Letters

For the Fun of It
I have been a subscriber since January 2007, and my only regret is that I did not know about Shooting Sportsman much earlier. SSM is the only magazine that I receive that I cannot wait for the next issue and read cover to cover, advertisements and all. I am the proud owner of two Connecticut Shotgun guns (Christmas gifts from my wife)—the RBL 20- and 28-bore—as a result of SSM articles and advertisements. My dropping major hints and strategically placing the magazine around the house also helped.
    I had never felt the urge to write a letter to the editor until I read Michael McIntosh’s “What Ever Happened to Skeet & Sporting Clays?” (Shooting, Jan/Feb ’09) and the follow-up “Playing the Numbers” (Nov/Dec). Mr. McIntosh, you are as right on target as Chris Batha’s clay shooting.
    When I was 12 years old, I was fortunate to be taught skeet and trap shooting by a world-class pigeon shooter. As I recall, that first day shooting I missed almost every target with an old 12-gauge auto I’d brought with me. I remember being very disappointed and worried about what everyone on the squad was thinking. My mentor said to me as he handed me a Perazzi Comp One 12-bore as my very own to use from then on, “Richard, do you know who the best shooter in the club is? Not the one with the best score, the one having the most fun.” Thirty four years and 150,000 or so shells later, that advice still resonates with me every week that I shoot sporting clays at our local club or competitively during the season—and I have brought home my fair share of trophies over the years.
    I was fortunate to meet a great group of outdoorsmen and shooters when I moved to Florida from New York’s Adirondack Mountains. They are all retired successful businessmen who I know were fierce competitors throughout their careers. My attitude about shooting earned me an invite to join their Thursday shooting group three years ago. I was given two rules (range safety being a given): We don’t keep score, and when we meet for lunch and martinis after shooting, we split the bill equally. These rules were delivered by an individual who won his first national skeet tournament when he was 21 years old by breaking 550 straight.
    I don’t understand people who get their breeches in a bunch over articles about shooting for score. They miss the point. It was clear to me that Mr. McIntosh was trying to convey that it is OK to be competitive and keep score, but we should remember the fundamental reasons why we shoot: enjoyment of the sport, appreciation of the firearms, and the camaraderie of the company we keep. Great scores are the byproduct of these fundamentals.
    Richard J. Reittinger
    Sebastian, Florida
 
Remembering Alfred Gallifent
I was glad to see you published a remembrance of Alfred Gallifent in November/December. I am privileged to have called Alfred a dear friend. Another friend, Fritz Meck, and I introduced Alfred to waterfowling in the ’80s and spent many years hunting with him on the Chesapeake Bay. The first Canada goose Alfred took came to my call at Middlecreek Wildlife Management Area, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Alfred took to waterfowling like he was born to it, and he became an excellent decoy maker. As I write this, I am looking at one of his cork bluebills sitting on my window ledge.
    Alfred strived for perfection in everything he became involved in, and he was one of the most honest and generous men I have ever met. The shooting and hunting fraternity is poorer today for Alfred’s passing, and he will be greatly missed by his friends.
    John A. Shutter
    Lancaster, Pennsylvania
 
A Hunger for Hellis
I enjoyed the Douglas Tate article on Charles Hellis (“Charles Hellis: A Hunger for Success”) in September/October. Tate’s piece reminded me that I have a tasty Hellis specimen tucked away in the corner of my safe. Mine is No. 4414, marked “121 & 123 Edgeware Rd, Hyde Park, London, W” on the narrow concave rib. The gun is a 2H"-chambered 12-bore side-by-side boxlock, and with 26-inch barrels it weighs a whisker under six pounds. This delightful little gun is profusely adorned with tight scrollwork and rose clusters on the action and more tight scrollwork on the fences, toplever, tangs and trigger guard—all similar to the engraving displayed on the modern Hellis pictured on page 61 of that issue.
    I can’t wait to use this gun again behind Charles Driza’s superb pointers in the alder thickets around Grand Lake Stream toward the end of October!
    Steve Kurlansky
    Lyme, Connecticut
 
“My” March/April
A belated response to several interesting items in your March/April ’09 issue.
    I read with special interest the article on Jim Greenwood (Fine Gunmaking), who was working on restocking my CZ 16-gauge at the time of publication. I since have received the gun and have had a chance to try it on the patterning plate. It works as good as it looks, by virtue of Jim’s craftsmanship and his Turkish walnut blank.
    Before contacting Jim for the restocking job, I was fitted for the gun by Gil Ash, who, along with his wife, Vicki, operates the OSP (Optimum Shotgun Performance) shooting school in Houston. The CZ was giving me a good pop in the cheek with every shot, and a trip to the patterning board revealed a six-shot group that was about five inches to the left and five inches high at 16 yards. During this process, Gil was standing right behind me to be certain that I was shooting instinctively at the mark and not aiming the gun. He insisted on a smooth mount and that I fire the moment the gun touched my shoulder.
    Gil also told me that, although a proper gunfit is important, it cannot completely overcome the effect of a poor mounting technique. He was quick to add that a properly fitted gun can help develop good technique. Gil is an ardent fan of inserting a small penlight in a gun’s barrel and practicing a smooth gun mount and swing by moving the light along the joint where a wall and ceiling meet (described in the Shooting column in that same issue). It’s surprising how challenging it is to keep the light moving in an even line.
    Chris Batha’s Sporting Clays column in that issue echoed many things Gil told me. In addition to the more common aspects of gunfit, Chris devoted part of his article to the shape of the stock. Gil also emphasized the importance of this element during my fitting. He used a carpenter’s tool to provide Jim Greenwood with an accurate shape of the top of the stock at several points along the top/comb.
    The fact that shotgun fitting is a subtle business was demonstrated to me when I first looked down the barrel of Gil’s Beretta try-gun. The gun had an ivory bead at the rear, and I noticed that it was slightly off to the right of the bead on the front. “That’s OK,” Gil said. “You’ll naturally hold the gun tighter when you’re about to fire, and they will align.”
    And one final note. I was directed to Jim Greenwood by a fine gentleman named Jack Rowe, whose DVD “Gunsmithing British Side by Side Shotguns” also was featured in that issue. So, as you can see, I wound up feeling as though most of March/April was written just for me. You really shouldn’t have, but I appreciate it.
    Ron Taylor
    Via e-mail