Huge article on the SBT in this latest, Winter issue 2011 of Double Gun Mag. It covers the subject pretty well. Great pics too. Come to find out there were six made in 20 gauge and they got one to write the article. Almost all have 32 inch tubes, but not all are full choke. Trap shooting in the teens was quite the deal. People showed up dressed to the 9's. It was very popular. Women shot too. Apparently it was the advent of the clay skeet that made the difference. Live pigeon shooting was expensive (they charged the shooter a $1 a bird and usually shot 50.) They specially raised the birds. Not all of them flew when they opened the "traps" they had to be trained to do so. I guess birds that were missed flew back home. Don't pigeons do that?
They often times used a baseball diamond to shoot in. The PETA folks of the time made a big stink about it and shooting live birds became less and less popular. Clay birds don't bleed and shooting them removed any stigma.
Now, I have killed a great many birds and the thought of shooting live birds doesn't matter much to me. I think pigeon shooting, the way they did it way back then, sounds like a ball. Just think, go to Central Park in New York, toss out some corn and have at it. You could shoot pigeons until your arms fall off. In NY they complain about the little beasties, calling them flying rats. The simple solution would be to shoot them; great fun! Never happen tho.
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