doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shotgun technique: sustained lead or pass through

The correct lead is the one that puts the shot cloud and the bird in the same space at the same time. Geez.

Swing through may also be the old 'bum, belly, beak' approach with your mind 'driving' the gun's speed on autopilot, but I'd not suggest it be anything overly conscious when using it or you just missed.

One of the better treatises IMHO on feild technique is Robert Churchill's 'Shooting'. It is a SxS doublegun work and it addresses most field situations, inclusive of taking hare & rabbits from a butt on a driven shoot.

Irrespective of technique, it is visual acquity ... quick target acquisition and intense focus on the target that makes for a good shot. On pheasant and some other game, sex of the bird must be determined before taking the shot. IMO, it is more important to shoot no low birds and know where the other people and dogs are than to become too target intense in the field. On clay targets or the flyers Rocketman alludes to one may be 100% target intense.

I know and have been around some remarkable field shots that don't shoot clay targets at all, never have. In the same breath, I know of no clay target or flyer shooters of any consequence that have not paid their dues with constant practice and working on their games. It's like the old question,"What's the dif between shooting a 98 and shooting a 100 in a tournament?" The correct answer is, "About $20,000 a year."

I assume Bidwell is a Brit who goes about in tweeds. Strange that his language (gun hold) is so similar to that of skeet (hold point). Just too much skeet type thinking there, sxs, to wit, muzzles more or less halfway to a point or area where the INTENTION is to shoot the bird based on WHERE the bird is first clearly seen. That's the language to describe a predictable game like skeet but not some nimrod twirling the gun over his head while stepping in a chuck hole. I thought MM had an essay on MMS in some book. I better go read it!

jack

"Last time I saw a chance like you, I shot about there." -- Nash Buckingham

Yup- that about says it all. I have benefitted from two of Nash's most astute observations- either stand up to shoot, or stay seated- getting caught at "half-mast"-- Not Good- and, for a right handed gunner- when you swing on a right to left crossing bird (duck, dove, pheasant, even clay) you barrels tend to climb, on a left to right crosser, they tend to dip!!

Bidwell is a Brit, I don't think He goes about in tweeds, but He can shoot. I believe He has won world championships in FITASC more than once, as well as Skeet championships.
He is the originator of "Move Mount Shoot"
Pete

Best way I know to practice follow through is to always try to fire two shots on skeet singles. First breaks the target (supposedly) and for the second pick out a chip to break. Really makes one stay with the bird. On skeet doubles if you miss the first bird with your shot, stay with him and shoot a second time. Of course, this is recreational skeet not registered. It really helps to always begin the shot with a low gun. Pre-mounted is too mechanical and there is nothing spontaneous or instinctive about it.

When the bird goes up and turns to the left my swing going to my left is picture perfect regardless if I have to sweep through or use sustained lead dependent on the situation. If the birds turns to my right my swing going to my right is as clumsy as a cow getting out of a tree backwards or more poetically a song and a prayer.
A habit I can't seem to break no matter how much I practice.

IMO, there is another method. Don't know that it has a name, but I learned it from Bill McGuire, one of the winningest American sporting clays shooters there is. Of, course, this method is useful for pre-mounted clay target shooting only, but is a method nonetheless.

Bill teaches to observe the line of flight the bird is taking, then insert the muzzle on line just ahead of where you want to break it. Lift your head off the stock, look back toward the trap and call "Pull". Watch the bird close the distance to your gun, keeping your gun still for the moment, then, as the bird approaches your gun you establish the lead with an almost unnoticeable move and shoot. It almost looks like spot shooting, but if you watch the muzzle closely you can see a very small move, more on some presentations than others. Very deadly when done right, and easy to learn.

I use this when competing, but when hunting I use everything, I guess, all according to how long I have before I see the bird and I have to shoot.

When it's working right we all can look like a pro, but when the wheels fall off, it's bad regardless of the method used.

SRH

truth is.......I always shoot better when I don't think...the six inches between the ears can be a shotgunner's worst enemy.
Joe is right, skeet with a low gun and maybe a 3 second delay on the button is some of the best practice one can do. But, when a miss occurs, don't just call for another target, try to figure out what went wrong....and it damn sure isn't the gun or the shell.

I'm just a peckerwood that lives in the Panhandle with too many guns.