Clay Slay!

I'm in Alton, IL, outside of St, Louis, to film exhibition shooter Patrick Flanagan's quest for the hand-thrown clays world record tomorrow for SHOOTING GALLERY. It ought to be fun...Patrick's a cool guy, Winchester's first exhibition shooter in years. Hopefully, I'll get to blast some cabbages after Patrick gets through wowwing everybody. I've worked with Winchester for years, and you can't find a more thoughtful, more progressive company. Winchester was the only firearms company to request high-end media training and spend the money to run their own event. I think backing an exhibition shooter — especially a young exhibition shooter — is an excellent idea. In the interest of full disclosure, yes, Winchester supplies the ammo for SG & COWBOYS, Tequila and I, but they are rock solid guys and I'm honored to be associated with them.

We've got a hellish week and a half ahead of us...after Patrick, it's off to Boise for the Cowboy Fast Draw Championships; then to Atlanta for the USPSA Area 6 Championships (my old match, which is why we're going...paging Thomas Wolfe!); then on to D.C. for the Congressional Sportsmen Foundation Shootout.

I'm planning on shooting a Kimber Olympic Team Match II .45 (the one that I had design input on) at the Area 6s, out of my clear plastic Cen-Dex holster. I was gonna shoot the STI Trojan in .40, which feels a little faster to me and has mucho less recoil in a major load, but when I took it out a couple of days ago the Tripp Cobra magazines, which had been dead-on reliable, went south on me. Badly. During every speed reload, rounds popped out of the magazine when I slammed it home, jamming the Trojan up big time. Since I don't have a SIG GSR, and I don't like risking my probably irreplaceable Dick Heinie gun on the road, the Kimber's number came up.

I know the Kimber's a 100% gun with Wilson mags, and I HATE surprises. I was hoping to have the Taurus .45 Colt single action revolver to shoot up in Idaho, but it hasn't trickled in yet. At the Congressional clay shoot, god help me but I'll probably end up shooting whatever shotgun falls into my hands...and I'll bet it's not a Perazzi! If it's like the Baby Grand in Florida, it'll be somebody's ancient, marginally functioning Remington 1100 with a termite-eaten stock — which is probably what I deserve, given that I am not Mr. Shotgun. I've got a Winchester X2 clays gun on order for an episode with Gil and Vicki Ash at their OSP shotgunning school, but that's still a month out.

And, yes, I am going to push my agenda...for what that's worth!