This was very informal. It was in a pasture and the clay targets were hand-thrown by my nephew, like a frisbee. It was harder than I thought to hit the targets. It's good training, since the targets were thrown at all kinds of angles.
It was really to check out some recent shotgun aquisitions for functioning. Here's what happened with the following:
Rem. 870 Wingmaster made in the 70s. 12ga., I/C fixed choke, vent-rib barrel. (This is one of my favorite shotgun actions.) Hit okay with it. I didn't start really hitting until later, when using the Benellis. This had to do with form, rather than gun type, though.
Benelli NOVA 12ga., 26" bbl. (don't know which choke was in bbl). This belonged to someone else. Was able to hit fine with this one. I think it was mainly because I started following the target... The gun shot great and was a pleasant surprise. That big ejection port was easy to throw shells into, one at a time.
Benelli NOVA H20, 12ga, 18" bbl, extended mag tube, recoil reducer. Cylinder bore, I think. Hit great with this one. Shot very naturally for me.
Verona LX505-12 O/U. 12ga., 28" bbls, I/C and I/M chokes. Hardly hit ANYTHING with it. Frustrating. Don't know why it was so hard to hit with this gun. Will definitely have to investigate. (Interesting note - I've never shot an O/U, before. It felt kind of funny to fire two rounds without manipulating a pump or having a semi-auto action cycling.)
Winchester Super X1, 12ga. Modified fixed choke, vent rib barrel. This gun is in near-mint condition, but was bought used. The gun would only fire one round and the trigger wouldn't reset, for some reason. It would chamber the next round, just wouldn't drop the hammer. ? Only fired it a few times - don't think I hit anything. Was concentrating too much on the action not working properly. Will be tearing this one down to check it out. Beautiful gun, though.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. We went through the 135-count box of clay targets in no time. I didn't realize they would go that fast. Also went through more than 150 shells. Taught my 13 year-old nephew how to load and shoot a shotgun. He hit the thrown clays at about 60% of the time! I couldn't believe it. Of course, he really like the Nova H20. He thought it looked like something the Terminator would use.
I had bought an MTM hand thrower, but the clay disks were too large to fit. I'm planning to join a gun club that has skeet, trap and SC ranges. I'm looking forward to getting more involved in the sport.
Steve
It was really to check out some recent shotgun aquisitions for functioning. Here's what happened with the following:
Rem. 870 Wingmaster made in the 70s. 12ga., I/C fixed choke, vent-rib barrel. (This is one of my favorite shotgun actions.) Hit okay with it. I didn't start really hitting until later, when using the Benellis. This had to do with form, rather than gun type, though.
Benelli NOVA 12ga., 26" bbl. (don't know which choke was in bbl). This belonged to someone else. Was able to hit fine with this one. I think it was mainly because I started following the target... The gun shot great and was a pleasant surprise. That big ejection port was easy to throw shells into, one at a time.
Benelli NOVA H20, 12ga, 18" bbl, extended mag tube, recoil reducer. Cylinder bore, I think. Hit great with this one. Shot very naturally for me.
Verona LX505-12 O/U. 12ga., 28" bbls, I/C and I/M chokes. Hardly hit ANYTHING with it. Frustrating. Don't know why it was so hard to hit with this gun. Will definitely have to investigate. (Interesting note - I've never shot an O/U, before. It felt kind of funny to fire two rounds without manipulating a pump or having a semi-auto action cycling.)
Winchester Super X1, 12ga. Modified fixed choke, vent rib barrel. This gun is in near-mint condition, but was bought used. The gun would only fire one round and the trigger wouldn't reset, for some reason. It would chamber the next round, just wouldn't drop the hammer. ? Only fired it a few times - don't think I hit anything. Was concentrating too much on the action not working properly. Will be tearing this one down to check it out. Beautiful gun, though.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. We went through the 135-count box of clay targets in no time. I didn't realize they would go that fast. Also went through more than 150 shells. Taught my 13 year-old nephew how to load and shoot a shotgun. He hit the thrown clays at about 60% of the time! I couldn't believe it. Of course, he really like the Nova H20. He thought it looked like something the Terminator would use.
I had bought an MTM hand thrower, but the clay disks were too large to fit. I'm planning to join a gun club that has skeet, trap and SC ranges. I'm looking forward to getting more involved in the sport.
Steve
