My son Logan has always been sort of a natural with firearms. The first time he shot a .22, he nailed more targets than he missed. Granted, they weren’t especially small targets. They were knock-down metal targets that were about three-inch circles. But I don’t think I shot that well the first time out of the gate.
And he only got better the more we shot. It wasn’t beginner’s luck. He got into a junior air rifle league last fall, and he has progressed rapidly. He still has a lot to learn, but he’s already pretty dang good.
When he was given that shotgun last week, I wondered if his ability with a rifle would carry over to shotguns, too. The verdict is … maybe.
Logan started out slow. His first five shots were all misses, but that’s to be expected with the first few shots with a new gun, especially one that has a barrel with a fixed full choke.
That shotgun’s an old 16-gauge Winchester Model 12, and it hasn’t been desecrated with a PolyChoke. It’s the real deal. But without the ability to open up that choke, if Logan wants to be able to shoot well with it, he’s going to have to be more accurate with it than he would if it had a more open pattern.
On the next five shots, he clipped a few of the clays. The next five shots resulted in a few more broken birds, as well as a few more centered shots. The next time we shot, he did even better. He’s still missing more than he’s hitting, but he’s getting close to 50 percent. That’s not bad for only having shot at moving targets a few times in his life.
And that full choke should help him in the long run. If he gets good with that, he should be able to hit with anything. He’ll be outshooting me soon, and he’ll never let me hear the end of it.
