Over the past several years, Raniero Testa, an Italian athlete sponsored by Winchester, has set multiple world records of shooting airborne clay targets. A little over a year ago, he set a record of breaking 14 clays pigeons in mid-air which earned him a nickname/stage name RT14. Well, apparently, his new stage name is now RT17 as the latest achievement of this professional shooter is a new world record of busting a whopping amount of 17 hand-thrown clay targets in 2.08 seconds with 17 shots. Watch the video below.

Raniero Testa used a Winchester SX4 semi-auto shotgun to set this record. As you can see, this shotgun has been fitted with an enormously long magazine tube extending way past the muzzle … well, it had to hold at least 16 shells. Note also that he used a barrel rib mounted Aimpoint Micro S-1 red dot sight. I guess other modifications may have been done to the shotgun’s action, trigger or other parts too to make such fast shooting manageable or even possible. After all, assuming the rounds were fired at about equal intervals, 17 shots in 2.08 seconds is a rate of fire of 490 rounds per minute.

Another, rather funny challenge Raniero faced when setting this record was being able to hold 17 clays in his hand. As noted by fellow TFB writer Giorgio O, Raniero has been joking on his Instagram page that he may need to extend his fingers’ length to be able to hold the target stack.

Raniero Testa holding 17 clay targets

Raniero Testa’s new record was registered by the Internation Agency of Records Registration. The athlete posted on his social media pages the certificate issued by that organization.

Tell us in the comments section what is your personal clay target shooting record. Mine is too shameful to talk about.

Pictures from Raniero Testa’s social media pages