Field Tips On Shooting with Tim Grounds and Tim Bradley
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Field Tips On Shooting with Tim Grounds and Tim Bradley





by Matt Wettish

[Introduction]

 0:25 Matt: Tim Grounds, my good friend. How you doing?

 0:27 Tim Grounds: Great.

 0:28 Matt: It's good to see you here at SHOT Show 2008. We all know that there's probably nobody out there that shoots as many geese as you do in a year, depending on the migration.

 0:38 Tim Grounds: Right. Migration's got a lot to do with it.

 0:39 Matt: If the birds are there.

 0:41 Tim Grounds: It's made to where now you can travel to other places. But you know, like I said when I get down to my spot, they've just about seen everything. And I've shot just about every gun on the market and I've never had anything more than dependable than a Benelli. And I'm not just saying that. The ComforTech system to the Inertia System. I mean it's so smooth [cocks gun]. It's like silk.

 1:03 Matt: Right.

 1:04 Tim Grounds: And when I go out there, when I squeeze the trigger I want it to go off.

 1:07 Matt: Exactly. Now you're saying those birds are hard hunted by the time they get there so you're putting in time for scouting, putting out your decoys. How many decoys do you put out in a spread?

 1:15 Tim Grounds: I hunt a 40 acre field. So I am constantly shooting the same 40 acres so that makes it 

 1:24 Matt: Right.

 1:25 Tim Grounds: So the biggest thing I want to do is I want to make one thing plain to these people. You're barrel length has nothing to do with the choke system. Because the barrel length is only a sight plane. I like a 28 inch barrel because it gives me more of a sight plane. Your choke is only this far in.

 1:42 Matt: Sure.

 1:43 Tim Grounds: Okay? And I like an opener choke best.

 1:48 Matt: Now what kind of shell do you use and what size? Are you using a three inch?

 1:51 Tim Grounds: Tell you what, I've had shoulder surgery and I feel like a three inch shell is as good as a three and a half inch. It's as quick, if not

quicker. And I shot the new Federal Black Cloud this year. It's exactly what it says. You put it in a Benelli, you put Black Cloud in there and it causes smoke.

 2:09 Matt: [laughs]

 2:11 Tim Grounds: And I'm not kidding you. It's phenomenal the way the flying saucer shot is. If I put a shell, a lot of shells you put in different mechanisms; they don't work in all mechanisms. I've not shot a shell that didn't work in here but the Federal shells they work smoothest in this gun than any. But I mean the dependability is what I'm looking for first because I take it fromArgentinaand there's a buddy of mine, come here Bradley, come here, here, I was waiting on you.

 2:35 Matt: Tim Bradley, Matt Wettish. How you doing? Pleasure to meet you.

 2:38 Tim Grounds: Hey, now you, come here, turn around, I'm just talking about how I make my living doing this. And me and you got fortunate enough to hunt inOklahoma. And I was telling him about a little trick you showed me. And we're talking about I had a man killed in the pit this year; you had a guy with a guy with a toe blown off. And you can't preach too much about safety.

 3:00 Tim Bradley.: No, you can't.

 3:01 Tim Grounds: And what do you say on the lay up line that the gun rest was there for a reason and he shot his toe off.

 3:09 Tim Bradley: Just crazy stuff. There's no sense in it. And I guess it's up to us to keep it from happening.

 3:14 Matt: Sure it is.

 3:15 Tim Grounds: This is something, my good friend Matt Wettish, what can you add to something to help people? You've got as many kills as anybody.

 3:24 Tim Bradley: The main thing is...keep your finger off the trigger until your sight's on your target.

 3:29 Tim Grounds: A lot of people do click their safety off and come up with their finger here. I mean, until your target's even hit, your finger don't need to hit that trigger.

 3:36 Tim Bradley: You don't have no reason for your safety to be off until you get to your target. Your gun should be the first thing out of the blind and the last thing in.

 3:45 Tim Grounds: That's right.

 3:46 Tim Bradley: Bring your gun up. Shoot your birds. Set down. Pull your gun in. It don't take a rocket scientist.

3:53 Tim Grounds: That's right.

 3:55 Tim Bradley: to be safe and save your life or your friend's life.

 3:57 Tim Grounds: You get in the habit, even after you get done, the first thing I do is click my safety off before I ever put it back down. I mean, we've all been guilty of it. But in this day and time, the youth is not getting taught like they should. And you know what I'm saying, they're not getting taught because if they get taught, and don't bring that to emphasis, then their kids are not going to get it to their emphasis. 

 4:17 Tim Bradley: How many kids hunt without their parents? They'll just buy them guns, say go and they're not being trained.

 4:24 Tim Grounds: Right. I told him, I says, with a Benelli in your hands, I'm not just saying that because you walked up here with a Benelli. With a Benelli in your hands, a lot of guns will cycle some ammunition. These guns will cycle any ammunition and I ain't found any ammunition better than that Black Cloud.

 4:40 Tim Bradley: Yeah, you're right.

 4:41 Tim Grounds: Hey, we turned them into smoke inOklahoma, didn't we?

 4:45 Tim Bradley: It's just like shooting basketballs.

 4:47 Matt: Now, Tim, you've shot enough rounds, I have a feeling. I've heard you've taken a couple shots before.

 4:52 Tim Bradley: A couple.

 4:53 Tim Grounds: Three.

 4:55 Matt: Right. One of the things, that I've run into a lot as far as questions or problems that people run into in the field is, oh, I was shooting ducks this morning and I'm shooting geese this afternoon. Therefore I'm behind them or I'm in front of them because I'm used to the different lead or whatever. What kind of tip can you give to somebody out there to try and help with just the normal lead on any given target?

 5:19 Tim Bradley: One thing I tell everybody is you'll never kill a bird shooting behind it. Make sure you're in front of it.

 5:25 Matt: I've tried.

 5:26 Tim Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and it doesn't work does it? I've tried busting targets shooting behind them. It don't work. And people get way too worried about this lead stuff. Get out in front of the bird, you know, pull the trigger. If you kill it, fine. If you don't, you don't and do something different. But don't over think it.

 5:41 Tim Grounds: Some of them after the miss it, they're doing this, taking the chokes out. That's..

5:47 Tim Bradley: That's another thing. You know, with these guns, Benelli is shooting tighter than most guns. And most people over choke their guns. I don't care if they're goose hunting, I never shoot anything more than modified choke. I don't care what I'm shooting at.

 5:57 Matt: Well, you're looking at about 5,000 smaller diameter around the cylinder on a Benelli.

 6:03 Tim Bradley: Yep.

 6:04 Matt: So if you're shooting an improved cylinder, you're actually shooting like a light moderate or a skeet 2.

 6:08 Tim Bradley: Most people should be shooting an improved shooting

 6:11 Tim Grounds: I like the four stars. That's my favorite.

 6:14 Tim Bradley: That's what everybody should be doing.

 6:17 Tim Grounds: I tell you what. We were talking about shooting at a bird. 99% of people shoot something flying behind it. Is that true? I always tell, kids and all, I said, if the goose comes in, don't look at the goose because he's dropping, you're going to shoot over him. If you're looking at him, don't ever take your eye off his head. I don't care if you're shooting a dove or what. Then if you're behind him a little bit, like most of us are, not you, you're right on him but I've seen you shoot. I mean, that's true.

 Because when you look at a duck or whatever thing is flying, if you're looking at the head, and you are a little behind like all of us are, you get the end. Otherwise you're blowing and changing the choke, blowing feathers out of his butt because the dag gum shotgun and the bad shot. It ain't that.

 6:54 Tim Bradley: No. Everybody likes to blame something but it's not the gun. It's not the shell.

 6:58 Tim Grounds: Hey man, I appreciate it.

 7:00 Tim Bradley: Thank you Tim.

 7:04 Tim Grounds: We had a hunt. They'll all see it on Water Fowl TV this fall.

 7:07 Tim Bradley: I hope they play it more than once.

 7:08 Tim Grounds: That's right.

 7:09 Matt: Tim, thanks for stopping in.

 7:11 Tim Grounds: That guy right there knows as much about shooting. You hear what he said? Modified. Me and him talked about the the stars. I mean they make a lot of good chokes. I'm not taking away from those chokes.

7:21 Matt: Well, he brought out a good point. You said you shoot an improved cylinder. Basically, an improved cylinder is very similar to the light mod and other references because what you're looking at is you're looking at is about a five-thousandths difference in choke constriction because of the difference in the cylinder of the gun.

 So when you get into a lighter constriction, you don't want to over constrict. The reason being is that it's the mentality of the water balloon. When you constrict a water balloon half way down, it bulges out and everything's fine. When you constrict it too far, it blows up.

 7:52 Tim Grounds: Right. It blows the pattern.

 7:53 Matt: Exactly.

 7:54 Tim Grounds: You've had, look at all the experience you've had in your career with chokes.

 7:57 Matt: Sure.

 7:58 Tim Grounds: I mean you know about as much as chokes and patterns I know because you've seen it.

 8:03 Matt: [laughs] I don't know about that.

 8:04 Tim Grounds: Well, I'll tell you what. You've made some good chokes. I'm not going to mention who but you did some good chokes. I mean a turkey choke, that was as good of a turkey choke as has ever been designed. 

 8:14 Matt: Sure, absolutely. Pattern your gun. Get your load. Pattern your gun.

 8:17 Tim Grounds: That's another thing I was going to say. Pattern your gun. Don't send somebody in there and just buy the cheapest box of shells you can buy. Shoot the same speed. Shoot the same bullet. Don't think because it's three and a half inch or you're shooting triple BBs, that you're going to be better off. I spot shoot. I don't swing. So I don't want all the bullets. I like a two and a one. People say, you shoot geese with them? I says, well, I tell you what, I've shot them. I've shot them flaring off, and I've shot them from here to that Benelli sign. You can kill them a long way. But you're not wanting to kill them a long way if you're not passionate.

 8:50 Matt: Right.

 8:51 Tim Grounds: If you have

 8:52 Matt: The whole idea is to get them close.

 8:54 Tim Grounds: Get them close. Look at the mucus on their eyes and harvest them.

 8:56 Matt: [laughs]

 8:57 Tim Grounds: And that's the tip of the day.

 8:59 Matt: [laughs] Thanks, Tim. I really appreciate it, brother. Love you to death.

 9:03 Tim Grounds: You bet.

 9:04 Matt: You have a good show and a safe ride home.

 9:06 Tim Grounds: Hey, again, if it don't say Benelli, you ain't shooting a shotgun.

 9:10 [Closing]


 







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