Letters

A Woodcock Disconnect
I thought I would take a minute to comment regarding the March/April From the Editor column on the declining woodcock population and proposed initiatives to study and rectify the problem. Ralph Stuart did a wonderful job articulating his concerns, viewpoint and admonition in the editorial, but at the risk of sounding ungrateful or disrespectful, I think there was an unintentional “disconnect” between the editorial remarks and what was conveyed to me from a photo in his fine article “Black Rapids Woodcock,” in that same issue. In the photo of him and his companion, I count what appear to be roughly 14 woodcock laid across the tailgate . . . and at least to me, that seems a bit excessive. As sportsmen, I think we have a responsibility to be conscientious and committed conservationists, and where a declining quarry is concerned, regardless of the legal bag limit, we should each impose upon ourselves voluntary self-constraint.
    I’m looking forward to the next edition of Shooting Sportsman and more fine writing. Thanks for considering my viewpoint and concern.
        Arvey McFarland
        Salt Lake City

Ralph Stuart responds:
    Geez, a guy indulges himself once in his life . . . .
    Good point about the apparent disconnect. That day did feel a bit decadent. I can assure you, though, that I watched plenty of woodcock fly away unscathed (some of them even intentionally) during the rest of the season.

A Final .410 Flurry
As an avid shooter who hunts doves, pheasants and ducks, I was delighted to see Michael McIntosh give the .410 the “ballistic abortion” title it deserves (Shooting, March/April). I shoot 5,000 to 10,000 rounds a year at clay targets and pattern all my guns for the ranges I shoot . . . and I’m here to tell you that really good shotgun patterns are not as ubiquitous as most believe, especially with a .410.
    Shooting a .410 at anything other than pen-raised birds is a mistake, as many “missed” birds carry a single pellet with them to their unknown death. At pen-raised birds, it’s the cat’s meow.
    I have good friends with beautiful Browning Superposed .410s who believe that it’s more sporting to shoot doves because of the small gauge and small pattern. Try this: Take a Full-choke .410 with 3" 7-1/2s and shoot a pattern at 20 yards, then shoot a Skeet-choke 20-gauge with standard field-grade 7-1/2s and see for yourself. The .410 pattern will be larger, due to pellet deformation. The late Bob Brister wrote of this more than 30 years ago. People shoot .410s because of low recoil, delicate handling and so on, but they are poorly informed if they think .410s are adequate for the varying conditions of upland shooting.
     Your magazine has excellent writers on this subject—McIntosh for one and Tom Roster. Most of your readers may be unaware that Roster has done more pattern testing than anyone I’m aware of, including the famed Brister.
        Hubert Guthrie
         Via e-mail

As a favorite sportscaster says, “Whoa, Nellie,” to Mr. McIntosh and his diatribe against the .410 for upland game. I am truly disappointed in his condemnation of the shell and anyone who would use it for the larger examples of upland game. My own experience is not as extensive as that of Mr. McIntosh, but I have been successful on several pheasant hunts using pump and side-by-side guns choked to diameters of .402" and .402"/.399". Shots taken have been well inside 30 yards using No. 6 shot in the 3" loadings—11/16 ounce—from Remington and Federal. Patterns at 20 yards have shown IC and IC/Light Mod performance. Velocities for these factory loads are about 1,130 to 1,150 fps, and energies appear to be enough for pheasants inside the 30-yard limit. As for the “holes” in the shotstring, well, can he show me any photos? Others of your experts tell me that such photos don’t exist in any large quantity. Guess that I will just go game shooting when the budget allows and, if a .410 is chosen, I will enjoy it all the more. Safe shooting.
        Tony Bierek
        Via e-mail

I hunt with a .410 double choked IC & M and have no problem harvesting pheasants or grouse even at 40 yards. That said, I have a secret to help those who decry the use of such a small bore when taking game. No, it’s not secret ammo. I use 2-1/2" 1/2-oz No. 6 Remington Game Loads purchased from Wal-Mart. Yeah, the cheapies, although the cost of ammunition rarely correlates to harvested table fare. The correct placement of the shot, however, does, and therein lies the secret.
But, you say, that’s the problem too! And, yes, that was my problem, until I started shooting the gun a lot and not just in the field. I shoot skeet and skeet doubles with a .410. Yeah, I know, big deal. But I shoot 5 Stand, sporting clays, 16- and 22-yard trap and wobble trap with a .410 also. That’s right, the long shots, and the birds break quite nicely. Folks around me still “ooh” and “ah” when I connect at 40 yards. I don’t, not anymore. So rather than rave at your own lack of skill, pick up the little gun and shoot it and just keep shooting it. The targets will break soon enough and, when they do, you won’t go back to the ungainly big bores.
        Al Poudrier
        Mercer, Maine

Absent Offerings
I recently read the fine article “Recoil-Reducing Loads” (Shot Talk), in January/February. Tom Roster did a fine job of detailing the advantages of reduced-recoil loads. He certainly covered the offerings from Winchester, Remington, Federal, Fiocchi and B&P thoroughly. It is very useful to have velocity and pressure information to help in selecting factory shells. It is a benefit to shooters to have so many choices.
    Conspicuous by their absence were the offerings from RST and Polywad. The benefits of recoil-reducing loads, which the larger companies are now emulating, have been celebrated for many years by RST and Polywad. The successes that these two domestic companies have enjoyed by giving shooters what they want now have been proven by the flattery of imitation by the larger companies. Please consider including detailed information on the shells from these two companies in future articles on this subject.
        Mike Koranda
        Duluth, Minnesota

Spare Us the Excess
I was stunned by Silvio Calabi’s article on his advertiser-supported trip to Argentina (“Estancia Los Chañares,” March/April) during which he fired a thousand rounds a day for 2-1/2 days. First he describes, in glowing terms, the 62 tons of lead shot deposited annually by the 2 million rounds fired at doves on the property, killing a million a year. Then a few paragraphs later he writes, “. . . the raptors show up like bears at a salmon run—dozens upon dozens of eagles and caracaras spinning downward in silent gyres to pick off . . . the dead and crippled doves. It is a shooting man’s country.”
    Not this shooting man. The entire scene is reprehensible. The brain-dead excess is bad enough, but baiting in all those raptors with thousands of lead-laced dove carcasses is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start complaining. And all Silvio found to gripe about was that his gun got hard to open as it heated up and the trigger set screw came loose?
    Please. Spare us. I mean that literally.
        Ed Gray
        Lyme, New Hampshire

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