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FEBRUARY 2000 NEWSLETTER © Bruce Buck, editor

Well, we did it again. The Mid-Winter Martyrdom shoot was a total
failure. Not a frozen martyr in sight. The weather was almost balmy.
We only had three inches of snow, virtually no wind and the
temperature actually got up to freezing. This is the third year
running without the excessive suffering and abject misery eagerly
anticipated at our deep winter shoot. Mutha Nature is missing the
point.

However, in spite of the pleasant weather, we had a great shoot with
marvelous targets, gourmet/gourmand lunch and lavish prizes, all at a
fair price. This is what the Travelers do better than anyone, winter
or summer, good weather or bad.

Our shoot had 93 guns and a stratospheric 66 average. This is a good
bit higher score than last year, reflecting not only the Olympian
skill of the participants, but a little bit of millennium
soft-heartedness. The Travelers do not give away many 90s. Last year
an 80 won this shoot.

As always East Mountain made marvelous use of their steep mountainside
terrain, gently sloping adjoining land and flat fields. Station #1
started with a simo-pair of R>L battues. Bats shouldn’t cause as much
trouble as they do. Everyone seems to fixate on the vertical component
and forgets just how fast they are moving as crossers. The people who
shoot bats best try to take them a bit early as pure crossers and
forget about the vertical aspect. If you concentrate on moving your
gun up and down to handle the drop, you will just about always stop it
and shoot behind. Shoot fast bats early enough so that they aren’t
dropping too much and just pretend they are crossers. Of course, slow,
looping bats are a different thing entirely…

Station #3 is a trademark station for East Mountain. It’s a true pair
of R>L crossers, thrown down hill and falling to earth about 30 yards
in front of the shooter. Everyone shoots over them. The problem is
that not only are the birds dying on their own, but they are also
being thrown parallel to a downward slope. Thus, they are really
dropping fast, but only seem to be dropping normally. Once again,
look at the lay of the land when assessing trajectories.

#5 was a pretty straight forward true pair quartering away from the
left side, but they also a little fast. The hooker was that the pair
was a 90 and a 110. You wanted to take the 90 first before it turned
to a dot on the horizon, but the 110 was the first bird off the arm.
The instinct was to take the 110 first, but it proved better to wait
for the 90 and then get the 110. This is one station where a bunch of
choke and #7 1/2s (especially in winter when the targets are harder) gave
you the luxury of being able to wait them out.

This particular course had a few "confidence builders" or "breather"
stations. The chandelles on #4 and standard rabbits on #2 fall into
this category. The trouble with this sort of station is that if you
miss the gimmes, your conficence is shattered, you run out of breath
and hari kiri begins to look like a viable alternative.

#10 had a cute "flipper" bird combined with a hot quartering away. The
flipper is a 90 mm placed on a rabbit arm that swings horizontally
like a regular bird, rather than rolled on edge underhand the way most
rabbits are. It spins through the air end over end like a flipped
coin. I hadn’t seen this presentation before, but was told that
Fairfield has been running if a bit.

My favorite stations are always the ones which force the shooter to
make hard choices, especially when there are advantages and
disadvantages whichever way you go.

#9 had a split simo pair being thrown uphill and #11 was a split pair
off a high tower behind. In both cases, you could take either bird
first. When choosing your personal sequence, make sure that you don’t
just slavishly follow the shooter in front and do what he does. Think
it out for yourself. He may be stronger on short birds, while your
strength may be in long ones. Shoot the pair in the order which favors
your strengths.

The shoot went quickly and after a modest three hours on the course,
the Travelers were all enjoying a marvelous catered lunch of roast
turkey, fresh Waldorf salad and chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding!
Oh frabjous joy!

The awards constituted gift certificates to future Travelers shoots.
These are popular awards. Deluxe too, if you do the math. The awards
averaged $55. Times 28 awards, that’s over $1,500 in prizes. Not too
shabby.

In spite of the fact that all Travelers were reclassified at the
beginning of the year so that no one had the slightest chance of
winning, some people did beat the odds. Most notable was our very own
El Jefe Supremo, Travelers President Al Anglace, who took it all with
a the only 90 of the day. He won this shoot last year too. Perhaps
that beard keeps him warm in winter and gives him an edge.

HOA AL ANGLACE 90
I-1 George Ostrander 88*
I-2 Gene Csisak 88
I-3 Mike Horodyski 86s
II-1 Peter Wicker 85
II-2 Bruce Buck 82
II-3 John Hunter 79*
III-1 Jasen Jasensky 76
III-2 George Parsons 73
III-3 Craig Hovey 72*
IV-1 Frank Cippolino 68
IV-2 Jim Henion 67
IV-3 Frank Bareis 66*
V-1 Andy McEvoy 62
V-2 Vince Repaci 60
V-3 Danni Jesudowich 55
VI-1 Craig Johnson 66
VI-2 Jonathan Tessier 24
Lady-1 Cyndi Dalena 69
Lady-2 AnnaMaria Collins 68
Lady-3 Olive Lawlor 64
Vet-1 Joe Maresca 88
Vet-2 John Mohler 80
Vet-3 Ed Moritt 76
Jr-1 Luke Sproviero 51
Guest Bob Mastroianni 77*
* ties decided by tie-breaker stations

NEW MEMBERS… As promised, all 1999 members who had not renewed their
memberships by January 31, 2000 have been dropped from the Travelers
rolls. We want to thank them for shooting with us and we wish them
well.

And now, simply bursting with an unparalleled largesse, we are
admitting everyone from the waiting list. All four dozen. We can do
this due to clever bookkeeping. We have quite a number of members who
don’t shoot with us very often, but want to support the Travelers. We
welcome their membership, but since they don’t shoot with us much, we
figure that we can take on a few more additional people who will be
active. This may sound like the type of accounting where the Federal
gummint is saying that the deficit is doing down, when it is really
just not increasing as fast as it was. Of course, the big difference
is that the deficit is bad and more Travelers members is good. Our
shoots have been running smoothly and quickly, so we figure that we
can take the chance and expand a little bit.

New members: Welcome aboard! Old members: Welcome back! We have
started a new membership waiting list as of February 1, 2000 for those
who become interested in joining us during the coming year. Just send
the proposed names into the home office.

RST SHELLS… So many shooters have asked about the availability of RST
shells from our friends the Olsons, that we want to post their address
and telephone number so that you can contact them directly.

RST, Ltd.
PO Box 127
Seven Weston Way Ctr.
Conway, NH 03813-0127
contact: George Olson
Tel: 603-447-6769
Fax: 603-447-1856

Nice shells. Nice people.


TRAVELERS FITASC… As we are writing this, your Travelers are exploring
setting up a first rate FITASC shoot at Richie Frisella’s Peace Dale
Shooting Grounds in Rhode Island. Richie throws some of the best
targets you will ever see- just the right blend of humor and sadism.

We are trying to find a FITASC date in late spring and will let you
know as soon as we come up with one.

NAME TAGS… Many years of experience have proven to us that a Travelers
name tag is more convenient for most members than a Travelers tattoo.
Of course, the choice is still yours, but if you wish a genuine
Travelers name tag in the immediate future, get your name into Al
Anglace (email: AAA738@aol.com or tel: 860-354-9351) before the annual
meeting on February 20. You can also give him your name there if you
attend the meeting.

After the annual meeting, we will be offering the name tags directly
from the engraver. No, I don’t have a price, but it is less than
Tabatha at Painless Dermaflicks charges for her needle artistry.

Every Traveler really should have a name tag. It isn’t so much that
you will forget who you are and have to check your tag for a reminder,
but it is a polite convenience for those who see you only once a
month. In addition to being a dedicated shooting organization, the
Travelers is also a social group, so names are important.

AVERAGES AND CLASSES… Now that the new year has started, our
all-knowing ScoreMeister Cyndi Dalena has reclassified everyone so
that it is now impossible for anyone to win anything. This lady is a
genius. The new class breaks are:

Class I - 72.64 and up
Class II - 63.33 - 72.63
Class III - 57.41 - 63.32
Class IV - 48.72 - 57.40
Class V - 34.81 - 48.71
Class VI - 0.00 - 34.80

As a reminder, the way that it works is that all Travelers are
reclassified twice a year- January 1st and July 1st. Thus everyone
gets a clean start twice year. During the half year, you move up in
class by improving your average or by winning your class. A class win
automagically bumps you up.

At the end of the half year, all the shooters who had averages are
ranked top to bottom. The top 10% go into class I. Then we put 20%
into each of classes II-V. Finally class VI gets 10%. We do it this
way because we feel that Class I is an elite group of shooters and we
should leave some room for people to move into it. We leave Class VI
with 10% so that they have a bit more of a chance to win something and
get some encouragement.

MISS MANNERS AND THE CHIPS... [This parable, a re-run from February
1995, is included in RELOAD! even though its subject has not been a
problem at Travelers' shoots. The situation does arise upon occasion
at open shoots elsewhere and our members should recognize it for what
it is.]

It was recess and Miss Manners' eagle eyes swept over her little flock
of future world citizens at play. Even at the age of eight their
personalities were clearly surfacing. Future Tarzans mixed with
rudimental Nietzches. Little Marie Antoinettes played with budding
Betty Friedans. Embryonic sustained lead shooters chased after
elementary little swing through advocates.

Over past the sandbox, three children who lacked the benefit of Miss
Manners tutelage were playing marbles as a fourth child watched in
tears. Miss Manners went over and questioned them. It turned out that
the gang of three had decided to change the rules half way through the
game and thus captured all of the fourth marble player's migs and
steelies.

The petite school marm squinted through her glasses, adjusted her
starched lace collar, and asked if she could play. She produced an
intricately embroidered marble bag containing wondrous agates and the
finest taw catseye shooter they had ever seen. She crouched into
position with surprising agility. The playground fell silent.

The only sound was the flick of manicured thumbnail against
forefinger, followed by the solid 'thwack' of a bully's miggle sent
hurtling from the ring. The virtuoso performance continued non-stop
until all were out. The result was never in doubt. Miss Manners
gathered up all the marbles and handed them to the fourth child. She
turned to the three bullies and gravely pronounced "Sic semper
tyrannis." Unfortunately, Latin class did not start until sixth grade,
so it was lost on them.

Even rotten kids are permitted to grow up. Thirty years later those
same three prepubescent delinquents had developed into a semblance of
sporting clays shooters. Unfortunately, their morals had not kept pace
with their physical development. They always shot together because
they found that as a pack they could intimidate the occasional referee
who did not see things quite their way.

Every shooter is entitled to speak up if he thinks he saw a piece
which the referee missed, but these guys took it one step further and
made a point of 'seeing' pieces where there weren't any. They were
known as the CHIPS- 'you see a chip for me, I'll see a chip for you'.
They knew that they could each get a couple of extra birds that way
and no referee had the nerve to deny them.

They were approaching the last stand at the big State Shoot. Two of
the CHIPS were well up in the standings. They needed an extra bird or
two to ensure some trophies. The referee had his back turned, but he
was small and the three felt that he could be made to see things their
way with a little of the usual browbeating.

The first bully dutched his opening pair. "Hey ref," said one of the
others "that pair came out early. He gets to shoot them again." "The
pair was fair. Lost the pair." said the ref without turning. "Waddaya
mean 'lost'. That was a no pair!" said the third CHIP. The referee
held firm. "Lost the pair."

On the second pair the shooter hit the first and missed the second.
"Dead and lost" called the referee in an even, measured tone. "You
must be blind ref. I saw a chip off of that second one." bawled one
of the three. "Me too" cried another, endorsing the fiction of his
confederate. "Dead and lost" quoth the referee evermore.

And so it went. Each call by the referee was absolutely fair, but
stern and unyielding. The CHIPS were beside themselves. Their ploy
had always worked before. Confidence slipped as they missed even more
birds and could not buy them back. They swore to the ref that they
saw pieces. They swore on Bibles. They swore on mothers’ graves.
Finally, they just swore. The small referee with the cap, dark
glasses, and upturned collar resisted their every dishonest
imprecation and threat. They had never before met a referee they
could not intimidate.

They walked away from the station grumbling as they looked at the
scores inked on their cards. There was something familiar about that
handwriting. It reminded them of their grade school report cards. It
was then that they noticed the starched lace collar peeking out from
the referee's coat.

FILLERS

Best advice when pheasant shooting: "Shoot ‘em in the lips."

Leads on a 40 yard 35 mph 110 mm crosser using #7_s are:

1130 fps = 7.4 feet
1250 fps = 6.9 feet
1330 fps = 6.6 feet

At forty yards, Full choke should give you about the same pattern as
Skeet does at 20 yards.

The Free Recoil formula is a mathematical function of gun weight,
ejecta (shot/wad/powder) weight and ejecta speed, plus a fudge factor
for gas velocity. Nothing else.

The top barrel of an over-and-under seems to kick more because its
line of recoil is higher above the center axis of the gun than the
bottom barrel is.

Antimony, the hardening agent in lead pellets, costs about 10 times
what lead does. That’s why inexpensive promotional loads often have
softer lead.

Double AA shells really do shoot better when chambered with the AA
initials facing up.


*** 2000 CONNECTICUT TRAVELERS SHOOT SCHEDULE ***

FEB 20 EAST MOUNTAIN- ANNUAL MEETING
MAR 19p MID-HUDSON-MARCH MADNESS
APR 7-9p SPRING TRIP TO MARYLAND
APR 16p PECONIC-TAX TIME REVOLT
MAY 21p TAMARACK-MAY MINUET
JUN 18p MID HUDSON- BUSTIN’ OUT
JUL 16p ORVIS/SANDANONA-SUMMER TIME, SUMMER TIME
JUL 30p MID-COUNTY-DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL CLAMBAKE
AUG 12,13 ADDIEVILLE-GREAT EASTERN LOBSTER CLASSIC
SEPT 17 FAIRFIELD F&G- SMALL GAUGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
SEPT 30,1p FALL TRIP
OCT 15p MILLBROOK R&G-OKTOBERSCHUTZENFEST
NOV 12p FRIAR TUCK-CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
NOV 26 EAST MOUNTAIN- KOEHLER SOCIETY FUND-RAISER
DEC 17p MID-COUNTY- CHRISTMAS PARTY

"p" = Proposed date and venue. As we confirm additional dates, we
will note it on the schedule.

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

What, nothing of interest anywhere else in the land? We know it’s
winter, but come on. Gotta be some event out there in Travelers Turf
where we can shoot stuff. Everyone can’t be hibernating. Call
(203-454-1080) or Email <bbuck@juno.com> if you know of any open
shoots in our area which might interest our members.

GOING TO A SHOOT? WHY NOT ASK A FELLOW TRAVELER TO JOIN YOU? ALL THE
NAMES AND ADDRESSES ARE IN THE TRAVELERS GUIDE BOOK.

CONTACTING THE TRAVELERS...

CTSCA Home Office: Email <AAA738@aol.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) 584-1083 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Leave message.
Or Email shotguncyndi@prodigy.net

Reload! To place an ad or post a shoot date, contact Bruce Buck at
203-454-1080 (worst way) or <bbuck@juno.com> (best way). The current
and previous issues of Reload! are posted on the internet at
<www.shotgunreport.com>. Great literature never dies.


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

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2000
ANNUAL MEETING AND FUN SHOOT
EAST MOUNTAIN PRESERVE
DOVER PLAINS, NY

Our Annual Meeting, always held in February, is not really a shoot,
but naturally, being Travelers, when the meeting is over you’ll have
the chance to yank the trigger and watch 'em smoke. The Annual Meeting
will start in the club house at East Mountain at 9:00 AM sharp. Please
try to be on time or come a little early to lobby for your favorite
projects and scarf up some of those doughnuts and high test coffee
(two of the recommended basic five food groups- beer, pizza and Haagen
Daz being the other three). The meeting will last until about noon.
We will hear from President Anglace about how magnificently the
Travelers did in 1999, elect the usual suspects to office and then
discuss where we will go in the new millennium. Member participation
is highly encouraged. If you don’t vote now, you can’t whine later.
Well, actually it’s Travelers’ policy that all whiners automatically
become committee heads, so silence is golden.

A mid-day catered luncheon will be served to the survivors and
thereafter we will break up into squads and shoot a friendly round of
non-competitive sporting. If you would like some coaching, we will
squad you with other shooters of equal ability and send along an
experienced Travelers Mentor coach to help you out. It is a nice
chance to get in a little shooting and perhaps improve your game. The
fee for luncheon and the shooting (formal course, informal
scorekeeping) is $40. Please consider attending and send in your paid
reservation so that it arrives by Thursday, February 17.

As a member-run club the Travelers have been very, very successful.
We want to make sure that we continue to do what you want us to do.
We can’t do that unless you come and share your thoughts. THE ANNUAL
MEETING AND SHOOTING IS FOR MEMBERS ONLY. Please, no guests this
month.

Directions to East Mountain Preserve, Dover Plains, NY:

At the junction of Rte 84 and NY Rte 22, take Rte 22 North for about
27 miles to the town of Dover Plains. Turn Right at the first traffic
light in Dover Plains and go straight for one mile directly into the
East Mountain driveway. If lost, strayed or stolen call East Mountain
Preserve at 914-877-6274.

REMEMBER, EYE PROTECTION IS MANDATORY AT TRAVELERS’ SHOOTS!

INTERNET READERS: The Connecticut Travelers Sporting Clays Association
is a membership organization located in the CT, NY, NJ. Questions
about membership may be directed to President Al Anglace at
<AAA738@aol.com>.