Busting Clays

Browning’s Deluxe Mesh Shooting Vest contains a shock-absorbing and patented Reactar™ recoil pad. The pad is made with a shock-absorbing silicone material called Beta Gel to cut recoil. The pad is located in the right shoulder for the right-hand model and located in the left shoulder for the left-hand model. Vest is constructed of lightweight mesh, with twill pockets, shell loops and accents. International-style full-length recoil pad. Imported.

A vest is as essential as eye and ear protection in clays. You absolutely need one that fits, as a too small vest will bind your arm and upper body movement and a too large one leaves too much material for a gun to hang-up on during mounting. Look for adjustable side tabs for extra customizing.

Two double-pockets in the front should be a requirement on every vest that claims it’s for sporting clays. You need to be able to dump in two entire boxes of 25 plus a couple extras for that quick round after work, and for serious competition, you need to be able to separate a handful of loads for any given station. For reloaders, they are also handy for temporarily storing empty hulls. Even better for shot-jerkers are the vests with a storage pocket built into the vest’s back, much like a field vest’s game pouch. Add in a choke-tube pocket that’ll hold at least five, and you’ve pockets enough.

As far as construction, there are two choices: solid backed and mesh-backed. Pick the latter if you shoot anywhere the temperature’s gonna sizzle. The shooting pad section can be of anything, but I’ve found the quilted material to be inferior to the smooth leather and suede options. These last two offer more purchase for a gun once shouldered and let a gun butt slide easily up over them during the mount. They also tend to be more flexible during shooter movement than quilted material, which can bunch up and hinder a mount. One last option is to consider a vest that has a pocket in the gun-mount area that accommodates a recoil-reducing pad. These can be a super choice for sensitive shooters, but they do affect gun fit, depending on thickness.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 11:48 am and is filed under Clothing . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.