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

Unfortunately, I practise Joe Wood's two shot technique on singles all too frequently. Probably because of missing with the "waiting at the gate for the baton pass" short stroke that Stan advocates.

jack

Buzz,

I don't know how many times this question has been asked, but each time it is I find that I do not know of an answer for it.

I shoot very few clays, though some forty odd years ago I shot 20 or so rounds of trap ever week on the two nights our trap club met. I do hunt pheasants and prairie grouse 110 days or more each year.

I have no answer because I am completely unaware of any leading. I just look at the bird and shoot him when the gun butt reaches my shoulder.

I know I must lead them and suspect that I do so as part of the gun mount, but I honestly am so totally unaware of lead that if I should think about doing so, I miss miserably. And I miss nearly always if I don't take the bird as the gun mount is completed, especially if the bird gets up underfoot and I have to wait on him.

I would bet that I am not alone with this.

Joe: I think it is an excellent idea to shoot at a broken piece as a second shot on the skeet field for working on 'follow through' and I intend practicing this. I am going to practice this with a mounted gun for 'tournament' skeet reasons rather than low gun. I think the most important thing for making a good follow through is establishing proper form and stance prior to the shot which will carry over for follow through. Thanks for this good advice.

Knowing what you intend to do, and accomplishing it are two different things.

I've seen a few targets missed in my day. It's usually a result of stopping the gun.

However you intend to shoot the target, whatever it is, you have to actually do it. Follow through is required on every shot, and lack thereof is the reason for a very high percentage of missed shots. Sometimes, of course, we just read the target wrong - but... as a wise old shooter once told me.... "If you're ahead, you have a chance. If you're behind, you have no chance."

First, shooting a second shot at a chipped piece on a skeet field will and should get you tossed. Chips have a tendency to swerve off the flight path and if you are swinging with one it very well might put your muzzle where it doesn't belong.

Treblig, I have the same natural tendency to swing well to the left and not so well to the right. Here is what is happening to me. Going right it is easy to push the gun away from the face which is always a missed bird. The other part is that the lead foot is the left foot and is usually naturally positioned to help swing left but not right. When I remember to reposition my lead foot so it is turning ahead of the bird's flight my swing is much better and so is my shooting and since I will then be swinging from the knees, rather than from the waist,and the gun doesn't get pushed away from the head. If you swing too much right or left for your foot position it is hard to keep the gun from dipping downward from the flight line and that is another way to miss.

Most important though is this: See the bird - Shoot the bird. If you aren't super sharp focused on the bird (I try to pick out an eye) you will probably miss anyway.

Jerry, great advice and that just may be the ticket!!
I'm going to try that out tomorrow.

Hard focus on every target, or bird, is paramount, as Jerry said. When I am doing so, I realize, occasionally, that I can see the rotation of the clay, as well as the ridges on it. I am always shooting well when that occurs. It seems to slow the bird down, too.

When I can maintain this level of concentration and hard focus for a whole round of 100 birds it is physically exhausting on me. My best round ever in a big tournament was a 186/200 at the NWTF shoot at The Meadows one year. After I finished on Sunday I was so exhausted from the mental toll that I didn't feel like driving home for over an hour. Crazy.

SRH

SRH

Its always funny to read responses as here. Some chaps give good advice but can't practise what they preach themselves. If you look them up on national organisation sites you find either they aren't registered, or are 80 % or lesser shooters. Preacher, heal thyself.

I will be the first to admit I'm a 'has been'. I'm just getting back into competition shooting and it's not near as easy as it was for me 25 years ago, especially focusing on the target, specifically the leading edge. I think a 25 year older set of eyes may have something to do with this:-(!!

buzz, I understand your pain! I got back into shooting when I was in my 60s and struggled hard - getting my cataracts removed helped a lot!

But the real problem as one gets older is concentration. I'm good for 50-75 rounds then lose and cannot get concentration back. Morning quail hunts are great; then the afternoon ones suck. Most of the guys my age with whom I've discussed this experience the same thing. It's hard to maintain skill, more so to improve it.

Keep pullin'!!!