lord what a day.

[fiver]

I got up too early this morning.
but it was so I could catch the Formula-1 race.
after a bit of sitting here waiting for anyone else to wake up [even the dog]
I got bored and decided to head down to the ATA shoot.
I haven't registered a target with them in 20 years [in 2 weeks it would be exactly 20 years]
it took the lady at the counter a while to find me in the system, and then we had to dig through the rule book to see what my classification would be.
it took long enough that I missed the singles shoot and had to shoot just the handicapped portion.
[handicap is where you shoot farther and farther from the house up to a maximum of 27 yards]

as it turned out my last yardage was 25.5 yards...dang man.
I'm barely starting to get back in form at the 16 yard [singles] line especially with the new [okay used] gun I have been working on since spring.
yes the spandex and duct tape is finally off the stock, but I have been working on the length of pull so now the recoil pad is poorly fit and is ground off on one end and it sticks out from the stock at weird angles.

I waited for them to get things started, and the temp started climbing then it rained at the far end of the field.
soon enough it hit the mid-90's and the humidity went up to about 65%... good lord, can't we do this stuff in the winter?.... seriously.
finally,,,,,, they call the squads out to the line, I grab my gear and head to the assigned field.
house #-4 I miss only one target [thank god I ain't gonna embarrass myself]
house- 4 again, I miss only 1 more [I am ahead of everyone on my squad by 2 birds at this point]
I know we are gonna jump down to the other end of the field so I asj the squad leader which house we are going to next.
'house-6'.
oh come on man I hate house six.
I have a hard time seeing the targets until they hit blue sky so I have to take more time to watch the targets a bit longer but with the dark clouds in the back round there ain't no blue sky.
the squad ahead of us only has 3 guy's on it so they are long gone and it's time to shoot so now what?
ahh Littlegirls funky Paris Hilton type glasses are in the truck and they have [imagine that] Purple lenses.
so I snatch them up real quick and head to the line.
well the 'trap kid' is one of the club regulars filling in for the real kid for a bit, and he starts busting a gut when I walk up wearing them.
Jackie was like 'are you serious?'
I was 'man they are all I got'.
we go to shooting and this is when the wind decides to come out and play too.
I drop 2 targets this round, which puts me right in line with the other guy's scores on the house.
alright!.... that went better than i thought it was gonna.
on to the next 25.
I'm doing pretty well through the first 3 stations then the sun pops out and it gets bright, now I can't see nuthin and drop a bird on the 4th station, then move to the 5th station and drop another one after flat out loosing the bird somewhere in the black cloud picking it up after the apex and hurriedly poking at it, then hit the next 3.
it comes around to my turn, I get ready and call for the last bird, it comes out.
I could hear the machine throw the arm and I got no idea where it went, none, zip, nada, not even a streak
I probably looked like I was swatting at flies with my barrel searching around for the bird I finalyl see it about 2' off the ground and 50 yds out from the house making it a 75 yard shot.
I get under it by aiming at dirt and touch the trigger off.
well it breaks i lose sight of the bird in the recoil, but the shot kicks up a lot of dust and the second trap kid can't see what happened behind the house.
he call a loss.
the guy on station 5 [the squad leader] calls it a break.
the guy on 3 say's no.
and the guy on 4 say's I broke it.
the guy next to me on 2 was getting ready to shoot and didn't see it.
okay so now we got a 2-2 vote and none of us are clear on the rule here.
out comes the state representative to make a call and she looks at me and say's it is my call.
okay I'm 95% positive I hit that bird, but I'm not 100% sure so I gotta call it a lost target.
this gives me a 93, the high score was a 94.
there was one shooter fewer than the minimum number for me to get a yardage punch taking second place.
otherwise we would both have got a yard punch and had to shoot-off for the win which is funny.
there was no trophy or money to shoot for, but the rules say there has to be a winner and a runner-up.
it was so hot by this time I would have just forfeited the shoot-off.
god what a day.

 

[Intheshop]

Elvis has left the range?

Hey Fiver,when busting clays,is "cant" OK?...meaning;Because I'd rather keep eyes parallel to the horizon,is cant on my stock fit going to cause problems down range.If it's a predictable hold,same mount every time,isn't that enough?

In hot rod bow world we cant...sort of normal really.Get it right,and stroke it.

 

[Intheshop]

Got a jacked up recurve in the shop(ha)....headed to NM.Airbrushed camo....3 pce takedown.One of our hybrid,"DJM" (don't judge me),3axis fixed rests.Got Alaskan seal hide/fur arrow plate,harvested legally by some good ole boys....up there.

 

[Ian]

Reading that I just can't get visions from Tin Cup out of my head.

 

[freebullet]

Well dang, don't sound like you did to bad despite the my little pony glasses.

I suck at trap & skeet. They won't let me use my preferred load & it messes up my lead.

Been using #4-3" steel shot & a full choke since I was 12 for everything cept deer.

 

[Intheshop]

I love Tin Cup....

It's like,Dude....hit it again.

BUT...it doesn't answer the questions.

 

[fiver]

if you tip the gun it will mess you up.
a left hand lean will tip the pattern to the left.
if the gun shoots a bit high then it's more left.
so your left hand leads are less than your right hand leads and anything even close to a straight away target needs to be shot from low and to the right.

where it gets real bad is if you shoot an over under or an under single or a high rib gun.
the further away from the tipped sights the barrel is the more to the side the pattern will go.
now add in distance from the gun and your sight picture will change every single time you pull the trigger if you want to make a centered pattern hit.
think about it like a rifle that is centered to the scope but shoots 3" high.
if you roll the rifle in the bags but keep the scope centered in the circle the shots will form a little frowny face up above.

with a 50-50 patterning gun [best case scenario] at 20 yards your left hand lean would need you to hold the front bead on the right hand edge of the target.
however at 50 yards you would be holding away from the target to the right and covering it with the barrel at the same time to compensate for the lead.

you would probably assume your gun was shooting high based on the break you would see on the target.
when in reality you are just chipping the left hand edge of the target with a [very poor] portion of your pattern.


what we do to fix a tipping issue on a shotgun is to move the rear sight.
the rear sight is your gun in relation to the eye.
you can get a twisting recoil pad, it goes against your shoulder and the gun is rolled into the right place.[or vice versa] but you twist it so the gun comes into position and fights your tendency to roll the gun.
you can move the comb over so it is more comfortable, twist just part of the comb over.
add some length to the stock, or shave part of the stock away.
I have even seen stocks twisted and some cast off added to fit the gun into the shoulders pocket more consistently to fight the problem.
generally just raising or lowering your right arm will stop the problem.
the wrong distance of grip to trigger for your finger length can cause you to tip the gun because you want to relieve the pressure on your wrist.
and if your only see it [twist to the right] when you swing to the left [you see it after missing] changing your stance so you have about 10% more weight on your front foot can stop it.
it takes a little bit of self diagnosis and sometimes some help from a gun fitter.

 

[smokeywolf]

I don't think I've fired a shotgun in 50 years.

 

[quicksylver]

Thanks for reliving my "child hood"...great story..that's what I liked most about Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays and Five Stand you could rerun it over and over in your mind..and the Monday morning quarter backing goes on right through to the next Sunday..

Got those glasses that make the birds look like 300 watt light bulbs?...or better yet... shoot under lights?

Best news all the rounds went off and no bloobers...!

Next week doubles..right..?

 

[fiver]

I like shooting doubles but I just don't have the money to shoot full events anymore.
my doubles average was actually higher than my singles average, and I was in a higher classification bracket, when I quit competing last time.
I shot Sunday because it was the cheapest targets.

I have seen those glasses that make the targets glow, I even tried a pair on for about 5 minutes one day.
they just won't work for me, my eyes are super light sensitive and they are waaay too bright.
I usually wear a pair of dark safety glasses even on cloudy day's, and even they don't block enough ambient light.

I don't have many problems with my reloads.
I got caught off guard a bit with all the new hulls out there and their varying quality now versus back then, but have come to some conclusions about good quality loads.
I keep the pressure up above 9,000 psi. [closer to 9500-10K]
I pre-size any cases that are not solid brass heads, even the plated ones.
I carefully measure my stack height versus the internal volume of the hull, I want the petals to fold down right on top of the shot with just a little [snug up] compression to the load.
I work my loads up to a satisfactory level.
I don't just try 17 or 17.5 grs. of powder I work from 17 to 17.6 using a specific primer and hull combination.
quite often I pre-prime the hulls before loading them, this allows me to inspect the base for flush primers and make sure the hull has no base distortion.
it also allows me another chance to catch those crispy critters before loading them, I got no problem only having 499 shells.

I also inspect them after loading and toss anything I don't like into the shoot and toss bucket, this bucket goes down to the gravel pit ,or up to the mountains to be shot at the fun family events, or get used on a dove hunt.

 

[Intheshop]

Slight,bow...golf,tangent;

Occasionally,we'll install a clicker on a bow(jacked up,high tech recurves)....what we've "found" is that,it doesn't help or show up on good days.What it does,is painfully obvious on bad days or shots.No big revelation there but....it's a lot like a pro golfer on his approach to the shot.I.E.,back away from that pre shot sequence,and approach again.We've found,shooting instinctive archery that about 5% of our shots,need let down.....and go back through the pre shot steps.Hitting the clicker this time....doh.Once it's understood,it becomes accepted.....and we remove the clicker.

 

[fiver]

I have watched guy's shoot a clicker.
and i have thought about using one because I could see the benefits of having one more thing to add consistency.
watching them use it successfully would show them draaaw,click, pause, shoot.
it seemed like they were doing a good job of pre-loading the bow to an exact point, then making their sight approach, and releasing.

it is similar to how I shoot my trap guns.
I don't have a professional fitter to work with, so I have to find that place where the gun goes, the consistent sight alignment picture [left/right-level] and then focus my eyes correctly before calling for the bird.
if I don't do all of those things I increase the chances of a missed target.
the thing is the more I do those things [and focus on doing them right] the better I get with a shot gun, even with throw it up and shoot the duck type scenarios with the 1300.

 

[Intheshop]

Runnin and gunin,on the biz front.Glad to be home.

Reckon,I am a pro fitter,albeit with building longbows and recurves.....doh.Moreso than a pure shooter,though certainly no slouch in the scoring dept.

Bows are different in that,from a fitting standpoint,we can sit at a right angle to the shooter and watch several key points.First,we want to see the limbs working (tiller)....which like shotguns,requires consistent mount/draw/release/follow through.Then we balance that with how the riser is behaving.Stabilizers,while extremely useful,are a crutch of sorts.Same I would expect from a shotgun stock....and any subsequent"add ons".

The difference is it's much more visual with a bow.The recoil frequency is at a snails pace compared to firearms.In that way,the feedback from the shotguner plays a bigger role.

Do you shoot those bouncing"rabbit" clays? Does your hold change for those?

 

[fiver]

I have shot them.
the only thing I change is shot size. [those things are thick and tough]
the rest is just estimating the bounce length and height, then catching it either at the top or near the bottom of the bounce.
that way you can swing the gun in a straight line and the target comes to you.

the way you hold the gun and where you place your hands can influence how quickly you can react to a moving target.
if you need to make quick snappy moves move your left hand [forward hand] back towards you.
if you need more control or to make long smooth swings then you move that hand out further.

 

[freebullet]

I think the thing I like most about shotgunning is the versatility. I have one that's taken most any critter we can legally take here.

 

[Intheshop]

Watching paint dry...joy.

I went through the snap shooting "phase"(million mile Bear TD recurve).Hang a plastic golf ball on a big backstop,and swing it.From a low start position,got to where it was toast,pretty much anywhere in its swing.You can cheat,waiting for it to change direction.But that's just shooting spots.

It has to be smooth.The action pistol guys know it,heck....they bow down to it.That's why I was asking about the rabbits.There's nothing smooth OR predictable about'm.

Even our bucket lid,hillbilly flying archery targets are predictable....although they come off the modified clay thrower like somebody jammed a cattle prod up their arse...doh.Like hitting a baseball,look for the stitches.

 

[Ian]

The trick with rabbits is to break them as close to the trap as possible, not wait for them to do something predictable. If you can catch them right out of the trap or nail them after the first bounce it helps a lot. If the target setter put the trap 20 yards behind a bunch of trees or rocks, you take what you get.

 

[Intheshop]

Agree completely Ian...in, the closer I can nail it down the better.Heck man,can we shoot it before the launch?

Excessive joy....recoat paint to watch dry.

 

[fiver]

they ain't smooth or predictable but your gun better be.
just because they are jerking about like a dove or a teal would doesn't mean you chase them.
get in front of them and wait for the sight picture to develop and pull the trigger.
yes pull the trigger.
I prefer my shotguns to have a 2 stage type trigger where i have a very slight amount of take up then break the sear.
my 101 has a trigger similar to a good hunting rifle and it breaks at about 2 lbs, I have to be very careful when shooting it to just massage the trigger and not try to ride it like I do with the SKB and the 3200..

 

[Intheshop]

I like yanking triggers.

Good stuff Fiver....thanks for some dead serious insight.