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Ask the Instructor: Mounts

Mounts

 

In observing the top guns shoot, I noticed most of them mount the gun to the kill point, then wind back to the hold point and call for the target. Why do they use this pre-shot routine, which seems like it draws attention to the gun?

 

This is an interesting observation. Yes, many top shooters mount to the break point during their pre-shot routine, but it is not for the reasons you might imagine. Many students at the novice to intermediate level pre-mount as part of their pre-shot routine in order to visually “check” the alignment of their shooting eye over the rib. This habit can also be a subconscious compensation for an ill-fitting gun. If you are pre-mounting and visually “checking” the bead/rib as part of your pre-shot routine, stop! It serves as a subconscious “reminder” to look at the front bead during shot execution, which is a destructive practice.

When a Master-class shooter mounts to the break point as part of his or her pre-shot routine, what you are seeing is a final “loading” or rehearsal just prior to calling for the target. By physically moving the gun to the break point and visually focusing on the break point (not the rib), the shooter accomplishes two very important elements of the pre-shot routine. 1) the shooter is reinforcing his commitment to break the target at the break point. Since the shooter will be focused on the target (and not the muzzle’s location) at the time the shot is executed, it is important for the shooter to be able to “feel” when the muzzle reaches the break point. 2) In moving from hold point to break point and back to the hold point again, the shooter is essentially conducting a last-minute rehearsal. The shooter is experiencing what it will feel like to move to and arrive at the break point and execute the shot.

Pre-mounting and moving the gun to the break point, while focusing on the break point (not the bead/rib), can be a very useful part of one’s pre-shot routine. I use and teach students to incorporate this element into their pre-shot routine.

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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Ask the Instructor: Consistency

Consistency

 

Sometimes I shoot lights-out and other times, not so much. It’s aggravating to know my potential when I fall short of my potential 80 percent of the time. What’s the solution?

 

Consistency is the Holy Grail for competitive shooters, but it’s elusive for many.

Consistency is the number one goal of competitors that come to me for first-time lessons. For students whose goal it is to reach and remain at the top of the leaderboards, I coach them on three pillars of consistency: 1) Commitment to break point, 2) Planning and executing to plan, and 3) Commitment to your process.

The essence of consistency is breaking a given pair of targets in the same place and in the same way every time. Failing this, you will be shooting a different target or pair of targets each time you call pull. You might think that “plan and execute to plan” is the same as commitment to break point, but it’s not. Yes, selecting your break points is certainly a vital element of your shot plan, but a good shot plan involves much more. Proper pre-shot planning also involves strategizing your stance, body position, hold point, muzzle angle, visual pick-up point, insert point, engagement technique, moment of initiation and your transition between targets of a pair. This might seem like a lot to think about, but all this planning work should be completed and rehearsed before you step into the shooting stand. The more you do it, the better and faster you get at planning and the more natural it becomes. Then there is your “process” or pre-shot routine. Process involves everything you do and think about from the time you step into a shooting stand to shoot the targets and the moment you step out of the stand after shooting the last target at that station. As a shooter’s proficiency improves, lack of process or process control is to blame for a greater and greater percentage of misses. If consistency is eluding you, look to these three pillars of consistency for answers.

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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Ask the Instructor: Leading Crossers

Leading Crossers

 

Is there any difference between a right-to-left target and a left-to-right target in terms of perceived lead? Roger Silcox once talked about left-to-right needing extra lead, or perhaps he meant extra effort (for a right-handed shooter). Do you recognize this in your move/mount?

 

Roger Silcox was a legend; a coach’s coach. I wish I had known him personally. The phenomenon that you are referring to is the comparative difference in “perceived lead” of a left-to-right crosser versus a right-to-left crossing target for a right-handed shooter. For a right-handed shooter, the perceived lead on a left-to-right crossing target will be slightly greater than for a right-to-left crossing target. The actual lead is the same, however. Why the perception of greater lead? Let’s start by recognizing that all lead should be subconscious and that measuring is bad, no matter the reason. Over your shooting life, you will accumulate a subconscious “database” of leads, so this is not something about which you should agonize, because we subconsciously adjust for the perceived lead differential. If we were to “measure,” however, the perceived lead on a left-to-right will be appear to be greater than that of a right-to-left crosser because we see binocularly (with two eyes).

The perception of incremental lead for a left-to-right crossing target is due to the influence of the left eye on our sight picture. When looking at a left-to-right crosser with two eyes, your left eye sees more lead than the right eye given the angle of offset between the left eye and the rib/muzzle. With a right-to-left flat-trajectory crossing target, your left eye sees the target across the barrel and is often blocked by the barrel so the left-eye bias doesn’t occur. It is also important to note that the difference in perceived lead between these two targets will be different for different shooters depending on the degree of dominance of the right eye. If you only had one eye and shot off the same shoulder as your one eye, there would be no perceived difference in lead between these two types of targets. For left-handed shooters, this phenomenon is reversed.

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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Ask the Instructor: Cutoffs

Cutoffs

 

I’ve been having trouble figuring out a low, incoming, quartering target, the type that is on edge and starts dropping and going right or left before it hits the ground about 30 yards out. Because it is coming mostly straight at me until it loses speed, it feels like I am aiming when acquiring the target. What technique do you suggest?

 

Cutoff and collapse is the technique I find the most effective on the presentation you describe. The most common reasons for a miss on this type of target are: a lack of commitment to the break point; too much lateral movement at the break point; starting with the muzzle angle too high, causing the shooter to move down to the break point; occluding the target with the barrel as the target loses its line; and allowing the target to beat the muzzle to the break point.

If this were an incoming quartering target that was NOT transitioning, you would establish your hold point about a third of the way back from your planned break point, toward the trap, with your muzzle angle on or barely under the target line, and your move would be synchronized with the target. In this case, however, the target is transitioning just prior to and through the break point.

A cutoff and collapse move is used on transitioning targets and involves the following: Start with your hold point closer to the break point than you would normally, orient your muzzle angle slightly downward below the break point, approach the break point at a slightly upward angle as you start your move, arrive at the break point before the target, let the target do the work at the end of the “stroke” and commit to the break point as the target “collapses” on the break point. You should start your move early enough to beat the target to the break point. If you feel as though you arrive at the break point too early and wait for the target at the break point, then you have executed the move correctly. Think of it as catching a fly ball in the outfield.

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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Ask the Instructor: All About Combs- Part 1

All About Combs- Part 1

 

Can you explain why an angled comb makes sense? Why wouldn’t everyone want a parallel comb? Parallel combs are being offered on more sporting clays guns. And no, I can’t buy the idea that drop is a good idea for correcting a sloppy technique on low and/or high targets.

 

Historically, shotgun stocks have been angled, which means they are higher at the peak of the comb (front end, toward receiver) and lower at the heel of the comb (back end, toward the butt). The reason behind this, as with almost everything shotgun related, has its historical origins in English-style shooting. Whether shooting game or targets, shooters did not premount the shotgun (unless you include pigeon/box shooting). For shooters who initiate the gun mount to the cheek and shoulder after the bird becomes visible — as in game shooting, FITASC and international skeet — the sloped comb makes for a more successful mount and more consistent cheek/stock connection. Since mounting a shotgun is dynamic instead of static, as it is with premounted shooting, the shooter can much more consistently “slide into” the comb and make a good cheek/comb connection. For the disciplines of American trap and American skeet, premounting is commonplace. The mount is completed prior to calling for the target, and thus an angled comb is of less importance. This is why we see more parallel combs in these disciplines.

There are two commonly held misconceptions about combs: 1) Parallel combs result in a more consistent cheek weld (placement of the cheek to the gun). Again, this is only true if the shooter premounts or has highly aggressive mount mechanics. 2) Angled combs are more likely to cause cheek bruising. This is also not true. To cause cheek bruising, the shooter must either cram his head into the gun with great force during shot execution or lift his head off the stock as he executes the shot, causing the recoil to force the gun into the cheek. As with high-rib shotguns, parallel combs are not for everyone. Each shooter has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages against their style of shooting.

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.