I had the good fortune to spend this Sunday shooting with several friends in the area of DePauw, Indiana, not far from the Louisville, KY metro area. We enjoyed a very informal gathering on the farm of my best friend's father where we fired a number of fine (and not so fine) guns at ranges from ten to almost four-hundred yards. Several Parkers were on hand but specifically, the all-original 30" 12 gauge Trojan I acquired this past week. What an incredible performance this old girl turned in today!
I received a case of 250 shells from Holland & Holland several weeks ago and tested those against a cardboard target at thirty yards distance in my little 16 gauge Trojan imp/mod bird gun. Absolutely flawless! Recoil was as one would expect and the patterns produced were quite equalized, with no significant gaps out to around forty yards. This combination will make life difficult on the grouse, woodcock, and quail of the area. We all knew the little sixteen would perform like a champ, so that was no real surprise. The British shells only seemed to ramp up the little gun's performance.
The 30" 12 gauge is just ridiculous in patterning. We didn't do any formal patterning work with it, but at one point were shooting at a 55-yard 3'x3' target (visible just behind Kyle's shoulder in this pic). There were only a couple of areas on the paper that an awkwardly positioned gray squirrel may have survived. There's magic afoot here, boys! I'll be getting some bismuth and taking this old girl to the marshes for duck in early winter. Here's an offhand shot of Kyle firing the twelve at a nearby cardboard early in the shoot. Needless to say, the full-choke pattern covered about 6-8 inches at this range with the wad punching a clean hole in the target:
Kyle's a young fellow who is still leaning toward his 870's and Benellis, but his eyes change a bit when he handles one of my Parkers. He grows quiet and handles them with something easily mistaken for reverence, which gives me hope.
This very large mantid hung around with us all afternoon. Over six inches long, it was an impressive thing to say the least. At one point, I noticed that as Kyle walked around the back of my truck to shoot, the mantis turned almost 180 degrees to peer downrange, as if watching to see how Kyle would do against his chosen target. Kyle's father and I noted and enjoyed this show immensely.
There are known to be two smaller coveys of quail in this field and the adjoining one on the ridge top beyond, and we hope to harvest at least a couple or three birds from it when the season finally opens. We've enjoyed many squirrel and rabbit hunts on this parcel, always limiting our bag to "one or two."
Parkers afield in southern Indiana...
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