You lot probably know how anti the gun laws in the States I am, but in a quirky bit of fate, I actually went out this weekend and did some shooting.
I know, I know, it goes against all my principals, but it was a birthday present alright?
Nearly three years ago, Pen (my better half) bought me the ultimate shooting experience. Now what you have to know is that here in the little UK, we don't have the plethora of ranges that you Yankee doodle dandies have and I have always felt that's a good thing, but Saturday morning we turned up at this place that also had a carting track.
I had felt a bit miffed because me and motor racing are long standing friends and I wondered why Pen hadn't bought me that instead, but no, it was shooting.
So if you've been paying attention, this gift had been laying around for best part of three years and I thought that we'd end up writing it off and okay, it was a wasted present, but hey ho. Partially, the reason why we hadn't used them was when we first bought them, they didn't do weekend shoots and so we couldn't go, but now they do--as you've guessed.
Armed with a twelve gauge and an instructor, we headed off for this range with several of those traps that shoot out those little clay ash trays we're supposed to think of as pigeons. You lot call it skeet shooting, but well, you know us quaint English peeps--have to be different.
Now I have earned marxman's badges in my youth with rifles, but I have never shot a shotgun. I had heard lots of tales of the recoils on these things (an up and over Webley) being a real bitch, but to my surprise, it's not so.
Did it knock me over?
On the contrary, I was able to keep perfect control over said weapon and even hit as many as I missed. Yeah I know, I'm blowing my trumpet for being reasonably good at something. It didn't matter whether the clay was coming from the left or the right, going away from me or coming towards, I managed to hit about fifty percent of the little buggers with Pen faring pretty well too and we had a thoroughly good time--until bathtime...
I found I had a massive amount of bruising on my shoulder and although at the time the gun didn't feel particularly heavy, it obviously was and both of us ache down our left sides like you wouldn't believe.
So I'm still in favour of restricted access to weapons, but had a really excellent time.
It's a shame we can't do it more often, but it's more expensive now than when we bought the tickets and cost prohibitive for us in this lousy economic climate--oh and, we'd have to get fitter so we didn't end up aching for three days afterwards. More expense.
So there you go. Our first clay pigeon (skeet) shoot.
NB
Comments
Shotguns & Bruising
Generally, bruising of the shoulder after shooting a shotgun indicates you didn't have the gun up tight against your shoulder at first. That is pretty common for newbies, BTW.
Was it a 12 ga. shotgun, do you know? I'm not sure what you mean by "an up and over Webley", maybe that's what we call an over/under - two barrels in a vertical configuration. Others consider me a bit of a wuss, but I prefer a somewhat lighter-weight gun myself. Less kick, less weight to hold up. But on the downside, less (smaller) shot pattern.
I fired a Street Sweeper one time, That WILL kick you hard!
KJT
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
We used to sell ...
... shotguns, air rifles and their associated paraphernalia in the family business, although it was a small part of our rather eclectic stock-in-trade. I used to shoot air rifles a lot and often my targets were the wild birds that had the poor judgement to settle on our guttering and chimney pots and I was quite good at it. I also got my marksman's badge in the school's CCF on 25 yard 0.22" indoor ranges. My father was disabled and small-bore rifle target competition was one of the few sports at which he could compete equally with able-bodied people so I guess that accounts for my interest. For what it's worth, 0.22 target shooting is about as un-macho as you can get as a sport - it's so technical, repetitive and tedious :)
What stopped me was when I found I'd wounded a sparrow and it lay fluttering on the ground before I despatched it. That started my dislike of killing for pleasure and possibly was the foundation of my vegetarian eating habits now over 50 years later. I simply grew out of it once I appreciated what it actually meant. I'm generally anti-gun now and certainly anti-killing for amusement although I think I've still got a 100 year-old air rifle tucked away somewhere :)
I also did a bit of clay pigeon shooting on my uncle's farm (my cousin was a very good shot). IIRC there are two types of 'bird'. 'Down the line' is when the clays are fired generally away from the shooter and 'skeet' is when the clays are fired generally across the shooter. Naturally, 'skeet' is rather more difficult. I can certainly see the attraction as it requires a lot of skill but, as Nick suggests, it's not a cheap pastime.
Geoff
Expense of shooting
It's a lot cheaper if you load your own shells and do it in your back yard. Even cheaper than loading your own shotgun and rifle ammo is the venerable .22. A box of 600 rounds costs around $16.00 at the local Wal-Mart.
Safety tip: Rifles, even little plinkers like .22 rifles, have a long range. Don't shoot up, and make sure you have something behind your target. Depending on where we shoot, we have either a hill or five acres of red pines.
Ray Drouillard
shoot'in skeets is fun!
A few friends and I go out in the woods and shoot those little clay ashtrays a few times a year. (I live deep in the boondocks) We use a plastic flinger to hand throw the skeet. Things usually start out sanely, using, #4 bird shot and a full choke 12 gauge shot gun and progress to shooting what we brung. I actually got pretty good with my 21", pistol grip, pump action, 12 gauge home defense gun, shooting one handed. You can shoot one handed with #4 bird shot, I've shot it with 00 buck shot and both hands it really kicked then! A friend has a revolver that shoots 4-10 shot shells or .44 magnum, it has a long cylinder to accommodate the shot shells, it works really well for dispatching skeets also.
Like any sport, you develop muscles for the shooting sports if you keep it up. After a while you won't ache anymore.
Mr. Ram
Please Don't Shoot Your Principals
They may be nice people, but you could be forgiven for bending your principles a little.
Glad you had fun,
Joanne