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Faster shotgun splits - Eat more Donuts


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I used to read these threads (I admit I did not read this one except the OP) but now I just scan to see what Patrick says. He probably has some articles about SG shooting fundamentals stashed somewhere on the internet. When he posts, just read that and do what he says. Patrick is not a small man by any stretch, but he is tall, and he just leans into it and lets it rip. Video is one thing, watching the top SG guys in person is more telling. Especially when they switch loads. It is like...Oh yeah, I put some kickers in, and they auto-adjust in one round.

The SMM3G all shotgun stage win of PK:

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I was SOOO glad to see him toss a couple on the ground in that vid! Even at his level, guys still occasionally yard sale a shell or two. I keep getting better, but sometimes feel like the next level is unattainable. At least I don't have to feel like it requires absolute perfection to be successful, Kelley is a Godfather in our sport!

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glad to see him toss a couple on the ground in that vid! Even at his level, guys still occasionally yard sale a shell or two.

You know what, I picked up those two shells and used them on the next stage...had a great run. :roflol:

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Bladed stance lean forward and your weight on your leading foot. If you have those those lines of targets like they do lock the upper body on place and pivot with the lower body like a tank turret and go smooth across the line and don't try to muscle the gun to the targets

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BitchinCamaro -

I dig the Dead Milkmen reference.

Hey, thanks. My dad's the mayor!

JCarpenter, how'd you do at your match last weekend?

Thanks for everyone's input, and thank you Mr. Kelley for chiming in.

Unfortunately, I'm doing that thing where I examine my performance after a match, commit to working on my weaknesses... then get caught up with life (remodeling an ancient house) and other excuses, and let practice days slip by closer and closer towards the next match. I have been processing buckets of rifle brass though :rolleyes: .

I'm gonna shoot this week to examine my form and post back.

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Just got back from the range- tried bill drills and transitions from my normal stance:

By the end of the Bill drill I was weighted totally on my rear foot. My, front foot basically had zero weigh on it and I noticed my muzzle was rising and not settling between shots. Six more shots and I would have had to of taken a step backwards.

My ghetto Iphone shot timer wasn't working great today, but it seemed like the fastest I could cleanly run the shotgun between horizontal target strings a yard apart was about .8.

Any faster and I was losing the sight and getting all twisted around again. Part of the problem was getting the gun mounted from low ready. I was wearing a heavy jacket due to bad weather, so my first shot wasn't always optimal.

I tried just blading my stance more, but I'm not quite as square to the target as I thought I was. What eventually helped the most was my weight distribution at start.

I tried locking out my rear knee and having my center of gravity fall straight behind my front knee. I thought I was low enough before, but I really got down so the mag tube touched the ground a few feet in front of my weak foot. The axis of the shotgun was over that left foot too, and I double checked to make sure I would never muzzle sweep it.

It looked like I was about to sprint 100M, and it felt like I was trying to brace myself against a door. Like position ii, but with a comically long shotgun.

sprinting_technique_start.jpg

The results were mixed. Because the new stance got my torso more "in line" behind the stock of the gun, I guess more of my upper body and spine took the recoil down to my feet. It also sort of locked out my arms, so transitioning from the hips was mandatory. There was definitely more vertical control of the muzzle this way. Horizontal control was ... different, but I can see how with practice that this is gonna work out a lot better. I just need to work on moving my body around smooth like a tank turret instead of snapping it around with my eyes.

The downside is that now my face is in a position where the apex of the stock pushes directly against the underside of my cheekbone. Were before I guess I was absorbing recoil with my shoulder, and my face was slightly to the side of the stock, in the new stance the stock is moving the stock straight into my face. It feels like an 8 year old is punching me under the eye each time I pull the trigger- manageable, but certainly less pleasant than before.

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Do a search on Katy Harris, 5'8" 120lb and runs an M2 faster than most guys. You will find her in the Benelli videos and various others. I would study her stance and positioning. Might as well look up Katy Frances while your at it....she also drives a shotgun well and is even a bit smaller. I don't point them out to say anything about you, but they both understand what it takes to deal with recoil as a smaller person, which most guys on here just can't relate to....I know I can't cause I been eating the donuts for a lloooonngg time :)

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It is the doughnut holes that get me. :)

I have my 85 pound 12 year old running the SG with #4 field loads and he is down to about 3 seconds on a plate rack set-up. If he did not have a baseball tournament the same weekend, he would be shooting Pikes Peak.

I let him shoot one round. Then I took the shotgun, got in front of him and went into a 3 point stance and told him I was coming. He braced, I yelled "freeze" and put the SG back in his hands. That is all it took. He asked me why the SG kicks less when he leans forward, so he got a 30 minute physics lesson for free too.

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It is the doughnut holes that get me. :)

I have my 85 pound 12 year old running the SG with #4 field loads and he is down to about 3 seconds on a plate rack set-up. If he did not have a baseball tournament the same weekend, he would be shooting Pikes Peak.

I let him shoot one round. Then I took the shotgun, got in front of him and went into a 3 point stance and told him I was coming. He braced, I yelled "freeze" and put the SG back in his hands. That is all it took. He asked me why the SG kicks less when he leans forward, so he got a 30 minute physics lesson for free too.

But but but but, all the tactical timmeys say you have to stand with your shoulders and feet square to the threat.

:)

Of course, that makes managing recoil hard. And target transitions. And getting your feet moving.

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:roflol:

I was told in the first "tactical" class I ever took...make your self a hard target...which means armor, move or get small. Move is about the only option some of us have left. :)

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It is the doughnut holes that get me. :)

I have my 85 pound 12 year old running the SG with #4 field loads and he is down to about 3 seconds on a plate rack set-up. If he did not have a baseball tournament the same weekend, he would be shooting Pikes Peak.

I let him shoot one round. Then I took the shotgun, got in front of him and went into a 3 point stance and told him I was coming. He braced, I yelled "freeze" and put the SG back in his hands. That is all it took. He asked me why the SG kicks less when he leans forward, so he got a 30 minute physics lesson for free too.

Mark, I think you get father of the year award for that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It turns out that getting sort of unfit over the winter was a big contributor to not moving smoothly or with control at speed.

I'm not normally a six-pack fitness freak, but I've been there, and I'm aware that I'm relatively core-weak at the moment.

I contacted a personal trainer-friend and she suggested this:

http://youtu.be/I57C1jvcNTY?t=1m43s

and warmed up with this:

So 15 minutes 3 times a week and I'm already seeing a massive improvement in consistency with my horizontal transitions..Right now I'm ~.5 splits on 8 clays all day, everyday.

.3 is still touch and go, but I'm getting into my full summer workout routine so hopefully I'll be consistent by the next match or 2.

Maybe the answer is core instead of ballast.

Edited by BitchinCamaro
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It is the doughnut holes that get me. :)

I have my 85 pound 12 year old running the SG with #4 field loads and he is down to about 3 seconds on a plate rack set-up. If he did not have a baseball tournament the same weekend, he would be shooting Pikes Peak.

I let him shoot one round. Then I took the shotgun, got in front of him and went into a 3 point stance and told him I was coming. He braced, I yelled "freeze" and put the SG back in his hands. That is all it took. He asked me why the SG kicks less when he leans forward, so he got a 30 minute physics lesson for free too.

But but but but, all the tactical timmeys say you have to stand with your shoulders and feet square to the threat.

:)

Of course, that makes managing recoil hard. And target transitions. And getting your feet moving.

We had a police office stop in a buddy's shop that was right by the police training for the state asking about extra shotgun pads as he had to qualify and stated he was always sore when done. His local guy had him holding the shotgun square to the target on his chest dead center. He left to qualify after being shown how to correctly hold one and his Sgt was wrong lol

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