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Maybe you just have stupid friends.

Kevin, what's better, blondes or redheads?

Kevin/ He takes lesson ($200) and his scores go down

I have watched several shooters take high priced lessons from great shooters, their scores all went down.

The teacher almost always teaches his style of shooting and the student
tries to reproduce it, it almost never works.

Good post, Kevin.
I've found that two kinds of people ask for advice. Those who really want some ideas, and those who want their ideas verified by others. E

my solution is to just not ask you for any advice.

My old Browning A5 does fine for clays. My old Ithaca SxS 20 goes equally well.
I throughly enjoyed my M1A rifles while I owned them. They were dead nuts reliable, very accurate, ate any reasonable ammo I fed them, and were fun to play with. I still own, and shoot my M1A 16 inch, and do NOT find the 'muzzle blast' to be all that bad.

I pretty much know what I want in an ultimate pistol. I have owned several that pleased me. No regrets.

Guess I can get by on my own.

The former is rare, and the latter are everywhere.

I would normally post this in the general section, but most people seeking advice come from the Handguns forum, even if it�s not about handguns.

Just a word of advice to those who seek advice. If you PM me for advice and you decide to not take that advice, there�s a 90% chance that decision is going to cost you MUCH more money, and grief.

Case #1 � A four year long PM discussion about Sporting Clays guns. Guy has shot semi-auto�s his whole life but wants a double so he doesn�t have to clean as much; but then learns that his double doesn�t shoot like his semi-auto (first double was a steal at $900). My first piece of advice is to have the double fit to him�He cringes at the idea of doing anything to the wood, ignores, and ends up buying a different double ($2,300)�same problem. Has the gun fit to him, but notices that his scores still aren�t the same as they are with his semi-auto. I advise him to either stop the bleeding and just go back to the auto, or begin taking lessons (unbeknownst to me, I opened up a whole new can of worms). He figures the solution is to buy not one, but two more doubles, one 20bore and one 12. Both have adjustable butt plates and adjustable combs (one was $2,100, the other was $3,100)�now his scores are very close to what they were with the auto, but he wants better scores. I explain he will need lessons, BUT his lessons will require him to change the way he shoots. When he makes that change, his scores will go down for a while, but then he�ll get better than he ever was. He takes lesson ($200) and his scores go down. He gets frustrated and goes back to shooting the way he did. Several months go by and he returns to the lessons. Scores go down again�he buys a new semi-auto shotgun ($1,100), and then sends it to a top sporting clays gunsmithing firm to have it seriously tricked out ($1,200)�scores actually went up by around 10%...Finally he broke down and just did it the way his instructor told him�scores went down for about 2 months, and now he�s one of the top shots in the club. He could have saved all the money and took his existing semi-auto shotgun to lessons and been there 3.5 years earlier.

Case #2 � Friend wants a dedicated .308 battle rifle; wants a serious battle rifle, not a range toy. I tell him to buy a FAL, choose the optic of his preference, call it done. He buys a PTR-91 ($1,000)and hates it. He asks about the Scout M1A, I tell him they�re nice but the muzzle blast is horrendous, and he can�t shoot anything but military grade ammo. He buys it ($1,800) and the muzzle blast is horrendous, he decides he wants to create his own SHTF dedicated load, but it may tear up his M1A; he doesn�t like it. Finally decides he wants a FAL, likes the 16� Para. I advise him that the 16� Para will be just as bad or worse than the M1A for muzzle blast, and that the para stock, while well designed at the hinge, really isn�t very comfortable and doesn�t work well with optics. He buys an 18� Para ($1,600), mounts a 1.5-5x Leupold in a DSA mount($600)�But the stock sucks for the optic. Orders up a fixed stock 18� rifle from DSA ($1,300) and mounts his Leupy in DSA mount; happy. And the adjustable gas system allows him to shoot his custom load no prob.

Case #3 � Guy wants �the ultimate� pistol, asks my opinion. I tell him that nothing feels better, or is more enjoyable to shoot than a custom Hi Power; he makes good money and he can easily afford anything he wants. He buys a Nighthawk ($2,600); very nice pistol, he�s really happy with it and it shoots like a dream. 1 year later, he�s traveling through my home town and wants to get together to do a little shooting. During the shooting at my house, I hand him my Hi Power and walk him through how to hit all the way out to 100 yards�now he hates his Nighthawk and starts making offers on my Hi Power. After explaining to him that it�s MY Hi Power and I don�t want to sell it (sadly I eventually did). He decides he�ll just have one built up right. Finds a Hi Power, 1970�s model with adjustable sights; asks if it�s a good one to build up a full custom Hi Power with. I inform him that for what he wants to do, a Mk III is probably a better choice; he buys the �70�s adjustable sight gun. He wants me to build it, but I don�t have machine equipment anymore and I don�t really like taking work for hire. I tell him to send his gun to Cylinder & Slide, Heirloom Precision, or Novak. He doesn�t want to wait a year or more to have his gun built, and sends it to a local guy with a good reputation. Rear sight installation is completely botched, as was the feed ramp (strangely, the bluing was really nice). When I tell both him and his gunsmith the very simple solution to fix the botched job, they both think I�m nuts. He ends up selling the gun for about what he paid for it, minus all the money he lost. He gets mad at me, and I�ve not heard from him again.

The heart wants what the heart wants; I get that. If the heart just wants, don�t ask me for my opinion; because it just may not be what your heart wants.

Recoil is reasonable...still a damn good gun by any standard.

And once he finally got to try the FAL, he really liked the balance, handling characteristics, and the almost non-existent recoil.

I advise him that the 16� Para will be just as bad or worse than the M1A for muzzle blast, and that the para stock, while well designed at the hinge, really isn�t very comfortable and doesn�t work well with optics.