Last year, CZ-USA sponsored the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) at the platinum level. It did far more than send money, though. CZ-USA also designed a competition shotgun named the “SCTP Sterling.” The shotgun is based on ideal dimensions for an interchangeable stock that women and youth shooters will be drawn to for competition use.
The shotgun’s foundation is the company’s popular Upland Sterling CNC-milled steel receiver, combined with 28-inch barrels. It will accept 2-3/4 and 3-inch shells and comes with five interchangeable chokes: full, improved modified, modified, improved cylinder and cylinder. The most interesting part of the gun, though, is its adjustable comb. The comb can be changed in four ways, allowing a better fit for pitch. This feature makes it particularly attractive to young women shooters.
CZ-USA includes this reason for making the gun on its website: “After several years spent homing in on the ideal shotgun for female shooters, a truth presented itself — those unique dimensions required to fit women with long necks and slender faces are nearly interchangeable with those needed to properly fit many youth shooters. … These dimensions create a stock that looks very different from most other shotguns, allowing these shooters to keep their heads up and eyes on target. A 4-way adjustable comb helps fine-tune the fit and increased pitch makes it much more comfortable to shoulder (around 8 degrees).”
Made of Turkish walnut with added laser stippling on the forend, the gun looks attractive. It comes with a 26-inch vented rib, a two-tone, satin-and-gloss chrome receiver and a single-grooved trigger. The gun weighs 7.5 pounds unloaded, has a 14.5-inch length-of-pull and offers a rubber buttpad.
It will arrive in a plastic case.
MSRP: $1361
Teen Girls on the Range with the SCTP Sterling
“The SCTP is a world class program and understands what it takes to run a youth shooting organization. We believe very strongly in the SCTP’s mission and direction and are proud to support such a fine organization with our products,” said Dave Miller, CZ-USA’s Special Project & Shotgun Product Manager. The company will be supporting SCTP in 2019.
Makayla Scott
Miller walks the walk, and listened to a young competition shooter who had been struggling with gun fit last summer. Makayla Scott, who has been featured as a “Rising Shooting Star” here at NRA Family, had been in Colorado Springs competing at the Junior Olympic Trials. She stopped in Nebraska to shoot in the 4-H Nationals on her way home to West Virginia. She met Miller at this site, and talked to him about her troubles. He handed her the SCTP Sterling Southpaw to try, and went out to the trap field and shot a round of American Trap with her. She shot 25 straight right then and there, and to this day, is burning through shells and competitions with that gun. The 15-year-old shooter now is an ambassador for the company.
Shelby Odom
Here at my local range, I took the CZ SCTP Sterling out for a Sunday afternoon of skeet shooting, and to my surprise, another 15-year-old competition shooter looked at the gun and exclaimed, “That’s the gun I want to shoot!” As it turns out, this young 4-H shooter, Shelby Odom, also had met Dave Miller at a competition (Sparta, Illinois) and been introduced to the gun. She took it from me, changed the chokes and broke 22 on the skeet field immediately.
I asked Shelby why she likes this gun and she said, “I love the Sterling because it fits me perfectly with no modifications, and it has little recoil with the ammo I am shooting. I happen to love the design as well.”
Visit CZ-USA to learn more about its SCTP Sterling.
