Shotgun Sports USA: Sporting Clays, Skeet, trap and Hunting

We are going to be discussing the Beretta A400 Xcel which is the new auto loader sporting shotgun for 2022.   I figured it would be a great time to bring on some of the people behind the scenes Travis Haglin from Beretta USA, Rich Cole from Cole Gunsmithing, which is Beretta’s largest premium gun dealer in the World and the shooters that have experience shooting this gun first hand. Joe Fanizzi, D...

I am joined by three members and one coach from Fort Hays State University in Hays Kansas.  This team has won 9 SCTP National Championships and 4 of those have been consecutive.  This is an organization that started back in 2005 with only 6 people and has grown into a championship winning team that is very determined and very supportive of each and every shooter on their squad.  This smaller colle...

Duane Pitts and Donny Ballard talk about the history of Nilo Farms, what Nilo offers and how to book your next event with them.  We talk about the 4th annual Nilo Open and the $35,000 in prizes, how to register and why you should attend.  Lastly, we discuss the "Shoot with the Pros" event that is coming in June and only 18 lucky individuals will have the chance to attend and shoot with s...

The 2022 World English Sporting Championship in San Antonio Texas is complete and George Digweed captured his 27th world title in 5 decades of shooting.  We have the G.O.A.T on with us as well as bronze medalist and first time Team USA member, Eric Harvey and silver medalist, Ryan Harper, also a first time Team USA member.  This tournament was all decided in the super final on Sunday afternoon.  T...

I had 4 people from the 2022 ACUI National Champion Aggies on the podcast with me this week.  Texas A&M University Trap and Skeet Club won the National Championship in 2021 and repeats again in 2022.  This student-ran team may just be the best we have seen in recent years of college shooting.  The squad of 29 showed up and showed out in San Antonio Texas at the National Shooting Complex hittin...

Julia Gilman handles a lot of important things for gun clubs.  It's an all-in-one package that consists of sponsorship and sponsorship recruitment, the organization of vendors and sponsors, marketing campaigns, hospitality, team development and management, and something everyone always mentions….a referee program.  Find out how she does all of this and how she finds and trains new referees. ...

The 2022 US Open is coming upon us fast and it will be held at Back Woods Quail Club in Georgetown South Carolina May 16-22.  We have 14 guests on and we talk to each one individually about what their jobs will be during this tournament.  This includes every target setter on the property, employees at Back Woods Quail Club, Casey Chase with registration, and of course Rick Hemingway.  If you are a...

Ralph Petty, from Tennessee, is a fairly new shooter.  From his experiences and most others, we discuss what new shooters should pay the most attention to, what gear you really need, how important a coach is from the start, squadding, goal setting and expectations and so much more.

Rodney Disbrow is from Montana and has been shooting competitively for 7 years.  He just won the 2022 Gator Cup at the age of 54.  He works full time in the construction business and in his free time, he loves to hunt and guide elk and turkey hunts up north.  He is a super nice guy, a hard worker, and a great shot.

Jamie Peckham is a World Championship-level target setter and course designer.   He has designed and set several world championship courses including the World English, World FITASC, World compak, Beretta World, and the British Open.   He is one of 8 official course designers for FITASC and joined the EJ Churchill team in 2020.

Joe Mantegna is an American actor who has made over 200 film and TV appearances. He is also a producer, writer, and director, and is probably best known for his role as Joey Zasa in the Francis Ford Coppola epic The Godfather: Part III, in which he stars alongside Al Pacino and Andy Garcia.  He also stars as SSA David Rossi on the long-running TV drama Criminal Minds. Joe now hosts the TV Series G...

I sat down with Anthony Matarese Jr and John Commerford at The Jack Link's cup at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch and we got into a discussion with topics that aren't talked about too much.  We covered Anthony's new book that will be released soon, how big tournaments work, the economy and how it is affecting our sport, how to get larger sponsors involved, and a lot more.

I talked to Fred Fanizzi to find out what the final thoughts were on the Gator Cup that will be at Cherokee Rose in March.  They have a lot of great ideas planned and the course is ready to go for one of the most talked-about big blasts of the year.  The lineup of target setters, the side events, the main event, the banquet, the 30 gun giveaway, and the Cole Gunsmithing/Beretta DT11 Black that wil...

Tim Davis joined me on this episode to talk about the first-ever Jack Link's Cup being held at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch in Okeechobee Florida.  This highly anticipated tournament has a payout schedule of $150,000 in total.  This tournament being one of the biggest to start the 2022 season, has been filled for months with over 700 shooters and will have nearly every big name in the sport in...

Becky began shooting competitively in 1989 when she started in NRA Service Rifle with an M14...fast forward 30 years and she has diversified her skills over several disciplines. Her background ranges from high power rifle to NCAA air rifle and air pistol, small bore, summer biathlon, PRS, USPSA, IPSC, and 3-Gun. When she isn't shooting, Becky is busy with her camera, blogging, and creating so...

I have Zach Kienbaum and Joe Fanizzi on the show with me and we cover a pretty interesting topic that hasn't been talked about on a podcast.  I like to cover topics that are not discussed much and have people on that can add something to the sport or bring valuable, useful, and accurate information to the Shotgun Sports listeners. The topic of this episode is......Don't ruin your reputat...

Desirae Edmunds joined me this week and we discussed one topic that most of us should all pay more attention to…Practice.   From how and how much to when and where and how to make it work for you.  Practicing plays such a vital role in your success as a clay target shooter.  Find out how to make your practice more beneficial to you and your scores.

On this episode, I have 2 good friends out of North Carolina.   These guys shoot together a lot and have won their fair share of tournaments around the southeast.  Wesley is a 4x North Carolina State Champion and is also in the North Carolina Sporting Clays Hall of Fame.  Richard came off of an incredible 2021 winning HOA at Georgia State, South Carolina State, and Virginia State among many others...

Lefty Ray Chapa is a professional freelance outdoor photographer and writer, and you’ve seen his work in Clay Target Nation during the past couple of years. As the official photographer of the NSSA and NSCA, Lefty has traveled all over the U.S. photographing skeet and sporting clays events. Through pure coincidence, he lives just miles from the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio. Lefty photo...

In this episode, we talk about shooting glasses which is a big topic of conversation in our sport, and do you need as many lenses as you think you do.  Dr. Colo explains the Purkinje effect which is sometimes called the Purkinje shift.  If you are wondering that is.....it is the changes in perception of the relative lightness and darkness of different colors as illumination changes.   If you are i...

In this episode, we talk about eye dominance which is a huge topic of conversation in our sport.  Dr. Colo tries to explain it even more so that we all can understand how it really works.  We talk about how to use the eyes to slow down a target, we talk a little about helice and how eye dominance may not be an issue with anyone in this game, and a lot more.  The second part of this episode will be...

Bill Elliott is an NSCA Level 3 instructor and a shotgun coach.   He has a very interesting story on how he got involved in the sport coming out of the academic field, he tells me where he wants to be in the sport and what he is going to do to get there.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the formation of the Army Marksmanship Unit, almost exclusively to win shooting competitions that would raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the Army. The unit is composed of five competitive shooting sections, each with world-class training facilities and competition grounds. Those teams include Service Rifle, Action Shooting, Internati...

Mike Wilgus is from Bellevue Washington.  He’s a businessman a family man and one of the best shooters in the game.  Competition is what he lives for and his resume is there to prove it. He is a 6x Team USA member, 36 x all American, and 2x us open champion. 2021 National 5-Stand Champion 2021 North Central Regional SupersportRunner Up 2021 Washington State Champion (14 Time) 2019 Team USA Gold Me...

White Flyer operates five state-of-the-art target manufacturing facilities throughout the United States to ensure total coverage of the country plus Canada and Mexico: Coal Township, PA Plant, (Northeast U.S.) | Dalton, GA Plant (Southeast U.S.) | Webb City, MO Plant, (Central U.S.) | Knox, IN Plant, (North Central U.S.) –  San Bernardino, CA Plant, (Western U.S.) Utilizing a customer base of coas...