The terrain where I usually shoot clays is not suited to automobiles. The land is muddy, marshy and without trees to attach a winch. Having gotten stuck there a couple of times in the past I now leave the vehicles at a safe spot and go on by foot. Once loaded up with hundreds of clays and boxes of 12 gauge rounds, not to mention the firearms, nobody wants to carry a heavy clay thrower. So for years I have been using a number of those cheap plastic orange clay throwers (and one even worse slingshot-style thrower). Five months ago I got a Ball and Buck Edition WingOne Thrower and it is a complete game changer for hand clay throwers like myself.

Ball and Buck Edition WingOne Thrower

Let us first talk about those generic orange clay throwers, such as the throwers pictured in the photo below.

Hat tip to midwesthunterfib for the photo.

These are sold under a number of different brands. To use them a lot of effort is required to impart sufficient momentum to the clay for it to break free of the clay holder. Children struggle to use them, as do some men or women with low upper body strength. This is because the clay holder needs to hold the clay firmly otherwise the clays would fly out before the clay launcher was pointed in the right direction. Annoyingly another consequence of this design is that sometimes clays, especially old clays, break when they are being inserted into the holder.

The WingOne Thrower works differently. The user loads a clay target into a metal wire carrier (the Ball and Buck Edition wire carrier is made from brass). Clays are easily inserted and I have not broken a single clay in this launcher. The clays used in the photos and video in this review were found at the back of my garage and must have been a decade old. Not a single clay broke.

To use the thrower you simply swing it toward the direction you want the clay to fly. You then hold it in that direction while the wire carrier snaps forward hitting a metal rivet. The clay then launches forward. The “snap action” converts the rotational force into a forward motion and this requires substantially less effort than what is needed to use those orange plastic launchers.

It is hard to show on video how easy it is to use, but here is a video of a friend using the launcher …

The Ball and Buck Edition WingOne Thrower has the same mechanism as the original WingOne Thrower. The differences are that the Ball and Buck Edition is made with brass rather than steel and has a black handle instead of an orange or green handle. The brass and black combination is very attractive and gives it a premium look. It is available only from Ball and Brass stores and their website and retails for $48.

If you use any other clay thrower, you owe it to yourself to at least try the WingOne. It is hands down the best clay thrower I have ever used and I will never go back. I already plan on buying a second one, and maybe a left-handed version so when I take lefty’s shooting they won’t have any excuse not to throw the clays!