Are the hand clay throwers any good, compared to the mechanical ones?

They're Ok but I prefer a mechanical thrower and it takes a bit to master the hand thrower.

No, if you are talking about the fully automated ones where you push a button or sound activated and it sends the clay out, very expensive models. Yes, if you are talking about the ones that are spring loaded and you pull a string to release it or by stepping on it with your foot. I bought a spring loadedone a few years back that you stake it to the ground, load your clay, and step on a pedal that releases it. I have had nothing put problems with it and the only suggestions or ideas I could come up with was getting a old tire and mounting the trower into with cement to hold it down. It seemed the stakes would always come out of the ground or the chain woud break, or a bolt would bend, on and on. Now it takes two stout people to pack it around. It cost me around $150 for the thrower and I still usually end up using my $9.99 hand thrower. Only draw back is you need to people, but with the added concrete I added you need two people anyway. Heck, I bought mine for $9.99 try it, if you don't use then you ronly out a few bucks.

I bought my spring loaded one at a garage sale for 1.50 and it was in pretty goood condition. The wood on the bottom was rotten and it was kind of rusty so I took the wood off and welded metal plates in the place of the wood and then I put primer on it and then painted the whole thing and it looks good as new and it really gets them goin fast. And then I welded my own stakes on it and made the stakes longer and now I dont have the problem of the stakes coming out of the ground, and it can be used with only one person. It was a great deal.

This spring I bought a Trius One-Step Trap and it has been worth every penny of the $100 that I paid for it. We've put well over 1000 clay birds through it w/out a problem. It allows us to spend more time shooting and less time loading the hand traps. It has easy adjustment for different presentations and can really throw the clays fast and far. It will even throw stacked doubles.

What I really like about it is that it can throw clays in the same place, at the same speed, over and over. This allows me to work on the angles and presentations that I have trouble with. It's tough to get that kind of practice and consistentpresentation from a hand trap.

i had a spring loaded thrower slowly move around and rotate on the ground. i was launching clays for some other people. the arm of the thrower hit my shin.

5 stitches.

What about the ones that have a seat on them, and the ones that go into a receiver hitch?

the ones you sit in are nice. I use a hand thrower and it does okay. much much cheaper. and you can really get those things flighing fast with the hand thrower

I have a Do All trapwith a seat and it also has the trailer hitch option (which I have not used because I don't see the point). I think it's awesome. It cost around $115 and is worth it if you do much clay shooting on your own land. My trap probably has over 3000 clays thrown from it and it runs like a new one. Don't leave it out in the rain though. I accidentaly did it once and it rusted slightly, not a big deal though.

Did some clay shooting last weekend. Purchased the hand thrower style that had the 4' fiberglass rod for extended throwing distances. Took about a dozen throws to get the feel of it and we were able to really throw the clays very fast and out to almost 100 yards. We could even slow the clays down by only loading the clay into the older about 1/2 way. This gave the person throwing the clays the ability to "surprise" the shooter as to speed and elevation of the clay.

We ended up throwing about 150 clays that day with zero problems. Other than our forearms hurt a little due to the slight whipping action you would do with your arm at the very last second of the throw....this helped in control of trajectory of the clay as well as getting it to release from the holder.

The thrower I mention we purchased locally from The Sportsmans Warehouse for about $11.00

Hope this helps.