First a bit of history.
I started shooting skeet back in the early '70s using the only shotgun I had at the time a Remington Model 870 Wingmaster in 12 ga. It was my do it all gun back then. My first 100 registered targets were shot at the Lake Side Gun Club in Covington, GA and as I recall I broke either 92 or 94 with that Wingmaster.
One day I was down at the only place in our area that sold reloading components, it was run by C. C. Gauldin and old man in a wheelchair who was one fine skeet shooter. He and the Coleman brothers owned the Eastaboga Gun Club when I started. About a year later I owned it. Any way back to the day at his shop, he had a Wingmaster in 28 ga with a 25" IC choked barrel and I took it home.
That was my introduction to the 28 ga and it has since become by far my favorite skeet gauge. I used that little Wingmaster 28 to shoot tournaments all over the state of Alabama for several years. Me and it really clicked together and scores in the mid to high 90s were a regular thing. I liked it so well I often would shoot it for the 12 and 20 ga guns as well as the 28 in skeet tournaments. In short it was one fine skeet gun for me in those days.
Flash ahead to the present.
A couple weeks or less ago I was at the skeet range shooting and saw a young boy shooting a pump 28. My heart almost sank. I wasn't able to tell what it was from where I was sitting but I knew it had just been bought for him from the store in which I'd recently seen a new Wingmaster 28 ga and I'd hesitated and not bought it. I just knew he had that Wingmaster. You can't imagine the relief I felt when he got back and wasn't even a Remington.
As soon as I finished shooting I headed for the gunstore and the little Wingmaster came home with me. I had high hopes of going back in time a wee bit and reliving the past shooting that little gun on skeet.
Well today I broke it and to see if me and it were gonna get along like me and the old one. NOPE, we didn't. It happened like this:
1. Station one. I dropped the high house target, heck I think the wad hit the clay but it didn't break. I picked up the option and hit the low house bird. I then missed the high house on doubles and got the low.
2. Station two was a repeat of station one. I dropped BOTH high house targets and got both low house targets. Hmm, a trend seems to be developing here.
3. Station three I again miss the high and break the low house bird. Definitely a trend has developed.
4. Station four.
I didn't touch a target. So at this point I'm down 7 of 13. What an embarrassment. I guess ya really can't go back.
I walked over, put it back in the rack and got my Browning O/U 28 ga and broke 11 of the last 12 targets. I shot one more round and broke 23 of 25 with it.
I've only been back to shooting for a few months this year mostly shooting two rounds on Wednesday monrnings and some times again on Saturday morning as I did today. I had given it up at least 6-8 years or more ago when I had developed a flinch so bad I was about to become dangerous. The flinch is gone but I'm a long way from being back where I was as a shooter in those days. I have picked up a couple of 25 straights lately, both with Browning 28 ga O/Us. I think that rather fitting since it's my favorite skeet gauge.
But I've found one thing much different than days of old. I'm shooting the .410 almost as well as my favored 28 and fully as well as the 20. In the old days me and the .410 just didn't geehaw and I felt lucky to be in the high teens with it even tho I was AA with the other guns. Now I break from 21 to 23 with it most times just as I do with the 20 and 28 gauge guns.
Why me and the little Wingmaster did so poorly together I have no clue. Even those clays I did break were just chipped not mashed. As soon as I changed to the Browning they again were mashed hard.
Oh well at least I have some new trading material. Some times ya really can't go back to the way it was.
