How do you handle receiving unwanted advice while shooting clays?
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine handed me an weathered leg of mutton case that held a gun given to him several years ago by his grandfather. My friend admitted he didn't know much about guns and wanted to know if it was safe to use and I agreed to take the gun home and look it over. Inside the case was a very respectable early model 12 gauge Fox Sterlingworth that was in very good shape and despite having been stored for several years in a case showed no rust. It locked up tight, had only a little blue wear and the stock showed a few honest handling marks. A little work on the gun cleaned it up nicely.
With the owner's permission I took it out to a local skeet range to put it through its paces. I had only recently joined this club and while I know many of the members, the squad was made up of shooters I had not met before. As the round progressed and I had missed several birds, one of the squad decided to give me some "helpful" advice. If I missed, he opined that I was over the bird or behind the bird or that I'd stopped my swing. He then began to lecture me that I should get an over/under and that a double trigger gun was just not the gun to be shooting skeet with.
This fellow's advice was not welcome and became more irritating as the round wore on. My objective was to learn how the gun handled, if it locked up tightly, whether the ejectors worked properly, how the triggers felt and whether the safety could be smoothly disengaged. I calmly explained to the man that I was just trying out a friend's gun and wasn't worried about my score but he kept up his monologe right to the last station. What I wanted to do was forcefully tell him that I'd bought the birds, would shoot them as I pleased and that I would appreciate it if he shut the h*** up. Instead I held my tongue and left after shooting only one round.
Has this happend to you and do you have any advice on how to handle this?
Paul
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine handed me an weathered leg of mutton case that held a gun given to him several years ago by his grandfather. My friend admitted he didn't know much about guns and wanted to know if it was safe to use and I agreed to take the gun home and look it over. Inside the case was a very respectable early model 12 gauge Fox Sterlingworth that was in very good shape and despite having been stored for several years in a case showed no rust. It locked up tight, had only a little blue wear and the stock showed a few honest handling marks. A little work on the gun cleaned it up nicely.
With the owner's permission I took it out to a local skeet range to put it through its paces. I had only recently joined this club and while I know many of the members, the squad was made up of shooters I had not met before. As the round progressed and I had missed several birds, one of the squad decided to give me some "helpful" advice. If I missed, he opined that I was over the bird or behind the bird or that I'd stopped my swing. He then began to lecture me that I should get an over/under and that a double trigger gun was just not the gun to be shooting skeet with.
This fellow's advice was not welcome and became more irritating as the round wore on. My objective was to learn how the gun handled, if it locked up tightly, whether the ejectors worked properly, how the triggers felt and whether the safety could be smoothly disengaged. I calmly explained to the man that I was just trying out a friend's gun and wasn't worried about my score but he kept up his monologe right to the last station. What I wanted to do was forcefully tell him that I'd bought the birds, would shoot them as I pleased and that I would appreciate it if he shut the h*** up. Instead I held my tongue and left after shooting only one round.
Has this happend to you and do you have any advice on how to handle this?
Paul
