It seems I don't need a bead on the end of my shotgun to knock clay targets out of the air. Huh.
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My father has offered to pay for my son and me to visit and hunt pheasant this fall. Trouble being, I had not done any wingshooting for 25+ yearss and my son had never fired a shotgun.
So, son and I get to it on a simple clay target slinger, going straight out. I get back in the saddle, and son gets to the point he can hit 2/3 targets flung straight out.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I knocked clay targets apart as a younger fellow, skeet was what I did best and what got me hunt-ready. So, I sign up son & self for 1.5 hours of skeet instruction at a local big-dog shooting complex-thingy. Best $170 I ever spent on shotgunny stuff ($85/each).
I used my Rem 1100 12ga and my son used the Franken-70, a Remington 870 12gaWingmaster receiver that has served as a LEO non-lethal projectile slinger, a lethal social shotgun, and now as a wingshooter with a used 28" bbl and Choate furniture (12.5" LOP). It has a slick action, sure enough.
Anyways, we were in the middle of instruction when my barrel bead fell off into the grass. I mention it and the instructor says, "Keep shooting. You might not miss it." I did. And I didn't.
I saw no drop in performance and I am in no hurry to replace the bead.
As for my performance, it as if I got back on to a bicycle, had a wobbly start, but got back up to 75% of my performance from 25 years ago. My son now hits straight-out targets nearly 100% of the time and is getting the hang of cross-wise targets.
I must admit, though, that it did feel like cheating. Back in the day, neither my dad nor I knew that skeet low & high houses had to sling the target to relatively the same spot at mid-field. We were not what you would call sophisticated shotgunners. Knowing that and thinking a bit about where best to engage the target increased my performance, so I suspect that the score card might indicate I am at 75% of my old performance, but that is somewhat inflated.
Looking forward to more skeet. I had forgotten how fun it was.
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My father has offered to pay for my son and me to visit and hunt pheasant this fall. Trouble being, I had not done any wingshooting for 25+ yearss and my son had never fired a shotgun.
So, son and I get to it on a simple clay target slinger, going straight out. I get back in the saddle, and son gets to the point he can hit 2/3 targets flung straight out.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I knocked clay targets apart as a younger fellow, skeet was what I did best and what got me hunt-ready. So, I sign up son & self for 1.5 hours of skeet instruction at a local big-dog shooting complex-thingy. Best $170 I ever spent on shotgunny stuff ($85/each).
I used my Rem 1100 12ga and my son used the Franken-70, a Remington 870 12gaWingmaster receiver that has served as a LEO non-lethal projectile slinger, a lethal social shotgun, and now as a wingshooter with a used 28" bbl and Choate furniture (12.5" LOP). It has a slick action, sure enough.
Anyways, we were in the middle of instruction when my barrel bead fell off into the grass. I mention it and the instructor says, "Keep shooting. You might not miss it." I did. And I didn't.
I saw no drop in performance and I am in no hurry to replace the bead.
As for my performance, it as if I got back on to a bicycle, had a wobbly start, but got back up to 75% of my performance from 25 years ago. My son now hits straight-out targets nearly 100% of the time and is getting the hang of cross-wise targets.
I must admit, though, that it did feel like cheating. Back in the day, neither my dad nor I knew that skeet low & high houses had to sling the target to relatively the same spot at mid-field. We were not what you would call sophisticated shotgunners. Knowing that and thinking a bit about where best to engage the target increased my performance, so I suspect that the score card might indicate I am at 75% of my old performance, but that is somewhat inflated.
Looking forward to more skeet. I had forgotten how fun it was.