Jimmy, I always wished the ATA had a separate 28 gauge event for 16 yard birds. Most shooters could shoot a 28 at 16 yards, perhaps not run hundreds but shoot scores in the low 90’s. No recoil, less shot and think of the Lewis possibilities. Plus such an increase in small bore shell sales volume would bring the cost of shooting the 28 down to the same as a 20. When I was a kid the 28 and .410 did not have such a premium price attached to them.
I understand your point that nobody takes such a handicap as shooting a .410 in a 12 event. I don’t shoot registered. And when all you are doing is challenging yourself it does not matter. Most outings I don’t even bother keeping score unless others want to. If I find an interesting bird I’ll spend extra shells on it instead of killing those too easy, gimme birds clubs use to pad average scores so shooters ride away with a positive experience. Kind of like shooting only straight aways at trap or low sevens at Skeet. A straight, incomer, which land near your feet in Sporting Clays is a wasted target to me. When you can hit ten out of ten you gain nothing beyond a good feeling. Have that same bird land 20 yards away, in semi open trees and you learn how to pick small windows to break them before they get out of sight or start falling like a teal. Read the targets flight, pick your window to shoot in and adjust it until you get it right. But some only want to shoot high scores at gimme birds. If you want to hear bitching change the trap machine setups so you get wider angle birds. Guys like what they can do well.
