My oldest son was out visiting this weekend and wanted to shoot the Krieghoff his grandfather, my father, just gave him. A mint condition K-32 Crown grade trap gun. Seems my father shot it one time and decided Trap was not for him. It has been unused for almost 50 years. Stored under his bed or in the closet. Never even knew dad had a Krieghoff, much less a Crown grade. Think he bought it from Hal duPont back when Johnson was still president.
So I took my son out to my local trap and skeet club. I mostly shoot skeet there and know few on the "other" side of the wall. So we get put onto a squad and shoot a round. I thought my son shot well. Broke 19 birds and has not shot much trap in 20 years. Starting a family does that to your shooting. I shot 23 with a 11/87 trap gun, which is decent in my book for a mostly skeet shooter playing at trap. Doubt my son has shot much skeet either in the last ten years but he does know how to shoot fairly well and he shot a lot as a kid.
What pissed me off was a "regular" griping that he was distracted by seeing so many misses on the squad. I think he missed four bird. Made my son decide he did not want to shoot anymore. I asked the "regular" why he let misses by others distract him at all. Typical "high grade K-80" shooter complained he shot "serious" practice and was always working for that straight round. I've heard that before, mostly by fellows after missing birds. Its the scorers, the traps, the squad, the wind, the whatever. Pisses me off to blame others for what you do.
Asked him if he ever shot for money? Yes at all the big trap shoots was his response. How about practice I asked? Sometimes he said. Pity I said all I have left are .410 shells or I'd shoot him for money. .410 at trap, from the 16 yard line, is not impossible but it is fairly hard I said. I'd be willing to shoot against him and his 12 gauge gun if I could get a few birds spot. I suggested five, he decided three. How much I asked? You name it hotshot he said. Fifty bucks a bird I said. He froze for a second, then said 12 against .410 yeah I'll take your money.
First bird out of the house, on station one, I missed like you would not believe. Must have flown for ten seconds before it hit the ground. Heard a snicker from him. By the end of the first peg we were both down a bird but I was starting to hit them well and I was pissed. By the end of the round I had missed three and he had missed two. So with my three bird spot he was down five birds to my three or plus two for the money. Want to go again I said? Not with a spot he said. Even up then I replied. Ok. I shot 23 that round and he shot 22. He had two birds which the wind just played games with and one he just missed. His manners lesson cost him $150.00, which he paid in cash. Said he just knew that a 12 would clean up against a .410. It isn't the gun I said. Gave the money to my son on the way home to take his wife out to dinner.
Now two disclaimers. First I was shooting 3" .410 shells with hard 8's that I had loaded up for hunting, so I was shooting 11/16 ounce instead of 1/2 ounce out of my Winchester 42 with full choke. Most rounds at skeet with that gun are 23, 24 or 25. I love that gun almost as much as my 28 gauge model 12. Second, for almost four years the only thing I could shoot was .410 due to a extremely nasty flinch. It was so bad I looked like a drunk recruit taking bayonet practice in the air. Almost falling off the station about 1/4 of the time. I even shot left handed for six months trying to get rid of the flinch. 40,000-50,000 .410 shells cured the flinch in the end. Perhaps 10,000 of those shells were at trap, so shooting from the 16 yard line is no big deal. I suspect most could quickly hit 15-20 from there with a little practice. Manners lessons cost more.
