Recent content by Tom Held

Looks like they have 3 or 4 other online courses for instructors or instructors who want to be certified to teach (Refuse to be a Victim, Range Safety Officer, Range Development Officer, etc.). Have not taken those yet.

Just finished NRA's Basics of Pistol Shooting online course. It was just released this week. Takes about 6 hours to finish (not all at one time) then you get a certificate once you pass the tests to take to an range instructor for the field portion. Pretty reasonable cost ($60) and...

africa hunts I've hunted South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique and never had a problem. Eastbank is correct. You can hunt any of these countries and take 5-6 very nice plains game animals for the price of a western elk hunt and that includes airfare.

Even I feel bad 20 gauge with 3" chambers, 28" barrels and fixed chokes for $500. I have never seen anything near that price for that combination. Hell, I even feel bad for you. Tell him the barrels are way too long for him and you'll be glad to take it off his hands for $700. And that is...

sure, go ahead A lot of my friends use O/Us and SxSs for waterfowl here in Maryland. You can only take 2 Canada geese anyway. I shot geese last week with a 1926 Parker choked IC and IM and used steel shot. But it's a little cumbersome reloading from a ground pit. For high volume snow geese...

So 10 At the NRA ILA auction last year a SO 10 sold for $60,000. The buyer, a well known bullet manufacturer got a deal. It was valued at $90,000. We produced 12 of the current Beretta Youtube videos but unfortunately not this one. A few years ago I walked into the Holland and Holland store...

no components I've given up reloading months ago. I've got thousands of hulls, wads, and primers but cannot get powder. Seems to be plenty of rifle powder on the shelves but no shotgun powder, at least what I use (International Clays, Winchester).

Old trap guns I shoot the two old guns for fun. You don't get any "chips" from 16 yards just a puff of smoke using 9's. I have used the Gamebore loads that have the fiber wad (cannot use plastic wads at one of the clubs I shoot any longer) and they perform just fine. For trap competition...

classic trap guns To give you some idea of how long a quality single barrel trap gun will last I still occasionally shoot a 1904 Baker and a 1912 L.C. Smith. Excellent chokes but both are almost too tight to shoot at 16 yards, better at 27 yards. Still beautifully made guns.

Thought I would pass this along to the guys who use Hevi-Shot. I just got this notice yesterday. IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM HEVI-SHOT CEO, RALPH NAUMAN At temperatures below freezing, our 12-gauge, 3-inch HEVI-Metal® and HEVI-Steel® shotshell wads may crack on ignition. This may cause a...

high volume birds I have a Versamax that I use for waterfowl and it is a very dependable shotgun, fits me well, points well, and occasionally a goose will fly into the shot string. But I would never take it to Cordoba on a dove shoot., Too heavy and unnecessary and you will never find spare...

pricey doves At $12 a box that's one hell of an ammo bill for one day.

Cordoba dove shooting I've been to 3 different estancias in Cordoba for dove and wood pigeon and always took a pair of Ruger 20 and 28 gauge and put an average of 1500 shots through them every day with no problem. Most of the really high volume dove shooters I know use a pair of Berettas or...

COSMI Autoloader If money is really no object most would consider the COSMI 20 guage and 28 guage autoloaders to be the best in the world. Prices range from about $8,000 up to $20,000.

St. Louis Arms I bought one a few years ago in St. Louis. It's a 12 bore, double trigger, exposed hammers. On the both sides of the receiver: Crown Machine Made St. Louis Arms Co. What you have a nice wall hanger worth about $100.