Question: Who needs it?

Answer: You do (if you qualify).

The question, in fact, arose from our initial reaction to finding the RBL12 Sporting Clays model on the web site of Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company (www.connecticutshotgun.com).

The ultimate answer, however, revealed itself after we spent a few weeks shooting this unusual and remarkable side by side.

By naming its shotgun the Impact, Caesar Guerini is engaging in a lively game of word play. The Impact is a wake-up call to an industry that all too often substitutes innovation with attractive engraving and well-figured wood. The Impact also hands shooters a fully adjustable point of impact – essentially a cutting-edge target shredder for under $5,000.

We move through it, we shoot through it and we breathe it. It’s air. But it’s something most shooters never think about when they are competing in a sporting clays competition or even in practice. It is something we should consider when shooting above 3,000 feet. At 3,000 feet the air density is less than at sea level. At 5,000 to 6,000 feet it’s about 80% of what it is at sea level. It is that reduction of air density (altitude) that allows a shot string to stay tight longer than it would at sea level.