LONOKE -- I finally found a sporting clays gun that works for me.
We meshed Sept. 23 at a benefit sporting clays shoot held by Remington Arms for Arkansas Children's Hospital at Remington Gun Club. I captained a media team that consisted of Trey Reid, host of the "Arkansas Outdoors" television program on AETN; Randy Zellers, communications specialist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; Rusty Pruitt, a bank executive who has appeared in these pages so often that he qualifies as a media personality; and Bob Rogers of Maumelle.
Kris Carson, director of centerfire products for Remington and also the Gun Club manager, said the Arkansas Children's Hospital event was the company's debut for fundraising shoots. Carson said that 20 five-person teams competed, and that Remington contributed $10,000 to Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"Hopefully this will be an annual event," Carson said. "We've had some private events recently, but as far as benefit shoots, that's the first one that we've had."
Andy Miller was the individual winner with a score of 91. Tommy Browning, Steve Powell and Aaron Throckmorton shot 85.
Team winners were Health Way Pharmacy with a score of 365, the Midway USA Foundation (346)and Arkansas Children's Hospital/UAMS (309).
Remington set up a challenging course for the event, and the splendid weather made for wonderful shooting conditions. Some foliage had begun changing to gold, which hinted at a beautiful autumn to come.
Our group shot at noon, so the high sun fully illuminated all of the shooting stations. Remington debuted its new line of Cure ammunition. The hulls are powder blue shotgun shells and are packed in special boxes. For every box sold, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to childrens hospitals around the nation, Carson said. Proceeds from all Cure ammo shot at Remington Gun Club will benefit Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"It's a cool product," Carson said. "When we were making that, we considered something to benefit youth shooting sports. One of the ladies in our office looked at it and asked what it's for. I told her it was to promote youth shooting sports. She kind of smirked and asked why. Well, kids need help shooting and stuff like that. She set it down and said, 'Children's Hospital,' and then she walked off. I thought, 'You're right. That's where it needs to go.' "
Cure ammo will be available at the retail level for about $8 per box. Carson said it will be available in a low-recoil version with a muzzle velocity of 1,100 feet per second and a Light Eight with a muzzle velocity of about 1,145 fps.
Remington assigned a scorekeeper to each team. The scorekeeper also operated the skeet traps.
We have thoroughly chronicled our travails in sporting clays on this page. Over the past two years we have used about a dozen shotguns in search of one that suited me for that purpose. I tried the Remington V3, my favorite duck gun. We tried a Weatherby Grade 3 Athena over/under 20-gauge. It's a real beauty, and I shoot it phenomenally well everywhere except on a sporting clays course. I used a 1960s vintage 20-gauge Browning Superposed Lightning that I shoot well everywhere except on a sporting clays range.
Sporting clays painfully taught me that the Superposed is a fine gun for pheasant hunting, where you'll only fire it four or five times a day. Shooting it 100 times on a sporting clays course felt like I had been in a bar fight. I sold it shortly after to a friend that uses it afield all over the country.
I tried a Winchester Model 101. It's my favorite skeet gun, but for sporting clays, no. A 20-gauge Browning BPS didn't cut it, either, nor did a Remington 1100 28-gauge. To be fair, that little gun would be awesome on a sporting clays range if not for its skeet barrel. It patterns too loose for long shots.
And that leads us to the gun that brought us redemption, a 1970s vintage Remington 1100 12-gauge with a modified barrel.
We've written about our high regard for the 1100 before. It seems to have been designed with me as a template. Though heavy, it's very well balanced, and it swings fluidly. Every 1100 I've ever handled shot well.
It was also the last gun I hadn't tried for sporting clays. As legendary Texas Longhorns coach Darrell Royal said to James Street before sending him afield to replace a struggling quarterback, "You can't do any worse."
It was a Remington kind of day. Pruitt and Zellers brought Remington 11-87s, an upgraded version of the 1100 that can and chamber and eject 3-inch cartridges. Reid brought a 20-gauge Browning Citori with a big chunk missing from its buttstock, and Rogers brought a Ducks Unlimited SKB over/under, a stunningly beautiful dinner gun.
Reid ran the first station, but it was misses as usual for me. As I got into the flow, however, I started shooting very effectively.
Sporting clays is a lot like golf in that momentum can fill your sails in dramatic fashion. Once you've had a little success, you gain confidence, but also competence. I calculated lead distances on the targets effectively, and I also calculated proper break points. The 1100 seemed to paint the targets out of the sky. There were, of course, a few exceptions. On a few stations, you really needed to shoot the first target quickly. Because of its weight, I couldn't get the 1100 on those targets fast enough. I hit them, but then I was behind on the second target.
I didn't chip many. I crushed them, which is to be expected with a tight modified choke. I even hit the rabbit targets, which usually give me fits.
The cruelest target of the day was one of Rogers's rabbits. Rogers tracked it as it scooted across the ground. Just before he shot, the rabbit hit something and jumped about six feet in the air. Rogers never had a chance. Even the scorekeeper felt bad for him.
All of us shot in the 60s. I led my team with a 66. It's not a good score by competitive standards, but given my recent performance, it was a major breakthrough. I would probably do better with an improved cylinder barrel or better, a barrel with choke tubes.
I am very eager to shoot again. Before that shoot, I didn't enjoy sporting clays very much.
Rusty Pruitt (right) and the author blaze away at clay targets during Shoot for the Cure on Sept. 23 at Remington Gun Club near Lonoke. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Bryan Hendricks)
Spent hulls fly from the chambers of Trey Reid’s 20-gauge at Shoot For The Cure. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Bryan Hendricks)
Spent hulls, colored blue for Shoot For A Cure, speckle the ground at each station. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Bryan Hendricks)