American Handgunner July/August 1979

BY PHILLIP C. BRIGGSSKIP TALBOT ON TRICKS OF THE TRADESkip Talbot gained national prominencein the handgun silhouette game,when, on August 7, 1977, he became thefirst person to shoot a straight, a perfect 40x 40, with a XP-100 based unlimited gunchambered for a cartridge of his own design,the 7mm Talbot. Two months and acouple of weeks later, on October 22 and23, he shot the first 60 x 60. On February 4,1978 he followed these feats with thegame's first 40 straight in production, withone of the then new TIC Super 14's, in 30Herrett. That feat has been done only oncesince the Super 14 was moved on into theunlimited class, but Skip has come closeseveral times, with a specially modified teninch TIC in 30 Herrett.At the Internationals, where this interviewwas taped, Skip was the defendingchampion in the unlimited class. Wetalked on three separate occasions, spreadover two days. In between, Skip shot twostraights with his unlimited gun-he had toto get into the shootoff. He lost the shootoff,but a 37 and 39 with the 10 inch TC seta new production record, and made himInternational Champion in the productionclass. Put another way, only one of the 350shooters at the Internationals out shothim-and no one had a higher aggregatescore.There's been a lot of change, a lot of developments,in one year. Skip from hisspecial vantage point, talked with meabout the sport, and why it's grown so. Healso shared some hard won tips and techniqueson shooting the game, and passedon some thoughts for the beginner.Phil: "Could you sum up what you likeabout the sport?"Skip: "I've found it's directly applicableto hunting conditions. You're gonna find,when something jumps up a 100 yardsaway out there, that you are gonna lay himdown because you're used to judging theseranges and you're used to shooting smalltargets. You're gonna be very aware ofyour sight picture on running targets. I'vebeen able to see the majority of peopleI've shot with double their proficiency inbig bore handgunning. I think it's thegreatest thing in the world. I think it's thebest answer we've got to the anti-gunners.This sport makes you proficient with yourweapon. It's proven itself this last year inthe big game harvested by handgunners.22SiluetasSkip says it's a family sport. If allshooter's wives were as interestedas his wife Carmen, itwould be a lot easier for the restof us shooters to do our thing andkeep peace at home.Big game handgunning is becoming oneof the true sporting challenges of hunting.It's a family sport and it's a whole loteasier to go places if your wife is willing togo with you. She enjoys it, she's a part of it.My wife, Carmen called the shots whenI got the 39 in Production Class. I pulledthe trigger, but if I hadn't had a goodcoach, I wouldn't have done any of it inthat wind. There's a sense of sharing. Theyounger people do well too. Look at JoeHobson from Missouri. That kid shot 36laying down and he's only about 14. I lookat those kids and I think, I wish we had athousand like them."Phil: "What do you see as the future of thesport?"Skip: "I think we're gonna have a lothigher scores to contend with as peoplebecome more proficient.It gives us a practial hunting ability. Ithink as soon as the average man on thestreet sees that a guy who's shooting silhouettesbecomes a better shot, that thesport can't go anywhere but up."Phil: "Do you have any suggestions for thebeginning shooter?"Skip: The first thing I'd tell him would beto just lay down and shoot. Watch theother guys on the line. See what they areusing and how they're doing it. I'd shoot atleast 6 matches with the gun you start with,then make up your mind ifyou want to goanother route. Don't be discouraged tofind you only shoot a 5 or 8 or II the firstcouple of times out. Most people don'treally realize that these guns will shootpast 100 yards. Boy, that 200 yards is along ways down there. But the gun doesn'tknow the difference. Learn sight pictureand elevation between targets. I think anindividual should go out and shoot againsthimself I think the most satisfying thingthat I've ever done in this sport is to laydown after firing and say to myself ... itreally works.You're going to find that you enjoywhatever gun you're shooting because youcan advance to your capacity. Then,maybe advance to a Weatherby 90 mile anhour alligator eater.I believe it's mandatory that you handload.The other thing I'd comment on is,don't be too discouraged about shootingopen sights. Most of us seem to be moreoriented toward optics. Also, there is a lotof training that goes into it and people getdiscouraged because they blame the gun.Well, it's not the gun. It's the education ofthe individual. Usually about six or sevenmatches will take care of it."Phil: "Skip, do you have any shootingtechniques, or tips you'd pass on, like, positionsor sighting equipment or somethinglike that?"Skip: "I favor the Creedmoor positionwhich is laying on your back with your elbowon the ground (use an elbow pad asyou can bruise the elbow tendon) and yourknees together, to form a tripod. I thinkthe main thing in using the Creedmoor positionis to get your head as straight up anddown as you can. Be careful of some typesof shooting glasses because, if you use theCreedmoor, you're laying back and youseem to get distortion on the lower end ofthe lenses. Lots of people use a light gloveto help the grip. I've found that I've had touse no glove at all.We have found that black on blacksights, with a 6 o'clock hold using daylightbetween the belly of the ram and the pig,and the top of the rear sight is a more consistenthold, one day to the next. On theturkeys and chickens I use a 6 o'clock holdhalfway up the leg which gives me '.l stripof daylight on the belly to judge my holdby, this also keeps my windage on. If youuse black on black and no daylight in yourhold, you can't see how far up into the animalyou are and will shoot high. If youpaint your sights contrasting colors thevariation between bright and cloudy dayswill make your point of impact changequite a bit. On a day with broken cloudsthis will give you fits.(Continued on page 24)AMERICAN HANDGUN NER . JULY / AUGUST 1979