Shooting School

Glad you had a fun shoot!
Thanks to your advice Henry, I really did have a good shoot over the weekend. You would think that with such margin of error, hitting anything with a shotgun would be a cakewalk.
A quote by an unknown source goes something like this, "The average shooter will practice until they can hit their target; a master will practice until they can't miss." RM
 
There are those who have natural ability and exceptional hand-eye coordination and shoot well effortlessly and those who shoot competitively and work tirelessly at shooting, but for the rest of us it's about having fun and shooting enough rounds to figure out what works - and tolerating those days when nothing does.

I've always enjoyed shooting targets (skeet and sporting clays variants), but so much more the last 5 or so years since I stopped shooting for score and focused on shooting as if hunting. And I've become a better shot. Though I have no idea if my clay busting % is better since I don't keep score, I do know my bird shooting is improved.
 
There are those who have natural ability and exceptional hand-eye coordination and shoot well effortlessly and those who shoot competitively and work tirelessly at shooting, but for the rest of us it's about having fun and shooting enough rounds to figure out what works - and tolerating those days when nothing does.

I've always enjoyed shooting targets (skeet and sporting clays variants), but so much more the last 5 or so years since I stopped shooting for score and focused on shooting as if hunting. And I've become a better shot. Though I have no idea if my clay busting % is better since I don't keep score, I do know my bird shooting is improved.
True that Henry. I've never kept score or shot competition. My only motivation is to become the best I can be with my own God given talents. Hopefully this will translate to becoming a better hunter. RM
 
Found this video to share. The shooting practice is really coming along great with only a few short weeks left before the real fun begins. When I first purchased my thrower a case of 135 clays would last one case of shells. Lots of exercise picking up unbroken clays. Now I am at almost two cases of clays for one case of shells. Next year I will begin practice with the Acro S2. RM
 
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Found this video to share. The shooting practice is really coming along great with only a few short weeks left before the real fun begins. When I first purchased my thrower a case of 135 clays would last one case of shells. Lots of exercise picking up unbroken clays. Now I am at almost two cases of clays for one case of shells. Next year I will begin practice with the Acro S2. RM
Thanks for sharing, will watch when I get off the road this evening. I'd checked out their website and a few videos they had on it, but could never quite figure out what the things do for certain. My takeaway at the time was that they didn't throw a laser/dot, but rather represented a larger, see through sight with a reticle of some form. Hopefully this will provide more insight.
 
I totally agree you can learn a lot from reading books. Gun fit is premium, practicing your mount in front of a large mirror is great, but one on one lessons is better. I went from C class to master class quickly by taking lessons. Ive had 5-6 different instructors in those years, learned different things from different ones. One on particular, Bruce Ney, helped me become a two eye shooter. Takes a lot of practice as the scores go up and down. Don't shoot with friends, practice with one friend and put your classes to use. Then go shoot with friends and have a good time. Go to a registered shoot and watch a few of the big dogs, what they do in the stand, Watch them from when they get in the stand till they pull the trigger. Watch them not the bird...
 
Capt Rich,
Thanks for the tips. There are alot of neat tricks for shooting clays. Just this year I learned about hold point and break points. Using soft focus as the bird leaves the thrower and switching to hard focus just before mounting the gun and shooting. The maintained lead system Gil Ash and others recommend really work well for clays. Everything was honky dory until the battery died in my wireless remote key fob for the delay timer release. All of a sudden I found myself behind the birds trying to catch up while using the foot pedal with instant release. That is what made me realize the fallacy of learning only one method of shooting. Since then I have been shooting follow through just using my foot pedal release to simulate bird flushes when I am not ready. Fortunately alot of what I learned shooting maintained lead has helped and not hurt shooting swing through. I would love some one on one instruction as you mentioned to get me over the hump, so to speak. Can you advise on things that I should look for when choosing an instructor? RM
 
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