Abilene Clay Sports

01/05/2025

Fight club or no fight club online decision starts now more comments, one way or the other for it or against it today

12/31/2024

Our second episode of Clay Target Legends just dropped! Learn all about the amazing historical find at a yard sale!!! Please subscribe as we have many upcoming episodes!

Steve Ellinger

Phil, Steve and Matt highlight an amazing yard sale find of original barrel of 1928 clay targets. This was the same year that NSSA was established.

12/28/2024

Fight club will resume January ,5 Sunday@2:00 PM

12/27/2024

The 1930's in America, especially Oklahoma was a struggle at best. The Great Depression was in full swing, and the dust bowl was destroying much of Oklahoma’s economy. Perhaps that was best illustrated in John Steinbecks novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Morris, Oklahoma was no exception, and the folks there spent their leisure time fishing, reading, going to the movies, listening to radio programs, and for those precious few that did have some disposable income, shooting s***t. S***t was a huge national sport in the 1930's, drawing large crowds to major shoots. The well-dressed competitors with their starched white shirts, neckties and brimmed hats were local celebrities, especially if they were winning large shoots.

Morris, Oklahoma’s own Charles E. "Dutch" Heath was no exception. In 1937, 40-year-old Dutch was a husky size land man for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company. Dutch had been winning a lot of local shoots and making a serious name for himself as a very talented s***t shooter.

Dutch entered the 1938 NSSA Nationals in Tulsa. Held at the Southern Hills Country Club, the extremely well-run shoot of course attracted some of the best the sport offered, including Alex Kerr, Henry Joy, Grant Ilseng, and Ed Williams. Each of those were national celebrities as s***t shooters. The event was a huge happening for Tulsa and the Southern Hills Country Club drawing hundreds of spectators.

Dutch walked onto the field and with his amazing talent proceeded to shoot a 248/250, placing him in 5th place. The legendary Henry Joy topped the field with a 250/250, with Alex Kerr and Grant Ilseng both racking up a 249/250. Dutch was solidly now in competition with the best the sport had to offer.

Soon after, Dutch was a regular in subsequent shoots and championships with wins in Kansas, California, the 1937 Mid-State Championship. Dutch even took the long trek to Connecticut for the Great Eastern at Lordship in 1937 to take second place in the All-Gauge event (now referred to as the 12gauge event). Dutch would accumulate lots of award patches and sew them onto his shooting jacket that he would famously wear at shoots. It was clear that Dutch was a national class shooting celebrity and known all over Oklahoma.

Dutch did not limit himself to trap however. He was a regular in area ATA trap events, and in 1940, Dutch entered and won the Oklahoma State Trap Shoot. Through the next few years Dutch continued to distinguish himself on the s***t and trap fields with honor.

Dutch passed away on May 11, 1949, at 52 years old, but not before establishing himself as one of America's greatest Clay Target Legends. The famous shooting jacket that Dutch wore is now on display at the NSSA-NSCA Hal Dupont Museum and Hall of Fame at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas.

Steve Ellinger

12/23/2024

12/22/2024

Abilene Clay Sports will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Closed New Years Eve and New Year’s Day .Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope everyone has a great Christmas. And a great New Year !

12/21/2024

Can any of you “seasoned” s***t shooters identify this type of compensator on this Re*****on Sportsman 48? I see these on a good number of photos from registered shoots from the 1950’s. I am very familiar with the Cutts, Lyman, and Pachmayr types with the multiple slots for gas dissipation. But this type only has one large slot as you can see here. The screw in choke has the slots. Apparently they were common on champions guns in the 1950’s to the mid-1960’s. I cannot find any manufacturers markings, but I do see the “s***t” marking on the choke.

What made this desing unique was that the gasses dissipated through the choke up through a single slot on the top, causng a more pronounced downward reaction. Most of the other compensatiors at the tiime such as the Cutts etc. had dissipation slots on the top and bottom. This particular gun won more national s***t championships in the 1950’s than any other. More on the gun and shooter later.

Steve Ellinger

12/20/2024

Check out this really well timed photo by ACS member Jeff Phillips that he shot at Windwalker in Midland recently! Gun is a ported Beretta 391. One can clearly see the shot string and porting effect. Well done Jeff!

Steve Ellinger

12/18/2024

Need a last minute Christmas gift? ACS has gift certificates!
🎅🎅🎅

12/17/2024

We will be electing our new board members and sharing our upcoming projects tonight. Hope you’ll join us!

12/16/2024

Matt Smith and daughter Eliesabeth at todays Jingle Bell Bang shoot at Abilene Clay Sports!

12/13/2024

This Sunday! Should be a beautiful day to shoot!

12/13/2024

So I have to tell the great story told to me by Sallie Ilseng-Cooper, the daughter of Clay Target Legend Grant Ilseng! Grant is known as one of the greatest s***t and trap shooters in the world, and is in BOTH the NSSA and ATA Hall of Fame.

Growing up with such a famous father, Sallie was used to seeing walls of large trophies in the Ilseng household. But when called on by a suitor for a date, the young man would appropriately come inside the house to meet her parents.

Seeing an overwhelming number of SHOOTING trophies, her date was always quick and willing to say: “yes sir Mr. Ilseng, by all means I will have her home on time!”

Pictured here is one of those walls from the Ilseng home in 1955. I had another great visit with Sallie today, and I pulled Grant’s famous blue shooting sweater out to cherish some great memories!

Steve Ellinger

12/11/2024

Subscribe please!!! Our first video is up!

In the first Clay Target Legend Video, Zach Kienbaum Talks about how he got started in Sporting Clays. It includes a 30sec lesson.

12/10/2024

Register on Scorechaser!