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Untrappable Swingers


Smitty79

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I shot 2 matches this weekend.   In both of them, there were swingers that had hard cover or no shoots preventing you from shooting the target when it paused at the end of the arc.   You couldn't even see the swinger long enough to try to track it.   It was only visible and available to shoot at max speed.

 

I can shoot the ones with the dwells.   But I lost a lot of points on these swingers.   Does anyone have pointers on technique for these or is the answer just learn to shoot better and faster?

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i'm a slow processor, so these are hard for me as well. what i do now is shoot the leading edge of the D or C zone, depending on speed. that's my cue to pull the trigger.

 

so a hard hold to keep from tracking it into the no shoots, timing my visual cue to shoot on the leading edge of the target, shoot one extra shot.

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forgive my rapid drawing in Paint, but i imagine this kind of set up is what your talking about. the only time you get to see it is as it rushes by. not your preferred time to shoot it, while it "dwells" at the bottom of either swing. and with enough hard cover and no shoots to obscure you tracking it.

 

that is why i said to hold in the opening, hard. and time your shot to the leading edge of the C or D zone as it swings by; depending on how fast you react and how fast the swinger is moving.

 

Edit:  shooter says he couldn't track it and it was only available at its maximum speed. so you need to do a kind of modified 'ambush' approach but in this case the timing and position are more critical. you have to know your own timing/processing/reaction speed or else you'll probably shoot behind the target if it is a really quick swinger with limited exposure.

swin.jpg

Edited by rowdyb
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you will have to ambush it.  Pick a spot where you want to shoot the target and concentrate on a 1 solid shot and then do that again for at least 1 more pass.  If it is a really tight shot then put 3 on target.  This is how you will see swingers as almost all major matches.

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I agree with the posts above. Pick a spot and when the D zone hits your sight, pull the trigger.

 

I would caution on the extra shot though. If this is the habit, you will pay less attention and still have mikes. You can still call the shots this way so just pay the insurance when you think you need it.

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I shot at stage at a Rayner's local match a long time ago. The stage was 6 rounds required. Big wall with two swingers behind it that you could only see in the arc. Popper to the left of the wall activated the left swinger, popper on the right activated the right swinger. My first attempt at the stage I shot it activator, activator, one, one, one, one (one shot per pass per swinger, they made 2 passes each). It was our last stage so I shot it again with a different plan (not for score of course). 3 rounds left popper, then 5 or 6 rounds at where the swinger was going to appear as fast as I could, 3 rounds right popper, 5 or 6 where the swinger was going to appear as fast as I could. Each swinger only made one pass. The 2nd method was multiple seconds faster with 3 hits on each target. I found it interesting that shooting ~18 rounds on a 6 round stage produced a way higher hit factor.

 

I'd like to play around with that 2nd method more in practice. Shooting fast swingers that you can't trap conventionally requires reacting when you see the target appear. That other method requires no reacting at all. I'm not necessarily recommending that to anyone, just interesting food for thought.

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^^ i have to just "basted away" at the opening and gotten lucky. it certainly felt fun and didn't seem to require as much skill in the moment to just throw out 4-6 shots. but i also left that shooting position just hoping i had two hits on.

 

like jake said, if you really want definitive answers you need to go out to your range and set this stuff up and run it over and over.

matches are execution, not practice.

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This one is all about timing. You have to know how long it takes you to make a shot from a visual cue. 

 

Think of it like following distance while driving or shooting a crossing bird or clay. You have to account for the mental and mechanical delay that takes place and shoot an object that isn't there. By the time your brain does its thing and you press the trigger, then the gun does its thing and fires the bullet, the target should be there. 

 

Then depending on distance, either fire a controlled pair, or get it again on the way back.

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10 hours ago, BoyGlock said:

Is it not called bobbers?

If too far say 15y or more and fast I shoot 1 per pass. 

If closer 10y or less and fast I can gamble 2 in one pass

A class Open. 

Bobbers, at least in my mind, go up and down. Swingers move side to side

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I shot one of the matches with him and it was just like Rowdyb drew up, only the gap was closer to the width of the target. 

a little trick I figured out on these is as the swinger moves into view you can see the lower corner of the D zone appearing well before the edge of the target to the side of the A zone where you want to shoot it, its hard but if you can pay a little attention to that corner of the opening with your peripheral vision you can have a tiny bit more time to react. 

 

 

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On 1/30/2017 at 8:46 AM, PatJones said:

Track the target like you would a clay target with a shotgun. Aim into the A zone and move with the target.

Bob Vogel has a video on YouTube that describes this method. He says being able to track the swinger and put hits in the A zone while it is moving is paramount. 

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