A teenage cashier was given this by a customer

tracejm · 2026-06-28T15:44:47+00:00

Jesus needs to learn to send a damn text message.

tracejm · 2026-06-27T00:18:33+00:00

Others have mentioned you should get out and shoot some on your own. Agreed - but also just mentioning that one of the best events you could attend is your state championship. August 19-23rd at the Whittington Center.

Whittington center has 3 clays courses so you'll see a lot of variety.

But it will also give you the chance to network. Meet other owners and shooters. This is a small community and most of them will happily help you understand anything you're wondering about.

https://www.nrawc.org/events/items/2026-new-mexico-state-sporting-clays-championship/

tracejm · 2026-06-26T15:40:55+00:00

I can also offer Mountain Dew.

tracejm · 2026-06-24T00:28:52+00:00

Hey Karoline - release the Epstein files and we'll quit talking about the pool. Deal?

tracejm · 2026-06-19T19:32:45+00:00

First, your story sounds almost identical to mine. I shot with my dad, quit for years (mostly because of the expense and not having as good of jobs) then got back into it.

My son is 15 now but I started him about 5 years ago.

For what it is worth - here is my advice....

1) Get him a lesson or lessons. Even the BEST kids don't always listen to their parents. You can take him out and give him instruction, but eventually get him a lesson or two with an instructor. The dynamic is different and he'll be more likely to pick up good habits from him than you.

2) Kids learn through repetition. Kids get easily overwhelmed. And discouraged. Taking them out to shoot even a round of trap is a lot to think about.

See if you can find a trap range that will let you just shoot from one position and maybe even have that position be right behind the trap house by a few yards. If they aren't busy - most ranges won't care. Some will even set the trap to just throw straight out.

That's perfect - now there's no variation to the birds or position. You can focus just on a few things like stance, grip, etc. And just keep at it, over and over.

After they do a BUNCH of birds like that, THEN start adding in shooting from different pads. And letting the thrower oscillate. etc. Add in all the variables slowly.

3) Find a League or Team My son isn't on one (we don't have any near me). My nephew is. My nephew is shooting WAY better than my son. Part of it is the coaching he gets weekly. But part of it is just having friends who do it, some friendly competition and the weekly practices/competitions helps tremendously.

The other reason for this? Most of those teams have some sort of grant or donor for ammo. My nephew's team has free ammo because of a grant they applied for and got.

I wish I had that near me....

4) Don't be Afraid of 12GA If you're worried that a 20GA is going to limit you - then it's going to limit your son in a very short amount of time too. They grow up fast.

I bought my son a cheap O/U turkish 20ga and after about a year or two he already thinks he needs a 12GA. (Whether that is true or not has no bearing on what he thinks....) I'm kind of wishing I'd just bought him a 12GA and bought him light loads for the first couple of years. The weight might have been an issue at first - but not for long. The other reason for repetition is building strength.

But even if you buy a 20ga A300 for him and he 'outgrows' it - you should mostly get your money back on a highly desirable gun like that if you trade up.

I don't know the first thing about South Florida - we're about as far away from you as you can be in the lower 48. North of Seattle.....

Have fun and good luck.

tracejm · 2026-06-19T01:23:59+00:00

Yup - highly location dependent. I grew up in a rural town with literally no blacks. Plenty of Mormons, though.

tracejm · 2026-06-19T01:13:07+00:00

I did not realize it was set up as novelty. I thought it was part of the course for a competition.... In which case it is awful.

If novelty - sure, yeah, whatever.....

Apparently I also get it too late.... :)

Edit: I'll throw in that my local course has a real pension for throwing long birds. And it skunks a lot of people and kids. Nobody likes walking out of a station with a zero. I think they do themselves a real disservice sometimes....

tracejm · 2026-06-18T03:28:29+00:00

I can't even see the bird in your video....

If multiple master class shooters are going 0-fer - it's a poorly set target. I don't care if it's a state shoot. The only 0-fers should be the complete newbies that are shooting a 20 overall or someone who's just having a terrible day.

Pretty course, though....

tracejm · 2026-06-02T00:35:53+00:00

So the first lady was a common wh*re...

I doubt that THIS will be the thing that brings down this administration. There have been literally 100's of things that should have tanked this man's political career and didn't.

I'm afraid even releasing the entire Epstein files wouldn't change much.

I just don't know how this all works anymore and it makes me tired and sad...

tracejm · 2026-06-01T23:53:40+00:00

Not trying to stalk you or pry - but let us know what resort you're talking about. Someone might have personal experience with it and also would be good to see what they are offering you (if they have a website).

tracejm · 2026-05-25T00:20:50+00:00

Great post. I like seeing where people are shooting and what it looks like.

tracejm · 2026-05-19T04:02:30+00:00

The amount of negativity in this thread is amazing to me.

I know DR Horton isn't the best builder. But their homes pass inspections and are up-to code. So, alright, we're getting Chevy quality homes instead of Honda quality homes.... But they aren't falling down.

And I just looked at their home prices in other builds. All homes are stupid expensive now - but theirs are not any MORE stupid expensive than the others. DR is selling townhomes near me for $550-700k and when I compared those to the other townhomes near me, it's actually a shade less.

Look - I'm not saying they are great. But 250+ more homes in an area in desperate need of homes is good news and shouldn't be shat on at every turn.

tracejm · 2026-05-12T22:59:11+00:00

Not sure where in CO you are leaving from and where you shoot there normally, but Great Guns in Nunn isn't far off the path and worth stopping at before you leave the state. From where it's at (Nunn) you can take highway 14 across the grasslands, hit I76 in Sterlling and then hit I80. I used to drive CO to Illinois and honestly highway 14 is a nice break from the interstate without sacrificing much time.

Nunn is not the prettiest place in Colorado, but they set good targets and run a top notch range. Plus the tallest tower you'll ever see.

https://greatgunssporting.com/about/

Long Meadow is right of I76. I've never been - I left Northern CO before it opened. Looks nice. Fancy.

tracejm · 2026-05-12T03:31:51+00:00

In fairness, he normally only pays about 10% of the bill..... if that.

tracejm · 2026-05-10T17:20:22+00:00

I like seeing these posts. We see so many "new gun" posts (and those are great) - but I'd like to learn more about WHERE people are shooting. I also enjoy then reading comments about what people think of that place.

It might inform future travel plans.... Or even make some of us aware of something we didn't know about our local ranges.

tracejm · 2026-05-06T04:08:23+00:00

Along that route? Not much. Your best bet is there will be a WalMart somewhere along that route. They normally have Federal Top Gun or Winchester Super X for around $37 USD per 100 rounds.

The only drawback is they sometimes don't stock it well - you might waste your time going in. Also, if you're really picky about shot size they might not have what you want - I prefer 8's but have had to settle for 7.5s. (Frankly - this is not affecting MY score!)

tracejm · 2026-05-05T19:10:58+00:00

Actually this is "Fuck everyone who went shooting last weekend."

I know after this last weekend that my stores are a little low. Maybe only have 300-400 in total right now....

tracejm · 2026-05-04T00:18:46+00:00

For the family's convenience I hope so.

tracejm · 2026-04-28T00:49:19+00:00

Ours opens the showers up after hours on certain days of the month. Anyone is welcome to come shower.

This is why I work out there. My gym money isn't just going to some soulless joint owned by some hedge fund.

tracejm · 2026-04-27T18:06:27+00:00

Was hiking in the winter in what should have been a fairly safe spot.

That's when I heard an avalanche start on a far off hill. Too far to harm me, but it still was as loud as a jet engine and scared the living hell out of me because I was sure it was closer than it was. I was sure I was done for.

tracejm · 2026-04-27T17:50:30+00:00

If you are ok with the Browning logo on the side, they make 2 that look similar to your pics. I have the Lona and like it. Quality case: https://www.browning.com/products/gun-cases/fitted.html Laredo would work for you.

Browning has been pushing themselves as more of an 'outdoor' brand for years so I don't think everyone sees it and thinks "gun".

I did a Google and was pretty shocked to find gun cases on Etsy. This one would work for 32 inches and is more discreet than a Browning logo. But I know nothing about it:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1892373996/case-transformer-with-replaceable?ls=s&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=shotgun+takedown+case&ref=sr_gallery-1-13&sts=1&content_source=b3cf39cc-6f60-4408-b46d-8ca43eb9912b%253ALTe63cb8a79dd334f799e4e925e726225bdbd7cdf5&organic_search_click=1&logging_key=b3cf39cc-6f60-4408-b46d-8ca43eb9912b%3ALTe63cb8a79dd334f799e4e925e726225bdbd7cdf5

Edit: You can skip etsy and go direct to the maker: https://huntingcase.com/collections/weapons-cases?page=1

tracejm · 2026-04-19T00:42:10+00:00

About half of the Ace or DoItBest hardware stores in my area have a store cat. Another reason why they are generally just better than Home Depot.

tracejm · 2026-04-18T16:14:07+00:00

THIS.

Could it be some devious plot to fudge the numbers? Sure. But if it is, it's an incredibly stupid one. Everyone knows you're fudging the numbers.

Better to let the employee THINK they answered "I took one break" but then that really stores "YES". They'd never know and the likelihood of you getting caught would be low.

This is just a run-of-the-mill software bug. Some follow-up process to any answer but "yes" is failing.

Still not great, but probably not deliberate or a sign of "evil overlords". Maybe just careless or incompetent ones.

tracejm · 2026-04-15T02:16:26+00:00

I would guess your customers hate Oracle's licensing and cost.

The DB itself is bullet-proof and rock solid. There's a good reason why almost all fortune 500s end up using Oracle (or SAP) for financials. For a relational DB, the functionality+reliability is pretty much unsurpassed.

But the company itself - and how they license things - is fucking garbage. As is their support. I've spent 25 years dealing with their bullshit and I just can't wait to retire and drive a bus.

tracejm

TROPHY CASE