Boom Stick

Guest blogger, Raging Stallion here, again. Here's a story that that will make you smile.

I've been doing real estate for a couple years now. It's always been something I could see myself doing, but it took me a while to get into it. When I first came into the business, I started putting myself out there so people could get to know me better.

I really enjoy meeting new people. There are always a few questions that people ask. They want to know about the market (I'm really busy, but I always make time for great clients); they want to know about what I did before (I worked with banks to build and refine very usable websites), and if I focus on a particular niche of real estate (I work with a lot of buyers in Utah county from condo to mansion); then they want to know about other hobbies that I have (I'm like motorcycles, I work with a lot of youth, and I'm a shooter).

That last one makes a lot a noise. You can always tell if people like guns because they either find an excuse to leave the conversation right there, or they want to know about my collection and my preferences for rifles, shotguns, or handguns, and what caliber, etc.

It didn't take long for word to travel that I was involved with shooting. I hadn't been a real estate agent two months before I received an invitation to a prestigious, exclusive, annual shooting event for real estate agents. I had a certain reputation that preceded me.

Part of the info I share with people is that I'm a Front Sight trained shooter in all weapons platforms including handgun, rifle, shotgun, hand to hand defense, and knife defense. People form lots of opinions when they hear that.

One of the assumptions people have is that I'm a skeet shooter. While it is true that I've shot a LOT of clay pigeons in my day, and I'm insanely good at it, it is NOT true that I play skeet. For the shooting uninitiated, there are several organized games having to do with shotguns: 5 stand, trap, and sport clay. I would not describe myself as a "regulation skeet shooter"...like ever. So, I get the whole point at the target and pull the trigger bit, but I don't know the rules or any of the idiosyncrasies of the games.

For information, this guy gives a pretty good 3-minute explanation of the games and how they work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtQ_9QTNwyA.

So, I got invited to a shotgun invitational, and it was to be held at a formal shooting facility. I had literally never been to a formal shooting facility for shotgun, but I thought to myself, "Well, I've got a shotgun, and I know how to shoot clay pigeons. Heck, I've been to Front Sight. I'm good."

We started out shooting a round of "Annie Oakley," which I have played informally before, so I was vaguely familiar. We made a horseshoe formation around the trap house (a phrase I had never used before that night — it's the concrete bunker where the clays fly out from). One shooter would yell, "Pull," and then try to shoot the clay. If he missed, the shooter next to him would try. If the second shooter broke the clay, the first shooter was out. If they both miss, it's on to the next shooter, both stay in. You keep shooting until the last shooter standing wins. Super fun. I did pretty well at this. I was in the last 5 for two consecutive games of Annie Oakley.

You see, I'd brought my trusty Mossberg 500 20 gauge. It's got an 18" tactical barrel. It's nicknamed "The Persuader." I love it. It's a great gun. I take a lot of flak, of course, of it being a 20 gauge shotgun. Lots of shooter razz me wondering when I'll upgrade to a man's gun. Blah, blah, blah. I was pretty proud of myself during the Annie Oakley games. "Take that," I thought. "20 gauge IS a man's gun. Ha!"

There were very few 20 gauge guns there. Most were 12 gauges. But I can say with certainty there were NO tactical guns (18-inch barrels). Everyone had a longer shotgun: most were either 26 inches or 28 inches. I was figuratively patting myself on the back and telling myself how amazing I am. Tactical 20 gauge and all. "Oh yeah, I'm all that and a bag of chips."

Ha ha. Then they started the game of Trap, and all that self backpatting and aggrandizement ceased.

First they said, "Ok, everybody back up on the stations."

"Huh? What's a station?"

I looked behind me, and ten yards back there were concrete pads indicating where the shooters should stand. I looked at the "station," then at my gun, and I had this sinking suspicion that my gun wasn't going to spit out enough lead to break clays at that range. The games of Annie Oakley had been about 10 yards off the trap house. Depending on how long it took at acquire sights on the clay, we were usually shooting them between 15 and 25 yards from barrel, and my 20 gauge 18-inch barrel was perfect for that, especially on the shorter side. Now I'd be starting 18 yards off barrel, and site acquisition would likely put the shots at between 25 and 40 yards. I suspected my 20 gauge led would be extremely ineffective at that range.

Sometimes I hate being right.

We commenced playing, and all the people who were impressed with "The Persuader" and its accuracy were no longer impressed.

We shot 25 rounds, 5 from each of 5 stations. I broke 1 clay. One, people. For an accomplished shooter, this was quite a setback. I wasn't at all confident that I would be invited back next year.

Because I like to be prepared, I specked a new shotgun — just in case I got invited back. However, I committed not to purchase the new shotgun unless I was invited to return. I was aware of the timing of the event in early November, and I sat back to see if I'd be invited back. By Halloween, no invitation had come, so I assumed I was out.

Then, on Nov 1st, I received a phone call offering an invitation to the event! Turns out they felt kind of bad about what they only referred to as, "the gun incident." They extended an invitation, but they explicitly requested that I "bring a gun that will reach the targets."

Four hours later, I took ownership of a brand new over-under break action. These are shotguns designed for the games of skeet. I stuck with Mossberg, since I love their guns. I am now the proud owner of a 12 gauge Mossberg 500 Silver Reserve II, 26-inch barrel break action over and under. That's a whole lot of shooter jargon for, "a nice boom stick."

Here are some pics:

The Mossberg 500 Silver Reserve II. It's 26-inch 12 gauge shotgun specifically designed for skeet games.

I don't feel bad describing this an amazing gun. Well, at least, I feel amazing when I'm holding it, and when I'm cleaning it, and when I'm shooting it, and when it's just setting there in the gun rack, and when... well, you get the idea.

Note the beautiful inlaid etched artwork at the action. Rawr.

I had to take it patterning, and I begged a friend of mine to take me to a formal shooting facility where he has a membership. There I put some rounds down range and got myself some valuable time on gun. It was amazing fun, and I felt ready to hit the shotgun invitational.

To make this long story a little shorter, I didn't win the whole thing. I know you all thought I would with a build up like that. But, I will say that the organizer of the event pointed out that they had never seen year-to-year improvement like that. In fact, he proclaimed it would likely be impossible for anyone to replicate such an improvement as you would have to have done abysmally poorly to have an improvement in the THOUSANDS of percentage points!

It was totally worth it. And now, I have a new trusty boom stick to take shooting. Maybe I'll take up these skeet games. Trap, anyone? I'm game.