After years of using a hand thrower, I made an upgrade today to a Champion Wheelybird 2.0 with a wobble attachment.
I just learned that the range I have been using has a field for clays. I asked about it and the range officer said yeah, we have a couple machines in the office if you need to use one.
Turns out their machines are manual rope pull ones where you need a second person. Years ago, I owned one and tried wrapping the rope in a loop around my ankle so I could pull and shoot, but the jerking motion never allowed me to get a good shooting stance. He said that he could pull for me if it wasn't busy. I don't want to be at the mercy of how busy they get at the range to enjoy myself.
So this got me thinking of just buying my own. A friend recently purchased a machine for $200 (Do All Firefly FF550) and he has been happy with it. But I took some of his feedback to decide which model I wanted.
Something with wheels was needed. I have a small walk, but long enough I don't want to carry it. I wanted to have the wobble base, I think I would get bored having the same flight path every shot. And another selling feature for me is that it has up to a 15 second delay. I shoot better when I feel comfortable on the ground with feet in the same position everytime. I know that doesn't mimic hunting conditions, but it works for me to break clays.
Now onto assembly:
I just learned that the range I have been using has a field for clays. I asked about it and the range officer said yeah, we have a couple machines in the office if you need to use one.
Turns out their machines are manual rope pull ones where you need a second person. Years ago, I owned one and tried wrapping the rope in a loop around my ankle so I could pull and shoot, but the jerking motion never allowed me to get a good shooting stance. He said that he could pull for me if it wasn't busy. I don't want to be at the mercy of how busy they get at the range to enjoy myself.
So this got me thinking of just buying my own. A friend recently purchased a machine for $200 (Do All Firefly FF550) and he has been happy with it. But I took some of his feedback to decide which model I wanted.
Something with wheels was needed. I have a small walk, but long enough I don't want to carry it. I wanted to have the wobble base, I think I would get bored having the same flight path every shot. And another selling feature for me is that it has up to a 15 second delay. I shoot better when I feel comfortable on the ground with feet in the same position everytime. I know that doesn't mimic hunting conditions, but it works for me to break clays.
Now onto assembly: