[SHOT 2025] Caldwell Claycopter: Re-Thinking Shotgun Fun

For generations, clay shooting has worked around the same basic technology, whether you’re involved at the highest level of Olympic competition or just goofing off in your backyard. A heavy machine on the ground (or a handheld thrower) heaves clay targets up in the air, usually on predictable flight patterns, and a shotgunner tries to blast them. In 2025, Caldwell is taking a new approach. The new Caldwell Claycopter is one of the most innovative products on the fudd side of SHOT Show this year, as it could completely change informal clay shooting, and offers interesting new potential for competition shooting as well.

Clay shooting @ TFB:

• Olympic Skeet Shooter Vincent Hancock Completes ISSF Hat-trick in Malta
• Competition Ultimate Practice Shooting System: Shooting Inside
• Remington's New Sporting Clays Course and Inaugural Spring League
• UK Government Proposes a Flat-Out Ban on Lead Shot in Ammunition

A handheld solution

Handheld clay throwers have been around for a while, using muscle power to send standard clays up into the air. The Claycopter system is also a handheld design, but it doesn’t use muscle power to send clays down range. It uses battery power, and it’s not shooting standard clays either.

The Claycopter discs are shot from an electronic hand launcher, capable of shooting one or two discs at the same time. Discs are available in either 90mm or 110mm sizes. Obviously this makes for different flight patterns for the discs, and if you’re loading two at a time, loading different sizes can cause them to knock together and spin erratically, adding a level of difficulty that regular clay pigeon launchers don’t offer. Of course the Claycopter launcher is also capable of shooting in a wide range of directions that would be difficult for most clay-launching machinery.

The launcher can shoot the discs as fast as 40 mph, with the speed of the discs adjustable with the launcher’s on-board controls. Range is up to 100 yards, says Caldwell’s staff, so it should easily handle the distances that most shotgunners will want to shoot at. The li-ion battery is supposed to last 250-350 shots, depending what power you’ve set it at. The batteries charge from USB-C connection and can be quick-swapped in the field (additional batteries cost $59.99 apiece).

The launcher carries a $219.99 MSRP and should be available in March of 2025.

Next-generation targets

Caldwell’s staff says the new Claycopter targets can be dropped on the ground without breaking, and can even be shipped practically by mail, since they’re much lighter than traditional clay pigeons. They’re not cheap, at $12.99 per 50 of the 110mm discs, or $9.99 for 50 of the 90mm discs. However, if you want to use the new Claycopter system, that’s the price you’ll have to pay.