Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader figured he’d take a moment to recap one of the highlights of his little excursion to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa. (And here you thought he was going to be going on more about Fatboy Slim…)

Your Maximum Leader went out while at Nemacolin and took advantage of their shooting facilities. He “borrowed” on of the Academy’s Berretta shotguns for his afternoon of killing nasty clays. The model he used was a Berretta Silver Pigeon III 12 guage over-under shotgun. (Mrs Villain, who came along shot the same model of gun in a shorter 20 guage version.)

Your Maximum Leader shot at 100 clays. After about 80 his shoulder really started to feel a little worn out. But he bravely (and happily in fact) went on and went after the last 20 clays.

But before giving you the whole story he must give you a few disclaimers… Your Maximum Leader, to his deep embarassment, does not own a shotgun. Rifles and pistols aplenty. But his gun safe is devoid of shotguns. He mentions this by way of explaining that he doesn’t have an opportunity to practice the skill of clay shooting often. In fact the last time he picked up a shotgun was at Nemacolin in December. Then he shot at 50 clays. He hit about 20 back in December. Prior to that he’d not fired a shotgun in about 12 years.

Last week, your Maximum Leader killed 57 of the 100 targets. Now… Some of you might think that that is a puny number. Allow your Maximum Leader to state that he was on pace to kill about 75 or 80 clays… Until your Maximum Leader’s instructor/guide/all-around-good-fellow Tim decided to kick it up a notch with your Maximum Leader. So your Maximum Leader is actually quite pleased with 57/100.

For most of the stations your Maximum Leader got the traditional treatment. This is to say that your Maximum Leader got the gun loaded. Positioned himself. Then called “pull.” On “pull” Tim would release the first clay and would hold the second clay until your Maximum Leader fired. Upon hearing the first report of the shotgun Tim would launch the second clay.

Your Maximum Leader did pretty well at this. He did have problems “picking up birds” (clays that is) that started their flight high above and behind him. He also had some problems getting a bead on the clays that “popped up” at a distance and then dropped rapidly out of your feild of fire. But all in all he was doing pretty well.

Then Tim decided to take your Maximum Leader to the next level. He decided to launch both clays on the calling of “pull.” Your Maximum Leader had a little trouble at this at first. But then he seemed to find a groove.

Aftr finding this faster groove Tim asked if he could even kick up the difficulty further. Tim suggested that your Maximum Leader do a speed round. This is to say that your Maximum Leader would load his shotgun and place 8 shells on the rail in front of him. Then when your Maximum Leader was ready, he’d call “pull.” When Tim heard the call he would start launching clays. He’d launch one every 10 seconds until he’d thrown 10 clays.

That was quite tough. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to say that he got the first two clays of the speed round. Alas, he only got two of the remaining 8 clays during the speed round. Your Maximum Leader had a little difficulty reloading. He would open the breech and the spent shells would eject. Then as he reached for the new shells he let the gun close a little. That small bit of closure made loading the lower chamber almost impossible without adjusting his hold on the gun. Tim said that this was a pretty good result for someone who had never done a speed round before. That made your Maximum Leader feel good.

So… After his experience at shooting clays, your Maximum Leader is considering getting a shotgun. He is thinking of a Beretta. But they are mighty pricey. Your Maximum Leader is also very partial to Rugers. Alas, the Rugers are very pricey too. Your Maximum Leader knows that if he gets a shotgun, he would like a new one. Although most of the weapon he owns are old and used (and all have some historical value to him), he feels that a new shotgun would be appropriate.

Of course, this discussion would be moot if your Maximum Leader were to fall into huge amounts of cash. If that were to happen he and Brian B would go to New York and be fitted for custom guns by Holland and Holland.

That would be cool.

Carry on.