All, Actually I did a lot of trap shooting today. One of the neighbors down the street knows that I'm a gun guy and he invited me to shoot with his little group of 5 guys down at the local range at 9am this morning. OK, I can do that. I had to dig out my old Remington 1100 that I purchased sometime in the early 1970's and clean it up a bit (the oil had turned to some kind of bad preservative) but once she was cleaned and lubed, it was running nicely. Now back when I used to shoot trap with the guys at work on Wednesdays (30 years ago), I was pretty bad. Getting two out of five was good for me. Maybe it was the ammo, the choke of the barrel, my technique or something but I really wasn't that good. At least I knew my limitations and kind of dropped out of the shotgun shooting scene for a long time. I was not looking to embarass myself in front of his buddies and was kind of hoping for rain in the morning. Fast forward to today and when it came time for me to "saddle up" I held my own. It even surprised me! The 12 gauge shells were at LEAST 10 years old and had been sitting in the closet for all that time. They all wondered where I got those shells in the colorful boxes! (Wal-Mart, circa 1990, on sale in 100 packs). Anyway, it was fun to shoot the shotgun again and as I was making 22 out of 25 in batches of 5, I was a very happy camper. Looked at my shoulder tonight and sure enough, it's black and blue and bruised up nicely, just like I remember when I used to shoot those marathon sessions a long time ago. At least my $300 Remington held it's own with those $3500 Brownings. Of course those Brownings are drop dead gorgeous for sure and they do shoot very nice. Hmmm, maybe I should convince the wife I really need one of those, eh? AD
My dad and I are trying to get out and doe some trap shooting as well. Only problem is that I have to use my Remington 870, don't have and 1100 "yet". Like you found out though they never really do go bad, they have a tried and true build quality to them. Now, mind you I've never shot trap before so I am apprehensive to say the least but it will be a good learning experience to say the least. I've got so much ammo for trap it's all over the house in boxes and I have a tote full of hulls yet to load as well. Like you AD, I hope that I can do well my first time out but I am not holding my breath. At least you have past experience to rely on and getting 22 of 25 is damn good in my book. Hell I'll be lucky to get 5 of 25 when we finally get to shoot. I am worried about the kick as well. Last time I shot a shotgun was when I was a wee laddy with my grandfathers .410. I've seen some of those Brownings you speak of and can tell you, you can spend all the money you have for a nice gun but it will not do you any damn good if you cannot shoot. I've seen some of the guys at my club with $3000-$5000 guns and cannot hide a broadside to save their own soul. :lol: I will have to look into the cost of getting an 1100 Remington for trap IF I can hit the damn clays, that will be the true test.
Only two things to know about shooting trap for people of "our level of experience". Either "cover" the bird or "see" the bird. Cover it means just put the barrel over it and shoot. (Gun shoots low). See it usually means see the bird just over the barrel and shoot! (Gun shoots high). Basically I just put the forward dot sight under the bird and it is history! My misses were generally the far left birds where I had to swing fast all the way left and then shot left anyway. Still lots of fun, especially with friends for sure. I never shot trap with my dad, but we played a lot of golf together and I really miss that now. If your dad wants to go shoot sometime, just do it. You'll appreciate it down the road for sure. AD
Thank you for the lesson AD, that will help me more then you know. Shooting to my left is the hard part for me as well so that will be my biggest challenge as well. I've played regular golf if that's what you mean but never with my dad. He takes it way to serious. Shooting with him is lots of fun though and some of the best memories I have. We do not always see eye to eye but when out shooting together that all goes away.
