More heresy, buzz: I believe choke and skill influences "hard-hitting." I don't put much stock in back-boring or forcing cones. My early years were with men who hunted for food, all poachers who made a little extra at $2 a pair. Poachers because they hunted before and after seasons were closed but went to extraordinary lengths to get a crippled bird, rowing for an hour to end it, stripping off to retrieve from ice-rimmed ponds and lakes. They made good blinds because "a black can see through a sheet of plywood" and waited until heads came together to sluice on the water, then cooly shoot those in the air, a third shell between their fingers on fore-ends. I regret now that as a boy I had no interest in what chokes those great Eastern Shore double-gunners were using. I suspect the notion of "hard-hitting" came from observing close concentrations burying birds on the water and shot-out barrels performing at optimal distances in the air. Decoys were always within 15-20 yards. My great uncle used a Sealer's Special Tobin, my neighbours Belgian clunkers, Stevens and the odd Parker. One thing etched on my memories was the way they rose so smoothly to shoot, raising guns to their lines of sight, conditioned by the serious consequences of missing when shells were bought five or at most 10 at a time at the country store.
Last edited by King Brown; 01/07/12 01:22 PM.
