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Stance Confusion

 

Stance Confusion

 

“I see so many different things written and so many differences in opinion regarding proper stance. What’s the formula for a proper stance in sporting clays?”

 

Proper stance for a given target begins with a solid shot plan in which you identify and landmark your break point. For a right-handed shooter, the left foot, or lead foot, should be generally oriented toward the break point but slightly more oblique. This means that, if we establish the break point as 12 o’clock from your position, the lead (left) foot should be pointed at 1 o’clock (slightly to the right) to the break point. The heels should be approximately eight to 12 inches apart, with the right foot at a comfortable angle away from the lead foot, generally oriented to between 2 and 3 o’clock of the break point. The key is to keep the distance between the heels at between eight and 12 inches. The natural tendency is for a shooter’s stance to be too oblique to the break point (lead foot oriented toward 3 o’clock instead of 1 o’clock) with the feet spread too far apart.

For the left-handed shooter, everything is a mirror image: right foot (lead foot) oriented at 11 o’clock, assuming the break point is 12 o’clock, with the left foot (trail foot) oriented between 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock and heels eight to twelve inches apart.

Whether left-or right-handed, balance should be about 60 percent forward and 40 percent back. Generally, the balls of the shoulder joints should be oriented in a direct line over the balls of the feet, buttocks (or belt buckle) slightly back and nose over toes. A good way to check your stance is to imagine a plumb bob, or weight, hanging on a string from the tip of your nose. The plumb bob should touch the ground or your toes, and the string should not touch your body.

For a pair of targets, the right-handed shooter should orient his or her stance to the left-most break point and the left-handed shooter to the right-most break point. If you follow these simple steps, you will have the least amount of tension or torque at the break points as you execute a single or a pair of targets.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter. You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.

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Focus

Focus

 

“I was shooting a tournament recently and became fatigued (mentally, not physically) and lost focus on the last three stations. How can I train to avoid this meltdown in the future?”

 

You are not alone. I recently saw a Face-book video in which Zach Kienbaum, the 2018 and 2019 NSCA National Champion who broke 290 targets out of 300 in the main event this year, was asked why he missed 10 tar-gets. His reply? “I didn’t look at some of them.” I recall an-other interview of Anthony Matarese Jr. after he won the World English where he at-tributed his misses to a lack of focus. If it’s easy for these world-class shots to forget to focus on a small fraction of the targets they engage, is it any wonder that you do?

One of the most difficult things for a competitor to do is maintain intensity of focus over a 100-target sporting clays course. So what’s the secret to maintaining your intensity of focus to perform at a high level and win com-petitions? It’s simpler to say than it is to accomplish. First, there is no substitute for practice or time be-hind the gun. This includes breaking lots of targets in disciplined, goal-oriented practice, but it also includes the widest possible variety of targets and variation in terrain. Second, compete a lot. While practice on a wide variety of targets is essential, it is difficult to replicate the pressure and conditions of competition in practice. Third, you need a rock-solid pre-shot routine. The pre-shot routine is the mental and physical process a shooter undergoes when he or she is in the shoot-ing stand and preparing to call for the next target or pair. As I have written about extensively, a solid pre-shot routine consists of three critical elements: visualization or “out of body rehearsal,” deep breathing to oxygenate the body and regulate brain wave activity, and a visual cue. The visual cue is the all-important reminder to your-self of what part of the target you will focus on when executing the shot.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter. You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.

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Balance vs. Maneuverability

Balance vs. Maneuverability

 

“I recently added extended chokes to my shotgun. This seems to make the shotgun heavier in the front, so I added some weight in the stock area.While that made it balance around the hinge pin, it still didn’t move the same way it used to. Can you explain gun balance a little better?”

 

Many think the “feel” of a shotgun is determined by weight and balance point and forget about weight distribution. It is these three elements that come together to yield the feel or maneuverability of a shotgun. A barbell, for example, is perfectly balanced in the middle—however, it is not very maneuverable. If you hold it like a shotgun, you will find that it takes a great deal of effort to move the “muzzle end,” and it takes great effort to stop the “swing” of the barbell with the weight at either end. Compare that with a padded weight bar of the same weight and overall length as the barbell. It is much easier to maneuver, stop and start because the weight is more evenly distributed across the length of the bar —yet the barbell and weight bar have identical weight and balance points.

It is the same with a shotgun. The weight and balance point of a shotgun do indeed tell us something about how a shotgun will handle, but the way in which weight is distributed over the length of the shotgun has an even greater bearing on the maneuverability of a shotgun. So, when you add a heavy extended choke to the end of your shotgun and some weight at the back of the shotgun to offset the additional weight at the muzzle, you have maintained the balance point but have altered the “moment of inertia” (MOI) or “feel” of the shotgun. If you don’t like the way your shotgun now handles after having added your heavy extended chokes, consider lighter chokes like Muller ceramic chokes, titanium chokes or even flush chokes and either pull some weight out of the stock or move the weight closer to the pistol grip. If you are interested in the physics behind the phenomenon of MOI, search for “moment of inertia tennis rackets” on the internet.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter.  You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.