aiming

An Illustrated Guide to Making the 10 Toughest Shots on Deer

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0500

Rifles: Stock Exchange

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 07:15:00 -0500

Chemistry never appealed to me except on those occasions when a student would screw up in the lab and produce such a godless and mephitic stench that we would get the rest of the afternoon off. I began to appreciate chemistry more when the first synthetic stocks appeared, because they revolutionized rifle making. For the very first time, shooters had absolutely stable, lightweight stocks that were stronger than wood. But there was and still is a minus side: Even with an imaginative paint job and a nice shape, a synthetic stock lacks the beauty and character of wood.

Then there are laminated wood stocks, which have been around for decades. They are strong and stable, but they look like what they are: thin slabs of wood glued together and stained in depressing colors.

THE ALTERNATIVE
But now, as former President Bubba used to say, there is a third way. Serengeti Stockworks in Kalispell, Montana (406-756-2399; serengetistockworks.com) builds laminated walnut stocks that are stable yet look like natural wood. Serengeti uses a proprietary process in which a solid-walnut blank is sawn into five unequal slabs. Before the five pieces are glued together, however, their grains are arranged so the direction of each opposes that of the next. You end up with three thin inner stabilizing layers that lie along the length of the barrel and action, and two thick outer layers that supply the stock with its natural looks. How natural? My gun dealer, who handles many high-grade firearms, didn't spot the laminations until I pointed them out.

CHOICES
There are eight Serengeti basic stock profiles and a choice of three woods (California English, California Claro, or Bastogne) available in four grades. Serengeti also offers a mind-boggling list of options: checkering, grip caps, glass bedding, and more.

You can restock as thrifty or as expensive as you please. For example, you can buy an A-grade blank for $195. Serengeti will semi-inlet and finish it for $200, and you or your gunsmith can do the rest of the work. Or you can have Serengeti do the whole job, which they did on my Weatherby Mark V Accumark in .300 Weatherby Magnum. That gun now has a Merlin-profile stock made from AAA-grade Claro walnut, custom oil-finished, ebony fore-end tip, reinforcing crossbolts with ebony plugs, Dakota steel grip cap, and shadowline cheekpiece. The total cost, with action bedding, was $2,240-not cheap, but this is first-class work.

BUT DOES IT SHOOT?
With its original factory stock, my Weatherby shot .828 inch with handloads using 180-grain Swift Scirocco bullets. It now groups the same load in .720 inch.

I shot the newly stocked rifle at the beginning of a tropical September, when it was so hot and humid that the targets wilted in my hand. A second session at the end of October, with the temperature 58 degrees lower and the humidity 62 points less, did not move the point of impact. I will keep shooting as the weather changes and let you know how it does.

Pheasant Finesse

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:05:00 -0400

On opening day last fall, my friend Dave confidently raised his gun to shoot the first rooster of the year. At precisely that moment, a hen flushed between his boots and tried to fly up his pants leg, its wing tips battering against his brier chaps. Dave jumped several feet and emptied his gun. The rooster flew on unscathed.

That's the most spectacular miss I've ever seen on a rooster but far from the only one. At 3 pounds, with short, stubby wings, pheasants make a fat target with a white aiming ring draped around their necks. They live in wide open country. Most of the shots they present are going away or quartering, which requires little forward allowance. Yet every year, thousands of hunters stand stupefied in fields, empty shells at their feet and a healthy ringneck a dot on the horizon, asking themselves, How could I ever have missed that one?

How, indeed? Here's how not to, starting with your first boot step:

STAY ON HIGH ALERT Pheasants escape by catching hunters unaware. One minute you're trudging along, eyes on the ground; the next, there's a big, loud copper-colored bird in your face and you're scrambling to get the gun on him. That's why you have to believe a bird can flush at your feet with every step you take. Keep your eyes up and expect a bird to pop into your field of view. Imagine pheasants scooting unseen ahead of you, because they are. Be especially alert as you approach any place where they might sit tight or fly, such as the end of a grass strip or food plot, a field corner, or someplace where the cover turns from heavy to light.

FOCUS ON THE RING Even when you're paying attention, a flushing pheasant startles you. After 25 years of chasing them, I still hear a frantic little voice in my head saying, There it is! Rooster! Don't screw up! Aaauugh!

How you convert that panic into action during the next split second determines whether you will hit or miss. Jerk the gun up and start pulling the trigger in self-defense, and you'll miss. As often as not, you hear a bird flush before you see it. Get your eyes on the target: not the pheasant, but the white ring around his neck. You need to edit out all the color and noise of the beating wings and the long, snapping tail, and draw your focus down ("like pulling the drawstring on a duffel bag," as one target shooter puts it) until your eyes are on the ring or the head. As your gaze settles, take a short step toward the bird with your left foot (if you're right-handed). Bring the gun to a ready position, parallel to the ground, butt lightly under your arm, muzzles pointed in the direction of the bird. Do not start swinging the gun at it until you see it clearly.

BE SMOOTH Forget about speed. Smoothness will put this bird in the bag. Trace its flight with the muzzle as you bring the gun to your face. English shooters describe the swing-through method as "butt, belly, beak, bang."

EYES ON THE BIRD, NOT THE BEAD A pheasant beating its way across a huge field of grass invites measured aiming. Drawing a bead is a phrase that should be purged from the language of shotgunning. When your eye goes from the bird to the barrel to check your lead, the gun stops, and you miss so far behind that you won't even ruffle those 2-foot-long tail feathers. Rather, keep your eyes on the pheasant and shoot the instant the butt hits your shoulder.

DON'T LOOK UP You still have one last chance to miss. If you lift your head the better to see the pheasant fall, you'll watch him fly away instead. But if you keep your cheek on the stock, he'll be on the ground. Go get him.

Pheasant Finesse

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:05:00 -0400

How, indeed? Here's how not to, starting with your first boot step: