NOVEMBER 2005 NEWSLETTER
© Phil Steinkraus, Editor
TRAVELERS DRY OUT AT FAIRFIELD
By Phil Steinkraus
Noah survived 40 days and nights of rain before the good Lord finally
delivered clear skies, but the week of monsoon rain we experienced in
early October felt like a test of faith, indeed. Sure the reservoirs
needed it but eight full days? God works in mysterious ways and the
water was finally turned off. That may be why the Sub-Gauge
Championship hosted by Fairfield Fish and Game in Newtown, CT on
October 16th was such a welcomed, dry occasion. It was the first
really good day we’d had since the whole torrential
rain/rivers-flooding-their-banks thing started. Sure there was a
powerful, variable wind and you had to watch your step for fear of
sinking up to your fanny in supersaturated terra-firma, but I think
all of us felt a little blessed to be back in the brassiered bosom of
our great outdoors.
I recently had the unpleasant duty of putting some disparaging remarks
to paper regarding Fairfield’s hosting of the Connecticut State
Championship back in September (fear not friends, they were mild
criticisms – Article to run in upcoming Clayshooting, USA) but I am
pleased to report everything ran perfectly for our Travelers Sub-Gauge
Championship. I’m sure the contrast in size between the two shoots had
a lot to do with this: Low turnouts minimize problems while big
turnouts amplify them.
One hundred seven travelers marched into those woods with peashooters
of every design, ranging from the .410 pump that eventually won it, to
side-by-sides and tube sets. Shooting sub-gauge on this course was
like ordering the specialty of the house at the best restaurant in
town. Sure, Fairfield has made big strides in improving their overall
sporting course, but this woodsy venue still serves up enough close,
fast, now-you-see-it,now-you-don’t presentations to make it ideal for
the little gauges. I would like to go on record by saying in my
considered opinion this Sub-Gauge Championship is as meaningful as any
of the events we host, including the FITASC Championship—including the
overall Club Championship. I say this because, first off, it takes
courage to try to shoot the little guns: How many of you shot one
abysmal round of skeet with the .410 years ago and never tried it
again? The Sub-Gauges are unforgiving as hell! I always say if you’re
cheating with your leads, getting a lot of front or back-end fringe
breaks, or you’ve got problems with your feet or swing, the sub-gauges
will punish you mercilessly. (I also say if you can shoot a straight
or a 24 with a low-gun .410 at skeet, your fundamentals are pretty
sound.)
Most of our sub-gauge fraternity knows enough to bring along the more
user-friendly 20 or 28 gauge guns. Sure you won’t enjoy the built-in,
whopping 20-target-handicap you get with the .410 but then again, five
targets for the 20 gauge and ten for the 28 aren’t bad either.
Besides, this sport is supposed to be about breaking targets - not
gritting your teeth while swearing through them!
I loved this course! How can I be so positive about presentations,
many of which were repeat themes from the State Championship? It all
depends on the gauge prism through which you are viewing the world.
Stale presentations aren’t a whole lot of fun when you’ve got the
killing power of a twelve in hand, but when the shot charge is reduced
to the size of a cigarette, just killing that in-your-face rabbit is
exhilarating and breaking anything with any distance to it puts you
into nirvana.
I particularly enjoyed one layout that had us climb a platform and
shoot down on a true pair which consisted of a right-to-left, low
quartering outgoer in unison with a right-to-left crosser that stalled
and rolled over, full-face. Neither shot was easy and getting the
timing right was imperative. Another favorite gave us a flat,
left-to-right crosser under power at 35-yards, followed on report by a
left-to-right climbing, settling standard. If there was one killer
station for our squad it had to be the one that had us shoot a long,
rising left-to-right, offset trap target followed on report by a very
high climbing, left-to-right, stalling crosser. The first one had you
shoot it on the rise, right off the arm and the second had you waiting
to pop it at the apex. Good course design gives contrast: Not just the
in-your-face, off-speed stuff, but also targets that require subtle
differences in tactics and timing.
I’ll also commend this course for providing a happy medium for the
three sub-gauges and this is no easy feat. I enjoyed the ultimate
guilty pleasure a number of years ago contesting the French National
20-gauge FITASC Championship and can report those targets were no
different than what you’d expect for a World FITASC Championship (Our
20-gauge Hail-Mary equivalent of the 1 _ oz. pigeon load was a
coma-inducing, 30-gram, 20-gauge shell that broke targets out to 70
yards and which, my wife still insists, took at least 20 points off my
IQ!) Traveler Zaid Siddig always insisted scores shouldn’t change at
all with the right 20-gauge gun and load. Reload Editor Emeritus,
Bruce Buck, ran the numbers and figured the 28 was the way to go, at
least when applying the Travelers handicap system. He figured, five
targets for the 20 weren’t enough but ten for the 28 was too rich. And
anyone dumb enough to roll the dice with a .410? I won’t print his
remarks, but perpetual-motion-machines, unicorns and third party
presidential candidates come to mind!
It was up and coming local hero Jim Muller who came through—all the
way through—with an exceptional HOA winning score of 97. Shooting the
aforementioned .410 pump, this means his raw score on this challenging
course was 72! Congratulations to Jim for fighting the hard fight and
winning, shooting the toughest gun of all!
Congratulations are also in order for our other Sub-Gauge Champions:
410 Champ Dean Anglace, 28-Gauge Champ Ed Davies, 20-gauge Champ John
Mohler and 16-Gauge Champ Al Anglace.
HOA Champion Jim Muller 97
16g Champion Al Anglace 78
20g Champion John Mohler 91
28g Champion Ed Davies 87
410g Champion Dean Anglace 91
Class 1 Champ Phil Steinkraus 87
Class 1 Second Vin Lascalza 84
Class 1 Third Ralph Lowery 79
Class 2 Champ Ed Shine 86
Class 2 Second George Parsons 84
Class 2 Third Ken Tober 81
Class 3 Champ Don Brenton 84
Class 3 Second George Masek 82
Class 3 Third Mike Primavera 78
Class 4 champ Frank Demayo 71
Class 4 Second Walter Fell 67
Class 4 Third Bob Schraeger 66
Class 5 Champ Ben Slome 77
Class 5 Second Bob Blake 72
Class 5 Third Bill Hawley 56
Class 6 Champ George Shawah 66
Class 6 Second Ed Ahern 62
Class 6 Third Kristen Hachman 54
Jr Champ Jason Lenhart 62
Jr Second Luke Sproviero 58
Jr Third Max Hachman 56
Lady Champ Cyndi Dalena 83
Lady Second Deb Christensen 64
Lady Third Gloria Marwell 62
Mesdames Fran Gallogly 75
Senior Vet Kurt Willinger 74
Vet Champ Lavert Cypher 86
Vet Second Bob Beck 78
Vet Third Don Hutchinson 77
THIRTYONE REGISTER WITH NSCA
Thirtyone Travelers registered their Sub-Gauge Championship targets
with the NSCA. Dick Orenstein took the registrations and fees
($3.00), and with scores from Cyndi Dalena, filed the paperwork with
the NSCA. There are several reasons to register targets. First is to
qualify for the State and Zone Shoot where a minimum of 300 registered
targets are necessary to avoid being elevated to a penalty class. In
the case of the US Open or the Nationals 500 targets are required.
Another reason to register is that the Connecticut State Team requires
500 registered targets. If we have enough entrants for an event,
punches for class wins may be awarded. Finally, you’re building
registered targets for that great pin the NSCA sends you at the end of
the year.
In order to continue doing this, I will need more volunteers willing
to collect names, information, and the $3.00 fee from those who wish
to register. If we had more volunteers, we could have more shoots
with registered targets. I’m willing to do the NSCA paperwork for a
while. This requires advanced registration of the shoot with the NSCA
and filing the scores, money and paperwork. However, since I don’t
come to every Traveler’s shoot, I can’t do it every month. I already
have one volunteer, but need more. If you are willing to “sign on”
permanently as a regular or “sign up” only for a select month, please
let me know. Dick Orenstein, oren@umich.edu, or 203-226-5251.
ON ANOTHER NOTE
It’s time to renew! Those who paid the membership dues by the last
shoot, October 16th, will find no coupon with this issue of RELOAD.
If your dues weren’t received in time, then a coupon accompanies this
issue. Please save us time and trouble (we’re all volunteers) and pay
your dues now to avoid losing your Travelers’ membership.
TLC: BALLISTICS AFIELD—KNOW YOUR HUNTING LOADS
By Henry Nachaj
We all go ballistic at one point or another while hunting or shooting
clay targets. I’m not talking about throwing the gun when one misses a
properly pointed bird that slowly flushes, or a slow incomer on the
5-stand. It is all about ammunition ballistics. Every time you load
“Old Betsy” or that stovepipe autoloader, your ammo’s ballistics have
everything to do with the final result. This is also true whether
hunting or shooting some of the tougher Sporting or FITASC targets. If
you don’t know what’s in the shell or what it does down range, how can
you be confident in 1) your shooting abilities, 2) consistency and 3)
humane killing factor? The very first thing any conscientious
scattergun shooter should do is pattern what they shoot and at the
range they’ll use that particular load. When we’re talking about
hunting loads, the chosen cartridge must pattern a true killing zone
at a given distance in a particular shotgun and every shotgun will
react differently to a given load.
The most significant factors affecting the ejecta (pellet) are air
resistance, gravity and shape, (i.e. roundness.) Another significant
factor is ejecta speed, which is closely related. One simple rule of
thumb for speed is: As soon as it goes supersonic, it looses velocity
at twice the rate of subsonic ejecta. A lot of effort is spent by
ammunition manufacturers on such things as Ballistic coefficient and
sectional density when they are working with pistol and rifle
ammunition, but unfortunately, not much of this technology is applied
toward the lumbering sphere of shotgunning.
Cross-sectional density is the most important factor for resistance to
air (aerodynamics) and the ability of the shot to deeply penetrate. If
the projectile goes straight through its target without dissipating
any energy in its mass, it will not kill. We need a method to
dissipate all the energy into your quarry, thus stopping the shot
pellet upon impact and penetration. Some sort of energy transfer is
required, which is rendered by the deformation of the shot pellet. An
important but often overlooked phenomenon is of the shot pellet being
too brittle and dissipating all of its energy upon surface impact, as
in the case of Bismuth based pellets—thus providing insufficient
penetration to kill. Body shots by these pellets produce too much grit
in the meat.
Also, if there aren’t enough shot pellets in our pattern at the
distances we’re shooting at, then a kill or even a mortal wound is
probably out of the question. There’s no point of having a fast, dense
and deformable projectile (pellet) if there is no pattern density when
it gets to the target.
Here are some basic loads that I’ve used successfully for game in the
Northeast:
Canada Goose:
Early season: Steel BB at 1450 fps, any Tungsten or Heavy Shot 2 or 1
Late season: Tungsten or Heavy Shot, BB at 1450 fps
Ducks:
Opening season: Steel 3 or 4 at 1450 fps, Tungsten or Heavy Shot 4,5,
or 6 Late season or Mallards: Steel 1 or 2 at 1450 fps, Tungsten or
Heavy Shot 4 or 5
Partridge:
Over a dog: 8 or 7.5 heavy target loads In the dirty stuff: 7.5
heavy target load, 6
Pheasant:
Over a dog: 8 or 7.5 target loads (no pellets will penetrate the
meat!) Driven or tower shoots: 6 or 5
A good rule-of-thumb when patterning applies equally to game loads as
well as target ammo: 3 pellets for a kill, (i.e. one needs a 3-pellet
count on the head/neck area of the intended target at the distance at
which it is typically shot.) I would pattern a number of loads at up
to 40 measured yards sampling an array of chokes. Federal and several
other ammunition manufacturers make pattern sheets of your favorite
birds. A _ inch thick plywood sheet also makes for a good penetration
and expansion test at 40 yards.
The Lone Canadian,
Hnachaj@hotmail.com
CLUB HISTORIAN
By John M. Hachmann
Gobble Gobble!!!
I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Travelers and their families
and sincerely hope everyone has plenty to give thanks for. I know my
family does!
November is typically a cool and beautiful time to be in the woods
north of my home on Long Island. Sometimes we forget , however, that
temperatures 2 hours north of NYC can be substantially colder, so
please dress accordingly and bring along more clothing than you think
you’ll need for the upcoming shoot. Previous November shoots have
attracted as many as 135 shooters in 1999, and as few as 81 in 2002
giving an average of 108.
The Old Newgate Coon Club, in Norfolk, CT will be hosting our November
13th shoot. As I reviewed past records, I see November was often the
month for the Travelers Club Championship in years past. Statistics
from as far back as 1997 show the Championships were held at Friar
Tuck until 1999 and then at East Mountain until 2004. That is
disturbing: Two great sporting clays courses the Travelers once
patronized, gone!
This month I decided not to list those past Club Champions choosing
instead to list recent winners of the Tax-Time Revolt event usually
held at Newgate in April. Recent winners: Ralph Lowery won that event
seven months ago on testy targets with a 75. Reigning CTSCA Sub-Gauge
Champ Jim Muller won the 2004 event and Vin Lascalza won there in
2003.
HISTORIAN ADDS
Instead of losing courses, new courses should be opening as our sport
grows and more people become involved. Personally I am relatively new
to this game and I have to wonder, where is our beloved sport headed?
What will become of our shooting ranges? And what can we do,
separately and collectively, to promote and grow this sport rather
than stand by and watch our courses disappear?
Here on Long Island there were three sporting clays courses in the
past. Now there is only one. That one, Peconic River, is private.
The other two are gone at least for now: Brookhaven, although still
open for skeet, trap, rifle and pistol, has closed its sporting clays
course. Yaphank remains closed although rumor has that it will reopen
in the spring of 2006. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
CONFESSIONS OF A TEEN PHENOM
By Stefanie Staufer (AKA Phil’s wife)
I was raised in Germany where things are different and the authorities
are very much in control of almost everything – especially shooting.
We don’t have a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to
bear arms and the privilege of gun ownership is accompanied by months
of tests and paperwork. Obtaining a full-blown hunting license will
take a year of classroom time. For this reason few people shoot and
those who do are usually educated professional types. Add to this the
fact we’ve been reduced to only eight clubs that offer parcours de
chasse (FITASC) in the entire country and you can imagine the sad,
slow decline shooting in Germany is undergoing as old timers aren’t
being replaced by young ones.
My father eats and sleeps work, clayshooting and hunting. By age 11 he
allowed me to take my first shot with a Winchester .410. That gun
didn’t have any recoil and some of those flying orange things actually
broke. I was playing the grown-up game but as the name implies, only
grown-ups played it. I was 11 and the next youngest person at our club
was in the mid-twenties. My first word of advise for a parent starting
a young person in clayshooting is to continue to treat them according
to their age. Don’t expect them to be one of the grown-ups. Kids react
differently to situations: What may be tragic to them may be no big
deal to us. Make sure they know their home course will be
substantially different from the course they are about to shoot in the
upcoming competition. They certainly shouldn’t arrive expecting to
shoot their average score. Be patient if they miss and encourage them
at every turn.
Dad realized he’d found something I was interested in that would also
involve us spending time together – a lot of time as it turned out! He
had a gunsmith alter his Winchester 101, 20-gauge to my dimensions and
I was ready to go, or was I? Sure they’d shortened the stock and
changed the comb height, but they overlooked putting a recoil-pad on
it. It’s not that they were negligent but rather because it simply
wasn’t done in Germany then and is rarely done now. I shot those early
years with a checkered wood butt and 18 years later I’m paying the
price. The continuously, pounding recoil has left its mark. My
shoulder is shot out – kaput. I must regularly attend physical therapy
and my doctor threatens me with Cortisone injections. My other big
regret is that I didn’t play any other sports to balance things out.
Had I gone swimming or even done some easy weight lifting to
counteract the recoil and the one-sided muscle build-up, I would be
much healthier and happier now. How many adult shooters do you know
who have chronic shoulder problems? A lot I’ll bet! If your kid shoots
I strongly suggest they participate in other sports or do exercises to
offset the punishment shooting doles out. There’s no reason a young
person can’t enjoy a lifetime of pain-free shooting: It just means we
have to take the trouble and spend the money now for good equipment
that fits properly and won’t injure them.
As time went on, I developed as a shooter and started representing
Germany on the FITASC team. At 16 I was given sponsorship from
Krieghoff, in Ulm. A shell deal from FOB soon followed. From that
moment forward, I wasn’t just going to competitions for fun anymore. I
was representing those companies to the rest of Europe—and there was
the rub. Now I had a reputation to uphold and build on. Shooting was
still fun, but make no mistake: I was expected by my sponsors to
perform under any and all circumstances and I lived and died by the
score on the board. Looking back with the hind site of an adult, I’m
not sure putting that amount of pressure on a high school student is
appropriate or wise.
My life shifted away from my peers at school and centered squarely on
shooting. I lived for the weekends and survived the school weeks.
Being around adults that much and having them take me seriously made
me feel like I was back in kindergarten whenever I was in school: The
girls where giddy and foolish; the boys didn’t know what to do with
all that testosterone, and all I could worry about was the next
competition.
I have no regrets. I know I had it much better being a junior pro than
I would have had trying to be the most popular girl in school. Every
once in a while, though, I’ll see some kid tearing up a course over
here and it’ll get me thinking and worrying about what this sport
might do to them. I graduated from Cambridge; I worked in my family’s
business and I’m happily married—My life is complete. So many of the
great young shooters I came up with continue to struggle in these most
important areas. Was it them or this game? If I had to guess, I’d
probably say it was both.
“The proper gun mount should be done with one quick, smooth,
continuous motion. The gun should be raised in a horizontal position
where possible. Neither butt nor muzzle should be uppermost. They
should lie in a horizontal plane and the gun raised to the proper
level and the butt then thrust back into the hollow of the shoulder,
and seated firmly. There are really three phases to gun mounting –
raising the gun – seating it – and sighting it; but in reality these
are practically resolved into one smooth unbroken motion.”
Modern Shotgun Shooting by Lawrence B. Smith, Scribner’s -- copyright
1935
CONTACTING THE TRAVELERS...
CTSCA Home Office: Al Anglace, email <aaa738@aol.com> (by far the best
way) or telephone 860-354-9351 if you absolutely must.
Editor: Phil Steinkraus, email philistein@aol.com
Membership, Address Changes and Shooting Class status: Contact Cyndi
Dalena at Email <shotguncyndi@prodigy.net>.
Guide Book questions, Dick Orenstein <oren@umich.edu> or call
203-226-5251.
Past issues of “Reload! are available online at www.ShotgunReport.com.
- - - 2005 CTSCA SHOOTING CALENDAR - - -
NOV. 13 - Old Newgate Coon Club – Enjoy the colors and the targets.
NOV. 27 – Harold Koehler Society Fundraiser – Venue to be announced
for the Spring 2006.
DEC. 18 – DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL CHRISTMAS PARTY SHOOT – Mid County
Rod and Gun Club, LaGrangeville, NY.
- - - OTHER 2005 SHOOTS OF INTEREST - - -
Always call ahead to confirm.
OCT. 23 - The Fall Blast S/C Charity Fun Shoot. Miele Field,
Britten Road, Green Village (Chatham Township), NJ. Info.: Steve Roman
973 808-1580 – kobrom@rcn.com.
NOV. 6 - “BUSHWACKER BOB’S” THREE SHOT SHOOT OUT – 180 Sporting
targets. Old Newgate Coon Club, Norfolk, CT.
coonclubclays@earthlink.net.
THE UPCOMING TRAVELERS MONTHLY SHOOT
“Salute to the Colors”
Ye Olde Newgate Coon Club
Norfolk, CT.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
“Pretty as a picture”, a well-known phrase describing something that
is especially pleasing to look at, will be the byline for conservation
around the luncheon tables after this shoot. We salute the colors
Mother Nature provides for us at this time of the year in the
Northeast Hills of Connecticut. This same phrase just might be tweaked
a bit when they talk about “Bushwhacker Bob” Busha’s target
presentations. Bob has risen to a height that many target setters
would be envious of, he really knows how to set “woodsy” targets so
that they are fun. Take the easy trip up route 8 and enjoy the fruits
of the Fall colors and some very interesting target presentations.