Getting Ready for the Clay Birds 



By Edward (J. Crossman 



A Scene at a Typical Trap Shooting 

 Exhibition. The Man on His 

 Knees Is Releasing the Clay Birds 



OXCE too often we trekked to the 

 place of the flying saucers. The 

 spell of the clay bird is upon us. 

 And so, perforce, we toddle down-town 

 to tiie mart of the gun sellers and there 

 consider the guns that are suitable for 

 breaking the clay. 



By the rules of the game our task is 

 a bit simplified. We may not under the 

 rules use more than one and one-quarter 

 ounce of shot. We may not use a gun 

 larger than twelve-inch bore. By the 

 rules of common sense, desiring to com- 

 pete on equal basis with other clay bird 

 devotees, we cannot go below this allow- 

 ance. We need no such handicap, for 

 a time at least. 



Seeking a gun no lighter than seven 

 and one-half pounds for the sake of our 

 shoulder, we find spread out before us 

 divers weapons, all of them represented 

 at the grounds of the cla\- bird. The 

 cheapest is a single barrel, single shot 

 weapon, hanuucrless, cheap in finish, 

 good enough to break cla\' birds, costing 

 about fifteen dollars, but a little under- 

 weight. Unless our contemplation is to 



use such a gun merely until we find our- 

 self, it is not the gun to choose, because 

 it is not quite adequate for the skilled 

 shot. Next in price and most formidable 

 in efficiency is the repeating shotgun of 

 various makes. Thousands of them are 

 in the hands of the most skilled trap- 

 shots in the coimtry. The weapon is not 

 quite so simple for the beginner to 

 handle as the double-barrel gun, and the 

 reach to the slide-handle, b>- which the 

 gun is operated, is a liit long for the 

 short-armed man. The cost in plain 

 qualit>' runs less than twenty-fi\'e dollars. 

 In guns with checked fore-stock or slide 

 handle and checked grip, the cost is 

 about thirty-five dollars. No better 

 weapon is made for breaking the birds, 

 but some people find that they shoot 

 better with the double barrel. Does our 

 choice fall on the repeating shotgun, 

 then it must have barrel no shorter 

 than thirty inches, stock with "drop" 

 or crook from the line of the barrel no 

 more than one and one-half inches at 

 the comb and two to two and one- 

 quarter inches at the heel, which is the 



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