you to stretch out, you might have a stage designed so that the only line of sight for a shooter and spotter is through a single small window. You’ll be better off draped over each other instead of burning time moving out of each other’s way.

You might get some funny looks at the gun range, but it makes sense to practice these positions so you’re not trying to figure it out on the clock.

Trust Your Buddy

This can be a real sticking point that makes or breaks a shooting team. You’re behind the rifle and just saw a plume of dust kick up next to the steel after your shot. You thought you were a foot to the right, but your partner behind the spotter gives you a different wind call. What do you do?

If your partner was tasked with spotting, then you go with what he or she says and make a correction based on that and send another bullet downrange.

“Don’t second-guess your partner,” Sean says.

Once you and your teammate divide up the tasks on a stage and establish your respective areas of responsibility, ride with it and stick with the plan. There’s no quicker way for a pair of shooters to tank than freelancing on the clock and ignoring each other.

Even if it turns out your partner’s call was wrong, you’ll have time after the stage to review and refine your tactics for the next stage to avoid repeating the error. But the middle of a stage is the worst time to disagree or squabble.

Avoiding Mental Errors

When someone takes up the game of chess, their first goals are to understand the rules, figure out how the pieces move, and learn some basic principles around developing the pieces in the opening. With these in place, there’s only one way to get better—minimizing mental errors.

Blunders are going to happen—they are a fact of life for even highly skilled players—but there’s a direct correlation between winning and avoiding these mental snafus.

The same is true in most forms of competitive shooting and is especially the case in team shooting matches that involve problem solving on the clock.

Gear Check

Prior to every stage at a match, Chris and I do the Macarena. You might be surprised to learn that this dance—arguably the pinnacle of Western culture—isn’t just for Tik Tok and weddings. The hand moves—going from head, to chest, to hips, and down the body—are a useful way to make sure we have ears, eyes, binos, loaded mags, support bags, dope card, and anything else the stage needs on hand before we begin.

When we say “macarena” to each other, not only do we check our person, but we also check our rifles from top to bottom. We make sure the scope is zeroed—or if the distance to the first target is known that it is dialed to the correct value. That the magnification is set to the right amount (usually at 12- to 15-power, though sometimes less if a wider field of view is needed). We check to see if our suppressors are tight. We dial in a parallax setting during this process too.  

Making sure you’ve got your poop in a group before the timer starts is one of the easiest errors to avoid.

Keeping Each Other On Task

Unless there’s some reason for you and your partner not to talk during a stage, you should keep up a steady banter to help each other out. One common mistake shooters make—whether when solo or with a buddy—is forgetting to dial the scope between targets. Complex stages, developed by devilish match directors, can trip up even the best of us.

As your partner transitions to a new target, a quick “did you dial?” will keep that from happening. It’s a good habit to develop and will save you points over the course of a match.

Likewise, coaching each other through a stage can be a huge benefit. Reminding your partner to brace their elbows on the rock or barricade or move to a new shooting position as the stage calls for, will help you finish better.

Target identification is another way partners can help each other. Talking each other onto targets and making sure they are engaged in the correct order is an easy way to accumulate points and avoid a costly, and common, mental error.

Meeting the Stage Requirements

Making sure you and your partner complete all the tasks that a given course of fire requires is also key. I fell victim to this, as I mentioned above, when Chris and I were shooting the drill that required us to run back to the starting point. Since I was the second shooter and in the midst of the action, I blame Chris for costing us that stage. Joking aside, making notes on your arm board or dope card delineating the stage requirements is a way to avoid this.

When Things Go To Hell

At some point you’re going to have a terrible stage. Either you or your partner will have a yard sale with your gear, you will have forgotten to load a mag prior to the stage, you’ll run the wrong dope, or your tripod will collapse and send your support bag flying. Like Thanos—it is inevitable.

Should your partner completely mess up, the best thing to do is tell them it is okay, not to worry about it, and give them a cookie. Seriously. Give your partner a snack and make sure they have something to drink as well. As any parent who’s ever dealt with a frustrated toddler knows, a little sustenance can work wonders on a person’s attitude.

There will be plenty of time to review what went wrong later. In the heat of the moment, the best thing to do is to lower the temperature and help your partner get grounded so they can recover and do better on the next stage. Offering criticism, no matter how well phrased or intended, isn’t a smart move.

Team Marksmanship Skills

Whether they are called “sniper competitions,” “tactical field matches,” “practical long-range matches,” or some other name, the goal of any stage can be reduced to a simple phrase: Find the targets, hit the targets.

Target Identification

You’ve got two options when it comes to finding targets. Either one person on the team is tasked with that chore, or both shooters can look for the targets. The right approach depends on the specifics of the stage.

If the stage requires deploying a tripod to shoot or establishing a complex shooting position it can be better for one team member to find the targets, then talk the other shooter on to them.

If the stage has a large number of targets, or the match director has made a point of obscuring targets or has scattered them over a large area it can work better to divide the job.

In that case, each shooter should focus on a specific area so that you aren’t finding the same targets. Communication is key to making this an efficient process. Pick an easily identifiable landmark and have one person search to the left of it and the other person look to the right, for instance.

Rangefinding Skills

I love it when I can just point my rangefinder at a target and get a good range. Often, however, that isn’t possible.

Sometimes the target is too small to ping directly. Or the target is positioned so that the range you get isn’t correct. Crafty match directors will place targets down narrow, vegetation-choked shooting lanes or on the backside of a rise in the ground to trigger a false reading.

Often the best thing to do is to range the ground at the base of the target if you can see it. (I shot one match in the rolling plains of Eastern Colorado where I did this and never attempted ranging the actual targets.)

If a target looks like it is tucked between two folds in the ground, range the near and far fold and split the difference. In the case of targets on the backside of hills or down narrow shooting lanes, get the best range you can and then guess as to how much yardage to add.

Sometimes to get a good range you need to ping a terrain feature that’s far to the left or right of the steel but that appears to be the same distance from your shooting position. Be prepared to get creative.

Know Your Rangefinder

It also pays to learn the ins and outs of your specific rangefinder. Take time to figure out where the laser actually hits in relation to the rangefinder’s aiming point. They rarely line up perfectly. (You can ascertain this by lasing on and around the sharp defined edge of an object like a chimney, roofline, target backer, or billboard. By noting when the rangefinder gives readings on whatever is behind the object you can figure out the relationship between the aiming point and the laser.)  

Also, using your rangefinder’s scan mode or toggling to best/last target mode can yield better results.

Sniper Talk

You and your partner should develop a common vocabulary for ID-ing targets and practice talking each other onto them. The key is to convey just the right amount of information. Too little communication will leave your partner in the dark, but too much input can muddy the waters and lead to confusion.

Spotting Shots (and When Not to)

One of the biggest benefits to shooting with a partner is having an extra set of eyes on the target to give feedback on hits and misses. This can be critical for fine-tuning wind calls and diagnosing when something’s gone wrong.

That said, sometimes it is better for the non-shooting partner to do something other than spot. If the shooter feels confident about the position and the course of fire, the non-shooting partner can make better use of the time by getting set up for his turn, or by pre-positioning bags and tripods for the shooter in case the stage calls for movement.

Shooting Supports

I’ve alluded to it elsewhere in the story, but one of the team marksmanship skills that Sean and Greg emphasize is how to use tripods, bags, and even the non-shooting partner’s body to create a stable support.

Run drills where the non-shooting partner is the one placing and moving these supports for the shooter. How you manipulate a bag or tripod for yourself, versus for another shooter, are two different things.

Advanced Team Shooting Skills

When it comes to next-level skills—and this is an area where Greg and Sean excel when they shoot together—there are two categories to think about. One is pure marksmanship skills and the other concerns match strategy.

Spinners and Simultaneous Targets

There’s an almost endless list of targets that can fall under the “advanced” category, but for the sake of simplicity we’ll focus on spinners, which are one of the most common advanced targets encountered in matches.

Sometimes the goal is to just flip the spinner over while taking as little time to do so as possible. But some stages use spinners to reveal other targets placed behind them that must be engaged as well.

It isn’t unusual for a pair of shooters to have the option to take on the spinner at the same time. In this case you want the two initial shots to impact the target simultaneously to get it moving.

The best technique for a team to break their shots at the same time is for one of the shooters to count down from five. But you don’t want to pull the trigger on “one.” Instead, break the shot on the hard “tee” of “two.” That’s a much clearer, cleaner sound for the ear to register than the mushy “wah” in “one.”

Once the spinner starts to move, the trick for the shooters is to time their subsequent shots so that the bullet arrives at the same time the plates on the spinner are perpendicular to the ground.

Mastering this takes practice, but for spinners placed more than 300 yards downrange it can mean breaking the shot when the spinner is 90 degrees or so from being in position.

Winning Points

Avoiding mental mistakes and keeping your partner on task is how you avoid losing points in a match. The flip side is to figure out how to win extra points. That’s what separates really good team shooters from the rest of the pack.

There’s no single answer for how to do this, as every match is going to have its own quirks and point-winning opportunities.

Read Next: Best Rifles of 2023

But it hinges some of the most important points that Sean and Greg emphasize. Listen carefully to stage descriptions and the general match rules, processing and analyzing that information, and clearly communicating with your partner to form a plan and look for opportunities to exploit.

To accomplish this, you need to maintain your focus when not shooting. This means giving the RO laser-like focus during the stage brief and gathering data between stages. For example, if you’re able to get to the next stage and watch shooters from the squad in front of you, hustle up there and get on glass instead of hanging back and stuffing mags. This will give you clues as to target locations and wind.

The trick is to make the most efficient use of your time. That’s how you’ll earn extra points—and a higher place in the final rankings.

The post Learning from the World’s Greatest Two-Man Sniper Competition Team appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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I’ve always struggled with shooting fast and accurately, which keeps me as a mediocre C-class USPSA shooter. But, I recently attended a pistol class at Vortex Edge that fixed an issue I’ve been working on for years—I, like many right-handed shooters, hit low left when I try to shoot fast. 

In the first 30 minutes of the class, we did some simple drills and the instructors made two modifications to my grip. I could then shoot fast (.19 to .22 splits) and maintain A-zone (6 x 11 inches) hits at 15 yards. I then progressed to a sub-second (.97) draw with an A-zone hit, another milestone. 

If you are also struggling with maintaining accuracy with your pistol while pushing for speed, here are the simple tips and drills to try. 

A Good Grip Overcomes a Bad Trigger Pull

The Vortex Edge instructors, Brennan Brennecke and Chris Urrutia, both master class USPSA competitors, began the class by explaining that you can slap the trigger and stay in the A zone of a USPSA target, even at 30 yards. 

I had been taught that you needed to smoothly squeeze a trigger for accuracy so the motion doesn’t shift the barrel’s position. But, Brennecke and Urrutia explained that if you lock a pistol in a vise, you can hit the trigger as hard as you want, and the gun would still shoot tight groups, and therefore a good grip can overcome an aggressive trigger pull. 

“I should be able to grip my gun in such a way that I can press the trigger anyway I want without moving the sight out of an A zone at 25 to 30 yards,” Brennecke says. 

The Drill

I was skeptical but willing to give the concept a try. We started with a drill called “trigger control at speed.” 

“The premise of the trigger control at speed drill is to figure out how to grip the gun well enough so that the way you press the trigger doesn’t matter,” Brennecke says. “It’s basically a grip diagnostic.”

This is a dry fire drill done with an unloaded gun or with a dryfire training system. Take your unloaded pistol and aim it at something small, about an inch target at 5 yards. Then take the slack out of the trigger and press start on a shot timer set to random delay. If you don’t have a shot timer, you can download a free shot timer app that will serve the same function. 

“As soon as the timer’s beep goes off, I want you to smash through the trigger,” Brennecke says. 

Pay attention to what your front sight or red dot does after you hit the trigger. Did it move left? Did it move down? 

“This drill where we force ourselves to slap the trigger, is good for teaching us how to grip the gun correctly and putting the right pressures into the gun,” Brennecke says. “If we see movement we know we are doing something incorrectly.” 

Read Next: Best Handguns

Adjusting Your Grip 

The adjustments to your grip are based on the idea that your gun will move in the direction of the least resistance. It will take some experimenting to find the proper grip pressures for you and your gun, but here are some basic guidelines. 

If you’re a right-handed shooter and your sight moved left, you need to increase support hand pressure. Your support hand should squeeze the gun and firing hand like a vise. “I want my left hand squeezing the gun hard enough that will overcome anything that the firing hand will put into the gun,” Brennecke says.

If your sight dips low, you’re likely tightening your ring and pinky finger, on your trigger hand, simultaneously with the trigger finger. The fix is to preload tension on those fingers so they’re already gripping as tight as possible. That way they can’t tighten as you hit the trigger. “I like to feel good front-to-back pressure where the meaty part of my palm is pushing into the heel of the gun and my bottom three fingers are pulling the grip into my hand,” Brennecke says.

Keep Dry Firing 

You’ll do the same drill again, but this time don’t take any slack out of the trigger. 

“This is where you’ll start to see more movement in the sight. When I’m doing a bigger movement with my trigger finger I’m more prone to squeeze with my whole (dominant) hand,” Brennecke says. “As I squeeze with my whole hand that tends to apply pressure to the bottom of the grip with my ring and pinky fingers, which will cause the muzzle to dip.” 

Watch for front sight or dot movement again and keep adjusting your grip pressure until you don’t see any movement. 

Then take your finger all the way off your trigger so that you wind up and smash it. “This is a little unrealistic, but it proves the point that you can hold the gun in a way that allows minimal dot movement,” Brennecke says. “That to me, is a really fantastic grip, and that’s the grip I’m going to work on getting every time I pull the gun from the holster.” 

You can work on this drill in live fire too, but Brennecke suggests continuing your grip work in dry fire practice. 

“I’ve learned more about shooting in dry fire than I ever have in live,” he says. “If you can figure out how to press the trigger really aggressively in dry fire and not get much or any movement, you are going to see huge dividends in your shooting.” 

The post The Simple Drill That Made Me a Better Pistol Shot appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Asking what the best sporting clays choke is a lot like asking a group of hunters what’s the best breed of bird dog. You’re going to get a lot of heated opinions, which may or may not be based in fact. And like our question about the bird dogs, the answer is often, it depends, and a fancy pedigree or high price tag might not translate to better performance.

Not all after-market sporting clays chokes are created equal, however. They use different materials and have different features, which are worth taking into consideration before making a purchase. Here are the best chokes for sporting clays and, more importantly, how to choose the best choke for you. 

• Beretta Victory Mobilchoke Extended Chokes
• Beretta Optima-Choke HP
• Briley Complete Sporting Clays Choke Package
• Browning Midas Chokes
• Cabelas Choke Tubes
• Carlson’s Chokes
• Trulock Choke Tubes

How Shotgun Chokes Work

Chokes in shotguns work by constricting the diameter of the bore near the muzzle. Tighter constriction—meaning the narrower the opening—will result in tighter shotgun patterns downrange. The goal is to match the degree of constriction with the distance to the target and the type of target you’re shooting.

The farther away the target, the more constriction you want. The narrower the profile of the target—for example a clay where you can only see the edge—the more constriction you want as well.

There’s no single standard definition of the amount of choke constriction for the different chokes, but most step down in .005-inch increments.

Sporting Clays Choke Constriction

The standard 12 gauge has a bore diameter of .729 inches. But many shotguns deviate from this and run larger bore diameters. If you see a shotgun marketed as “over-bored” you know the bore is larger than .729 inches. Browning shotguns, for instance, are bored .742 inches.

A cylinder choke has no constriction, so it maintains the shotgun’s bore diameter. Most chokes decrease the bore diameter in .005-inch increments. So a skeet choke is .005 inches under the nominal bore diameter, improved cylinder is .010 inches smaller, and so on. Here are the typical amounts of constriction you’ll find with various after-market chokes though, as always, there are exceptions.

How to Pick the Best Sporting Clays Choke for Your Shotgun

The most important thing with any choke you get is to test it with the load you plan to use. Chokes will pattern differently from one gun to the next and will pattern different shotgun loads differently as well. So what might be the best sporting clays choke for your gun might not deliver good patterns in your buddy’s—even if he shoots the same type of shotgun you do.

There’s more information about how to pattern a gun at the end of this article, but the key is that you need to test any choke with your specific setup to determine whether it works for you.

The Three Best Sporting Clays Chokes to Buy

If you’re assembling a basic assortment of sporting clays chokes it’s best to get three—one each for close-, mid- and long-range targets. The close-range targets can be taken with cylinder, skeet or improved cylinder chokes; the mid-range targets with light mod or mod chokes; and the long-range targets with improved mod, full, or extra full.

The majority of any round of sporting clays will consist of close and mid-range targets, so a skeet and modified combo is a smart choice. Round that out with a full choke for the longer shots and you’re good to go.

But as always, you’ll need to test each of the chokes to make sure it is patterning correctly, impacting in line with your point of aim and delivering consistent patterns that don’t have holes that a target can sneak through.

Sporting Clays Choke Features

Many chokes for sporting clays extend beyond the muzzle and have some type of texture machined into them. This is so they can be switched out easily by hand and checked for tightness without the need for a special choke wrench.

They almost always have some kind of indication of their constriction that’s visible when the choke is inserted in the barrel. Some incorporate colors on the extended portion as well for easy visual identification.

The most frequently used material for sporting clays chokes is stainless steel, usually 17-4 PH, which provides good corrosion resistance. Some are made of chromoly steel, the same material that shotgun barrels are made of. Having the choke and barrel made from the same type of steel can help the shotgun pattern better, though chromoly chokes can be more prone to corrosion unless they have some other protective coating applied. Some chokes are made of titanium and aluminum as well.

Beretta Victory Mobilchoke Extended Chokes

Beretta

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Beretta shotguns use one of four different choke styles, depending on the specific model. Those are the Mobilchoke, Optima, Optima HP and Optima Plus. Though the Optima and Optima HP chokes look similar, they are not interchangeable, so make sure you order the right one for your shotgun.

The Mobilchoke is the oldest of the four designs and dates to the mid-1980s. Today it is still used on some 680-series shotguns, the A300 Outlander, and some 391 models. It is common on many older Beretta models. It is the only choke system Beretta offers in all four gauges: 12, 20, 28 and .410.

The Victory Mobil chokes extend about an inch beyond the muzzle and are color coded for quick visual identification. You can get them in skeet, IC, modified and full in 12 and 20 gauge.

Beretta Optima-Choke HP

Beretta

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This choke system is the most common on current Beretta competition shotguns. It is also the newest of Beretta’s choke designs. It was unveiled in 2008 with the introduction of the SV-10 Perenina and Previal series.

It was designed to handle heavy volumes of shooting with steel shot while keeping weight to a minimum.

In addition to the SV-10, the Optima-Choke HP is featured on the DT-11, 692, 690, UGB 25, A400 Xtreme, A400 Xplor, A400 Xcel, and A300 Xtrema.

They are made from stainless steel and are nickel coated for protection against corrosion. The chokes are very nicely finished with dual bands of machined checkering in the extended portion for a positive grip and elegant look.

Briley Complete Sporting Clays Choke Package

Briley

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Briley is one of the top names in after-market chokes for sporting clays and is one of the most popular upgrades you’ll see on competition shotguns. They make competition chokes for all major manufacturers.

One of their most popular offerings is the Complete Sporting Clays Choke Package, which is a set of five chokes constricted skeet, IC, LM, Mod., and IM. While not cheap the package does include Briley’s high-quality Speed Wrench.

The chokes are knurled at the end for easy installation and removal and are color coded. Briley polishes the interior of their tubes to minimize pellet deformation.

Browning Midas Chokes

Browning

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These chokes work with shotguns that are threaded for Browning’s Invector-Plus choke system, which Browning introduced back in the 1990s. The others are the Invector DS, which was introduced around 2008, and the original standard Invector. They are not interchangeable so make sure you know what type of choke your shotgun uses before buying.

The Midas chokes have diamond-pattern knurling on the extended portion of the choke that give a good grip. They are easy to change by hand in the field without the need for a wrench.

The chokes also have a metallic band in Browning’s signature gold with the choke’s constriction printed on it.

They are made of stainless steel and are coated with a black oxide finish for durability. Browning polishes the inside to a high degree of smoothness in order to minimize the buildup of residue from plastic wads.

The diameters they offer are as follows: Skeet .737 in. / IC .732 in. / Mod. .722 in. / IM .717 in. / Full .707 in.

Cabelas Choke Tubes

Cabela’s

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For shooters on a budget, Cabela’s flush-mounted choke tubes are a good option. While they don’t have some features found on higher-end chokes, like extended gripping surfaces and external markings showing constriction, they do choke down patterns, which is what really counts.

They are made of stainless steel and are notched for installation and removal with standard choke wrenches.

You can get them in 12 and 20 gauge in the following constrictions: skeet, IC, modified, full and extra full.

Cabelas has models that fit Remington, Benelli, Browning Invector Plus, Mossberg 835 and Winchester shotguns.

Carlson’s Chokes

Carlson’s

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Carlson’s makes a staggering array of chokes for different uses including sporting clays. They have many models to choose from, including some very pimped-out metallic gold ported chokes that make quite the statement.

Shown here is one of their newer sporting clays models with a black finish that’s a bit more understated. They are made from 17-4 stainless and have a knurled gripping surface on the end.

The chokes are etched with their constriction on the extended part of the tube for quick identification and have more detail printed on the body of the choke, including the choked down bore diameter and the type of shot the choke is rated for.

These choke tubes can be shot with pretty much any shot material. The exception is steel shot that’s larger than BB or that has a muzzle velocity in excess of 1550 fps is not suitable for Carlson’s full and extra full chokes. Other than that, you’re good to go.

The chokes are made in the U.S. and have a lifetime warranty.

Muller Chokes

Muller

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Muller is a relatively newcomer to the aftermarket choke scene—founder Jimmy Muller didn’t start seriously marketing his chokes until 2008—but these distinctive tubes have found a devoted following among hunters and competitive shooters.

Muller’s biggest claim to fame is his Featherlight Competition series, which are made of aluminum and ceramic, making them one of the lighter chokes on the market. Those chokes are more fragile than stainless steel chokes and are restricted in terms of what can be shot through them. They are limited to lead shot payloads of 1 1/8 ounces or less with shot no larger than No. 7.5.

Muller also makes stainless steel chokes for hunting and competition that are rated for all types of shot. They are Cerakoted to protect against the elements.

Visually, Muller chokes are easy to identify with their fluting and unique marking system. The constriction on the extended chokes is indicated by an umlauted “U” followed by a number (0 to 4) going from skeet to extra full as follows:  Ü0 cylinder/skeet, Ü1 skeet/IC,  Ü2 light mod/mod, Ü3 mod/improved mod, Ü4 full/extra full.

Muller doesn’t have a set degree of constriction for its chokes as the specific amount is tuned for each platform, but on average they are: Ü0 .002 in. / Ü1 .005 in. / Ü2 .012 in. / Ü3 .022 in. / Ü4 .035 in.

Muller chokes are available for all major shotgun platforms and come with a 60-day money back guarantee.

Trulock Choke Tubes

Trulock

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Trulock has been a mainstay of the aftermarket choke industry since 1981 when founder George Trulock started manufacturing. His chokes enjoy a sterling reputation with shotgunners and are used as OEM items by many shotgun companies.

Trulock sporting clays chokes have a knurled head for toolless installation and removal and have a bright finish. They are made of 17-4 stainless steel that’s been heat treated and can be had in either ported or non-ported configurations for all major—and even most minor—shotgun makes.

They are offered in the full array of constrictions starting with cylinder (.000 in.) and then in .005 in. increments as follows: skeet 1 (.005 in.), IC (.010 in.), skeet 2/light mod. (.015 in.), modified (.020 in.), IM (.025 in.), full (.030 in.). Their extra full choke (.040 in.), steps down by .010 in.

All Trulock chokes are marked with the name of the constriction and the exit diameter in thousandths of an inch. They are built in the U.S. and carry a 60-day money back guarantee and a lifetime replacement warrantee.

Sporting Clay Choke Tube Accessories

Birchwood Casey Choke Tube Lube

Birchwood Casey

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Adding some lube to your choke tube threads is an essential piece of maintenance. Failure to do so can lead to seized chokes that get frozen in place and can become a real hassle to fix.

This lube from Birchwood Casey is thin and easy to apply and is a good bit of preventative insurance to keep you from making a costly mistake with your shotgun.

MTM Choke Range Case

MTM

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This simple case holds six extended choke tubes and is a good way to protect your chokes from getting banged around, being exposed to the elements, and from collecting dirt and grit in the threads that can cause unwanted wear with the choke and barrel.

FAQs

Methodology

To make my picks I interviewed over a dozen top sporting clays competitors on the chokes they used and why. The answers on brand and model ran the gamut. But one thing rang true among all the shooters was the need to find a choke that patterned best for their gun and load.

Read Next: Best Gun Cases

Final Thoughts

The bottom line to buying the best choke for sporting clays is that there isn’t a single best option. You have to experiment to find a choke that will pattern best for your gun and load. There’s no getting around that process if you want to win at sporting clays.

The post The Best Chokes for Sporting Clays of 2023 appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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