I finished my last post with a teaser picture hinting at something else I had changed recently in an effort to “right-the-ship” after dealing with some recent sub-par performances on the sporting clays field. In case you missed it, HERE is the link to the post. If you read the previous post, here is the picture as a reminder.
In case you having figured it out yet, I made a switch to my “back-up” gun.
You may be asking why I even have two very similar guns? First, I don’t need much of an excuse to consider adding another shotgun to the safe! My inclination to have two similar guns first got roots about three years ago when I needed to send both my 12 ga. and 20ga. competition shotguns back to the manufacturer in Turkey for refurbishment (my beloved SKB 90 TSS’s). I knew it was going to be 9-12 months before I would see my guns back. I was planning on shooting a 12 ga. autoloader and a 20 ga. side-by-side in competition until the SKB’s were returned to me. On the day I made the arrangements to ship the guns back to SKB, I was chatting with another, more-seasoned shooter at the range, who told me that if he was me, he would consider purchasing a second copy of each gun to use while the original guns were out for service. In fact, that is what he had done himself (and with a premium level shotgun that represented a much more serious investment than my SKB’s). He mentioned how that would allow a shooter to have continuity in his shooting in the event a gun needed service, or even failed during a competition – something that I have witnessed occurring a few times now! At that moment, I was not that enamored with plunking down more cash for shotguns – especially when mine would be returned to me in due time.
So, I didn’t do it… until I had shot the old autoloader and SxS in a few tournaments and realized just how much I really missed my over/unders! I thought back to the conversation I had with the other shooter about having a back-up gun and decided to pursue it. I did a little looking around and was able to find both a left-handed 20ga and 12ga gun. They were similar specs to the two already headed back to Turkey with the exception that the 20ga. had 30” barrels in stead of 28” as on the original gun (I was always lamenting that I had gotten the 28” barrels in the first place). I really enjoyed shooting both new guns while waiting for the “old” ones to be returned. In fact, the new ones became my primary guns and the old ones became “back-up” guns when they did come back from turkey.
I found it quite comforting to have the back-up guns in the truck during competitions just waiting to be pressed into service in event my primary gun failed. For right-handed shooters, there generally is an option to finish shooting the course with a squad mate’s gun in a worst case scenario, but that option generally does not work well for a lefty shooter!
Fast forward to last year when I decided to upgrade my 12 ga from the SKB to a Prostar. I had hoped to find a fixed choke 32” model (left-handed of course), but there were none available at that time in the country and no plans for any to arrive any time soon, so I ended up buying a screw-in choke model. I was thrilled with the gun, but shortly after purchasing it, a used fixed-choke model became available locally! And, the dealer that had it, was willing to take my two SKB 12ga. shotguns on trade! I could not pass that deal up! Once again, I had a primary and back-up for the Prostar! Life is good! I started shooting the fixed choke gun well. On the advice of my shooting coach, that shotgun became the primary and the screw-in choke gun became the back-up. Those are the two guns in the picture above at the top of the post!
So, why did I switch to the back up? The inspiration for this came from one of Lanny Basham’s audio CD’s (I had discussed those in a previous post you can find HERE). In the CD, he mentioned that a great way to break a slump was to simply make a switch to a back-up gun. The gun had been in the safe for over 6 months without being fired. I had wanted to give it a little exercise anyway – so out it came. Next thing I knew, I had earned a punch in my first weekend competitive shoot!
There is some science in Lanny’s suggestion. When I first heard that track on the CD, I thought back to the dark ages when I was a student working on my Industrial Engineering degree at North Carolina State University.
In one of our classes, we had discussed “The Hawthorne Effect”. This effect got its name from a series of “scientific management” studies that were done at the Hawthorne Western Electric plant in the 1920’s. the particular study that stuck out in my mind (which means the details might be a little fuzzy now a few decades later) involved changing the overhead lighting in a room that housed a pool of typists (those born in the last few decades have probably never heard of a “typing pool” – feel free to google it!). What was discovered was that when the lighting was changed, a fact that the secretaries were aware of, their productivity took a leap! Soon thereafter, the performance moderated a bit – until the lights were changed back to what was originally in the room – after which there was another bump in productivity! So, the term “Hawthorne Effect” is now used to show that test subjects can be subject to showing response simply from the fact that a change is made and that attention is being paid to their performance.
It could very well be that my spike in performance was due to the Hawthorne Effect! I am hopeful that when I switch back to my primary gun, that I will see that expected spike again!
So, aside from the obvious reason for having a back-up gun, you might want to consider one simply to help resolve a temporary drop in performance! Besides, adding another shotgun to the safe is never a bad idea as long as it is something that does not impose negatively on ones financial or spousal conditions!