Unboxing Follow-up: Two Brother-in-laws, a Ruger Red Label and Skeet
My brother-in-laws thought I had invited them to the Fin, Fur and Feather Club out of the goodness of my heart. Truth is I needed someone to pull the traps for me. The invitation was purely self-interest. I had wanted to test out the Ruger Red Label after hunting this past fall hunting season and the weather did not cooperate until late March when the snow and ice melted and I could actually use the skeet fields. My two brother-in-laws have little to no skeet shooting experience so not only was this going to be a test of the Ruger’s point- and shoot-ability I was going to have some bragging rights amongst the brothers. I hate getting whipped at golf and don’t want to hear about the size of that trout you caught was. You can see what I am upagainst with these two. Right out of the gun sleeve I was reminded that the Ruger was a bit muzzle heavy. As a comparison, I brought a Beretta Silver Pigeon II 20 gauge. Though the petit Beretta is not a true apples-to-apples comparison, I didn’t want to scare the brothers away with the Ruger’s 12-gauge recoil.
I might need someone to pull traps for me in the future and the sweet recoiling 20 was just the ticket. The day was cold and the wind buffeted the clays so much it would have been a challenge for Jon Michael McGrath II. After a brief introduction on the good and bad end of a shotgun—I made them promise never to point the bad end at anyone. One brother who insisted on opening the over-and-unders sideways, and one scan of the muzzle across my dearest parts was all it took. You can sit in the truck. And no cigar for you if that happens again. It didn’t happen again. Evidentially he liked cigars. Station 1 high house—smoke; low house was a hit, too. It was coming back to me how the Ruger needed to be handled. The balance point was a bit too far forward than what I am accustomed to and I had to rethink how to shoot the shotgun. With the Ruger you need to keep your hand on the forearm moving and push through to make a break. They took their first round with the 20; then they tried the Ruger, which they liked. They broke more clay with the Ruger than the Beretta. They are also bigger guys and the petit Beretta was too lithe for them. It was swallowed up by the length of their arms and wide shoulders. I always have to concentrate on Stations 4 and 6 and after a miss and a reshoot I was able to tell the clays who was boss. We finished with the clays getting the worst of it, though some egos were surely bruised. I’ll give you another lesson in a few weeks when it’s warmer and the wind has moved to the coastline. Say did I tell you how good you were at pulling traps?
