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Sporting clays - any good training (book/video) out there?


Mike_M

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I'm really loving shooting sporting clays lately. I do OK, but would like to learn more. I'm sure watching videos and reading books will only help me so much, but before I pay someone for training, I'd like to maybe get a better understanding of some fundamentals.

So any books, videos, or youtube channels I should be looking at?

Thanks,

Mike

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Couple of British guys are worth looking up.

George Digweed & John Bidwell are well worth looking up. Bidwells style suited me very well. Very natural style of shooting.

Not sure if their stuff is online though, we're a bit backward over here.

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I think I've heard of Breaking Clays another time or two. I think maybe I'll start with that one. Thanks!

UPDATE - It's in the mail!

Still open to other suggestions if anyone has something that really improved their game...

-Mike

Edited by Mike_M
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I've seen some of the Gil Ash ones on Youtube. I need to see what else Steve has on the PowerFactorShow - been too long since I've watched those anyway and I'm sure there's some new stuff on there since I was there last. Got the Breaking Clays in the mail on Friday and am reading through that.

Thanks for the help guys!

-Mike

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The clay target sports don't seem like they would be, but they are specialized. Make sure you get your info from a Sporting Clay guy, it will save you having to "unlearn" some things later. There is some good help here on choosing a coach http://www.nssa-nsca.org/index.php/nsca-sporting-clays-shooting/training-information/instructors/

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  • 2 years later...
  • 7 months later...
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Can I suggest you find a Shotgun Fitter, before you do anything more?  A wonderful Englishman named Jack Mitchell made a huge difference in my shotgun shooting, live birds, Skeet or Sporting Clays.  Jack is dead now, God rest his soul.  The typical commercially sold shotgun sold in the US is made for a male, about 5' 8" tall, about 180 pounds, and right handed.  I differ from that a lot, and I also crawl the stock.  The typical commercial shotgun has a distance from the trigger to the butt of about 14-and-a-half inches, but Jack said I needed 16 inches.  After working with him, my scores almost doubled.  

 

I have worked with several fitters.  Some ask you to just shoulder the shotgun with your face on the stock.  Others will watch you shoot for awhile, and make temporary changes, then watch you shoot some more.  Jack was one of the latter.  He taught me to focus on the bird, and look ahead of the bird by the lead I needed, as my body will make the gun follow my eye.  As the shot cloud is a long tear drop, too much lead is just fine, so long as your elevation is right, as that tail will break your bird.  I am right handed, but Jack taught me that I pointed my shotgun with my left hand, and encouraged me to point my left index finger downrange on the hand guard.  He showed me that Improved Cylinder choke does just about everything.  

 

It is useful to practice visualizing the lead you need as others shoot.  A Skeet field is standardized so it is easier.  At the distances you break Skeet birds, a foot of lead will be about the thickness of a extended finger.  For the 7 Skeet firing positions around the arc, the leads will go:  #1-6 to 9 inches, #2-about 18 inches, #3-about 3 feet, #4-about 4 feet, and then downwards in the same progression to the far end of the arc.  The angular speed of the outgoing bird on the #2 and #6 stations is so high I cannot visualize the lead necessary in time, so I just swing through and be pulling the trigger as I do.  The #8 station out in the middle of the field also demands that one catch up t the bird and cover it with the barrels while pulling the trigger.   

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14 hours ago, NuJudge said:

Can I suggest you find a Shotgun Fitter, before you do anything more?  A wonderful Englishman named Jack Mitchell made a huge difference in my shotgun shooting, live birds, Skeet or Sporting Clays.  Jack is dead now, God rest his soul.  The typical commercially sold shotgun sold in the US is made for a male, about 5' 8" tall, about 180 pounds, and right handed.  I differ from that a lot, and I also crawl the stock.  The typical commercial shotgun has a distance from the trigger to the butt of about 14-and-a-half inches, but Jack said I needed 16 inches.  After working with him, my scores almost doubled.  

 

I have worked with several fitters.  Some ask you to just shoulder the shotgun with your face on the stock.  Others will watch you shoot for awhile, and make temporary changes, then watch you shoot some more.  Jack was one of the latter.  He taught me to focus on the bird, and look ahead of the bird by the lead I needed, as my body will make the gun follow my eye.  As the shot cloud is a long tear drop, too much lead is just fine, so long as your elevation is right, as that tail will break your bird.  I am right handed, but Jack taught me that I pointed my shotgun with my left hand, and encouraged me to point my left index finger downrange on the hand guard.  He showed me that Improved Cylinder choke does just about everything.  

 

It is useful to practice visualizing the lead you need as others shoot.  A Skeet field is standardized so it is easier.  At the distances you break Skeet birds, a foot of lead will be about the thickness of a extended finger.  For the 7 Skeet firing positions around the arc, the leads will go:  #1-6 to 9 inches, #2-about 18 inches, #3-about 3 feet, #4-about 4 feet, and then downwards in the same progression to the far end of the arc.  The angular speed of the outgoing bird on the #2 and #6 stations is so high I cannot visualize the lead necessary in time, so I just swing through and be pulling the trigger as I do.  The #8 station out in the middle of the field also demands that one catch up t the bird and cover it with the barrels while pulling the trigger.   

Good stuff!

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