Clay Target Shooters - tell us about your technique ?

[BigJimP]

Do you use or study any professional / technique / do you read or use DVD's - Todd Bender on Skeet, Bobby Fowler Jr on Sporting Clays, Inoye on Trap, Blakely, Digweed, etc ?

How do you read target flight or judge your lead / what is your technique ( do you use the "pull away", "sustained lead", "pull thru" techniques ) ? Why do you use it / or like it ?

How do you mount your gun / or shoot low gun - ( do you use a high gun mount common to American Skeet, do you shoot "low" gun, do you use the Bobby Fowler Jr system of pre-mount, then drop muzzle ...) ?

If you were going to name what you do on "pre shot" routine - as you step onto the station, or into the cage .... do you have 2 or 3 things that you say to yourself .. ( like "hard focus on target", "stay aggressive", "don't ride it, Kill it", smooth ---, "Look, shoot, Then Look Before Moving", "rotate at waist" )..... there are a lot of them .. ? Maybe list your top 2 or 3 ?

[Dave McC]

Whew, it'd take a book's worth of bandwidth, Jim. Here's a couple points, though.

Trap style targets get a swingthrough method. I'm not good at sustained lead style and use pull away on some presentations.

Low gun for almost everything. 27 yard handicap and International Trap are the exceptions.

Shooting low gun while consciously working on improving the mount and consistency is a great tool.

Target shooting works best for me if I stick to one gun for everyhting. Lately, that's been my Beretta O/U with enough tubes to do it all.

I find that dry mounting at home WITH A SHOTGUN KNOWN TO BE EMPTY does wonders for building muscle tone and consistency.

Books and videos I find helpful have included Brister's masterwork, Batha's Breaking Clays, Gil and Vicky Ash's If It Ain't Broke, Fix It and finally Scott and Fischer's Wingshooting DVD.

A couple tips when actually shooting are.....

Prior to calling for the bird, open your eyes as wide and possible and focus on the horizon for a few seconds. This aids in a hard focus and acquiring the target a bit faster.

Keep your pre shot routine consistent. Part of that should be a mantra.

Mine lately is "Just shoot the Thing". Helps me not thinking myself into missing.

[hogdogs]

I will open my mouth and prove I am a simpleton...:o
While never a shooter in regulation clay sports, I have busted a few "dirt birds". I find it very challenging to be consistent with 18 inch barrels or unfitted factory mossberg stocks in both wood or tupperware. I start with a few misses separated by cussing. I always settle in at first being to conservative with my lead putting my shot above and/or in front of the clay. Once I have gotten those out of the way I cuss much less. I think my technique is more of tracking the target rather than a natural over swing in which the trigger is pulled while the gun is in this swing's arc. It ain't pretty and I am no 85% shooter either. But I do have fun trying to hit the mostest with leastest thru known sub-par guns.
Brent

[oneounceload]

Stepping into station, it is "Where IS that damn thing coming from", followed by "Oh S**T, there it goes!"

Seriously, have read a lot, and am fortunate to shoot with some very good shooters - NSCA HIF member, Former Skeet champ of PR, among many. I can get instant tips for 90% of my screwups. I prefer low-gun and "move, mount, shoot" - and it works great IF......I keep my head on the stock and get it into my shoulder properly

[BigJimP]

That's pretty funny OneOunce ( not that I haven't used that once in a while too ..).

But myself:

For Study:
I do use a number of DVD's - Todd Bender on Skeet / Bobby Fowler Jr on Sporting Clays - and I have a library of DVD's by Blakely, Digweed, etc. I think Todd Benders DVD on Fundamentals of Skeet is probably the biggest improvement to my Skeet, Sporting and Field shooting.

For Lead:
I use Sustained Lead probably 90% of the time. Its really the only way I find - that I can adjust my lead, if I have a 2nd shot at same target, with any consistency. I will use Pull Thru - when I have to - but I'm not sucessful with it.

Gun Mount:
I use a High Gun almost 100% / and for Sporting I will use the Bobby Fowler Jr method of pre-mount to shoulder and then drop muzzle to find bird, insert into flight path - and find my break point.

My Pre-Shot mantra:
"Hard Focus on Target", - and "Rotate" lower body don't swing arms ... "Hard Focus, Hard Focus, Flex Knees, Rotate"... stay on swing plane, and follow-thru ( I probably talk to myself too much )...

[johnbt]

"Mine lately is "Just shoot the Thing". "

Mine is more "See bird, miss bird."

I have much more success with live birds. Just don't give me time to think.

John

[mwar410]

for skeet it's a high gun with sustained lead, never let the bird beat you. Have met Todd 2 or 3 times.
SC I always start with a high gun, then realize this never works, Low Gun, just like hunting. Swing through method.
Trap targets just seem to break, can never remember how they broke, but some do. Handicap is another beast, Everyone says just shoot them as usual, but they don't tend to break.

[USA123456789]

It has taken me many years to finally find a comfortable way of shooting trap but finally it seem that i have found it from watching and learning from those around me.
I have watched all of the club members over the years shooting trap and i have taken a little technique out of all of them and made it into my own..

[zippy13]

Wow, BigJim, that's one deep query. Do you want want the combination to my gun vault, too? ;)

As a Skeet shooter, and a little trap, the bird presentation is pretty much the same, so the road to success is named consistency. What separates the good shooters from the great shooters is adaptability and experience. If you practice all week and shoot 99s and 100s, you're doing great. However, if you don't know how to compensate for gusty winds on the tournament weekend, you're not going to be in the winner's circle.

Practice must be more than just shooting holes in the sky. For every lost target, you must know why you missed and what you'll do differently to avoid repeating the miss. Shooting a lot of targets won't improve your shooting unless you learn from your mistakes. You must be prepared to modify you methods. Skeet is a game of inches, it starts with your foot position and ends with your follow through. When it all works well, the targets turn to ink balls with very little effort. When it doesn't work well, be prepared to make the necessary adjustments.

Lead: While on the field, I try to do my best to analyze conditions and determine my adjustments. For me the sustained lead works best. For years I shot instinctively with a swing thru lead. I even shot my first year of NSSA Skeet swinging thru. At the end of the season, my mentor took me aside and said that if I wanted more 100 straights, it was time to switch to a sustained lead. By the time the next season started I was a convert.

With a sustained lead, you're moving the gun at the same speed as the target, you're seeing the lead and ready to smash the target if your pull the trigger, but you have the opportunity to fine tune before you break the target at your normal break point. With other methods the gun and target are moving at different speeds, so there is a reduced area(time) when the gun is in the kill zone. If you are fast, or slow, that point won't be the same from target to target. Since, with a sustained lead, you're moving the gun slower, it requires less effort. There are several other advantages, send me a PM if curious.

Mount: I start with a low gun facing at my break point visualizing a freshly ink balled target. I turn toward the house making any mental adjustments, focus on my hold point and mount the gun a pinch high into my vision and adjust down and immediately call for the target. By having a the same mounting rhythm at each target, I get good pulls with manually released targets. If you have a different rhythm at each target, the puller won't dial-in to your style.

Pre-shoot routine: While off station, I'm watching the targets and alert to any anomalies that might require an adjustment. For me the hardest thing off-stataion is keeping my mind on the game. It's easy to have stray thoughts interfere with your concentration. When you're about to shoot your Station 6 Doubles, nine birds away from a 100 straight, or at your final 5 at the last trap, it's no time to wonder if it's time to change the oil in the truck. We all have different ways of dealing with distractions. For me, visualizing shooting the next target seems to work best.

[jr05]

Butt-->Belly-->Beak-->BANG
great mentality for "birds" tracking across the shooting field.

For "birds" going toward or away from you...just aim at them and shoot.

I always start from a low ready (not with gun in the firing position) because it is much better training for actual bird hunting.

-JR

[BigJimP]

I agree with your approach Zippy / I would have been surprised if your input was anything different.

But since you were asking what else I wanted ... you have to spot me 2 birds a round ... and I'll take the combination to your safe as well ...

You'll still have an advantage / but we can shoot for something serious - like a coke at the end of the match. After all, I am shooting these crummy Brownings ...

[Jseime]

My clay shooting has been a pretty hillbilly venture for the most part. Its usually a buddy and I with a couple shotguns, a case of clays, a thrower and a case of shells. Just out to burn ammo and time. We dont have much for technique or form but i have gone something like 20 for 20.

A buddy and I devised a system where we each have a shotgun, load two clays in the thrower, tie the string to one or the others ankle so when you are ready you plant your back foot, setting off the thrower and both guys have a target to shoot at.