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Originally Posted by Todd Poer
Great story Mark. Yea we talk about Churchill method of instinctual shooting, gun mount, gun fitting, footwork, etc. etc. The old timers just did it and could probably out shoot most standing on their heads if they had to. Those old heavy gas operated 1100's were some soft shooting guns. What was the old saying, a 1100 is a 12 gauge that kicks like a 20. Did your dad happen to wear glasses? Even if he didn't it sounds like he was not shooting a whole lot of followup shots in succession, which is easy to do with an 1100.
Since a lefty myself and not optically challenged yet I never shot with glasses when I had an 1100. I don't think they ever made a lefty version of that gun until maybe in the last 10 years. Since nowhere as good a shot as your dad I shot a lot more chasing them doves. After an afternoon hunt I would look like I came out of a Kentucky coal mine. Ya know your suppose to shoot with your eyes open but after more than a few of those spent cartridges with slow burning powder flies across your face with some still smoldering residue blowing into your eyes, you can't help but close your eyes and almost develop a flinch.
Still remember the first time I shot my dad's Parker VH 16 in a dove field. It was heaven not having powder burns, been hooked since.
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Later in life, I gave my Dad a lefty 1187 Premier 12. He shot it just as well as any other gun he handled. I shot it a few times, and just cannot imagine shooting like that all the time!
Dad did wear glasses, but very rarely shot twice, he would just call a miss a miss. Also, although he always had one of our Setters trained to retrieve, they were never good enough to be reliable on doubles, as they were primarily “sight” retrieves, and Dad was serious about not getting up from that bucket. Funny, shooting quail, he would walk all day! But I think he considered Dove “hunting” a combination of target shooting and beer drinking! Those auto’s he used only for dove hunting, quail hunting was a German Empire grade Daly 12 O/U with the ejectors disabled, he also shot skeet with that gun. He had a rabid opinion about spent hulls, and it was an anathema to him to leave a spent hull on the ground. It was a rule for my brother and I to bring back at least as many empties as shots we took, and the old man would count them every time, and if they didnt add up, we were sent to find either the shells we didnt pick up, or some someone else has discarded.