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I might be hooked,need advice.


sandrooney

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12 hours ago, sandrooney said:

I have had chance to shoot my A400 and love it, but I still couldn't get the Silver Pigeon out of my head. I found a 686 SP1, 12 gauge, 30" sporting on sale and Beretta was giving a $150.00 rebate on top of that, so now I have both. Just need to learn how to shoot them and all will be good. 

You’ll like those guns. 

Shooting tip #1.  Keep your head on the stock and watch the target. Or as my coach used to say: keep wood on wood!

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Thanks for the tip practical_man. That is where I need the most practice. I tend to lift my head. Wood on wood will be my new go to phrase. Thanks

 

elguapo, the 32" just seemed a little awkward for some reason. I am not planning to shoot competitively and even if I did I don't think a 32" gun over a 30" gun will hurt me at this point. Thanks

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4 hours ago, sandrooney said:

I tend to lift my head.

 

Make sure that you have a good gun fitter evaluate how your new shotgun fits, particularly if you're having a consistent issue like lifting your head.  It could be new guy syndrome of lifting the head, but it could be cause by poor stock fit.  

 

Guys new to clay shooting typically severely underestimate the importance of good stock fit and, to make matters worse, are not sophisticated enough to tell when the gun doesn't fit them well.  Sure, noobs can tell when the fit is grossly off, but typically not when it's slightly off and that's when things like head lifting, cheek slapping, etc come from.

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I have had my first appointment with a gun fitter. He wanted me to practice my mount and shoot some before he makes any adjustments. I have done a lot of reading on gun fit and am aware of it's importance. I am anxious to get all that out of the way so I can really start shooting. I purchased a wheely bird trap w/remote to get some trigger time in. Its a cool machine. I can hit 99% from the rear of the trap and about 95% with the clay traveling from left to right but when I try to shoot the clay traveling right to left I MISS probably 95%. I don't know why. I plan on getting some help. I took a lesson right after I got my A400, before I ever fired a shot out of it. My shotgun experience was next to none and I feel I got nothing out of the lesson. I think after some trigger time and fitting a lesson will help more. All that said I am having a lot of fun with these shotguns. Thanks

Edited by sandrooney
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2 hours ago, sandrooney said:

I can hit 99% from the rear of the trap and about 95% with the clay traveling from left to right but when I try to shoot the clay traveling right to left I MISS probably 95%. I don't know why.

 

Are you right eye dominant?  And are you mounting the gun on your right shoulder?

Edited by elguapo
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2 hours ago, sandrooney said:

I mount the gun on my right shoulder. For lack of being able to come up with the right term I will say that I am barely right eye dominant. I shoot with a piece of tape on my left lens.

 

That's what I thought.  First make sure that if you wear prescription glasses, they are correcting both eyes to the same acuity.

 

Once you have that sorted out, do this drill over and over until you can get rid of the tape (and you will be able to get rid of it).  I was in your shoes three years ago stuck in NSCA D class.  I used the 3 bullet drill to train my eyes to deal with that shotgun in my field of view and made A class in less than 18 months.

 

 

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17 hours ago, sandrooney said:

Thanks for the tip practical_man. That is where I need the most practice. I tend to lift my head. Wood on wood will be my new go to phrase. Thanks

 

elguapo, the 32" just seemed a little awkward for some reason. I am not planning to shoot competitively and even if I did I don't think a 32" gun over a 30" gun will hurt me at this point. Thanks

 

I go back and forth with the 30 vs 32

 

I don't think one is "better" than the other just different swing feel ; weight & ballance.

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elgaupo, Thanks for the help and the video. It's time for my yearly eye exam and I will talk to the Doctor about that. Thanks for the video I will practice that drill.

 

warpspeed, Like I said the 32" just seemed awkward to me. I never shot one just handled one at the LGS. Thanks

Edited by sandrooney
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6 hours ago, sandrooney said:

elgaupo, Thanks for the help and the video. It's time for my yearly eye exam and I will talk to the Doctor about that. Thanks for the video I will practice that drill.

 

Like you, I used to think that I was cross dominant, or that I had weak right eye dominance.  I am right eye dominant by any test you can find.  Eye dominance can shift and change % but it's a complex subject that I don't understand completely.

 

I do know this: Gil Ash is 100% correct when he says that our eyes don't see.  Our eyes only transmit shape and color data to our visual cortex in the brain which merges and interprets both streams into one coherent picture which we then "see".  And so, our brain can be trained to ignore certain visual inputs.

 

What the three bullet drill does is teach your brain to ignore the gun in your field of view, particularly on right to left crossers (for right eye dominant people) when the left eye is looking over the shotgun at a target that trails behind the gun.  The left eye wants to see this huge steel stick right in front of it while the right eye has this uninterrupted view of the target.  Now your brain is getting two different images from the two eyes and it comes up with a false image of what's happening downrange.  This results in a miss when the lead seems "perfect".

 

This doesn't happen (for right eye dominant people) when shooting left to right crossers because both the left and right eyes are looking away from the gun and can easily see the target.

 

Obviously left eye dominant people who shoot from the left shoulder will have the problem on left to right crossers.

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I went out today with the wheely bird to practice targets from right to left with eguapo's explanation in mind. I tried shooting both eyes open with no tape on the left lens. Didn't seem to make much difference, got pretty much the same results. I hit most left to right and from behind and missed from right to left. So I thought I would try closing my left eye. I kept both eye's open till I picked up the clay then closed my left to get the lead and break the clay. I broke the first one and about 20 more in a row after that switching between my SA and O/U. Thanks to eguapo's explanation that prompted me to try this, I think I am on the right track. I am hoping that the 3 bullet drill will teach me to shoot with both open but if not I have read where some do close one eye. Thanks eguapo. I am excited.

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3 hours ago, sandrooney said:

I went out today with the wheely bird to practice targets from right to left with eguapo's explanation in mind. I tried shooting both eyes open with no tape on the left lens. Didn't seem to make much difference, got pretty much the same results. I hit most left to right and from behind and missed from right to left. So I thought I would try closing my left eye. I kept both eye's open till I picked up the clay then closed my left to get the lead and break the clay. I broke the first one and about 20 more in a row after that switching between my SA and O/U. Thanks to eguapo's explanation that prompted me to try this, I think I am on the right track. I am hoping that the 3 bullet drill will teach me to shoot with both open but if not I have read where some do close one eye. Thanks eguapo. I am excited.

 

You're welcome.  I'm going to warn you: training your brain to ignore the gun so that you can stop winking one eye or using a patch is not easy.  You have to do the 3 bullet drill as often as you can.  I tried to do 15  - 20 min of it every day.  Also, you need to decide that you will stop using visual crutches and just shoot.  It's gonna suck for a while then one day your brain will figure it out and you will start making real progress.  Once you get a taste of shooting successfully with both eyes open you will not go back to covering one of them.  Ever.

 

Trust me.

 

PS I know some say that it's OK to shoot with one eye closed.  I don't believe it.  Work at it until your brain accepts what you're trying to teach it.  I don't know of a single high level shooter that covers or winks the off eye.

Edited by elguapo
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I definitely am going to train to shoot with both eyes open and no tape. I am just excited to find at least part of my issue with right to left targets. I am doing the 3 bullet drill a couple times a day. I am pretty sure I will figure it out. Like I said before I am having fun with it. Thanks for all the help.

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  • 5 months later...
On 9/21/2019 at 10:11 PM, clawson2011 said:

once you start seeing the target instead of looking for the sites you will be shocked 

agreed. looking at beads leads to aiming. get the  gun mount down pat with a well fit gun and it is amazing how hard you crush targets just looking at the target.

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  • 2 months later...

I am still trying to learn this game. I do ok at trap. I average around 20/25. 23 is my highest. I really suck at skeet but don't get much chance to shoot it.  I really want to shoot Sporting Clay's and 5 Stand but the nearest range that offers them is over 100 miles one way for me. Oh well, it's all fun as long as I am putting lead back into the environment.

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Sporting clays is the hardest of the three but by far the most fun. I started out as a one eyed trap shooter, right handed but very left eye dominant.     You’ll get that first 25 soon, and all the rest will follow. I can tell you the first 25 is all

mental. Shoot a registered event or practice with a scorekeeper and don’t count in your head. The books and videos all help to a certain point. I watch and read them when I can’t sleep. Happy Thanksgiving. 

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Yes I still shoot one eyed. I just couldn’t figure out how to shoot left handed. For sporting clays I locate the target with both eyes and close the left eye just before the shot so that I don’t see two birds. Ideally I’d like to shoot with both eyes open- just not enough time to figure it out between shoots that really count here. 

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  • 6 months later...

I said I might be hooked well I think I need to go to shotguns anonymous. I just added a Beretta 20 gauge 686 Silver Pigeon to my addiction. After a Year and a half of shotgunning I now have 4 shotguns. 

 

Beretta 686 SP1 Sporting 12 Gauge 30"

Beretta 686 SP1 Field 20 Gauge 28". Thanks to warpspeed for buying one of my other guns.

I.Rizzini LX680 Gold Trap 12 Gauge 32"

Winchester 1300 20 Gauge Pump. This pump gun is so much fun to shoot.

It's got to end here.

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On 5/30/2020 at 6:28 AM, sandrooney said:

I said I might be hooked well I think I need to go to shotguns anonymous. I just added a Beretta 20 gauge 686 Silver Pigeon to my addiction. After a Year and a half of shotgunning I now have 4 shotguns. 

 

Beretta 686 SP1 Sporting 12 Gauge 30"

Beretta 686 SP1 Field 20 Gauge 28". Thanks to warpspeed for buying one of my other guns.

I.Rizzini LX680 Gold Trap 12 Gauge 32"

Winchester 1300 20 Gauge Pump. This pump gun is so much fun to shoot.

It's got to end here.

you act like its a bad thing ! LOL when you have 5 or 6 krieghoffs, a ljutic, and a kolar or two, then you have a problem. LOL

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On 5/30/2020 at 4:28 AM, sandrooney said:

I said I might be hooked well I think I need to go to shotguns anonymous. I just added a Beretta 20 gauge 686 Silver Pigeon to my addiction. After a Year and a half of shotgunning I now have 4 shotguns. 

 

Beretta 686 SP1 Sporting 12 Gauge 30"

Beretta 686 SP1 Field 20 Gauge 28". Thanks to warpspeed for buying one of my other guns.

I.Rizzini LX680 Gold Trap 12 Gauge 32"

Winchester 1300 20 Gauge Pump. This pump gun is so much fun to shoot.

It's got to end here.

 

Glad I could help. I love the 686 20 gauge.  

 

 

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