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Hartmann’s Hint #58: Young Skeet Shooters

Young Skeet Shooters

I help train young skeet shooters along with my friend and head SCTP coach, Joel Blankenship.

One of the things we encourage in these young shooters, after they have attained a level of confidence in their shooting, is to have them enter registered shoots. Several of the youth we have trained have shown skill levels that make them competitive. Some have shot on squads where they haven’t known anyone on the squad, but after the first time shooting with these squads, they are welcomed back like they were long-time friends and many times are asked to shoot with some of the same shooters.

The father of one of our shooters told me how people were walking up to his son at the Oklahoma State Shoot and welcoming him to the shoot. They asked him how he is shooting and generally spoke with him like he was an old friend. This, of course, made the father feel proud, and it made the young man feel like he belonged and that he had attained some skill as a skeet shooter.

One of the things I’ve noted over the years that I’ve been shooting registered skeet is that we are a friendly and welcoming group of people. Even knowing this, I am still impressed with how these young people are received and welcomed.

These youth are the future of our sport, and they are really great kids. Please continue to welcome and support them.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Hartmann’s Hint #56: Volunteering

Volunteering

Last August, the Oklahoma Gun Club was one of the host clubs for the Zone 6 shoot. Zone 6 has gone to an electronic shoot, and each state has at least one club hosting the shoot.

Each of the three days, there were several volunteers that came and helped the shoot run smoothly. We had loaders, water bearers, lunch makers and others that were sweeping the stations between squads.

At every shoot I have attended at the Shotgun Division of the Oklahoma City Gun Club, there have been several volunteers that were guided by the chairperson of the division. Each volunteer is given clear instructions as to what task they are to perform and when they are to perform their assigned tasks.

It’s well run, and without these volunteers, the shooters would not have as great a shoot.

The next time your club is having a shoot, whether it’s skeet, trap, 5-stand, sporting clays or any others, ask if you can help. Your service will be appreciated.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Hartmann’s Hint #61: You Can’t Be Too Safe

You can’t be too safe

 

Safety is something that should always be central in our thinking. It’s difficult to think about shotgun shooting without thinking about the things we have to do to make it a safe sport.

One safety consideration when you’re shooting shotguns is to make sure you only carry shells for the gauge you’re shooting.

One of the things that older shooters will remember is when 20-gauge shells were red just like the 12-gauge shells were. The reason the manufacturers and the sport changed the 20-gauge shells to yellow was for safety reasons.

If, back in the olden days, you were shooting the 12 gauge and had some 20-gauge shells in your vest, you could accidentally place a 20 gauge in the chamber where it would fall into the forcing cone. When you again looked at your shotguns chamber, it would look empty, and you could place a 12-gauge shell in to the chamber behind the 20-gauge shell and still shut your shotgun. If you fired it in this condition, the odds were that you would blow up your gun, hurt yourself, and anyone near you could also be hurt.

The yellow allowed shooters to more easily identify the 20-gauge shells so this type of accident would not happen as frequently as it had in the past, if it happened at all.

Remember to only carry the shells for the gauge you’re shooting; don’t count on your memory, check each time you’re getting ready to shoot.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Hartmann’s Hint #62: Thinking

Thinking

I recently went to a 5×50 shoot at the Oklahoma City Gun Club.

The club is a great place to shoot with some great people attending the shoot.

I was assigned to a squad that was made up of people I know from Kansas. One of them, Mr. Cloyce Spradling, mentioned that I should write a hint about thinking, so here it is.

During the shoot, as I raised my shotgun to call for high 2, a fly landed on my hand. I had to lower the gun so I could blow it off, and then I proceeded to call for the target while I was still thinking about that ##$^%&$ fly, so I missed the target.

I know better, and I have read the many articles about keeping extraneous thoughts out of our minds when shooting, but there it was—a little green fly had easily caused me to miss the target.

I tell the shooters that come to me for instruction that when some strange thought or disruption occurs, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time, to stop, open their guns, unload, back off the station and start all over again. It’s too easy to have a simple event or thought break our attention.

To be proficient at our sport takes our full concentration.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Hartmann’s Hint #57: Courtesy

Courtesy

Previously I’ve written a little about etiquette: how we as shooters should act while at a shoot. One of the most important parts of etiquette is courtesy. Treating others as we ourselves would like to be treated, we don’t touch other shooters’ guns without first asking for permission to do so, we don’t talk when others are shooting, and we abide by many more items relating to etiquette.

One thing that’s not on the normal list of etiquette items that I have now seen twice, by the same person, is changing the line-up of their squad without asking or getting permission from the affected parties.

A lot of shooters ask for a specific position on their squad, and normally it’s on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. They ask, and normally shoot management can accommodate their requests.

In this case, courtesy demands that the person wanting to change the squad order ask the affected members of the squad to accept their proposed change prior to speaking with shoot management. Not doing so is discourteous and disrespectful and may change what might have been a fun shoot for the squad into a disgruntled and unfocused group, and it could possibly result in an official complaint to Shoot Management.

Remember, be as courteous to others as you would like them to be to you.
Shoot often, shoot well and stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.