[Cast&Blast]

I've been itching to take my Model 12 out since I had the screw-in chokes installed, and some morning rain cleared out enough for me to do that this morning.

I had the skeet choke in today, and from what I can tell it's quite a bit more forgiving than the fixed modified choke the gun came with.

I started with skeet, which to this day I can't figure out how I was ever good at this ( as a teen I wasn't bad ), because it is not easy. I started very slowly, with a 12 (out of 25). Then improved a lot the second time around with 17, then at the end of the day I got a 15.

After my first two skeet rounds I went for some wobble trap, which is like trap in the sense that the left/right direction is random, but also the elevation is randomly selected also. It's by far the easiest game (because the birds come out pretty slow), but it's a lot of fun. You're in a stand with five different positions, and you shoot a single and two doubles from each position. Some of my favorites are when you're up high in the stand and the bird comes out low, close to the ground.

Anyway, I started with an all time high of 22 (out of 25)! Then I did a second round, and got about two thirds of the way through it and thought, 'hey, I've only missed ONE!'

Well what do you think happened next? That's right: missed both of the next double. Just like golf, start thinking about the score and no good can come of it.

So a 21 is what I ended up with. Pretty good I think!

One other note, it was drizzly out, I don't know if that had anything to do with it. But guys at both the skeet and wobble trap fields were having a ton of problems with their semi-autos jamming or not cycling or whatever. A LOT of problems. My trusty 16 gauge M12 just never, ever fails to do what it's supposed to, and probably will never fal. Love that gun.

 

[Johngoboom]

Sounds like you had a good day!

If I ever make it down that way again, were going to have to shoot some trap Eddie.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Man you're putting in the time aren't you? You'll be a pro before long at this rate.

 

[Cast&Blast]

Man you're putting in the time aren't you? You'll be a pro before long at this rate.

Well, I know it seems like it because I talk about every single time I go shooting.

But I went hunting in March and then sent the M12 away for the chokes and hadn't shot shotguns at all between then and now. And, with the weather warming, I'll probably shift a bit from shooting to fishing so I better get some time in now!

 

[deputy125]

sounds like a blast!!!!----pun intended

i have had a long love affair with the 16 ga and its my primary bird caliber.

if you want an eye opener, get by the stores and pick up one of them cardboard shippin' boxes refridgerators or washers/dryers came in and do some pattern tests with the various chokes.

 

[Cast&Blast]

sounds like a blast!!!!----pun intended

i have had a long love affair with the 16 ga and its my primary bird caliber.

if you want an eye opener, get by the stores and pick up one of them cardboard shippin' boxes refridgerators or washers/dryers came in and do some pattern tests with the various chokes.

Wow, crazy that you mentioned that. On Tuesday I'll be shooting a few hand thrown clays at my friend's farm, one of the few opportunities I would ever have to shoot a shotgun on private property where I could do something like that.

What distance do you think I should shoot from?

 

[deputy125]

i'd pattern at the distances you are gonna use the intended choke for---say 20 yds for the skeet and what ever distance you use for the wobble trap.........

i tend to favor improved cylinder for a lot of my dove huntin' and go with a tighter choke to get out there only if i have to...............

it would be good to try the modified and full chokes at say 40 yds to see what they will do..........

 

[Cast&Blast]

I don't have the full set, the package I got came with three and I selected skeet, light modified and improved modified. But I can get more.

I wasn't sure of the distances involved in skeet. But wobble trap is definitely closer than skeet. Then regular trap is farther than skeet. But I don't know the distances.

 

[sheepdog]

Now down here the skeets don't get that big...we slap them....seems like a shotgun's overkill.....

 

[Bountyhunter]

:lol: :lol:

 

[Snuffy]

You have just wreck a good shotgun, its your gun and you can do with it as you please.

 

[Bountyhunter]

You have just wreck a good shotgun, its your gun and you can do with it as you please.

No he wrecked it in May. :lol:

 

[Snuffy]

Well its junk now, no more collectors value in that gun. I have a model 12 also that someone before me put a poly choke on. So now its a sawed off travel shot gun in 16 ga. Had they not put a ploy choke on it it would have sold for whole lot more money.

 

[sheepdog]

I hated Polychokes...I hate screw-ins...I like a pump in one choke...modified or full is fine...when I cut 'em to 20 they're open anyways....big bead and done for what I want...I know the sport demands the fancy stuff...but I tried to fry a skeet one time and it sure turned out tough!!! These gentlemen shooters with their padded shoulders, they won't even let me caddy for them!!!!!!!

 

[Snuffy]

Well maybe if ya stopped hikin your back leg on them sheepdog they would have more to do with ya pal.

 

[sheepdog]

:twisted:

 

[Cast&Blast]

Well its junk now, no more collectors value in that gun. I have a model 12 also that someone before me put a poly choke on. So now its a sawed off travel shot gun in 16 ga. Had they not put a ploy choke on it it would have sold for whole lot more money.

I hadn't checked back to this topic in a while, didn't realize I was being slandered!

It's only 'junk' now if the only reason you own guns is to invest in and collect them. I've made it clear that is not my interest in guns. If it was, I'd have one of those John Wayne commemorative Model 94s!

I don't have kids to leave it to. I don't have any interest in selling it. I want to enjoy it, plain and simple. So what has more value? A $900 gun that sits in my cabinet until I die and then goes to a friend? Or a $300 gun I use often and enjoy until I die and then goes to a friend? Should I reduce my enjoyment and use of the gun so my friend can get more money for it after I'm gone? Who cares?

Yes there are only so many million Model 12s out there. Everyone I talk to, it seems, has at least one. But mine is the ONLY one that I ever see. It's the ONLY one at the shooting range. All the guys who come up to me and say they have one or four or eight Model 12s at home, are shooting semi-autos and over/unders. So from a collector's standpoint, maybe their guns are nicer and more valuable. But which guns are doing more to further - or at very least maintain - the legacy of the Model 12? The ones in the safes? Or the ones at the range starting conversations and triggering memories?

 

[sheepdog]

Don't let it get you down...if it were mine, I'd have it nickel-plated and the barrel bobbed to 20"....I am ALL about use and utility....now let 'em throw pies at me.....blueberry and peach would be preferred...no rhubarb, please....

 

[Johngoboom]

 

[sheepdog]

That don't look like four and twenty blackbirds(Oh, forgive me, John Wiley Price, I meant not white at all) to me......