D.I.Y. Shotgun Patterning Targets

Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.)
Shotgun Patterning Targets are extremely large, cumbersome and difficult to obtain.

Commercial Shotgun Patterning Targets are usually incorrectly sized, expensive, sold in insufficient quantities and heavily creased after being folded small for retail packaging and shipping.

To produce your own correctly sized targets in sufficient quantity, simply purchase a roll of “Builder’s Paper” from a hardware store.

Attach (tape) the paper to a utility surface.

Trim the paper.

Find the center of the paper and draw a 30 inch circle using a permanent marker and a “compass” made from a Furring Strip and a nail.

(Shooting plain, unmarked paper and later drawing a circle around the densest part of the shot pattern creates an invalid, illogical sample)

Paste a “Post-It” note in the center as a Bull’s-Eye.

After a few target making sessions, I had a sufficient quantity of targets in a big roll. This roll was heavy and would be too expensive to ship.

Now you are ready to test the accuracy, shot pattern, shot density and range of your shotgun, choke and ammunition. You will need a lot of targets for this. These targets are very big and should be rolled up and secured with rubber bands.

You will need to find an outdoor rifle range to test nontoxic and steel hunting ammunition. Indoor shooting ranges do not allow homemade targets and only allow soft lead to be fired from shotguns. This is because indoor ranges believe nontoxic and steel hunting ammunition ricochet.

Unfortunately, Gun Clubs that do not have outdoor rifle ranges, cannot accommodate the testing of hunting ammunition at this time, because these types of clubs are not designed for the hardness of nontoxic shot. For patterning, these Clubs usually have an impenetrable board that is painted after each shot and can only be used with soft or low energy pellets to prevent ricocheting or damage to the board. If a non-rifle Gun Club offers cardboard for patterning, they will still forbid the use of hunting ammunition.

Karsten’s Brand Adjustable Cheek Rest for Shotgunning

"Not everyone can afford a custom fitted shotgun or justify taking a luxurious show gun afield and on the water. Karsten’s Cheek Rest is a convenient and affordable way to improve the fit and accuracy of a basic shotgun." -TRF

Typically, when a shotgun is shouldered or mounted for firing, the shooter’s cheek should meet and rest on the top (and side) of the gunstock, buttstock or shoulder stock. This top ridge of the stock is commonly referred to as the comb.

The angle and height (pitch and drop) at the comb determines the shooter’s line of sight through the gun’s sighting method. If a shotgun’s comb is too low, thin, sharp or angled, shooting can be awkward, uncomfortable and inaccurate. In most cases, if you have high cheekbones, a smaller face or physique, you will need to raise your comb. If you have adjustable iron sights on your shotgun or if you have added any aftermarket sights such as light pipes, fiber optics, glow dots, scopes, red dots, holographic or reflex sights, you will need to raise your comb as well.

There are many different aftermarket methods and accessories for raising and adjusting a comb. Temporary comb raisers are wrapped, laced or adhered around a stock. Permanent comb raisers often require the stock be cut, divided or deeply bored. Furthermore, many comb raisers trap or absorb moisture.

Karsten is a specialty manufacturer who utilizes an extremely tough material called Kydex®. Kydex is stronger and has much more water, chemical and stain resistance than plastics, vinyl and fiberglass. Nearing a decade of production, these Kydex Cheek Rests have a very precision form and finish that outclasses most other comb raisers, cheek pieces or rests.

The unhelpful aspects of Karsten’s Cheek Rest are few but should be noted. This Adjustable Cheek Rest, should not be used with Monte Carlo style gunstocks that have a tapered relief in the form of a thick, sloped outcropping on the sides of the stock. However, if your shoulder stock has only the Monte Carlo style comb ridge without the outcropping on the sides, you should be able to add an Adjustable Cheek Rest. Additionally, the use of Karsten’s Cheek Rest requires two small holes drilled through the sides of the stock (these holes could be covered or plugged when not in use). 

Finally, I discovered that Karsten’s Cheek Rest also provided an unreported or unpublished benefit for shotguns with synthetic stocks. Most synthetic stocks for shotguns are much more slender. This often leaves the shooter’s line of sight off center from side to side. Although Karsten’s Kydex® Cheek Rests can be reformed for thinner stocks, I chose to add nylon washers under the sides of mine, which corrected my line of sight to the center of the receiver, resulting in a perfectly fit gun. 

Website:

http://karstenskydexcheekrest.com/

Email:

Karsten@xmission.com

Part II

I recently installed Karsten’s Brand Adjustable Cheek Rest on my shotgun. This shotgun is for hunting, but I immediately took this to an indoor shooting range to try out the newly installed cheek rest.

I was very pleased with the perfect fit, feel and line of sight through my gun, that Karsten’s Cheek rest provided.

My accuracy was dead on because I had a proper line of sight through my gun’s sighting method.

I am saving the paper targets from this range session because these show perfect, centered shots, the equivalent of golf’s “Hole In One”.

Special Note: There are many conditions that give good reason for adding additional sighting methods to shotguns . Loss of vision occurs normally as people age. Vision can also be decreased by diabetic retinopathy, high blood pressure, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, stroke, shingles, trauma or scarring. Furthermore, many people live in “Shotgun Only Zones” (where rifles are not permitted) and need to optimize their shotgun for all types of hunting.

About: 

I requested the opportunity to independently test, review and give opinion for Karsten’s Brand Adjustable Cheek Rest. I utilized a donated products for this purpose. Currently, I am not otherwise affiliated or associated with Karsten or Kydex®. and have not received pecuniary compensation or incentive from Karsten or Kydex®. 

Kick’s Choke Tubes For Waterfowl Season

Part I
I recently sought the opportunity to test Kick’s “High Flyer” Choke Tubes for waterfowl.

Choke Selection
Choke selection is the most important means a hunter has over how commercial ammunition performs, whereas the gun itself is more of a constant than a variable.

Shotgunning should be a serious and interested discipline. But, because life is brief, I have no desire to collect choke tubes. Kick’s Industries seems to understand this by simply offering 3 or 4 “High Flyer” Choke Tubes for each gun model. They even describe their Full Choke as an “All around choke that works well”.

Design
High Flyer choke tubes are installed and removed by hand. I thought these chokes were visibly glossy at first, but I took them outside, in the natural light and they do have a duller, black finish preferred for hunting. These chokes have stamped/engraved lettering for easy identification that remains visible when installed and during use.

The High Flyer is an extra long tube milled from solid 17-4PH stainless steel with a parallel section after the choke that stabilizes the shot constriction. It extends approximately 1 ¾ inches beyond the muzzle, and has a round/flat, precision crown. High Flyer chokes allows you to extend your range, barrel length and mass. A longer barrel handles more steadily and generally improves shot pattern. Increasing the mass of a barrel reduces recoil acceleration.

High Flyer chokes are designed for steel shot, non-toxic shot, tungsten, hevi-shot, lead substitutes and lead.

Porting | Braking System

Kick’s chokes are diagonally and directionally ported at a precise, prescribed angle of 135 degrees forward of the shooter. Upon firing, these ports vent forward, slowing the recoil and better protecting the shooter, bystanders and hunting position from shock pressure, smoke and debris.

The High Flyer’s heavy porting is very similar in appearance to many of the newest compensator designs and is a long-established, ballistic improvement characteristic.

24 sharp-edged cut outs, measuring nearly ¼ inch each, are oriented to provide momentary, retrograde traction for the stressed boundaries of shotcup-wads. 

Surface interruption by perforations (porting) also vibrate the wad by converting some of the otherwise wasted energy from wad stress. This vibrational energy yields a more efficient separation between the wad and pellets (author’s conceptual model based on improved pellet release and the deformation and shear of plastic components).   

Unhelpful Aspects

There are very few unhelpful aspects of the High Flyer choke. Ported chokes are generally louder and have an increased surface area that requires cleaning. Furthermore, because Kick’s has developed another choke called Vortex; that is specific to Federal Premium's Black Cloud ammunition, I suspect that the High Flyer Choke may not be fully optimized for Black Cloud.

Contact:
Kick's Industries Inc. 800-587-2779    

     

http://www.kicks-ind.com

Part II
Ranging and tower skeet testing for the High Flyer Choke:

http://the-reverend-fowl.blogspot.com/2011/08/kicks-choke-tubes-for-2011-2012.html

About:

I requested the opportunity to independently test, review and give opinion for Kick's “High Flyer” Choke Tubes. I utilized donated samples for this purpose. Currently, I am not otherwise affiliated or associated with Kick's Industries and have not received pecuniary compensation or incentive from Kick’s.

Blast From The Past

© 1968-2011 Wilton

The Year Was 1968.

Shown is a cake for a Duck Hunter that I found in one of the very first Wilton cake decorating books.

I asked today’s Wilton Brand, if I could republish this photograph for the enjoyment of the Waterfowler Community and they said yes.

“Wilton helps families celebrate! For 80 years, Wilton has been the industry leader in cake decorating, quality bakeware and food crafting.” –from http://www.wilton.com/

Secret Morel Spot

 

Yes, we have a secret Morel spot. This spot is located in our next-door neighbor’s front yard. When I came home tonight there was a pile of Morels on our porch. I remember our neighbor saying he gets Morels some years.

I brought these inside and as I was getting ready to snap some photos, the bell rang. It was our neighbor checking to see if we liked his gift of mushrooms.
 

 

The Morel is the one of the choicest Mushrooms, especially for the French. The Morel is the official State Mushroom for Minnesota. These flush in the spring and are very mysterious, being sometimes associated with fires, disturbed ground or certain trees.

I was taught that the Morel can be a “Bug House”, so I split these right away, wash and dry them.

If you don’t have a giant bone-in veal chop to put your sautéed Morels on, try this:

Sauté Morels in hot clarified butter. Add heavy cream, cooked fettuccine, shredded hard ripened cheese, nutmeg, pepper and some poppy seeds. I was originally shown this recipe with homemade, poppy seed fettuccine. If you decide to add a giant fist of lobster meat, add a splash of Amaretto too.

 

  

19th Century, Waterfowl, Wing Shooting and Shot-Gunning books, Free Online

One of my favorite pastimes is reading 19^th Century, Waterfowl, Wing Shooting and Shot-Gunning books, online.




These are digitalized, downloadable, free, and can be read online from Google books.


Most of these books are described as “profusely illustrated”.


From Google, I like to select the thumbnail view for these books and then view the numerous, full page, advertisements from the period, for shotguns, shot shells, clothing and other related items.


Trust me, if you enjoy bird hunting, you will love these books and related works.


Here are some of my favorite titles that you can click on as a link:


Shooting on upland, marsh, and stream: A series of articles written by prominent sportsmen, descriptive of hunting the upland birds of America ...


Wild fowl shooting: Containing scientific and practical descriptions of wild fowl: their resorts, habits, flights and the most successful method of hunting them

An illustrated treatise on the art of shooting, with extracts from the best authorities