This last monday (7/13), my wife and I decided we wanted to try shooting skeet. We had heard from several people, including some TGT members (yes DCortez, you can pat yourself on the back), how much fun it is. So we convinced my brother-in-law to watch our kids, grabbed the 870 12 ga. and a couple of boxes of shells and headed down to the local range, which in our case is the Gun Emporium in Conroe. The gun emporium has two seperate outdoor ranges (two skeet/trap ranges, and a 30 station (200 yard, i think) pistol/rifle range) Our only experience with the shotgun up to this point was putting around 30 shells apiece through it at a concrete block at this same range. For my wife it was one from the shoulder, at which point she decided she didn't like...lol and the other 29 from the hip, which she did like. For me it was 50/50 shoulder/hip. We had a blast and so were looking forward to doing more with the shotgun. My wife actaully found she enjoyed shooting the shotty more than her pistol (can we say power-trip...j/k), because with a pistol she wants to be perfect, with the shotty it's a little more point and shoot (her opinion).
Anyways, we show up at the shop and the man behind the counter proceeds to ask us some questions. "Have you ever shot here before?" Yes, but at the pistol/rifle side only.
"Do you want to shoot to shoot trap or skeet?" Ummm...yes (lol).
"Well, which one?" Don't know, what's the difference?
He then explained the differences of each to us. So we went with trap, figuring it would be a simpler and slightly easier start for us. He offered us some lessons, which we had declined (time and money), but he gave anyways and came down to the field to help us out. He stood beside us during the whole time and offered advice to help with our stance, our aim, etc. and was just all around extremely helpful and friendly. I will say that my wife is much more natural at it than I was (just don't tell her), hitting close to 60-70% where I was maybe 40-50%. However, after about 14 shots my wife decided to call it quits, the shotgun was tearing up her shoulder, so I shot my 25 plus her 11 left over shells. The next day she had a nice little purple bruise on her shoulder...lol.
All in all, we both had a really fun time and I would recommend this range to anyone, especially first timers. The next day I purchased a limbsaver recoil to slip on over the end of the 870 so maybe that will help out the next time we go. Either way, we both plan to return and do it again. And if there's one reason to love my job, it's that when I'm not gone offshore, I get to go shooting in the middle of the week when the range is empty, which is great since I'm not much for crowded areas or an audience...lol.
If you have never tried this before, do yourself a favor and go. You'll have a blast (pun intended).
And DC, please do me the favor of NOT letting my wife try your Benelli's...LOL
Anyways, we show up at the shop and the man behind the counter proceeds to ask us some questions. "Have you ever shot here before?" Yes, but at the pistol/rifle side only.
"Do you want to shoot to shoot trap or skeet?" Ummm...yes (lol).
"Well, which one?" Don't know, what's the difference?
He then explained the differences of each to us. So we went with trap, figuring it would be a simpler and slightly easier start for us. He offered us some lessons, which we had declined (time and money), but he gave anyways and came down to the field to help us out. He stood beside us during the whole time and offered advice to help with our stance, our aim, etc. and was just all around extremely helpful and friendly. I will say that my wife is much more natural at it than I was (just don't tell her), hitting close to 60-70% where I was maybe 40-50%. However, after about 14 shots my wife decided to call it quits, the shotgun was tearing up her shoulder, so I shot my 25 plus her 11 left over shells. The next day she had a nice little purple bruise on her shoulder...lol.
All in all, we both had a really fun time and I would recommend this range to anyone, especially first timers. The next day I purchased a limbsaver recoil to slip on over the end of the 870 so maybe that will help out the next time we go. Either way, we both plan to return and do it again. And if there's one reason to love my job, it's that when I'm not gone offshore, I get to go shooting in the middle of the week when the range is empty, which is great since I'm not much for crowded areas or an audience...lol.
If you have never tried this before, do yourself a favor and go. You'll have a blast (pun intended).
And DC, please do me the favor of NOT letting my wife try your Benelli's...LOL