Dave McCracken
September 26, 2004, 04:26 PM
Went to PGC this day with 2 870s, 200 rounds of target ammo, a fresh book of tickets and the intention of A, reducing a bunch of clays into unconnected molecules and B, giving a lesson to dghboy 315's father. This gentleman had bought an 870 Express and had one trap session behind him with a rented shotgun. dghboy 315 asked me to give his dad a few tips, which I was glad to do.
Didn't take much beyond a few tweaks on form and stance to get dgh Sr hitting better, and we did a few rounds with much fun ensuing.
In the middle of this, another shooter came up and racked a high grade, inlaid and engraved Browning auto. He was a big'un, about my height and over 300 lbs, but he moved lightly and had a pleasant mein.I complimented him on the gun and he said it was a great shotgun but was wearing out. He said it had 80,000 rounds behind it and it was getting too loose.
We waited while the trap machine was loaded and the new shooter asked if he could shoot one round by himself to warm up a bit. We assented and he hurried to the line as soon as the trap boy was out of the house and began.
Man, did he begin!
He'd drop in a round, call for the bird as he hit the button to chamber the round and shot as the thing touched his face and shoulder. Smoke, much closer to the trap than usual, showed just how fast he was getting on the birds. The show repeated, he'd shoot 5 shots at each post as usual, but the gun was never still. It was up ,down, reloaded and back up in less time than it took for you to read this sentence. If the whole round took 5 minutes, I'd be surprised.
And while 2 or 3 birds escaped, the rest turned into soot balls. It was impressive, and I've seen good shooting.
We burst into applause as he reduced the last bird into unconnected molecules and he grinned as he returned to the fence. During the conversation that followed, he mentioned he had held a world record in shooting for a while. He mentioned Kim Rhode shooting a 99 at trap with a 410, and he said that what he had done this day merely required lots of practice. IOW, BA/UU/R.
If I heard right through my plugs, his name is Mark Hellman or Kellman.
As I drove home, I got to musing on this. I had come to PGC to give a lesson and did. I also got a lesson, as to just what a good hand with a shotgun can do after practice, sweat and dedication pay off....
Didn't take much beyond a few tweaks on form and stance to get dgh Sr hitting better, and we did a few rounds with much fun ensuing.
In the middle of this, another shooter came up and racked a high grade, inlaid and engraved Browning auto. He was a big'un, about my height and over 300 lbs, but he moved lightly and had a pleasant mein.I complimented him on the gun and he said it was a great shotgun but was wearing out. He said it had 80,000 rounds behind it and it was getting too loose.
We waited while the trap machine was loaded and the new shooter asked if he could shoot one round by himself to warm up a bit. We assented and he hurried to the line as soon as the trap boy was out of the house and began.
Man, did he begin!
He'd drop in a round, call for the bird as he hit the button to chamber the round and shot as the thing touched his face and shoulder. Smoke, much closer to the trap than usual, showed just how fast he was getting on the birds. The show repeated, he'd shoot 5 shots at each post as usual, but the gun was never still. It was up ,down, reloaded and back up in less time than it took for you to read this sentence. If the whole round took 5 minutes, I'd be surprised.
And while 2 or 3 birds escaped, the rest turned into soot balls. It was impressive, and I've seen good shooting.
We burst into applause as he reduced the last bird into unconnected molecules and he grinned as he returned to the fence. During the conversation that followed, he mentioned he had held a world record in shooting for a while. He mentioned Kim Rhode shooting a 99 at trap with a 410, and he said that what he had done this day merely required lots of practice. IOW, BA/UU/R.
If I heard right through my plugs, his name is Mark Hellman or Kellman.
As I drove home, I got to musing on this. I had come to PGC to give a lesson and did. I also got a lesson, as to just what a good hand with a shotgun can do after practice, sweat and dedication pay off....