[Dave McCracken]

At PGC just now,I shot a round or two with the Geezer League. One guy I didn't know was trying out a Model 21,a nice early gun. He shot it fairtomiddlin'. He was short a ticket so I loaned him one.

A little later, he came by with his skeet gun and a ticket for me. I suggested he try his 410 at trap, just to see what would happen. He stuck a modified tube in the top barrel and we commenced.

Long story short, he went 20/25 on his first attempt. The ammo was 2 1/2", 1/2 oz of 9s. No smoke, but he powdered most of what he hit.He had to get on them, and with the sparse pattern, he had to center them. Best guess, he had maybe 15 inches of working pattern. For comparison, a standard 12 gauge target load with 1 1/8 oz has about 26-30" of usable spread.He stated the hard angles were what he missed, and that's where a narrow pattern is the most handicap.

Now, this is a good shotgunner.He knew his weapon,and was pleasantly surprised he did this well.

And while that little Browning O/U was beautiful with great wood, engraving and a number of inlays, beauty is as beauty does.

[MbuckH]

Hey Dave,

This is the young boy from over at "Guns R' Us";)

Why dont ya come to PGC on thursday evenings and shoot some skeet with me and the boss (Bill)

BTW, did you pick up that 7 1/2 shot from us the other day??? or did you get the 8 1/2's from over PGC?;)

[Dave McCracken]

Hmm, next Thursday I get off around 4:15 PM. What time are you talking about?

I'm really bad at skeet, but what the heck. Yes!

After calling y'all the other day, I got a page from one of my bosses. Had to go straight to work. Picked up both sizes today. Going downstairs now to load up some more trap loads, and maybe some scatter loads for skeet. I'll be using #6, the old 870 I just got from you.

[TaxPhd]

Dave,

In all the patterning I have done, pattern size (with similar choke) is essentially the same, regardless of gauge. Difference is in density. Why was this gun throwing 15" patterns?

[jsalcedo]

I tried an old H&R single for clays and I wasted about 40 rounds trying to hit the rabbit. Very frustrating.

Sounds like you found a winner.

[Mike Irwin]

Just one question, Dave...

Why didn't you join us at Bull Run yesterday?

8 of us had a hell of a time on Wobble Trap.

Couple of newbies were doings some VERY credible things with shotguns...

[Dave McCracken]

TaxDoc, What you say is true. That 15" is USABLE pattern, the part where density is enough to ensure breaking the target. All patterns have more pellets in the center. The scant amount of shot means that while extreme spread might be the same, what we can depend on to work is much less.

Mike, if I'd known, I might have shown up. I was down there on business last week. Let me know next time, I'll try to make it.

[Tom Held]

Dave, it was a pleasure meeting you at PG and thanks for convincing me to try the 410. I was as surprised as you at the results, particularly when I consider that I shot only a 22 with the Model 21 twelve bore shooting a 1 1/8 oz load. By the way I did check the ammo. It was a half oz load but 7 1/2 shot not 9's. I'm going to try this again today at National Capital and see if this was a fluke.

Tom

[MbuckH]

We usually meet over PGC at around 6 PM thursday evenings, If ya need some help with skeet, talk to Bill. He shot a 49 outta 50 last week. He beat my 46 outta 50 :p. If anything happens with the time for thursday, I'll let ya know.

[Dave McCracken]

Good to see you here, Tom. Maybe again some time at PGC.

7 1/2s,huh? Talk about a challenge. Mayba the ATA should start a 410 class for those AA27AA shooters that are getting a little bored.

And please get back to us and let us know how you did at NatCap.

The main point it's the pianist, not the piano....

As for the 21, remember it's set up as a field gun. More familiarity will bring those scores up.