Reddit reviews Allen Double Compartment Shooter's Bag, Heavy Canvas

Would a shooters bag work for you? It is typically used for skeet/trap shooting, but I think you could fit about 10 beers in there. They're meant to carry a decent amount of weight (50 shells at least). I would use a cold pack though, it's not waterproof, so ice would be messy.

Gives a whole new meaning to "shotgunning beer"!

I got this.

I've been to Argentina for high volume wing shooting twice: once up in the northern jungle region, near Salta, and once down south a couple hours away from Bajia Blanca.


I have some questions and related advice. Please answer some of my questions, and I'll check back later and give you more specific advice.

First, who is your outfitter? I went both times with Sierra Outfitters. They're great guys, and they have some fantastic spots.

Where are you going exactly? Up North, or down South?

bring a few thousand dollars in $20s and $100s Cash is king in Argentina, and US dollars are worth A LOT of Argentinian pesos. Try to figure out your budget for all of your expenses, and bring that + half in US dollars.

Are you bringing your own guns? Just don't. If you do, you will need the cash to bribe their version of TSA to get your paperwork signed off. $100 for the head chimp usually gets things moving smoothly.

Your flight and travel time will take longer than you can prepare for.

Tip your bird boys!They work hard, and get shit pay. It's also common courtesy to tip your bird boy. $100 to a birdboy is a months wage. Give him $100.

Bring ear pro, and a big pack of foam ear plugs as back-up. You will be shooting thousands of rounds a day. It is absolutely critical that you protect your ears.

Bring light-weight work gloves (mechanix) or a pack of accountant thimbles. If you are shooting thousands of rounds a day, you will also be reloading thousands of rounds. Protect your reloading thumb from getting raw and sore with a single rubber thimble, or wear gloves.

Bring a shell bag

Bring light-weight long sleeve shirts and long pants.They have mosquitos and nosee'm's (biting flies). Depending on where you will be, you should prepare for getting bit.

Here is what I have done after not shooting clays for a LONG time:

• Buy expensive over / under shotgun
  
• Get out-shot by old guy with crappy semi-auto (I don't have anything against semi's but this thing was BEAT) and son with your own Ithaca pump
  
• Hang head in shame...
  
  But seriously:
  
  
• Familiarize yourself with any equipment, microphones, control box, trap house, etc. Ask lots of questions! Help with setup and take-down
  
• Buy a shell pouch like this one
  
• Put your full box of shells in the inside pouch after ripping the "lid" off
  
• When you are shooting take shells off one row at a time, easy to keep track of when you have shot 5 shots and should prepare to move to next station
  
• Load one shell at a time into open barrel / magazine / chamber
  
• Do not load the weapon until it is your turn to shoot (with a pump don't rack slide until your turn, o/u / semi don't close until your turn)
  
• Be very familiar with loading and shooting one round at a time from your gun and unloading if need be
  
• Try to keep pace with previous shooter, don't spend two minutes fumbling around for the next shell
  
• Take your turn starting in the #1 spot - see counting above - you will lead the move
  
• If NOT using a semi and you miss more than you hit put your hit clay "emptys" in your pocket to keep score, if you hit more than you miss put your missed clay "empties" in your pocket to keep score put whatever ones you aren't keeping in the outside of your pouch
  
• When making the move from #5 to #1 walk BEHIND the other shooters
  
• Keep your gun pointed at the ground or towards trap house at all times - having your shit together with the shells helps with this
  
• If you leave emptys laying around be sure to clean up after yourself
  
• When done shooting for the session, reload the clay thrower! Always leave it fully loaded and everyone is happy
  
  Advice for the kids:
  
  
• 4 rules above all else
  
• Emphasizing that this is a team sport, and that everyone needs to know how the flow is going to go and to figure out their personal "mechanics" for making ready, loading, shooting, un-loading, etc while always keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction
  
• As far as the shooting itself, I don't feel qualified to offer more than this:
  
• Keep both eyes open
  
• Have a fairly aggressive stance - no leaning back
  
• Make sure they are holding the shotgun firmly against their shoulder
  
• Follow the clay, don't aim at it
  
• Don't tense up / jar themselves by yelling "PULL!" a slower / softer "Puullll" is better but sometimes doesn't work with the auto throwers
  
• Consistent cheek weld! Same "picture" of the barrel / bead is important
  
• If they hit clays and then have a string of misses they are probably starting to dissect and analyze - similar to golf - this appears to be my downfall at the moment
  
• Watch out for flinching, run some drills where you load an empty into the gun without them knowing
  
• Teach them the joy of cleaning their guns!
  
• Be smooth, shoot fast!
  
  Edit: Added some stuff

Modified w/ 7.5 is perfect until you get a few rounds under your belt. Keep track of your performance -- and after 6-7 times out, you can try #8 shot, or a different choke. This way you can see if it is helping or hurting you.

You can try your hunting vest if it has large front pockets, but the problem with most vests is to me, they hold shells too high, and it can become clumsy especially when you pump (Since you have a 500). Granted, depending on how the tourney is set up, if you only need 4-5 shells on you at any one time, it could be more than fine. If you need to carry 20+ shells, I recommend a shooters bag like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Company-Double-Compartment-Shooters/dp/B000VEA74O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341239017&sr=8-1&keywords=shotgun+shell+bag

Put it on your offhand side. And when you're not shooting skeet, it's handy for like carrying your ears etc.

Apparently I use shotgun shell pouches for everything. The Apollo fits nicely in one of these with the divider removed.

Medics bag, $8usd. Very tough for pointy objects like broken glass, metal, old knives, etc.

I was also looking at shotshell pouches, which often have 2 compartments and are sturdy canvas. About $20.