Useful Words

[Tangram]

I shot a challenging station at my favorite club. I shot it well. My 25 shots, most of the time, breaking clays. Then I moved to the next station, one that I usually shoot well, and started a string of misses that was only broken a couple times. After the first box I got tired, frustrated of letting the clays run free. I changed the tempo of my shots and began to break clays. (Got out of my head and on the target.)

Later at the club house I picked up a sheet that is used as an introduction to lessons. Even I had to smile when one of my shooting partners quipped that I should have read that before I went out to shoot. A few useful lines from the sheet follows.

• Don't think head, hands or feet think eyes.

GOOD SHOOTING

Good shooting happens when:

• Head down on gun stock with eyes in line with rib.

• Eyes out to target, not on gun rib or sights.

• Locate target with eyes before you move your gun.

• Follow through after the shot.

I used this as a check list. Useful to break my confusion cycle....

Do you have any words that direct, inform, inspire your shooting?

Fundamental Words and Beyond

Edited January 22, 2009 by Tangram

[Jaxshooter]

See the target, break the target.

Try to shoot the target as soon as you can. You cannot shoot it before you see it. Make sure your gun hold points are consistant.

[AlamoShooter]

Trying to and thinking "Break the target" is not nearly as productive as Making a good shot.

In order to break a target you have to place the lead shot in an area that the target has not reached yet.

by asking your self to break the target you are asking your brain to make sure the shot is lined up = stopping the swing

If you just "Make a good shot" the targets break more consistently. this is what you think after all other preperation and just before you call for the birds.

[HSMITH]

Head up straight, eyes level. If you have to get down on the stock the gun doesn't fit. With an upright head and level eyes your depth perception and speed reading are vastly improved over any situation other than that.

[The Antichrome]

Front Sight, Squeeze.

(Same as pistol shooting...But with the shotgun, the clay is my front sight.)

[3GunF1Guy]

If your going to miss make sure that you miss in front.

I am reading a book on clay shooting and the author said that if you miss behind the target you will NEVER break the clay. But if you miss in front there is a chance, that with slow pellets or a bad pattern, you still have some chance of breaking the target.

Of course the best way is to lead the target properly. For me I need to lead the target and that means putting the gun in front of the target, out into space. Sometimes way out into space on long crossers. I can either do this with the swing through method or the sustained lead method. The targets that kill me are the chondells. You need to be in front and either below or above them depending on when you shoot them. If they are coming from the right and going up you can't see the target when you shoot it.

Scott

[Irishlad]

" Careful, reckless abandonment".

But, when actually shooting, I try to "visualize" proper target breaking...without words if I can...in full color of course.

If I'm thinking words, then I started the "process" too soon or "evil thoughts" have entered my little mind.

Too soon for me, means I'm waiting to shoot and I can't, me anyway, spend 5 minutes thinking about breaking the bird. I'll passively "note" things, think about other, easy stuff, but won't start the process of the "non-drug induced" target breaking "trance" until a minute or two before.

Again, that's me and I may have killed too many brains cells over the years to concentrate that long...not that I regret it....

[mikey357]

"Ready when you call, SMOOTH when you move"...

"Head on Stock, Eye on Target"...

"SEE the Target, THEN Move"...

"Stay in the Gun"...

"Keep your Head DOWN, Dummy"...

"Proper Foot Position...Proper Hold Point...Proper Visual Focus"...

"Head Down, Follow Thru"...

"Look at the TARGET"...(NOT at the end of the GUN!)

"Go After 'Em...MAKE It Happen"

"Find 'Em, an' Grind 'Em"...

...that's all...for NOW...HTH....mikey357

[Singlestack]

If it flies, it dies.

[Ross Carter]

At least for trap an old timer gave me "stay parked" which means don't move the gun until you see the bird well, don't jump at the streak.

But the best of all comes from Jerry Barnhardt " see what you need to see" , it adapts well to clay shooting too.

[Tangram]

I have been watching "Timed to Win", a DVD, by Anthony Matarese.

He suggests a five step plan when shooting sporting.

1. Determine Break Point

2. Determine Hold Point

3. Think Timing (picking up the clay)

4. Placement (in front, on or behind the target)

5. Focus (see the target)

These are conscious steps moving toward letting the body do its stuff and break the target. Step 5 is a transition point to seeing target and feeling when to pull the trigger. He advocates just before or after we call pull we remind ourselves consciously to focus. From that point we become target centered. Combining this discipline with the use of a pull away technique has helped me to break more long crossers.

Matarese's emphasis on focus reminds me of Chuck and Matt Drykes basic lessons on focus and the importance of the visual system.

[mildot1]

Head on the stock, Eye on the rock!!

Move, mount, and shoot!

[benos]

I shot a challenging station at my favorite club. I shot it well. My 25 shots, most of the time, breaking clays. Then I moved to the next station, one that I usually shoot well, and started a string of misses that was only broken a couple times. After the first box I got tired, frustrated of letting the clays run free. I changed the tempo of my shots and began to break clays. (Got out of my head and on the target.)

Later at the club house I picked up a sheet that is used as an introduction to lessons. Even I had to smile when one of my shooting partners quipped that I should have read that before I went out to shoot. A few useful lines from the sheet follows.

• Don't think head, hands or feet think eyes.

GOOD SHOOTING

Good shooting happens when:

• Head down on gun stock with eyes in line with rib.

• Eyes out to target, not on gun rib or sights.

• Locate target with eyes before you move your gun.

• Follow through after the shot.

I used this as a check list. Useful to break my confusion cycle....

Do you have any words that direct, inform, inspire your shooting?

Fundamental Words and Beyond

You have some good ones there.

Shoot EVERY shot with the same rhythm and timing: Move, Mount, Shoot.

Don't move until you see the target CLEARLY.

Or,

Don't move "on the blur."

Stare right at the target until it breaks.

Or,

Don't "look away" (at the instant before you shoot).

That one was huge for me. It's looking away that stops the gun. If you never look away you won't have to tell yourself to follow through. You have to be paying really careful attention to what your actually seeing to know if you're looking away or not.

Never try to "see" or "measure" the lead. In trying to "see the lead" you look away and stop the gun.

Not looking away with a shotgun is akin to seeing the sight lift with a pistol. It must be mastered for consistent success.

be

[John E]

I have read all of this with great fascination. I wish I had read this forum before I went to shoot today.

However, I am reminded of a drill when I taught golf that really seemed to help unplug the conscious mind and allow the other guy to hit the ball. I am wondering if this would work with clays. Please feel free to shoot this down if it is nonsense.

For an athlete that was thinking way too much, I would give them 2 or 3 single-digit numbers when they started the backswing. Before impact, they had to add the numbers and tell me the sum. I have seen the Great One, Robbie Leatham, shooting 5-stand and doing much the same thing by having conversations with a friend or spectator WHILE he was shooting and he has yet to miss while doing so. Again, the best shooter can fire the shot because the the more cerebral guy was involved in a conversation.

Food for thought.

My flame-retardant suit is now on and properly adjusted.

[benos]

I have read all of this with great fascination. I wish I had read this forum before I went to shoot today.

However, I am reminded of a drill when I taught golf that really seemed to help unplug the conscious mind and allow the other guy to hit the ball. I am wondering if this would work with clays. Please feel free to shoot this down if it is nonsense.

For an athlete that was thinking way too much, I would give them 2 or 3 single-digit numbers when they started the backswing. Before impact, they had to add the numbers and tell me the sum. I have seen the Great One, Robbie Leatham, shooting 5-stand and doing much the same thing by having conversations with a friend or spectator WHILE he was shooting and he has yet to miss while doing so. Again, the best shooter can fire the shot because the the more cerebral guy was involved in a conversation.

Food for thought.

My flame-retardant suit is now on and properly adjusted.

I like it - give it a whirl.

It's similar to Timothy Gallwey's methods.

be

[John E]

I actually learned it from one of Gallwey's assistants, Freddie Shoemaker.

[JimmyZip]

A really great local Sporting Clays shooter Al Bollier taught me to shoot not long before he passed away. I can still hear him telling me to

"Get on the gun"

"Shoot through that bird"

and my favorite "now that's the way!" when I would do as he liked. He really taught me well, and while I don't shoot birds often anymore, when I do it doesn't take long to find my groove. I can still hear him in my head.

I miss you Al.

[lynn jones]

butt, beak, bang!

[claysports]

"See the rings!" If you can't pick out something on the bird, like rings or the black belly of the target, you aren't focusing hard enough. If I have weak breaks (or NO BREAKS ) at a station and I stop and remind myself to "See the rings!", my breaks get better.

Good shooting to you-

Christian P.

www.claysportsonline.com

[fiddler]

I have read all of this with great fascination. I wish I had read this forum before I went to shoot today.

However, I am reminded of a drill when I taught golf that really seemed to help unplug the conscious mind and allow the other guy to hit the ball. I am wondering if this would work with clays. Please feel free to shoot this down if it is nonsense.

For an athlete that was thinking way too much, I would give them 2 or 3 single-digit numbers when they started the backswing. Before impact, they had to add the numbers and tell me the sum. I have seen the Great One, Robbie Leatham, shooting 5-stand and doing much the same thing by having conversations with a friend or spectator WHILE he was shooting and he has yet to miss while doing so. Again, the best shooter can fire the shot because the the more cerebral guy was involved in a conversation.

Food for thought.

My flame-retardant suit is now on and properly adjusted.

When I am learning a difficult tune on the fiddle and I feel I am not making progress I sometimes put a novel up on the music stand and play while reading. It doesn't always help with the particular piece but I always learn something.

Roy

[benos]

"See the rings!" If you can't pick out something on the bird, like rings or the black belly of the target, you aren't focusing hard enough. If I have weak breaks (or NO BREAKS ) at a station and I stop and remind myself to "See the rings!", my breaks get better.

Good shooting to you-

Christian P.

www.claysportsonline.com

Good one! And if you can't see the rings, make sure you clearly see the bird as a well-defined contrast of black and orange before shooting. Or if you can't see the orange, see the black as a clearly focused circle before shooting.

be