Some Observations From The Range....

[Dave McCracken]

Between shooting with proven last Saturday and some followup stuff on Sunday, I shot 15 rounds of 16 yard trap and wobble. A few rounds were shot as flurries, but most followed ATA rules.

Frankenstein now has one of my homemade recoil reducers installed in the mag tube. For those coming in late, two trash hulls filled with shot and crimped shut firmly nestle in between two halves of a spare mag spring and two extra followers. This soaks up recoil energy and releases it after the main pulse has passed by, giving the feel of less kick like a gas auto does. The system weighs 7 oz and costs about $6, maybe $8 with a new spring. The extra weight brings Frank up to about 8 lbs, not heavy by gamer standards.

The Morgan adjustable pad on it has neither a soft nor large pad on it. Despite this, I suffered no soreness nor bruising while firing those 375 shells. Good fit, decent form, and lighter loads are the reasons.

Loads included factory stuff. I splurged and bought a case of the 1 1/8 oz low recoil STS shells with 8 shot at a printed 1100 FPS. Some of my reloads were 1 oz of 8s at 1150 FPS exterpolated from the Lyman book and others were 7/8 oz of 8 1/2s at 1200.

I went straight, 25/25, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. There were 3 or 4 24/25s, and the rest of the scores fell between 20 and 23. Good shooting for me.

A couple of rounds were shot on the wobble course from non standard points. I worked on crossing shots,since I feel I'm weak on those. My skeet scores corroborate that.

I used the same choke all the way through, Modified. That gave me 18.5 POC.

The straight on Saturday was with the 7/8 oz loads. Sunday's was with the STS LR 1 1/8 oz. Breaks looked identical, most disintegrated or disappeared.

Some conclusions....

One. Most trapshooters use more choke than needed. Chokes from Light Mod to Improved Mod work well, depending on load.

Two. Centering a bird with any shot cloud gives about the same results as long as density is up there in the one pellet to 2 square inches Zutz talked about if energy is sufficient.

Three. Like most of us, I don't get enough shooting in to reach my personal best.

Four. The lighter loads will work, the weakest link is us.

Five. Once fit and form are OK,the key to better shooting is indeed, BA/UU/R....

 

[proven]

i can attest to the recoil reducer, dave. frankenstein definately seemed easier on the shoulder. kind-of puzzled me because that morgan pad seemed even thinner than a standard.

nice work.

 

[sm]

Informative post Dave - Thanks!

Never tried a recoil reducer such as you described, sounds good to me tho'.

Agree with points 1-5
If I may alter #1 for skeet smashers...Cyl to Cyl+ bore works just fine.

 

[dghboy315]

very cool dave.

you gotta let me see that recoil reducer next time we are at pgc. presently, i'm having my stock cut down to fit me better. i was debating whether i should have mercury filled recoil reducer installed in the butt. your option sound much cheaper.

as for point 1, should i not be using that full choke you originally suggested for me? actually, i was getting fairly good w/ it. shot a 21 a few weeks ago. was consistently shooting 19s.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for the responses, folks.

It's not just the R/R, Proven. The extra weight helps also. #6 just nudges 7 lbs. Between the M/C stock, Morgan pad, and the R/R, Frankenstein has another lb on it.

You're welcome, sm. Skeet's another kettle of fish.

315, I'll load up two trash hulls with shot for you. You'll have to scratch up your own extra mag spring and two followers. I use the cheap plastic ones, IIRC they were $3 each.

Stay with the Full Choke for now. You'll lose some birds, but the tight patterns will teach you to get on the bird better.

A tight choke can show you where you're hitting them. Remember how I told you to read your breaks?

 

[sm]

Skeet's another kettle of fish.

Explains why I am sometimes Dave's problem child - huh?

Oh I used to practice with Modified at skeet, for the same reason Dave mentioned. "Point small - Miss small" . Kept me from getting complacent, made me do the "Five things one must do to hit a target - all at the same time".

 

[Dave McCracken]

sm, not problem child, a playful colleague and accomplice perhaps.

Modified at skeet sounds good, but only after one learns the leads.

Some clay experts in divers fields will practice with a tighter choke than what they use in competition. One local legend goes 5 POC, another 10.

I suggest going this way for journeymen shotgunners. Once the basics are learned, a tight choke hones the swing and encourages focussed concentration. Learning to put the center of the shot cloud through the leading molecule is the object, and a tight choke aids that.