Notable clay target shooters who are notable for clay target shooting.
1) Russell Crowe is a relative newcomer to clay target shooting. Picking up skeet at this local club in Coffs Harbour. His most notable purchase is a Beretta SO10-20 gauge. A shotgun fit for Maximus Decimus Meridius.
2) Clay target shooting has only featured in James Bond once (Thunderball). Sean Connery smashed a clay target from the hip with a A5 Browning. Showing Mr. Largo who’s the boss. With his own gun no less! Ouch!
As it turns out Connery is a keen clay target shooter attending numerous charity clay target events over the years. Not a bad networking event by the looks of this photo.
Sean Connery with Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg shooting clays in Scotland.
3) Tom Selleck Aka Magnum PI is a long-time clay target shooter, inheriting the past time from his father.
“Shooting clay targets is a very cleansing experience. It’s very relaxing. It takes a lot of concentration. It’s also very social, since you’re usually shooting with friends. You can talk and forget about almost anything else that’s on your mind.”
While his shotgun collection is extensive. It is Tom’s Fabbri shotgun that gains the most attention. A shotgun that not only matches the performance and exclusivity of Robin Masters’ Ferrari but the shotgun is actually just as expensive. The starting price for a new Fabbri is $150,000 but this easily climbs to $400,000 with more advanced engravings and matching pairs.
4) Steven Spielberg, need I say any more. It was also his father, a World War II Air Force sharpshooter, who taught Steven his gun-handling skills. This has also translated into a sense of detail when selecting firearms in his movies i.e. SPAS-12 and a double barrel rifle in Jurassic park (1 & 2). It was a colleague introduced him to sporting clays then he was hooked. Like Selleck he shoots an over and under Fabbri shotgun. This may explain who ordered this dinosaur engraved Fabbri. I hope the other side has a T-Rex or a couple of raptors!
4) It will be an interesting concept commissioning a Fabbri shotgun for every new movie. Maybe some other directors could follow suit. One for each James Bond and Indiana Jones would be pretty cool. But George Lucas only needs to commission one for episode IV. The rest of the franchise don’t need to be in engraved on anything.
For those who are now convinced they need a Fabbri and have a spare $150k and are prepared to be on a waiting list for the next two years. Here’s the link.
5) Formula One Champion Jackie Stewart went seamlessly from clay target shooting to racing. He won the British, Irish, Welsh and Scottish skeet shooting championships. He only just missed out on selection in British trap shooting team for the 1960 Summer Olympics.
James Bond, a revolutionary filmmaker, Magnum PI, a F1 Champ and a gladiator can’t all be wrong.