John, Mal often shoots a Purdey hammer pigeon gun with very tight chokes. On the skeet field he consistently breaks 24 and 25's. He prefers full choke for both skeet and sporting clays. That day was the first time he used that gun and he broke a 95x100 if I remember correctly. I was runner up with an 83 I think. All targets were within the range of a skeet choke, if anyone had a handicap it was Mal. He is a gifted shooter and nice guy to share a beer and pizza with after the shoot.
I am a firm believer it is hard to handicap a good shooter. Back in the 90's when hand fed traps were still prevalent in ATA trap shooting, the old Winchester traps were set in the 2 hole for soft angles. The ATA made a rule one year for 3 hole targets with the idea it would help even the competition. Singles and Handicap, nothing changed, the leader board was still filled with same usual names with the same great scores.
To digress a bit. Back in the 70's there was a Can-Am sponsored moto cross racer named Jimmy Ellis. I was at a motocross track in Maine and he was there. They put Jimmy 100 yards behind the starting line of the 250cc Pro class, facing backwards with a dead engine. He still managed to catch the field and win the race.
It's hard to beat God given talent whether it's in shotgun sports or racing.
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