Today I was in a big box type store that shall remain nameless, save mentioning that celebrity Paris Hilton once stated that she thought this store was a mart where people bought walls or things to put on said walls. I had forgotten that I wanted to pick up some target loads so while JL was taking our purchases out to the van, I went back to the sporting good section to pick up a few boxes.
I stood there looking at three options (that’s two more than the last time). I saw 7.5 shot, 8 shot, and 9 shot. They were light loads, super sporting, and field loads (respectively).
I picked up one of the 8 and one of the 9, and searched for Mr. SportingGoodsWorker to ask a question. When I finally spotted him by his special worker vest, the conversation went down like this:
Me: Excuse me… could you answer a question about the difference in these shells?
Him: Sure. What do you need?
Me: I’m planning on shooting clays and want to know if I have this right…(gesturing with box in right hand) These will be a heavier recoil. (gesturing with box in left hand) But these will have a bigger spread of where the shots hit…??
Him: (Inspecting what’s written on each box… looks from left box to right box to left box and back to right box)… Yes. That’s exactly right.
Me: Thanks. That’s what I wanted to know.
I go back to the shelf to put one box back so I can get more of the other…
It was then that I realized I had two identical boxes in my hands.
So much for that.
I stood there for a moment, contemplating whether or not to bother Jay for something so stupid of me and decide that even if I called he’d be at the range because it’s a beautiful day.
*sigh*
I wavered about just getting one of each kind, but in the end I picked up all of the same.
I walked to the counter to pay…No Mr. McSporty to be found. I went past all the aisles and still found no one. I headed back to the counter and out of nowhere there were tons of people looking for the same guy. Someone dragged a little grandma lady (in her special worker vest) out of the sewing section and she got on the intercom and pleaded for someone to assist all the customers in the area where they seemed to be multiplying like Tribbles.
I knew the front check outs were crowded, but even so it seemed that they would be my best bet for a quicker exit. On my way to the front, I passed an empty check out in the electronics area. I asked the special vest girl if I could check out my sporting good items there because there was no worker to be found in that area.
This is how that went down:
Me: Hi. Can I pay for this stuff here? There’s nobody in the hunting section.
Her: Sure.
Me: Great. Thanks. (plops boxes on counter).
Her: (picks up box) Uh…I thought you said there was no one back there.
Me: That’s right. That’s why they just announced over your system that people need help. No one back there.
Her: (points at box) Then how did you get these from the case?
Me: These are from the shelves in the aisles. The other ammo is locked in your case. These are always sitting on a regular shelf.
Her: Uh…(consults with like-vested associate) Uh…(confers with camera-buying customer)…OK, I guess (rings up sale).
Finally, I leave and watch for impending po-po. They never materialized, but it wouldn’t have surprised me.
Part Two
(click pics for embiggination)
JL brought home this piece of cardboard for me so I could see what the shots were doing to maybe give me an idea about the Length of Pull.
I drew a circle on it, but decided at 40 ft, I probably wouldn’t be able to see it. I got out some bright target stickers and went overboard.
I showed up at the Conservation Club and for the first time, there were other people there shooting. A few guys, a few kids, and for sure one woman. Maybe two women. I’m a little unclear about that. They had all their stuff laying on top of one of the auto-trap boxes and it looked like a bad Dateline special. That was cool. Since there’s only one berm with a target stand, and they were using it, I went down to ask them if they minded me using it for just a few shots and then I’d go over to the shorter trap area and have JL toss clays for me.
They were really nice and the biggest guy actually took the cardboard out of my hand, walked down there and clipped it up for me.
I had four shells in my pocket that were given to me in a mix when I bought the gun.
The first one peppered the circle I made. The next three made holes, left, then under, and last to the right of the circle.
I don’t know what was in each load. I’m hoping someone reading this can tell me. I think that first load was what I need for clays, but I don’t know.
Then I moved back up the hill and shot at the clays JL was tossing. I missed every one except the 4th one. It just got worse from there. I got more and more upset with myself over every trigger pull and finally just packed up my toys in the van and threw an ever-loving hissy fit on the way home. I acted like a brat and I’m sorry to JL for it.
So there it is. That was how I wasted a perfectly good Saturday.
4 comments:
Looks to be : birdshot ,slug x 3 . The modified choke doesn't appear to like slugs,nix them from your "gotta buy" list .
The pattern with the shot load appears dense and well centered but a bit high . Drop the bead lower .In other terms pretend a "6 o'clock hold".Yes the stock lop appears to need adjustment to fit you - consult someone in the know on which way to go (I'm not so familiar with that).After the stock adjustment,your sight picture will need to adjust also.
The choke is fairly tight at the test range(40' ?) try another pattern board at 60' and 75'.What distances are typical in Clays? Select your shot size tailored to the distances used. The choke may be able to be "honed" a bit more open also Imp.Mod(?) .
No worries on the hissy fit ,clay birds have been known to make good shooters cry. So , I guess you did pretty well. Consider it a challenge to improve. Form ,lead and follow through. You'll get better ,I am positive.
Nah, no slugs, I'd say. 'Sides, Annie's way to smart to fall for that one. I reckon those holes are from the wad poking through the cardboard (cardboard slug holes tend to be pretty round in my experience). If they do turn out to be slugs (I bet your gun, shoulder and ears would have complained if they were) be sure to carefully inspect the choke/crown of the barrel as well as the length of it for any stresses or damage from squeezing the slug through the narrower choke. There's enough pellet holes to be from several shots and I reckon you're a good enough shot to keep them all tight like that. For just busting clays, dang near anything will work, I usually just whatever's cheap by the case like multipurpose loads (WW has Winchester, Remmington and Federal field/clay loads which is usually about a #7 1/2 or #8 shot) but occasionally use my #6 usually reserved for limb-chickens.
Until you get good and start entering trap shoots and whatnot don't worry too much about what kind of load you use. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 dram equivalent 1 1/8 oz shot of any of the sizes above will be sufficient so long as you can handle the recoil, which won't vary all that much for these types of loads (presumably 2 3/4"?).
As lancelotlink said, don't worry about not hitting them. Pay careful attention to how you fire each shot. Shotgunning can be kind of picky about head position in relation to the beads, so once you get used to lining up the beads (or disregarding the beads and just sighting down the barrel), you'll find the sweet spot for where it shoots and you'll be golden for the rest of your shots. Or, if you're me, at least you'll be golden until the next outing where you'll have to relearn the sweet spot :-D
Here's a [bad] picture of a slug vs shot shell for clarification. The slug is on the left and you can see the exposed lead tip of the slug as opposed to the tip of the shot shell which is crimped to keep the shot inside.
Sorry about the bad picture, the camera kept wanting to focus on the keyboard rather than the shells, so I had to use my phone, which takes bad pictures.
Thanks Don!!
Clearly, I've never shot slugs if your pic is an indication that ALL shot is crimped and ALL slugs are visible! Nice!
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