I wasn't really trying to piss on anybody's purchase, and I'll more than likely be in the club with the "OOOOHS" and" AHHHS" when we finally get to see the guns. But, to avoid a whole lot of typing about what works best for us as individuals, I likely should have posted, "Tough FOR ME to shoot guns that light".
I was really just thinking out loud. Maybe I shouldn't have posted anything.
But, over the years, I have picked up guns at shows, shouldered them, thought that it would be the next, greatest thing in my arsenal, parted with hard earned and heavily taxed cash for them, and got them home, only to discover I couldn't hit that well with them. That experience is heavily weighted toward nice, light guns. Now, before someone implies I can't hit well with anything (somedays that notion is correct also, but, not everyday) I do have guns I can pick up and get into a groove with right away. A few, it is as if I have never put them down. As I've gone along as a shooter, something I've discovered is the constraints of a 40 hour week and a family tend to bring into sharp focus that I want to use the guns that I find it easier to get out there and connect on what I'm shooting at, right away.
I suspect all of us have had a similar experience on a gun purchase. Everybody I know, that shoots, has had that experience, and I doubt my small group of shooting friend is all that different from anybody elses. Of late, I gravitate toward the guns I shoot very well. The easy guns to shoot.
Not the ones that are hard to shoot. Not the ones I need to practice daily, weekly or whatever to stay sharp with. Although, I confess, I love to handle and look at those light guns. I just don't buy them, anymore. I have a 6 lb 12 that I have given up shooting clay games with, because I struggle with it, at that. But, I shoot OK with it on wild birds. I have a 4 3/4 lb 12 gauge folding shotgun that seems to have some of the ingredients to allow for use as a trap gun, 30" barrel with 49 points of choke, but, I don't shoot it very well at anything. I killed a hare with it, one time. He was sitting still.
I did just enough coaching on my local clubs fields to note that people who were new to clay sports got more success when you started them with a heavier gun. I didn't take notes, but, one of a pair of Remington 1100s, that were rental guns at the club, got the nod almost always, for a rookie who wanted to learn to shoot. By the way, our league was sponsored by the insurance company I worked at, and we had lots of women who showed up wanting to try the sport. I think a big, old, gas gun is a great place for someone new to shooting to start.
That's it. Jay, a guy I refer to as "Chas" in honor of the memory of a great dog, got the gist of what I was running with. The pictures of my wife, a lady far above what I suppose I deserve in this life, were just having some fun and needling Pete when he implied I might not like "girls".
His word, by the way. I really meant no disrespect to the other gender.
I want to see the pictures too, Pete. Of the guns, anyway. And, I hope you shoot them as well as anything you have ever shot.
Best,
Ted
