THE TECHNOID FINDS THE ANSWER... As this is being written, it is lurking
in the cellar. Waiting. Waiting to spring forth and work its magic.
Waiting to propel an average and undeserving shooter into the heady
ether atmosphere of "front runner". Like Wonder Woman's lariat,
or the
Lone Ranger's silver bullet the implement is the magic- the talisman-
the Equalizer! It is THE ANSWER.
"Wha fo yo talkin, bro?", you might interject quizzically. Just
so. It
all started some years ago when the Technoid was observing the editor of
this humble newsletter struggle to shoot sporting clays with sub- gauge
guns. They were mostly pump guns in .410 bore and 28 gauge. There was
some success, but not much.
The Technoid snidely opined that sub-gauge sporting was the last refuge
of a shooting "has been" who never was. The Editor was righteously
indignant and said that shooting sub-gauge sporting was fun, stressed
the development of subtle skills which the Technoid could not appreciate
and aroused a comforting sympathy in his fellow shooters. The Technoid
felt that it was something akin to watching a poodle walk on its hind
legs. One forgets to notice how well the poodle actually does it because
one is amazed that the dog can do it at all.
Then the Editor added that if the Technoid was so darn smart, the
Technoid ought to be able to come up with some kind of sub-gauge clays
gun that would give even a shooter like the Editor a chance to win
something. That arrow hit its mark. The Technoid perked up. He mumbled
something about running some numbers through RELOAD!'s NASA surplus Cray
Maxi 8742/P and hastened away.
With the Cray busily computing in the background, the first thing that
the Technoid did was to conjure up a sub-gauge handicap system for the
Travelers' monthly matches. The theory was to give the little guns some
extra birds so that they might have a chance of winning at least
something from time to time. The goal was not to turn the Travelers into
a small gauge society, but just to make it fair for the shooters who did
want to try out the little guns. About 10% of the Travelers use small
guns each month. Over the past two years this handicap scheme has proven
modestly successful. There has been the odd sub-gauge class win, but no
sub-gauge over all winners.
Naturally, the Technoid's next step, having created a more or less even
playing field for the little guns, was to seek an unfair technical
advantage. You expected less?
First the Technoid suggested putting screw chokes in the Editor's
sub-gauge guns. This was accomplished and it was found comforting, but
not very much of a practical improvement. The little guns were still
light, whippy and difficult to shoot. Not THE ANSWER.
Next a three gauge skeet tube set was installed in one of the Editor's
favorite 30" FN Brownings. Bad move. It handled like a pig on a snow
shovel. That extra 12 ounces of road hugging weight dripping off the
front of a previously perfectly balanced gun destroyed the Editor's
already shaky timing, especially when rapid vertical moves were
required. It might work for the skeet shooters, but in sporting it was
not THE ANSWER.
Parallel work was also in progress. Several of the Technoid's brighter
Traveling acquaintances attempted to attain sub-gauge Nirvana by taking
a light gun, such as a 20 gauge 30" Browning Citori 325, and fitting
.410 and 28 gauge tubes to it. Balance was fairly good, especially if
some weight was added to the stock, but the tubes were not available in
matched weight and there was no room to install screw chokes in the 28
gauge. The old problem of a drastic balance change when switching from
the plain 20 gauge to the tubed .410 or 28 was still there. It was a
pretty good solution, but it was far too simple, sensible and easy to
suit the Technoid. This was not THE ANSWER either.
The ideal solution seemed to be to use "carrier" barrels on a
standard
12 gauge gun. Carrier barrels are simply ultra light 12 gauge barrels
designed only to be shot with gauge tubes in place. A second and
separate set of standard weight 12 gauge barrels is used for 12 gauge
shooting. Both barrels are fitted to the same gun and have the same
weight, balance and feel. It would be the ideal solution if it were done
right. Perazzi and Krieghof offered barrels sets claimed to meet this
goal. Kolar and Briley also offered to make a similar barrel set. It was
just a question of throwing money at the problem and letting someone
else do the work. The hitch was that these carrier barrel tube sets were
aimed at American Skeet shooters who like their guns to be a bit loady
up front. All the commercially produced carrier barrel sets added 4-6
ounces of weight to the nose. Good for skeet, not so good for us. Again,
not quite THE ANSWER.
The solution had to be a tube set that felt and handled exactly like the
original 12 gauge gun. Nothing less would do. When contacted in 1994,
both Kolar and Briley demurred. They admitted that their carrier barrel
arrangements added some weight. Why couldn't they simply backbore a set
of existing barrels until they removed the exact amount of weight that
the tube set would add? Each said no. They had not done this before and
they thought that it would require too much metal removal. THE ANSWER
remained elusive.
Six months passed. The Technoid's giant Cray Maxi hummed and burbled day
and night. Calculations and formulae spouted forth. Another call to
Briley. Perhaps Briley would feel more comfortable if they were just
given the numbers and let the Technoid do the thinking for them. The
Cray calculated that a backbore of .043" would reduce weight by 12
oz.,
Briley's estimate of the tube weight, and leave the barrels .021" thick.
Could Briley back bore a carrier barrel to a wall thickness of .021"?
Well, maybe they said, but only if the barrels were concentric. Would
their new superlight sub-gauge tubes fit into a .765" backbored barrel?
No, they would not. Special aluminum stock would have to be ordered.
Could it eventually be done? Yes. Have you ever done it before? No.
Well, DO IT!
The die was cast. This was assuming all the proportions of the perfect
project. The whole thing was unnecessary, expensive and of uncertain
outcome. How could anyone resist? The Technoid was in his heaven.
Complexity is the father of complication. It can also be a mother. The
Editor was doubtful.
Primitive peoples have always sought to placate the red gods by
sacrificing their most precious possessions. After consulting our local
Briley dealer, Traveler John Erdmann (203-966-3411), a pristine 30"
FN
Browning B-25 was shipped down to Texas to have its barrels virtually
backbored into nothingness to accept the tubes. Phone calls were made.
Tube dimensions, weights and chokes were discussed. Three months
elapsed. More phone calls were made. Finally a package arrived at the
doorstep of RELOAD!'s towering Westport office complex. The entire
newsletter staff fell before it on bended knee and awaited the opening
of The Ark of THE ANSWER. The Cray computer continued to hum- but this
time it hummed the theme from Dragnet.
The unveiling revealed a glistening stainless steel shotgun sarcophagus
on the lines of a British double gun motor car case. Opening found the
FN nested into a bed of royal blue velvet. The six spiral cut Ultra
Light gauge tubes, replete in their red and blue anodized color coding,
lay in their own little compartment in the top of the case. The tiny
.410, 28 and 20 stainless choke tubes were carefully packaged in another
compartment with their appropriate wrenches. It was First Class, but was
it THE ANSWER?
The empty backbored barrels were light, really light, really really
light. Briley had backbored exactly to the dimensions requested. The
barrel walls were the thickness of a business card. The FN's barrel had
indeed been concentric. At least there was no light showing anywhere
through the metal of the barrel sides, the Technoid noted approvingly.
An electronic scale was produced and quickly showed (to the Editor's
surprise) that the Technoid's calculations were spot on. The FN weighed
7 12.5 oz before it was sent to Texas. It originally had that wonderful
balance which has made the FN a classic. The .410 tubes were inserted
and the gun weighed- 7 12.25 oz! Close enough even for the Technoid. The
weight, feel and balance of the gun with the tubes in place were
indistinguishable from the original 12 gauge version. All the tube sets
weighed within / ounce of each other. In all respects, the gun felt like
the high quality 12 gauge sporter it had been. You could not tell that
it was a sub-gauge gun until you opened it up and saw the tiny chambers.
The choke constrictions requested (pairs of .005" and .015" for
each
tube) were complied with. The fit of the tubes in the carrier barrel was
perfect. All machine work was of high quality. Time to test!
The entire staff of RELOAD! piled into the corporate '49 woody and
adjourned to a local gun club for a shooting evaluation. The gun was, if
anything, even better than hoped for. All tubes held correct point of
impact. The various chokes performed as they were supposed to. With 8s
the .015" choke in the .410 made some very impressive breaks on 35
yard
targets. Everyone commented that the tubed gun had retained the light
and responsive feel of the original. The only perceivable difference
between the tube set and the original 12 gauge gun was that there was no
recoil. At last, this gun was indeed THE ANSWER.
Then the bubble burst. The Technoid blurted out that if the Editor could
not do well with this gun, then there was no hope. In a pensive and
medieval mood, the Editor thought about all those knights who tried to
pull Excaliber out of the stone before Arthur succeeded. This tube set
was THE ANSWER all right, but even the ultimate sub-gauge sporter was
nothing in the hands of the wrong person. The State shoot was coming up.
Failure with the wrong equipment held a built in excuse. Failure with
THE ANSWER would result in the Editor sinking to unprecedented depths of
ignominy. The pressure began to mount. It was like the old Chinese
curse: "May your wishes come true." How had he gotten himself
into a
mess like this? (to be continued)
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