timb99
-
Posts
1363 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by timb99
-
-
Novaking,
Good point.
There are a number of states that require a plug when hunting upland game.
-
The plug is there because any time you hunt waterfowl or other migratory birds, Federal law dictates you must have your magazine plugged so the gun cannot accept more than 3 shells.
Not sure exactly how to remove the plug from a Benelli, but as far as I know, all guns with a tube magazine have a way to remove the plug.
Also, MAKE SURE your range allows you to load more than one shell at a time. Most don't.
-
Great weekend in Western Kansas with 7 friends.
Hunted last Thursday afternoon, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and half day Sunday morning near Ness City, Kansas.
ALMOST got a double bag limit of pheasant and bobwhite quail on Friday. Got 4 rooster pheasants and 6 quail. The limits in Kansas are 4 an 8, respectively.
Between the 8 of us, we bagged 41 roosters and 10 or 15 quail (we backed off the quail to make sure we left plenty for the landowner's son to hunt them.)
I gotta tell you, the sound of a rooster pheasant cackling, or a pheasant flush, or a bobwhite flush gives me SUCH a rush!
-
tucker
As long as there are politicians, there will be politicians who believe free citizens with guns are a threat to their power.
As long as there are violent criminals, there will be well meaning, but misled people, who believe free citizens with guns are a threat to their lives.
In both cases, I believe organizations like the NRA, GOA, and others must exist to combat these, and other threats to the 2nd Amendment and our freedom.
I will not debate whether their existence would no longer be needed if the fight was won, but remember, they began not as a political lobbying group, but to promote civil marksmanship.
I will also not debate that they are a de facto lobbying group for the firearms industry, but even if they are, most other industries have lobbyists, so why not firearms too?
Tim
-
Greenhorn,
Most (but not all) choke tubes are referred to as to how they pattern with lead shot, not steel shot.
The most common chokes are, from tightest to most open:
Full
Improved Modified
Modified
Improved Cylinder
Skeet
Cylinder
Some people suggest that you should not use steel shot through a full or improved modified choke tube. Others say its OK. I don't hunt with steel that often, and I don't need that tight a pattern, so I don't worry about it.
A lead modified choke will throw a full pattern when used with steel.
A lead improved cylinder choke will throw a modified pattern when used with steel.
A lead skeet choke will throw an improved cylinder pattern when used with steel.
Most people, when you are talking about choke tubes, generally don't confuse the issue with steel. They just ask for a modified tube, and understand that when they shoot steel through it, it throws a full pattern.
Hope this makes sense.
I'd go to your dealer and ask for a skeet tube and an improved cylinder tube (your gun should have come with an IC choke already), and just make sure they're OK for use with steel shot. Most tubes on the market are suitable for both lead and steel. The factory Stoeger choke tubes are OK for steel.
Or, you could just use the IC choke in the bottom and modified choke in the top that already came with your gun, and be done with it.
-
Can I start to shoot steel?
Yes
Will I damage the gun?
No
if I understand correctly this barrel (bottom) fires first
Correct
Steel shot patterns tighter than lead shot. That is, a choke tube that says "modified" on it, will throw something more like a full pattern when used with steel shot.
Note, what I am talking about is what the choke tubes pattern with lead. Often times, choke tubes will say, for example, "Modified - Lead/Full - Steel" That means, if you're using lead shot, this choke tube will throw a nominal modified pattern, but if you're using steel, it'll be more like a full choke.
Make sure you buy choke tubes that are suitable for use with steel shot.
If I were hunting pen-raised birds on a pheasant farm and had to use steel shot, I'd, frankly, use a skeet choke (which will generally throw an improved cylinder pattern when used with steel) in the bottom barrel and an improved cylinder choke (which will generally throw a modified pattern when used with steel) in the top barrel.
Just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
Hope you have a great time.
A pheasant flush is an exciting thing. Takes your breath away. I've been hunting since I was 11 years old, and still get goosebumps when I hear a rooster pheasant cackle and absolutely love the adrenaline rush when a dog goes on point and a rooster flushes.
I just spent 3 awesome days hunting wild birds in Western Kansas with a group of friends. There's nothing better, I think. ALMOST got a limit of both pheasants AND bobwhite quail on Saturday. Got 4 rooster pheasants and 6 bobwhite (limit in Kansas is 4 and 8 respectively.)
Be safe!! and remember all those things you learned in Hunter Education class.
It s more important that everyone comes home safely, than it is to get a lot of birds.
-
By "club pheasants" I assume you mean pen-raised birds?
If so, hunting over dogs, an IC choke will be plenty.
Can't help on the other questions.
Hope you have fun. Next week at this time I'll be hunting wild pheasants in Western Kansas.
-
JB,
For true "trap", 16 yards is how far back you stand from the machine.
By the time you call for the bird, see it, get on it, get a lead, and pull the trigger, the bird is 30 to 35 yards away from you. Closer if you're a quick shooter, a little more if you are a slow shooter.
That's why I recommend patterning (to establish pattern efficiency) at about 35 yards.
I shoot a lot of trap. Great fun.
Good luck.
Tim
-
By the way, you DO NOT have to load a BPS or an Ithaca 37 by loading a shell in the magazine first, then cycling the action.
Just turn the gun over so the bottom of the receiver is "up", (while consciously remembering to keep the gun pointed in a safe direction) then move the slide forward just enough that the two ejector fingers retract into the top of the receiver.
Then place a shell into the chamber and close the slide. Take your fingers out first...
If you get good at this, you don't even have to roll the gun over on its back to do it.
Tim
-
Try the Browning website, or their customer service.
Never been inside a BPS...BUT...if they're anything much like their cousin the Ithaca Model 37, its not that bad at all.
-
Using a farm crop to fuel transportation is absurd.
-
Beware the man who has only one gun; he probably shoots it well.
Nothing wrong with using the SBE for trap or sporting clays. Its just not made for that purpose. Its a light weight hunting gun made to be carried in the field.
Does that mean you cannot enjoy shooting clays or become successful shooting clays with it? Of course not. I personally know two excellent sporting clays shooters who shoot Benelli Super Sport shotguns.
A couple of questions.
Why do you want to pattern your gun at 16-20 yards? That seems an odd distance. Most folks pattern at 13 yards to establish POI vs. POA, then at 35 yards or so to determine pattern efficiency. And you can't just eyeball it. You actually have to draw circles and count pellets. (go to trapshooters.com and search for posts by Neil Winston on the subject)
Why the HiViz sight? In my humble opinion, a bright, very visible sight distracts me from what is important, and in clay target shooting, what is important is both eyes on the target, and head firmly on the stock.
On the other hand, I do know a number of excellent shooters who like the bright sights, so as with all things, your mileage may vary.
Go enjoy yourself. That's what its about.
-
The best thing to do is to know your local laws, and take the intruder out in a manner that is "acceptable" according to the jurisdiction you live in.
Easily said. Not so easily done, I fear.
I'm going to have one **** of a time terminating someone's life, unless I truly believe it's "me (or wife or daughter) or him."
This is why, quite frankly, I hope I'm never placed in this situation.
I will not, repeat, will not, terminate someone's life on the fear that they might come back when I'm not home and steal my guns.
If they turn tail and run, they live. I'm not shooting them in the back.
We can all talk as tough as we want on a forum such as this, but when it comes down to the real deal, pulling the trigger or not pulling the trigger in a high stress life-or-death situation, none of us know how we're really going to react unless we've been there before, such as in the military. And I haven't.
And I'll bet a lot of you haven't either.
The best we can do, is know what the laws are, and practice shooting your gun at the range, and be prepared.
And hope you never have to kill someone.
-
1. I hope it never happens to me.
2. I have read a book published by a local lawyer regarding weapons and self-defense laws and castle doctrine. I did this to make myself more knowledgeable about what I can and cannot legally do when I am carrying concealed, and what I can do in my own home. The CCW class covers the basics, but that's about it.
3. What splashtx says above is pretty accurate, and worth rereading again before you reject it out-of-hand.
Your life will be far, far less complicated if you get the guy to run away, than if you are forced to take deadly means.
Yeah, we've all heard "better to be tried by 12 than carried away by 6."
The "tried by 12" option screws up many a life, but is not as bad as dying, I'll agree.
But the truth is, its far, far better for you if it never happens, or it it does and you scare them away.
-
Noob,
"I dont think any of us "earned" the right to bear arms, we were GIVEN that right. "
You need to go back and re-read the definition of "RIGHT."
A right is not something that is given to you, nor is it a privilege.
It is something you have, simply because you exist, that cannot and should not be taken from you except in extreme cases.
All the Bill of Rights say is that you have these rights, by birth, and the government can't infringe upon them and take them away, as long as you are a law-abiding citizen.
Too many people thing RIGHTS are things the government grants them. That's just plain wrong. Its just the opposite.
-
"Dude relax, he didnt mean anything like that."
Yeah, I know he didn't, and you know he didn't, but they (anti-gunners) love that kind of little sound bite, especially if it comes from someone on "our" side of the battle. They'll take it out of context and use it against us.
I know, I'm probably being overly sensitive to this kind of thing, but it happens.
-
I have a friend with an SP10. Actually, it might be an Ithaca, but in reality, its the same gun.
It is very heavy, and the recoil is no worse than a 12 gauge.
He uses it for geese and turkeys.
Overkill is a vague term, and one often used by liberal gun-banners to get the otherwise uneducated people to believe that any gun is too much gun. e.g. "Assault weapons are overkill; nobody needs them."
Careful using that term when talking about guns. Gun banners love to use our own words against us. Case in point - The Brady Campaign has prominently used Jim Zumbo's words in their yearly manifesto denouncing guns.
-
The only part I object to is this:
"Gun ownership is not just a privilege, it is a responsibility. "
It is a RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE! There are those in our society who want to make it a privilege, however.
I try really hard not to be a one-issue voter, but I do use gun control as a litmus test. A bright woman once said:
"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
-
Did you do just one pattern with each?
That's not enough to make any definitve conclusions.
If you really want to learn anythign, do about 10 patterns. Then see what you have.
-
I won't debate further whether copper plated lead shot or copper coated lead shot is more effective than plain, uncoated lead.
What I will say is this - I'm willing to bet money that your success as a bird hunter has much more to do with your ability as a wingshooter than what kind of shells you use.
"To each their own and good hunting--"
Agree with that 100%
-
"Copper is the way to go in my book."
I'm not convinced of that. To a large degree, I believe copper plated shot is a marketing ploy.
Here's why: The idea of copper plating is to have a harder surface on the pellets so they don't get as deformed in the gun barrel, and round pellets are "supposed" to give you better patterns than deformed pellets (but then again, hevi-shot patterns great, and its far from round and uniform...)
(And contrary to popular wisdom, testing shows most of the deformation happens between the time the primer pops and when the crimp on the shell opens, not as the pellets are passing through the choke.)
Many companies who advertize copper plated pellets are really only giving you "copper washed" chilled lead shot, which is almost exactly the same hardness as chilled soft lead shot.
If the brand you're buying is really giving you copper PLATED pellets, you might be getting better patterns. If its really just copper washed, you're probably not getting any better patterns than plain old chilled lead shot.
Unfortunately, I don't know who is, and who isn't offering truly plated shot. So I don't worry about it.
In my experience, if you use number 4 shot or 5 shot, and you don't take ridiculously long shots, and you hit the pheasants in the lips, it really doesn't matter that much.
My dad hunted with a 16 gauge Ithaca 37 with a full choke, in the days when pellets were pretty darned soft and wads were made out of cardboard. He seldom missed. Back then, shotshell technology was nothing compared to what we have now. Even the cheapie shells of today perform better than the premium shells of that day and age.
Guys, its the indian, not the arrow.
Your mileage may vary.
Tim
-
Rabbit,
Keep doing those gun raises. It will help. Also, keep that elbow high.
For shotgun shooting, a "high elbow" or arm (right arm if you're right-handed) parallel to the ground is a very good way to consistently get your gun stock into that little pocket your deltoid muscle makes with your clavicle bone.
A consistent mount is a good thing.
When we teach classes, we remind the students to make that "chicken wing."
You're on the right track.
May I recommend you seek out a registered NSCA wingshooting instructor in your area and take some classes? That will really help.
Its funny, guys will not hesitate a moment to take golf classes to improve their golf swing, but somehow we (myself included) have it in our minds that we should naturally know how to shoot a gun.
Luckily a few years back I admitted to myself that learning from someone who knows how to teach can help, even though I was a pretty good shooter already.
Best of luck.
Tim
-
Rabbit,
You're on the right track with those first three things. Those are some very basic shotgun shooting skills that are the foundation of being a good shot. Head on the stock, eyes on the rock.
You asked, "Should I find a better way to mount my shotgun to my shoulder so that the two beads align more consistently or should I compensate by shooting slightly to the left of my targets at all times ?"
Neither
You should consider doing one of the following:
1. Get a different gun that fits you better.
2. Get your stock on this gun cut with an adjustable comb so you can adjust the comb to make your gun fit better. Caution, this is not cheap, and it should not be wasted on a cheap gun. I recommend Greg Hissem in Wichita KS. http://www.greghissemstockworks.com or Joe Bowles in Michigan http://www.tronspace.com There are others.
3. Get your stock "bent" so it fits you better. This involves heating the stock with steam and literally bending it so it takes a permanent set. Have someone who knows what they're doing attempt this. It doesn't always work.
4. Get a cheek-eez pad and put it on your comb so it fits you better.
The problem with trying to "force-mount" the gun so that the two beads align more consistently is this; you mount it before you call for the target and its all ligned up perfectly, but as you're moving to the target, you won't necessarily be able to hold it in that position by force.
And you should NEVER try to conscioulsy compensate for a gun that doesn't shoot where its supposed to.
Gun fit is an often overlooked part of target shooting, but I believe one of the most important parts. Your gun MUST shoot where you think its going to shoot (where you are looking) in order for you to be effective.
Tim
-
Not sure what you mean by "ribbing." Can you describe it?
A typical shotgun barrel chamber diameter is close to the same as the outside diameter of a shell. Then, at the end of the chamber there is a tapered "forcing cone." This is where the barrel tapers from the chamber diameter to the bore diameter.
A typical 12 gauge bore diameter is approximately 0.729 (though that varies slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, and may be bigger if your barrel is "back bored.")
The bore stays relatively constant from the end of the forcing cone until you get to the choke.
Then the barrel diameter tapers down to the choke diameter at the muzzle end.
The barrel should be pretty smooth. from end to end. That is, no ribbing.
Great Weekend in Western Kansas
in Upland Game
Posted · Edited by timb99
My buddy's camera was set on Black & White. With pheasants, that's kinda like watching a Technicolor movie starring Maureen O'Hara on a Black & White TV.
Me in the middle.