DECEMBER 2004 NEWSLETTER
© Bruce Buck, editor

NEW MEMBER SPONSORS…

Do you have a shooter you’d like to propose to the Travelers for membership in
2005? Now’s the time! New member sponsors can email Al Anglace at aaa738@aol.com
concerning prospective new members before January 8, 2005 and Al will send them
an application and instructions on how to proceed. When the application is
returned and approved Al will contact the proposed member with an invitation to
attend our Annual Meeting in February and a copy of our 2005 Calendar.


CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
East Mountain Preserve
November 14, 2004

“As the days dwindle down to a precious few…” Mushy songs aside, one of the
great things about our sport is that you can shoot all the year around. Just
bundle up a bit and if your hands get cold, wrap them around those hot barrels.

This year, the weather for our Club Championships was just a little wintrier
than usual. Temperatures were in the high 30s, there was a little snow on the
ground and the wind was brisk. None of that stopped 102 would-be Connecticut
Traveler champions from showing up and duking it out for bragging rights and top
dog status of the NorthEast’s largest sporting clays association.

East Mountain’s George Holomakoff’s targets are always a challenge. Or maybe it
was the first really cold day of shooting for a lot of the people. But the
upshot was that no one broke an 80. Still, the good guys shot better than the
almost good guys and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Station Ten was the brute. It was a simple report pair of 90 degree crossers
thrown slightly downhill. They jumped around in the wind a little bit. Of
course, they were also well over 50 yards out there while they did that jumping.
The best score I heard of on that station was 4x8, but most people considered
themselves lucky to just hit one. In less windy conditions I’m sure that the
average score would have rocketed up to perhaps 2 out of 8. Every course is
entitled to one station like this. Have you ever patterned your gun at 55 yards?
Don’t do it on a full stomach.

Station three was great fun. It had two huge looping, sliding, chandelle/teal
type targets that came in from far on the shooter’s right, arcing high in front
of him and then sliding this way and that as they descended. It was a two
machine presentation, so the birds had very different trajectories. You could
shoot them on the way up, cresting or on the way down as they did their Frisbee
thing. People tried everything and those who managed to keep their heads down
hard on their stocks had good success. Those who peeked didn’t. If ever a
station rewarded wood to wood, this was it.

Station five was a more standard set of chandelles (Miss Manners asks that you
note the correct spelling. It’s not “chondelle” or “chondel”. Of course, if you
can actually hit them, you have earned the right to mis-spell the name any way
you wish.) Many people have the best luck with chandelles by treating them just
as a crosser and attempting to ignore the vertical component. This works well
enough if you can take the chandelles at the top or just before it.
Unfortunately, station five forced you to take them late when they were in full
descent. Some people had good luck taking this bird using the “box” method. Say
the chandelle is flying right to left and dropping heavily. Envision a rectangle
with its upper right corner containing the crossing dropping bird. Then just
move the gun to shoot at the lower left rectangle corner where the bird will be
when the shot arrives. Nothing simpler if you can envision the right sized
rectangle.

When dealing with a chandelle, make sure to take note of where the trap is and
where the bird lands. Knowing the distance the bird covers will give you a sense
of its lateral speed. The arcing vertical component of a chandelle or battue is
often over estimated at the expense of underestimating its lateral travel speed.
In short, sometimes we pay too much attention to the up and down and not enough
to the left and right.

Station nine was a criss-cross pair on the hillside above the shooter. Everyone
hit the 5>11 o’clock first bird, but very few managed the 7>2 o’clock second
bird. The difficulty of the second bird seemed to surprise shooters because it
was one of those shots that was trickier than it seemed. The moral here is to
watch how the previus shooters on your squad deal with the targets. If everyone
is having trouble with one particular bird, pay extra attention to it while you
await your turn. Learn from those who shoot in front of you. Note the pickup and
break points of the successful shooters as well as the failures. Those who
ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Station two is a new station at East Mountain. It’s a pair or rabbits that you
shoot from a platform. The first rabbit is from a machine under the platform and
goes straight away. The shot is at 25 feet or so on an edge-on fleeing, bounding
bunny. You’d be amazed at how many people shoot in front of this target. Don’t
ask me how I know. Shoot at the back edge and let your gun speed to the rest.
It’s seldom missed behind. Some people have luck starting the gun to one side of
the rabbit and swinging slightly across.

The rest of the stations were challenging but fair. Winter time sun glare is an
issue on any course that is shot in a circle. The attempt is always made to keep
shots into the sun low, but the sun is also low at this time of the year. It’s
just one of those things you have to deal with.

We had a three way tie of 79s for first place. The shoot-off was a tricky criss
cross pair of chandelles. It was made even more challenging by the fact that the
birds were served up after Chef Marc’s delicious luncheon. Well, maybe the extra
ballast helped. Russ Tagliareni hit them all to edge out Richie Frisella and
Mark Latakas who each missed one. It was interesting to note that Russ, our 2004
Travelers club champion, shoots a Beretta 391 gas gun, while Richie used the new
Browning Cynergy O/U and Mark preferred a Ruger O/U. At the shoot I saw a
surprising number of the English-spec Andrew Litt Perazzi sporters. The Japanese
Brownings and Beretta 391s are still by far the most popular, followed by the
Beretta O/Us. Maybe we’ll all get new guns for Christmas?

HOA RUSS TAGLIARENI 79
I-1 Richie Frisella 79
I-2 Butch Tennison 74*
I-3 Larry Prather 74
II-1 Mark Latakas 79
II-2 George Parsons 73
II-3 Rich Russo 72
III-1 Ron Leonardi 71
III-2 Kevin Kruelski 70
III-3 Dan Oak 64
IV-1 Mike Fabano 67
IV-2 Lans Christensen 66
IV-3 Tim Tice 65
V-1 Bruce Hoheb 60
V-2 Bill Piciulli 59
V-3 Vin Repaci 53
VI-1 Donna Galotto 37
VI-2 Simone Renzuella 30*
VI-3 Doris Willinger 30
Msdm Lorraine DeVito 64
Ldy-1 Ginny Tennison 59
Ldy-2 Deb Christensen 54
Ldy-3 Valerie Hovasapian 52
SrVet Al Anglace 77
Vet-1 John Lawlor 77
Vet-2 George Ostrander 75
Vet-3 Butch Tennison 74
Jr-1 Ben Slome 46
Guest John Hunter 61

JUNIOR OLYMPIAN…

Mike Fabano, one of our own Connecticut Traveler junior shooters, was selected by the NRA to attend the junior training camp at the US Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs this past summer. His specialty is Olympic bunker trap. He also competed in the Junior Olympics in August. He shoots both sporting and bunker with equal aplomb. Shades of British sporting champion and Olympic gold medalist Richard Faulds!

2005 MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS…

Well, we fibbed to you. November was not the last month to renew your
membership. December is. Those of you who have not yet renewed should receive
your third (and positively last) membership renewal form with this newsletter.
If you need one, contact Dick Orenstein at <oren@umich.edu> or call him at
203-226-5251. We hope you’ll stay with us. Those of you who have renewed won’t
get another form and can sleep the sleep of the just.



THANK YOU…

Joyce Anglace wants to thank all of the many, many, many Travelers who sent her
expressions of concern and good wishes during her recent surgery. The kind
thoughts were much appreciated and helped sustain her during her long hospital
stay. She is progressing well now at home.


PRICE INCREASE…

Well, it was inevitable sooner or later. In 2005 the Connecticut Travelers will
have to raise our average shoot price $5. We’ve been able to hold our prices
constant for over half a dozen years in spite of rising costs. We still think
that the Travelers offer a real bargain in shooting and hope that you agree with
us.

WINTER HINTS…

Now that cold weather is upon us, here are a couple of hints about shooting in
winter weather.

Consider wearing just a warm shirt under your usual shooting vest and then
wearing a heavy winter coat over everything. When you shoot, just remove the
coat for the few minutes the station takes. This way you will stay nice and warm
most of the time, but you won’t have to wrestle with bulky clothing when you try
to mount your gun.

In winter you get to go inside at night, but the targets don’t. They get cold.
When they get cold, they get hard and are more difficult to break. Consider
using #7-1/2s for more of your shots than you would in the summer. The extra
energy may just crack a frozen bird that a smaller pellet would have bounced
off.

Also, don’t get discouraged by the dust you see off the new bio targets. They
really aren’t any harder than the old pitch ones. It’s just the pitch targets
generated black dust which was hard to see. The new bios generate a greyish
white dust that really stands out against a blue winter sky. It makes you think
that you are fringing a lot more birds, but you really aren’t. You are just
seeing the dust that you didn’t see before. Still, it’s amazing how many birds
get fringed and not broken. The NSCA rule is very clear on this. A visible piece
must come off the bird to count as a kill. Dust is NOT a visible piece. Sorry
about that.

Finally, in winter give some thought to cleats on your boots if the paths have
snow and ice on them. You will have a gun in one hand and a shell bag in the
other. You can’t afford a fall. Numerous companies make strap on or elastic
cleats that you can slip on over your boots. Be smart. Take advantage of them.


MISS MANNERS TAKES NOTE OF DISAPPOINTMENT'S DEPORTMENT...

After his third drive over the water hazard, and his third ominous "kerplunk",
the thrice cursed golfer casts the offending wedgie niblick into the water.
Reconsidering for a moment, he then tosses in the entire bag of clubs before
sloshing off.

Half an hour later he shamefacedly sidles back to the pond, removes his shoes
and socks, and plunges in to retrieve the clubs and bag.

Has he learned his lesson on controlling temper? Is he contrite? Back on dry
land, he unzips the side pocket of the bag, removes his car keys and, with a
primal scream, hurls the bag back into the water.

Of course, sporting clays shooters would never do something so foolish. We are
much too well mannered. Unlike golfers, we do not sink to wearing funny green
pants with little whales on them. The story of the Lordship skeeter who, in a
paroxysm of rage, flung his Krieghoff far into the bounding main is probably
apocryphal. Besides, that is skeet, where even a single miss blots the family
escutcheon. Travelers are used to missing a lot and have learned to cope with
the humiliation.

Miss Manners notes that when there are little tantrum problems about missed
clays, it is usually on the part of the newer shooters. These novitiates feel
that everyone is watching them and that the audience really cares whether or not
they post a 38 or a 39. The good guys, those to whom hitting or missing a
particular target may mean a championship, try to take it all in stride. They
have been there before.

The better shooters know that fussing about one miss inevitably leads to another
miss. They also know that what the red gods of clays grant at one moment, they
jealously snatch back at another.

The errant shooter, who is having a bad day and dropping birds like a November
maple drops leaves, should take heart. He is bound to be one of the more
popular people around. Everyone just loves someone that they can beat. It gives
them unbridled license to coach and express erudite opinions on gun fit and
shell selection. The individual suffering the bad day is the perfect candidate
for such attentions and may note his popularity increase as his scores plummet.
It is just the way of things.

Today's behavioral scientists have even gotten into the act. Modern science has
classified sporting clays shooters into three sub-species of the genus. It is
based upon the individual subject's reaction to disappointment:

Missibus nonchalantus-

This particular specimen treats hits and misses exactly the same. He pretends
to ignore it all and proceeds to the next target with a stiff upper lip. This
sang froid approach does not appear to be very much fun, but at least it is not
intrusive. It is Miss Manners approved, but not Miss Manners encouraged. Do
not seat her next to one of these cold fish at a dinner party. Shooters are
supposed to have a little fun and really do not have to sit up so straight.

Frowniferous hootibus-

Small facial expressions and little grunts mark this type of shooter. He knows
that public display of emotion after each shot is inappropriate, but he just
cannot help some tiny yelp of triumph or involuntary grimace of pain on a shot
well made or badly buggered. Most shooters fall into this sub-species, although
they may not be aware of it and think that they are acting more like the
missibus nonchalantus. There is nothing wrong with being a little human. It is
a game after all. Even Miss Manners has been known to emit the occasional
"Drat!" or "My Goodness!"

Strutum cockadoodledooibus-

This is the ham actor of target shooters and the bane of squad mates everywhere.
Each miss is cause for Greek tragedy histrionics. Each hit has more end zone
dancing than a rookie's first touchdown. Everyone hopes that each shoot will be
this shooter's last. This genus is virtually never seen at Connecticut
Travelers shoots, but has been known to briefly appear elsewhere- often in cute
green trousers with little whales.


LEAD PRICES…

The price of lead has skyrocketed in the past year, yet an interesting
opportunity for arbitrage has arisen. Bagged lead for reloading has gone up
dramatically in price, but factory promotional grade shells have fallen in
price. As lead is a major cost component of a shotgun shell, this can’t last.

This would be a very, very good time to stock up on low cost shotshells and
perhaps a nice time to give your reloader a rest. Even at the best prices, a box
of 1-1/8 oz reloads will cost you around $2.50 to make. Wholesale prices for
promo Remington Gun Club, Wolf and PMC ammo is about $3.00 per box. Add a fair
markup for the dealer and it still is a bargain. That’s what ammo used to cost
25 years ago. It makes you wonder if we’ve haven’t been overpaying all these
years.


GUN PRICES…

Most of the shotguns we use are made in countries with Euro or Yen denominated
currencies. The US dollar has sunk 40% in value against the Euro in the past
three years. That means that a $2000 gun from Europe now costs $2800 before any
adjustment for a particular country’s inflation rate. According to US Federal
Reserve Board Chairman Greenspan, it’s not going to better any time sooner
either.

The Italian gun industry has been particularly hard hit and orders for this
spring delivery are off. Look for more and more gun production to go to non-Euro
denominated countries like Turkey (Beretta just built a Stoeger plant there),
Russia and China.

Look also for relative bargains in used guns. But then you always knew that.





*** 2004 CTSCA SHOOTING CALENDAR ***

DEC 19 DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL SHOOT /CHRISTMAS PARTY- MID COUNTY, NY * Shoot
schedules are subject to last minute change. Always consult the current edition
of “Reload!” Therein lies the truth. At least our version of it at this
particular time…


DON’T WORRY. WE’LL HAVE THE 2005 SCHEDULE IN THE JANUARY NEWSLETTER.


*** OTHER 2004 SHOOTS OF INTEREST ***
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, CALL AHEAD TO CONFIRM

DEC 5 CHRISTMAS SHOOT -NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT (860-738-3619)
DEC 12 50 BIRD FUN SHOOT-WALLINGFORD R&G, CT (203-265-1012)




CONTACTING THE TRAVELERS...

CTSCA Home Office: Email <ctsca @email.com> (by far the best way) or telephone
860-354-9351 if you absolutely must.

Membership, Address Changes and Shooting Class status: Contact Cyndi Dalena at
860-582-3142 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Or Email <shotguncyndi@prodigy.net>.

Guide Book questions, contact Dick Orenstein <oren@umich.edu> or call
203-226-5251.

To place an ad, post a shoot date in Reload! or simply heap abuse on the editor,
contact Bruce Buck at tel: 203-454-1080 or email: <bcb23@columbia.edu>.








**** THE UPCOMING TRAVELERS MONTHLY SHOOT ****

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2004
THE DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL CHRISTMAS PARTY SHOOT
MID-COUNTY GUN CLUB
LAGRANGEVILLE, NY

It’s Christmas Party time! Our most popular shoot of the year, this is when we
honor Dick’s memory and celebrate another fabulous Travelers year. We will also
be naming our annual CONNECTICUT TRAVELERS SPORTING SPORTSMAN recipient. There
will be gifts aplenty with prizes and lots of lucky raffles. Of course, the
gifts won’t extend to the course, which will be the usual tough love. Well,
rumor has it that even course designers get the Christmas spirit and in that
spirit, this will be a fun shoot. That means the scorecards will be kept for
fond memories and for the many raffle prizes, but not for any shooting awards.
We shoot for fun this time.

The shoot will cost $65 for members. In the past this has been a members only
shoot, but this time we will open it up to guests at $75 as long as we can keep
the total under 150. First come, first served, so sign up early. There are
usually just bags and bags of loot to be handed out to good little boy and girl
Travelers. Fasting for a few days before the shoot wouldn’t be a bad idea
either. The banquets that the Mid-County members cook for us are always
memorable. We must have your shoot reservations in our hands no later than
Wednesday, December 15th. No-shows and cancellations after that date cannot be
refunded and their entry fees will be donated to our Traveler’s charity. Arrive
by 9:00 AM and check your name off at the registrar’s table. Then, and only
then, can you begin your assault on those mounds of Dunkin Donuts and gallons of
Colombian dark roast high test Java.

At this time of year, we are all mindful of the blessings showered upon us. It
is right and proper to give a little something back. The Travelers participate
in the well-known United States Marines Corps “Toys for Tots” program. We hope
that every Traveler attending the Christmas shoot will bring a NEW, UNWRAPPED
child’s toy to donate. Even if you can’t attend the shoot, perhaps you could
give the toy to a shooting friend to bring for you.

DIRECTIONS to Mid-County Gun Club, Lagrangeville, NY: From the Route
84/Taconic intersection, take Taconic North for about 10 miles to Rte 55 East
exit. Go East (right turn) on Rte 55 for about 1 mile to Rte 55/Rte 82
intersection. Turn Left and follow Rte 82 for about 1 mile to County Road 89 on
Right. Turn Right onto County Road 89 and follow it for 3_ miles to club
entrance on Right. Mid-County’s telephone number is 845-677-5736.

REMEMBER, EYE PROTECTION IS MANDATORY AT ALL TRAVELERS SHOOTS.