Mastering Sporting Clays 9780811719971, 9780811766159, 0811719979

Citation preview

MASTERING

SPORTING CLAYS

MASTERING

SPORTING CLAYS DON CURRIE

STACKPOLE BOOKS Guilford, Connecticut

Published by Stackpole Books An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200 Lanham, MD 20706 Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK 800-462-6420 Copyright © 2018 by Don Currie OPTIMAL Process is a trademark of Don Currie. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available ISBN 978-0-8117-1997-1 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-8117-6615-9 (e-book) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Part I The Fundamentals Chapter 1: Introduction to the Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Chapter 2: A Brief History and Other Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter 3: Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Chapter 4: Eye Dominance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Chapter 5: Gun Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 6: Th  e Origins of FocusMovement-Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chapter 7: F  ocus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Chapter 8: M  ovement: Planning . . . . . . . . 92 Chapter 9: M  ovement: Ready Position . . 103 Chapter 10: M  ovement: Execution . . . . . 118 Chapter 11: F  aith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Part II The Path to Mastery Chapter 12: Introduction to the Path to Mastery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Chapter 13: When Focus and Movement Converge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Chapter 14: The Diagnostic Tree: Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter 15: D  eceptive Targets . . . . . . . . . 140 Chapter 16: T  arget Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Chapter 17: Th  e Mental Game and the OPTIMAL Process . . . . . . . . 169 Chapter 18: P  ractice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Chapter 19: G  o Ahead, Ask Me! . . . . . . . . 186

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

FOREWORD

Don Currie is an acknowledged top competitor in sporting clays and acclaimed coach, and with this book Don now shares his years of experience and vast knowledge of the subject with a wider audience. Filled with solid, helpful information that is concisely expressed and easily grasped, Mastering Sporting Clays delivers the building blocks for understanding and excelling in sporting clays. Currie thoroughly covers the essential components of stance, posture and head position, gun mount, target reading and tactics, the swing and move to the target. He explains how to correct common faults and misses by teaching readers to recognize the causes and implement solutions with his proven, highly successful Focus-Movement-Faith technique. The book is invaluable for beginners. Also, shooters of all skill levels who want to take their game to the next level will benefit from Currie’s sage advice. Like all good coaches, Currie can help develop shooters from beginners to winners. The book answers all the bewildering questions first asked when you’re learning the sport, from terminology to gun and cartridge choices to the fundamentals of straight shooting. For the intermediate and experienced shots, Currie goes deeper into the subtle nuances that are needed for the most difficult target presentations. —Chris Batha FICSI, FAPSI UK, SNASC, CPSA Staff Tutor Fall 2017

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to present to you, the sporting clays enthusiast, with the timeless and fundamental principles of shotgunning and, whether you are a beginner or advanced sporting clays shooter, to equip you with specific target acquisition techniques to master the game of sporting clays. While the fundamental truths of shotgunning have changed little since the late 1800s to mid-1900s, when Lancaster, Churchill, and Stanbury roamed Britain, I find there are four basic shortcomings in much of the contemporary literature and teaching on the subject: 1) a departure from the fundamentals, 2) the absence of a memorable and repeatable “system” that shooters can employ, 3) a dogmatic adherence to one technique of achieving forward allowance to break all sporting clays target presentations, and 4) a failure to recognize that different shooters see targets differently. Successful athletes have a deep understanding of the fundamentals of their game. They know that there are few advanced techniques, only advanced application of the fundamentals. They possess an ability to prevail and overcome in a wide variety of seemingly adverse scenarios. It is my intent herein to present you with the fundamentals of shotgunning in a form that is memorable and repeatable and to equip you with a set of tools that will enable you to successfully engage the broad spectrum of targets encountered on the modern sporting clays course. My goal, through this book, is to help you master the game. bbLaunched in 2012, Focus-Movement-Faith is one of the most successful sporting clays instructional videos ever. TODD MCLENNAN

x / / Preface

My impetus for starting this project was no different than my intent when I began to coach in clay target sports. It is also identical to my motivation for making the top-selling instructional DVD Focus-Movement-Faith with Sunrise Productions in 2012. My goal was then, and is now, to be a voice of clarity and truth. In our world, and particularly in the universe of clay target sports, essential truths are often lost in the confusion of competing ideas. From religion to weight loss, basic truths are overshadowed by the cacophony of voices that lay claim to a new belief system, a new trick, a shortcut or groundbreaking theory. In a field as specialized and seemingly narrow as shotgunning, one would think that an individual expert could possess a breadth of knowledge to cover all aspects of the sport. That notion couldn’t be further from the truth. Indeed, there are authorities in this sport who are truly experts in their own right: gunsmiths, ballistics and barrel efficiency experts, gun fitters, stock makers, course designers, target setters, trap machine technicians, machinists, instructors, and coaches. I have learned from all of them. Each, however, is an expert in one, two, or possibly three of these functional areas, but not all. Unfortunately, there are some that profess their expertise in areas in which they possess only peripheral understanding. Many beginning and novice shooters are willing victims of these well-meaning yet ill-informed opinions. From a practical standpoint I hope this book will help you save time, money, and resources. It is in this environment of overwhelming and conflicting information that I hope to inject truth and clarity. The good news and the bad news is that we seek instant gratification. Clay target sports feed that need. There are few activities more visceral and satisfying than legally blowing up moving objects with a shotgun. It is that excitement that brings new converts to our sport each year. But conversely, our quest for instant expertise in shotgunning leads us down detoured paths that can be expensive and counterproductive. There is no substitute for real experience shooting, whether it is time behind the gun for a clay shooter or time on the platform for shooting coaches. Similarly, there is no quicker fix to improving proficiency and consistency with a shotgun than focusing on the fundamentals. Visual focus, mount and movement, faith and confidence in your ability to break targets are all born out of an understanding of the fundamentals, dedicated practice, and regular lessons with a qualified coach. My expertise lies in the areas of coaching and gun fitting as well as mentoring, teaching, and training other coaches in clay shooting. While I am knowledgeable in other aspects of shotgunning, I rely greatly on the expertise of others in areas such as shotgun ballistics, gunsmithing, and the rich history of shotgunning. I love competing and continue to do so; however, my professional focus is coaching and propelling shooters to new heights of performance in clay target sports.

Preface / / xi

An important element of helping a shooter move from infancy to mastery in sporting clays is gun fit. From the beginning of my coaching career, I have viewed gun fitting and coaching as inextricably linked. There are many excellent coaches who are not professional gun fitters. In fact, few professional coaches are also professional gun fitters. I have always believed, however, that the first step on the path to success in shotgunning is shooting with a gun that fits well. That doesn’t mean that new shooters need to run out and pay for a formal gun fitting. It means that if a shooter cannot see the targets over the receiver of a shotgun, that shooter has little chance of success. I was fitted for three custom guns on three separate occasions before I became an instructor and later worked side by side a handful of prominent gun fitters who were gracious enough to share their knowledge of gun fitting. A well-fitting shotgun is a prerequisite to success in shotgunning. I consider myself a lifelong learner. I do not know everything, but there are very few scenarios with clay shooters or bird hunters that I haven’t seen before. My fervent hope is that the knowledge I have gained over tens of thousands of hours of coaching and hundreds of gun fittings, and impart to you in this book, will serve as a reference for your continued growth, enjoyment, and success in our sport. In a world where absolute truths are difficult to discern from the noise of conflicting advice, may this book represent a source of truth in the small universe of shotgunning and clay target shooting.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If the path to my current profession were straight, predicted, and planned, it would indeed make a great story. Had I hatched a plan years ago to convert my 7-year military career and 22-year corporate marketing career into a profession centered around my hobby and my passion, one might think I was brilliant, perhaps even prophetic. There is no question in my mind, and there should be no misunderstanding in yours, that my path to fulltime professional coaching and my role as chief instructor of the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) was anything but predictable, logical, or linear. Let there also be no doubt that the knowledge I have gained over these many years in the shooting sports is largely attributable to others who fed my passion and helped nurture my understanding of the game. While there are more people than I could possibly mention here who, knowingly or unknowingly, contributed to my growth as a competitor, coach, and gun fitter, there are a few who loom very large in my professional development and, indirectly, in the contents of this book. Knowing them, they would all quickly dismiss the following as drivel, minimize their contributions, and label me as a sap. But that will not dissuade me from counting my blessings and those who have blessed me. My instructors: From the time I entered this sport, first as a shooter, then as an instructor and coach, and now as chief instructor of the NSCA, I never stopped taking lessons. In my quest for greater proficiency, higher scores, and the best instruction I could find, I learned from many. There are five, however, who had the biggest influence: Richie Frisella and Steve Middleditch (my first instructors); Wendell Cherry; John Woolley; and Steve Schultz, my current coach. Despite the anemic amount of available time I have to practice and compete these days, Steve continues to mentor me as a shooter and competitor. Other instructors, such as Craig Hancock, Bobby Fowler, and Andy Duffy, also had a lasting influence on me. I thank them all for investing in me. I hope I never stop learning, because the moment that I do will mark the end of my usefulness to students. My coaching mentors: At the time I decided to attend the NSCA’s Level I instructor course, I had been competing in sporting clays for about 10 years and had won my way

xiv / / Acknowled g m ents

into Master Class on the NSCA circuit. Prior to that I had served as a US Army instructor and had coached in other shooting disciplines since the age of 16. Despite my prior experience as an instructor and coach, at the moment I enrolled in the Level I course I had no intention of teaching or coaching so much as an hour in our sport, assuming I was fortunate enough to pass the course. I had a very demanding corporate job and simply wanted to see if there was something I was missing or could learn from a well-recognized instructor course. Everything changed when I met the certifying instructor for my Level I course at Deep River bbBill Kempffer, one of the original NSCA Level III instructors, a mentor, Sporting Clay in Sanford, and originator of Focus-Movement-Faith. North Carolina. Bill Kempffer is a former marine fighter pilot, decorated in Vietnam, owner of Deep River, and one of the first Level III instructors anointed by the NSCA in 1996. In no small way Bill was responsible for starting the fire in my heart for coaching in wing and clay shooting. On day one of the course, as he stood in the front of the classroom, I got a vivid picture of what the quintessential professional shotgun instructor looks like. Bill’s love of the sport is infectious; it infected me profoundly. I can only hope that my passion and love of the sport come somewhere close to inspiring the number of conversions Bill has over his lifetime of coaching. He can be credited with bringing literally thousands of new shooters to our sport. Far beyond his ability to teach shooters how to shoot a shotgun

Acknowled g m ents / / xv

was his willingness to mentor me and other instructors who showed a passion for coaching. He was also a scholar of our sport, its origin, and its history. For evidence of this one need only visit the pro shop at Deep River where Bill offers the most complete selection of books on shotgunning I have ever seen. At the conclusion of the course, Bill congratulated us and said, “I am now your mentor. Call me. Let me know how you are doing with your instruction and call me if you run into anything you don’t understand.” I waved farewell to Bill on the last day of the course from the parking lot of Deep River as I loaded five freshly purchased hardcover books onto my back seat. I pored through every one of them in the weeks that followed. At some point after my second or third monthly phone call to Bill, I’m sure he realized that I wasn’t going away. In the years hence Bill has been a true friend, and he stands atop the very short list of those that I consider my mentors. Not a month goes by without at least one phone call, e-mail, or some sort of electronic message between us. I am especially grateful to my friend Bill for introducing me to the simple three-word mnemonic Focus-Movement-Faith and allowing me to share it with others. A year after the course, in 2010, I called Bill and asked him if he would allow me to write a series of articles for ClayShooting USA magazine using Focus-Movement-Faith as the backdrop. He gladly agreed. I made another phone call to secure his blessing in 2012, after Sunrise Productions asked me to produce my DVD of the same title. I hope that, in the course of these many years, I have honored Bill’s gift of Focus-Movement-Faith. While there are certainly other words that might adequately articulate the essential elements of good shotgunning, I have yet to find three better ones. My understanding of the fundamentals of shotgunning and creation of this book are, in no small measure, the product of Bill Kempffer’s influence on me and his life’s work: teaching, coaching, and evangelizing in our sport. I also want to thank Chris Batha for writing the foreword to this book and his generous and quiet assistance to me as I found my way in this profession. Chris is an icon in the sporting world with an unquestionable reputation for dedication to his clients and his knowledge of gun manufacturing. Anyone in our profession would be wise to benchmark and emulate his work. Despite the fact that we are technically competitors, Chris and I have never treated each other as such and I am most grateful to him for his counsel over the years. My friends turned editors: I want to thank Bill Elliot, a top-shelf NSCA instructor in Ohio, and Rick Allen, author and former writer for the Atlanta Constitution, for reviewing and providing feedback on my early manuscripts. Their input helped keep me on track and challenged me.

xvi / / Acknowled g m ents

bbA handful of early groundbreaking titles on shotgunning. TODD MCLENNAN

My family: I want to thank my wife, Michelle, and our three daughters, Lauren, Katherine, and Sarah, for their patience and love. One can only imagine the fear that befalls a wife when a husband declares his intention to rely solely on income from his hobby to feed the family. The story of her love, loyalty, and faithfulness over our nearly three decades of marriage would fill volumes. I also want to thank my father, Donald J. Currie, who, unbeknownst to most, was the editor of all of my published works since 2010, including an early manuscript of this book. He is fully retired now, as both an attorney and my editor, but my gratitude and love will forever remain. The giants of shotgunning: Despite the commercialization of new and improved techniques, tools, and gadgets, little has changed with regard to the essential truths of shotgunning since the days of Lancaster, Churchill, and Stanbury (more to come in Chapter 6: “The Origins of Focus-Movement-Faith”). It is only through them, and the manuscripts they left behind, that a student of the sport like me can understand the origins of our sport and the characteristics common amongst the greatest shots. While I could never have known then personally, I am deeply grateful to them for their contributions to the richness of our sport and to my understanding of what makes a great shot and a great coach.

INTRODUCTION

Mastering Sporting Clays was written for the benefit of clay shooters, and more specifically sporting clays, FITASC, and five-stand shooters. Much of the theory and science and many of the techniques in Mastering Sporting Clays, however, are completely transferable to other clay target disciplines, such as skeet and trap, as well as to the upland and waterfowl hunter. Subjects like eye dominance, gun fit, gun mount, movement, and others will be of great benefit to anyone involved in engaging a moving target with a shotgun. From this book you will learn a specific, systematic, memorable, and repeatable method for putting your shotgun in the right place to break targets, over and over again. Telling you how to break targets falls short of actually arming you with a proven system. So, in addition to the fundamentals of shotgunning, this book will arm you with a palette of target engagement methods, a process for evaluating each target presentation, and a methodology for selecting and employing the appropriate “stroke” for a specific target presentation. If you are a serious competitor, you will find these techniques, and the OPTIMAL Process introduced later in the book, particularly useful. OPTIMAL is the first published system in existence that arms the shotgun sports competitor with a routine for shot planning and execution. Just like a computer program, OPTIMAL is a proven “program” that you can “load” each time you step up to a station: one set of “files” for pre-shot planning and another set for your pre-shot routine. Mastering Sporting Clays is presented and organized in such a way that, after reading it through once, you can refer back to applicable chapters for reference and as a refresher. It is also organized in a logical progression, starting with the fundamentals, then progressing to target analysis and shot planning, followed by engagement techniques for specific presentations, practice drills, and mental game topics for competitors. Part I (“The Fundamentals”) introduces the critical prerequisites of eye dominance and gun fit followed by the fundamentals of shotgunning: Focus, Movement, and Faith. Part II (“The Path to Mastery”) consists of understanding how the fundamentals relate to each other and how you can evolve into an independent and self-sufficient shooter by employing a systematic shotplanning process and utilizing a diagnostic process for self-diagnosis of a miss. Part II will

xviii / / I ntroduction

also equip you with target engagement techniques specific to certain target presentations, the OPTIMAL Process, as well as a number of practice regimens to boost your confidence and performance in competition. Mastering Sporting Clays is applicable across the entire spectrum of shooting abilities: from the recreational clay shooter to the serious competitor—with value for both the novice and the seasoned shotgunner. Whether you are an aspiring Master Class competitor, weekend shooter, or improving bird hunter, this book will propel your shotgunning to the next level and beyond. If you are a novice or beginning sporting clays shooter, you may want to read and perhaps reread Part I using my DVD Focus-Movement-Faith as a visual companion while accessing Part II on a selective and gradual basis. If you are brand new to shotgunning, some of Part II will be a bit daunting until you gain some experience. Absorbing information gradually is much preferred to “drinking through a fire hose.” As we always counsel instructor candidates during our instructor training courses, “less is more” when you are starting out. For the more experienced shooter (NSCA C Class competitor, for example) on up through the advanced competitor (A, AA, and Master), I encourage you to read through the book in its entirety and then start aggressively incorporating the palette of target engagement techniques (or “strokes”) presented in Part II into your game. These tools are battle-proven! With them you can break anything on the sporting clays course with confidence. It’s like a golfer with a full set of clubs. Once you incorporate then into your game, you will wonder how you ever survived with one or two clubs in your bag. Learning how to shoot comes from shooting, not simply from reading a book or watching a DVD. Get out there and break lots of targets! It is my intent and great hope that you will visit and revisit this book, as well as my DVDs, throughout your shooting life. By investing in this book, you are now armed with the fundamentals and techniques you need to break any target on the sporting clays course! Good shooting!

P A R T

I

THE FUNDAMENTALS

C H A P TE R 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNDAMENTALS

Before delving into the fundamentals of Focus-Movement-Faith, it is essential to define and understand the difference between principles and techniques. Principles are absolutes. Principles are “black and white.” They are inviolable rules or guideposts one need follow whether applied to science, life, or shotgunning. Ignoring or violating a principle is ill advised and will most likely result in an unsatisfactory or undesirable outcome. This may seem elemental, but in today’s society there seems to be constant pressure to discount, rethink, or even eliminate many of the principles and absolute truths that have guided man’s earthly existence for thousands of years. We shouldn’t expect that the trends in shotgun theory and instruction are any different. A technique or method is a means to accomplish a task or goal. For a given task there may be any number of methods that will effectively accomplish the goal and bring about the desired outcome. Any technique, as long as it is effective, can be a viable means by which to accomplish a certain goal. Some techniques may be ill advised and others more generally accepted, but as long as a shooting technique results in consistent success for the shooter employing it, it cannot be called invalid. Many years ago—I think I was in C Class—a number of my shooting buddies from the local club and I took a lesson from Bill McGuire. I found him to be one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I also found him to be a good instructor who clearly understood that different shooters see targets differently. Today, Bill is arguably one of this county’s most successful champions, having won both national and world titles in our sport. I have since had the privilege of seeing Bill shoot in competition. Bill shoots most targets using a form of diminishing lead, where muzzle movement is minimized and the target is allowed to approach the gun until the correct lead is achieved and the shot is executed. Few other shooters use this method as their default method, yet this is a technique that he has clearly mastered. Is it a valid method of achieving lead? Of course. His style of teaching, however, embraces the unique way in which each student sees targets. Throughout his lessons with each of my buddies that day,

4 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Bill effectively communicated the principles of good shotgunning yet adapted the target tactics he taught to the natural style of the individual student. There are a number of authorities in shotgunning attempting to advance a technique as principle. In fact, on a monthly basis students approach me for a lesson who are desperate for a cure to their confusion about how to break targets with a shotgun. They have taken a lesson from one or more professional shooters who dogmatically maintain that there is only one way to achieve lead on a target. The most common situation I see is a shooter who attempts to engage targets using the one and only method advocated by the most recent professional shooter from whom he or she has taken a lesson. What they inevitably find in the weeks following their lesson with the unnamed pro is that one method of achieving lead does not work on all target presentations. In my view this is a travesty. If each person’s visuomotor system (eyes, brain, and nervous system) sees and reacts to targets differently, how in the world could anyone argue that there is only one technique to kill a target? In fact, these same dogmatic one-method instructors and shooters can be observed engaging a target using a technique different than the one they claim to exclusively employ! I am not questioning the integrity or intentions of these folks. They honestly think they are engaging all targets using their default method. They are unaware of the fact that they subconsciously adapt their technique on certain presentations. We see this phenomenon played out again and again by Master Class competitors who enroll in the NSCA instructor courses I regularly teach. In case I’ve been too theoretical to this point, allow me be specific. Focus on the target, efficient Movement to the target, and Faith or trust in our natural God-given ability to break the target without visually verifying alignment of the shotgun are principles. Sustained lead, swing-through, pull-away, intercept, diminishing lead, and the target tactics introduced in Part II of this book are techniques. If you violate a principle, such as applying visual focus to the target as you execute the shot, breaking the target will be a questionable proposition. On the other hand, it is quite possible to break a particular sporting clays target using one of a variety of techniques so long as you adhere to three basic principles: visual connection with the target, efficient and appropriate movement, and a trust that the target will break without visual verification of barrel-target alignment. As mentioned in the introduction, the goals of this book are to provide you with both principles and techniques to guide your shooting as well as to clearly differentiate between the two along the way. Focus, Movement, and Faith are principles, plain and simple. Focus-MovementFaith serves not only as a road map for successful shotgunning but also as a diagnostic tree: a checklist for the shooter, and instructor, to determine the root cause of a miss or

I ntroduction to th e Fundam entals / / 5

inconsistency. Virtually all of the possible reasons for a hit or a miss lie within these three principles. These three nuggets of truth are interdependent and must all tie together for successful execution of a target, pair, station, or covey rise. Is Focus-Movement-Faith the only way to describe the three basic principles of shotgunning? Absolutely not. “EyesMovement-Trust” or “Fix-Point-Trust” would work equally well as a three-word mnemonic. However you label them, there are three principles that define successful shotgunning and are at the root of all broken targets and misses. In this part of the book, Part I, we will delve into background and prerequisites of success in sporting clays and then turn to the all-important fundamentals of FocusMovement-Faith.

C H A P TE R 2

A BRIEF HISTORY AND OTHER DISCIPLINES

Like the shotgun itself, most things related to shotguns have their origins in England. The clay target sports owe much of their popularity to the live pigeon shooting mania in Britain in the late 1800s. Pigeon shooting actually started in England in the late 1700s and reached its pinnacle of popularity between 1850 and 1890, which brought with it the rise of a number of prestigious “gun clubs.” In live pigeon shooting, birds are released from boxlike cages or traps arrayed at a distance in front of the shooter. There is little question that

bbA glass ball target filled with bird feathers. DON CURRIE

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 7

bbA glass ball thrower. COURTESY OF RICK CICCIARELLI, WWW.RICKCICCIARELLI.COM/ABOUT.HTML

bbLigowsky/Mueller clay target throwing machine. COURTESY OF RICK CICCIARELLI, WWW.RICKCICCIARELLI.COM /ABOUT.HTML

bbPatent drawing for the Ligowsky/Mueller trap. COURTESY OF RICK CICCIARELLI, WWW.RICKCICCIARELLI.COM /ABOUT.HTML

bbEarly clay targets. COURTESY OF RICK CICCIARELLI, WWW.RICKCICCIARELLI.COM/ABOUT.HTML

8 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

modern clay target sports, as well as modern shotgun technology, evolved from this heyday of pigeon shooting. In fact, the popularity of pigeon shooting, and demand for the best equipment possible from the sport’s participating gentry, fueled a revolution in the growth of shotgun technology during this period. Consequently, most of the technology found in modern shotgun actions today evolved during this period and was a response to the demand for quality and functionality from the wealthy participants who could afford to pay for it. For this reason, clay target sports continue to be referred to as “the sport of kings.” At the tail end of the nineteenth century, live pigeon shooting began to wane in popularity in England and the United States, and it would eventually be outlawed in England in 1921. There was a clamor for a more humane and presumably more replenishable source of “targets.” Glass balls, thrown by small catapults and sometimes filled with feathers, were the first inanimate targets used in shotgun target sports and are believed to have originated in England. While England clearly dominated the pages of our sport’s early history, the “clay pigeon” was actually born in America. The first patent for “terracotta targets” was awarded to George Ligowsky of Cincinnati in 1880. Two years later he was awarded another patent for his “thrower,” dubbed the “Ligowsky trap.”1 The terra-cotta material used to make the original domed clay targets eventually gave way to a new mixture of pitch and limestone that resulted in a target that was easier to break and similar in composition to today’s modern clay target. CLAY TARGET DISCIPLINES It is not my intention to provide a comprehensive description, analysis, or instruction on the clay target disciplines outside of sporting clays. After all, this is a book about sporting clays. However, it is important to understand the differences and similarities between sporting clays and other clay target disciplines because in sporting clays you will encounter target presentations that approximate some of those typically found in one of the other disciplines. Shooting and practicing other clay target disciplines, especially skeet and trap, is an excellent way to hone your sporting clays skill. Alongside sporting clays, the most common clay target disciplines are trap, skeet, FITASC, and five-stand. Trap Trap is the oldest clay shooting discipline, with origins dating back to the early 1800s in England. The sport was first introduced in the United States in 1831 using glass balls but

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 9

bbTrap field. ROWDY JONES

was first shot using clay targets in the United States in 1880, thanks to the innovation of George Ligowsky. In trap, all targets are thrown at the same elevation angle and speed but are thrown at various horizontal angles in front of the shooter. Modern trap is shot in singles, doubles, or handicap. Singles is considered to be the easiest of the three trap disciplines. In singles the shooter stands 16 yards away from and behind the center of the “trap house” and shoots at random targets that move away from the shooter within a 44-degree horizontal arc at a speed of about 47 miles per hour to a distance of 50 yards. Shooters are grouped into squads, usually made up of five people. There are five different stations that each shooter shoots from, five shots per station, totaling twenty-five shots for one round. Each station gives participants a different view of the targets flying through the air. Each position is a constant 16 yards from the trap house; they are spaced 3 feet apart, forming a small arc. Squads rotate between four trap fields called a “bank.” When shooters finish shooting at targets from those four trap houses, they have completed a round of one hundred targets, twenty-five at each field. There are two different variants of American trap: doubles and handicap. In doubles, shooters must break two targets fired out

10 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbIn trap, shooters rotate between five shooting positions, shooting five targets at each position. Here a squad shoots from the handicap line. COURTESY OF MIKE HESSONG

bbTrap shooter “ink-balls” a target from station 3 at the 16-yard line. COURTESY OF MIKE HESSONG

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 11

of the trap house simultaneously. In handicap, competitors stand farther away from the trap house, up to 27 yards. The Amateur Trapshooting Association is the sanctioning body for trap in the United States.2 Skeet Today’s skeet field varies little from its 1920 beginnings. The second-oldest clay target discipline, skeet is shot from eight stations arrayed around two trap houses from which targets are thrown: a high house and a low house. Seven of the stations are arranged in a half moon between the two trap houses, and one station (#8) is directly between them. The high house on the left side of the field throws its targets from a trap 10 feet above the ground. The target rises to a maximum height of 15 feet by the time it reaches the center of the field. The low house target, thrown from the right side of the field, leaves the trap house just 3½ feet from the ground. It also rises to a height of 15 feet by the time it reaches the center of the field. A round of American skeet consists of twenty-five targets, with seventeen shot as singles and eight as doubles. The first miss in a round is repeated immediately and is called an option. If no targets are missed during the round, the last or twenty-fifth target is shot at the last station, low house 8.

bbSkeet field. In American skeet, shooters shoot a twenty-five bird course over eight stations with all targets emanating from the high house or low house. ROWDY JONES

12 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbSquad looking on from skeet station 8. COURTESY OF MIKE HESSONG

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 13

AMERICAN SKEET SHOOTING MENU A top score of 25 is possible. Station 1

Station 6 Single: High house

Single: High house

Single: Low house

Single: Low house

Double: Low house/high house

Double: High house/low house true pair Station 2

true pair Station 7 Single: High house

Single: High house

Single: Low house

Single: Low house

Double: Low house/high house

Double: High house/low house true pair Station 3 Single: High house Single: Low house Station 4

true pair Station 8 Single: High house Single: Low house The first missed target may be repeated at the station/target of

Single: High house

the first miss, or if the shooter

Single: Low house

is straight (24/24) through low

Station 5 Single: High house

house 8, the shooter will repeat low house 8.

Single: Low house

Skeet is shot in squads of up to five shooters who move from station to station in numerical order around the half moon, starting at station 1 and finishing in the center (station 8) at the end of the round. Any gauge shotgun of any type may be used, as long as it can fire at least two shots. The preferred shot size is #9, but nothing larger than #7½ should ever be used. Left-handed

14 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbAerial view of shooting grounds with 2 trap fields (foreground) and 2 skeet fields (background). COURTESY OF MIKE HESSONG

shooters do just as well as right. Shooters typically shoot with guns choked with skeet or cylinder chokes. Sporting clays A more recent entrant to the clay target world, sporting clays is believed to have originated in England in the 1970s and first appeared in the United States in the mid-1980s. You may have heard sporting clays referred to as “golf with a shotgun,” because the shooter navigates around a course consisting of ten to fifteen individual shooting stations. Each station requires the shooter to engage two targets thrown from different traps. Like the eighteen holes at a golf course, no two sporting clays stations are alike. The locations of traps are intentionally randomized from station to station to enhance the variety of target angles, distances, speeds, and trajectories. Terrain and background further enhance the variety and shooter experience. As the shooter steps into the shooting stand at each station and calls “Pull,” one or both targets are launched and engaged. While rules permit the throwing of singles, a station menu normally consists of three to five true (simultaneous) pairs, report pairs, or following pairs.

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 15

bbTypical sporting clays station. COURTESY OF SHOTKAM

16 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbA sporting clays course layout. WERN VALLEY SPORTSMEN’S CLUB, WAUKESHA, WI

bbA one-hundred-bird sporting clays scorecard. SOUTH FLORIDA SHOOTING CLUB

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 17

Since no two sporting clays courses are alike, one can travel from course to course to experience a variety of targets, presentations, and terrain. Sporting clays is closer to actual field shooting than any of the other clay target disciplines because of the variability of terrain and presentations. Targets may be thrown as individual targets, with the shooter engaging one target at a time, but are typically presented to the shooter in pairs: true pair, report pair, or following pair. While the most common target used in sporting clays is the same 108-mm clay target used in other disciplines, sporting clays also uses specialty targets to introduce the illusion of speed and distance in the eye of the shooter. The smaller 90-mm “midi,” 60-mm “mini,” rabbit, and battue targets all add to the complexity and variety of target types the shooter experiences and are designed to simulate the hunting of a variety of game birds. Sporting clays shooters are

SPORTING CLAYS MENU Single: A single target is released when the shooter calls “Pull.” True pair (also called a “simo pair”): Both targets at a station are released simultaneously. Trapper releases both targets at a station when the shooter calls “Pull.” The station menu usually reads “True pair–A/B.” Report pair: Targets are released one at a time. Trapper releases the first target when the shooter calls “Pull.” Trapper releases the second target at the instant the shooter executes the shot on the first target. The station menu usually reads “Report pair–A then B” or “Report pair–B then A.” Following pair: Targets are pulled one after another. Trapper releases the first target when the shooter calls “Pull” and shortly thereafter releases the second target of the pair. The station menu usually reads “Following pair–A then B” or “Following pair–B then A.”

18 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

typically organized in squads of two to six people. A round of sporting clays, whether for recreation or in tournament play, usually consists of rounds of fifty, one hundred, or two hundred targets. Any gauge shotgun capable of firing two shots may be used unless the rules of a particular tournament event limit the use to certain gauges. The most popular gauges are 12- and 20-gauge shot from an over/under or semiautomatic shotgun. It’s not uncommon to see smaller gauges and a side-by-side shotgun every now and then. Since sporting clays can be shot year-round, many hunters shoot sporting clays to further their wing-shooting skills during the off-season. Five-stand Five-stand sporting events consist of targets shot in twenty-five-target increments from five shooting stands aligned in a straight line, with each shooter rotating from station to station. The game offers several different skill levels and normally utilizes six to eight automatic traps to simulate game birds. Targets are released in a predetermined sequence marked on a menu card in front of each shooting stand. Each shooter shoots five targets at each station consisting of one single target and two pairs. The shooter may load and use up to two shells to break the single target. The pairs may either be true or report pairs.

bbA five-stand or COMPAK layout. DANA FERRELL, WWW.DANASHOOTS.COM

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 19

FITASC FITASC is essentially the European version of sporting clays. With less undeveloped land available in Europe, FITASC was developed with the same intent as sporting clays in the United States: to provide shooters in the off-season with clay target presentations that reproduce hunting situations. One major difference between sporting clays and FITASC is the “low-gun” ready position rule. The highest point of the stock (comb) must be at least 9.85 inches (25 cm) below the top of the shoulder when calling for the target and the shooter must not move until the target is clearly visible. A typical FITASC round consists of twenty-five targets shot over a much smaller area than is typical of a sporting clays course. The most common version is shot from three shooting positions, known as “pegs,” with targets thrown from three to five different traps at each peg. At each peg the shooter engages singles (using two shells if necessary, “full use of the gun”) and doubles (true, report, and/or

bbIn the classic FITASC or “low-gun” ready position, the stock comb is roughly parallel with the forearm. According to the rules of FITASC, the stock must be in contact with the torso and the highest point of the comb must be no closer to the top of the shoulder than 25 cm when calling for the target. TODD MCLENNAN

20 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbSquad at a FITASC peg: one of three pegs at a typical parcour layout. DANA FERRELL, WWW.DANASHOOTS.COM

bbPeg menu at a FITASC parcour. DANA FERRELL, WWW.DANASHOOTS.COM

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 21

bbFITASC score sheet. Scores are marked with a slash for a hit. For a miss, the number of possible broken targets remaining is entered. DANA FERRELL, WWW.DANASHOOTS.COM

following pairs). FITASC target setters are required to use all the features of the terrain and a variety of target types and colors that clearly stand out from the background terrain and highlight the shooter’s technical and sporting skills. Super sporting Super sporting is a fifty-target event shot on a sporting clays course. The shooter is presented with a combination of single targets and pairs on stations with three traps each and thrown in a variety of combinations. The shooter may only view the targets as singles at the beginning of the rotation at each station. The concept of super sporting is that the shooter must shoot more instinctively given the minimal opportunity for shot planning. Other disciplines Clay target sports’ other disciplines include international skeet, international trap, double trap, and bunker trap.

22 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

WHAT MAKES SPORTING CLAYS DIFFERENT? All clay target disciplines could be divided TARGET TYPES into two categories: random and repetitive. IN SPORTING CLAYS Skeet and trap are repetitive. In skeet and trap all targets emerge from the same Standard (108 mm) location. The origin of the trap never changes. Therefore, where the shooter Midi (90 mm) rests his eyes to visually acquire the target Mini (60 mm) varies only when the shooter moves from Rabbit (hard outer edges) one station to the next. For trap, whether Battue (thin Frisbee-like target) international trap, double trap, or American trap, there are five hold points and five visual Rocket (cousin of the rabbit, pickup points (where the shooter must place rarely used) the gun and the eyes when calling for the target). Although the targets are thrown at a random trajectory from the trap, the elevation of the targets remains constant and therefore predictable. For skeet, whether international skeet or American skeet, there are sixteen different target leads with sixteen different visual pickup points. With both skeet and trap, target speed and elevation are constant, assuming windless conditions. The top shot in skeet and trap has to be incredibly consistent, engaging each target or pair of targets the same way every time, time after time. For the dynamic sport of sporting clays, FITASC, five-stand, COMPAK (the European version of five-stand), and super sporting, the possibilities of trap location, target trajectory,

bbSporting clays targets come in three basic sizes (left to right): the 60-mm “mini,” 90-mm “midi,” and “standard” 108-mm. In trap and skeet only standard targets are used. TODD MCLENNAN

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 23

bbIn sporting clays, in addition to the mini (a), midi (b) and standard (c), two additional specialty targets add variety and excitement to the game: the rabbit (d) and the battue (e). Also pictured is a “flash” target filled with orange chalk for a more visually dramatic break. TODD MCLENNAN

bbThe thicknesses of the battue, standard, and rabbit targets are quite different. The battue (left) is markedly easier to break than a standard target (center), and the rabbit (right) is the hardest of all target types to break. TODD MCLENNAN

bbColor variety allows the creative target setter to match the appropriate color with the background to enhance visibility. Some target manufacturers now offer pink as well. TODD MCLENNAN

24 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

SPORTING CLAYS TARGET PRESENTATIONS A target setter may use any combination of target color and type to present any one of the following presentations for the shooter. Crossing target: Crossing in front of the shooting stand at an angle of approximately 90 degrees (left to right or right to left). Quartering target: Emerging from the right or left side of the shooting stand and crossing in front of the stand at an angle of approximately 45 degrees (incoming or outgoing). Trap target: Outgoing target emerging from a trap close to the shooting stand. Incoming target: Incoming target emerging from a trap in the distance with a trajectory toward the shooting stand. Chandelle: A target thrown at such an angle that the belly or face of the target is visible throughout the flight path of the target. This target is usually a quartering or crossing target. Teal (type 1): A target thrown vertically at a distance from the shooting stand. This target appears to rise and fall in roughly the same area of the location of the trap. Teal (type 2): A target thrown vertically at a distance from the shooting stand. This target rises but also moves away from the shooting stand and lands in a spot that is at a greater distance than the trap from which it was thrown.

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 25

bbThe crossing target generally moves at a 90-degree angle to the shooting stand. ROWDY JONES

bbA classic quartering target moves at a 45-degree angle to the shooting stand. The angle of the target line for a “deep quartering” target is between 45 and 90 degrees to the stand and for a “shallow quartering” target is less than 45 degrees. ROWDY JONES

26 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbAn outgoing or “trap” target. ROWDY JONES

bbAn incoming target or “incomer.” ROWDY JONES

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 27

bbA chandelle is typically thrown sideways with the face and belly of the target perpendicular to the ground. ROWDY JONES

bbThe teal target is thrown at a steep upward angle. ROWDY JONES

28 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbSome outgoing teal targets must be engaged under power because at the apex they are out of range. ROWDY JONES

bbPairs are typically presented as “report,” “true” (aka “simo”), or “following.” For this report pair the “A” target is thrown by the trapper when the shooter calls “Pull.” The “B” target is released at the moment the shooter fires at the first target. TODD MCLENNAN

target speed, direction, and velocity are literally endless. If that weren’t enough, there are a variety of target colors and five target types (six if you include the rare “rocket” target) commonly thrown in sporting clays. Each has different aerodynamic characteristics and visual appearance. So how does the skill set required of the top shot in sporting clays differ from that of the top shot in skeet or trap? The top shot in sporting

A Brief History and Oth er D isciplines / / 29

clays must have the ability to analyze a target set, develop a plan, rehearse the plan, and execute the plan the same way for three to five target pairs at a given station . . . and then do it all over again ten to fifteen times. More about this later. Despite my obvious bias toward sporting clays, I strongly recommend that you regularly shoot the other disciplines. Each of these other disciplines provides a challenge that differs slightly from sporting clays but will provide practice on targets you will often encounter on the sporting clays course. After all, you may not see a variety of sporting clays presentations on the skeet or trap field, but you will definitely see targets nearly identical to skeet and trap targets on the sporting clays course.

C H A P TE R 3

SAFETY

Safety is the “first fundamental” of shotgunning. Safety is of paramount concern to everyone involved in the shooting sports because it is the assurance of a safe environment that allows participants to enjoy the sport. Statistically speaking, the shooting sports, and particularly clay target shooting, are very safe activities. The low incidence of injury in the shooting sports is attributable to the vigilance and cooperation of all involved: range owners and managers, range personnel, instructors, shooters, and spectators. In the area of safety, all participants and range personnel bear the same responsibility. It is only with the participation and cooperation of all concerned that incidents are avoided. As bbSafety rules posted at a shooting stand. TODD MCLENNAN a shooter, you must comply with the basic safety rules of our sport (below) as well as local safety rules in place at local ranges and clubs. NSCA SAFETY RULES The primary rules of gun safety published by the NSCA (National Sporting Clays Association) are as follows: A. Always keep firearm pointed in a safe direction. B. Always keep finger off the trigger until target is called for.

Safety / / 31

C. Always keep gun unloaded until ready to engage targets. D. Treat every gun as if it were loaded. Visually inspect chamber and barrel for obstructions. E. Never carry a mix of shot shell ammo gauges. F. Shoot from inside a stand or cage unless directed otherwise by range personnel or an instructor. G. The action of a shotgun is to be kept open at all times when it is in hand and the shooter is not in the shooting stand. For over/under shotguns, actions may be closed when they are in a gun rack or are in the process of being placed in a gun rack. H. Gun carry: Over/under shotguns should be carried with the action open in one of two ways: 1) with the barrels facing downward/forward and action resting on the shooter’s forearm and at the side of the shooter or 2) with barrels facing downward/ forward and action resting on the shoulder of the shooter. Semiautomatic shotguns should be carried “military style” with the action open, butt of the gun in the shooter’s hand, and barrel pointing skyward and resting against the shooter’s chest and shoulder. The action should face forward, away from the shooter, such that anyone in front of the shooter can see that the action is open. When moving a gun to or from the carry position to a gun rack or other location, the shooter should use care not to “sweep” bystanders or point the shotgun in an unsafe manner. I. Eye and ear protection are mandatory. J. Be aware of, and obey, all local safety rules imposed by the local club.

bbCommon types of hearing protection. The cost can range from a few cents for foam plugs to $300 for electronic earmuffs to over $2,000 for custom molded digital earplugs. DON CURRIE

32 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbFlying debris from broken targets is an inherent danger when shooting sporting clays. Many options exist in performance shooting eyewear. I favor the quality and clarity of Pilla Zeiss lenses, which come in many styles, shades, and colors. PILLA WEBSITE

OTHER SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS In addition to the above safety rules, there are some scenarios concerning safety that are worth mentioning and that you, as a shooter, should be aware of. Reloads The factory shells bought at your local range or retailer are presumed to be safe based on the stringent quality control to which they are subjected. Some shooters, however, usually in an effort to save on the cost of shells, will reload their own shotgun shells. Shooting reloaded shotgun shells carries with it an increased risk of incident. The risks of a misfire and/or barrel obstruction are increased manyfold in such cases. If you are a beginning shooter, my advice is to use factory ammo and avoid reloaded shells. If you reload shells, I would urge you to shoot your own reloads and not those of another shooter and avoid sharing your reloads with other shooters. Misfire or “hang fire” You are in the shooting stand with shells chambered and you are preparing to engage a target. You raise the gun to your cheek and shoulder, pull the trigger, and hear a click. This is what we commonly refer to as a misfire. The correct manner in which to handle a misfire is the following: 1) maintain control of the firearm, holding it securely with both

Safety / / 33

hands; 2) keep the gun pointed downrange or in an otherwise safe direction in the event of a delayed discharge; 3) wait a full 30 seconds; and 4) open the gun, remove all shells and casings, inspect the shell primer, and ensure that the barrel and chamber of all barrels are free of obstruction. (Yes, even factory ammo bbShell primer indented by the firing pin, but shell fails to fire. TODD MCLENNAN can misfire.) It is critical that the firearm be maintained in a muzzle-safe direction and in control of the shooter at all times. If the barrel is obstructed, the barrel must be cleared of the obstruction before resuming use of the firearm. If the shell primer shows an impact mark made by the firing pin, the shell should be disposed of safely and properly and in accordance with local/club policy. Squib load You are in the shooting stand with shells chambered and you are preparing to engage a target. You raise the gun to your cheek and shoulder, pull the trigger, and hear a sound that sounds slightly weaker than a normal shell. There is a possibility that there was not sufficient pressure in the chamber to completely expel the wad in the shotgun shell, otherwise known as a “squib load.” This is a potentially dangerous situation if the barrel is not cleared of all obstruction prior to loading and firing another shell. Squib loads are very rare with factory ammo and most common with the use of reloads. The correct manner in which to handle a squib load is the following: 1) maintain control of the firearm, holding it securely with both hands; 2) keep the gun pointed downrange; and 3) open the gun, remove all shells and casings, inspect the shell primer, and ensure that the barrel and chamber of all barrels are free of obstruction. It is critical that the firearm be maintained in a muzzle-safe direction and in control of the shooter at all times. If the barrel is obstructed, the barrel must be cleared of the obstruction before resuming use of the firearm. If the shell primer shows an impact mark

34 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbThe result of an undetected barrel obstruction. After a shell wad from a squib load lodged in the barrel, the shooter unknowingly loaded and shot another shell through the same obstructed barrel. KADE WURSTER

bbThe bottom barrel is clearly obstructed. Always check your barrels for an obstruction at the beginning of a round and if a shot sounds abnormal. TODD MCLENNAN

made by the firing pin, the shell should be disposed of safely and properly and in accordance with local/club policy. A WORD ABOUT YOUR HEARING It is important that you understand a few basic facts about the risks of hearing damage and loss inherent in participating in shotgunning. 1) Hearing loss or damage as a result of impulse noise is cumulative over a person’s lifetime but can, in rare cases, be immediate (or catastrophic) as well as irreversible. 2) Heredity can also be a contributing factor to hearing loss. 3) A clay shooter using hearing protection (plugs or muffs) reduces exposure to potentially damaging sounds from the shotgun, but no hearing protection can eliminate the risk of hearing loss or damage. 4) The only way to completely eliminate the risk of hearing loss or damage is avoidance of exposure to sounds exceeding 90 decibels (dB). A shotgun blast emits impulse noise to the tune of 145 to 155 dB each time you pull the trigger. This varies depending on the barrel length, shell, porting, your proximity to the shotgun, the

Safety / / 35

structure of the shooting stand, etc. The very best hearing protection available will reduce (or attenuate) these decibel levels by about 26 dB (by 31 or 32 dB if the shooter wears double protection: plugs and muffs). The Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) for a given device is disclosed on the packaging or in the technical data available in the manufacturer’s package insert. Based on the available data, the theoretical limit of attenuation for a human being is 36 dB. Since most of us only wear a single hearing protection device (plugs or muffs, not both), this means that even if you use the best single-device hearing protection available, and use it properly, you are still exposing yourself to around 120 dB of impulse noise with each blast. I’m not trying to scare you here, but in a way, I am. Your hearing is precious and can degrade over time. My advice is, use hearing protection and use it properly. Consider wearing double protection (plugs and muffs), especially if you are an instructor. Sporting clays is a wonderful sport, and we certainly want to encourage everyone to enjoy it; however, your obligation as a participant is to wear, and insist others wear, the best hearing protection available and use it properly. CONCLUSION Accidents in the shooting sports are rare, but all have one common element: Most are avoidable and would not have happened were it not for one or more participants violating

bbCompetitors studying the “show pair” at the National Sporting Clays Championship in San Antonio. DON CURRIE

36 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

a gun safety rule. It only takes a small lapse of attention, a moment of complacency in handling a firearm, to result in your injury or death or that of another person. Another common contributor in shooting sports incidents is that at some point there was an opportunity for another participant, bystander, or range staff member to intervene to avoid tragedy. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. If you witness a violation of one of the safety rules, it is your personal obligation to bring the violation to the attention of those in the immediate area to avoid an incident. Remain vigilant and maintain a posture of hyperawareness of your surroundings and those around you, guaranteeing safety for all concerned while at the same time enjoying the sport. Once again, the avoidance of incident in our sport requires strict personal compliance with the basic safety rules as well as local safety rules in place at local ranges and clubs. Nothing less than 100 percent awareness and 100 percent compliance is necessary and required.

C H A P TE R 4

EYE DOMINANCE

Among clay shooters there is perhaps more confusion and controversy surrounding the subject of eye dominance than around any other topic in our sport. Since virtually all nationally ranked shooters who teach are solidly dominant in one eye and shoot from the same side as their dominant eye, they tend to misdiagnose or dismiss eye dominance issues when they encounter them with their students. There are even some “authorities” who completely dismiss the idea that a shooter’s dominant eye has any relevance to a shooter’s ability to engage targets. This is, of course, foolishness born out of ignorance.

bbShooter mounted properly, with the iris centered and immediately atop the rib like a marble on a table with no white visible. TODD MCLENNAN

THE MYTHS There are three commonly held myths about eye dominance that are at the center of the confusion. 1. A person is either left-eye dominant or right-eye dominant, with no in-between. 2. Once a shooter figures out which eye is more dominant than the other and is shooting from the side of his dominant eye, there shouldn’t be any issues with eye dominance. 3. The remedies for overcoming eye dominance issues in two shooters who test identically are pretty much the same. All three are false.

38 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Many shooters face challenges with their shooting performance because, for one reason or another, they have never had their eye dominance status accurately assessed and anomalies properly addressed. This fact is not in question by any serious instructor or scholar of shotgunning. Charles Lancaster, as far back as 1889, said that “no man with a left eye more powerful than the right can be expected to take a correct alignment [of the shotgun] with the right eye nor can any man shoot accurately with a gun unless the center of the rib of the barrel comes absolutely opposite the master eye.”1 All major sanctioning bodies in shotgunning—including the NSCA, National Rifle Association (NRA), and Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA)—would agree that, for a shooter to reach full potential, he or she should ideally shoot from the side of the dominant or master eye. Even among instructors who accept and understand the existence of eye dominance anomalies, there is often confusion about how one should properly address the issue with a shooter. As a result, shooters with such issues are often precluded from reaching their full potential. The good news is that knowledge about visual anomalies and groundbreaking solutions to address them are readily available and well documented. For those who seek the assistance of a knowledgeable instructor, there are ways in which the shooter who is struggling to overcome eye dominance issues can level the playing field. THE ASSESSMENT For my new students I start each lesson by administering a simple eye dominance test. I rarely employ the more commonly used self-tests (hole in a card or piece of paper, hands clasped to form a hole), because these tests only indicate whether a person is more

bbFor the self-test clasp your hands to create a hole through which you can see and focus on a spot on the wall in front of you (your “target”). TODD MCLENNAN

bbAs you draw your hands closer to your face while keeping the “target” in view, the hands will naturally favor one eye or the other in most cases (but not all). TODD MCLENNAN

Eye D o m inance / / 39

bbIn this self-test I am clearly right-eye dominant. TODD MCLENNAN

right-eye dominant or more left-eye dominant. The following test, administered by a knowledgeable instructor, indicates not only which eye is more dominant than the other but also how dominant the dominant eye is and how likely it is that the shooter will experience some shot placement challenges due to interference from the nonshooting eye. To assess eye dominance status, I use the pointing test. I instruct the student to put his shotgun in the gun rack and his shooting glasses to the side. I position my right hand with index finger pointing skyward and touching the lower eyelid of my right eye, just below my pupil, and close my left eye.

bbInstructor testing student for eye dominance using the pointing method. Instructor places index finger below one eye, shuts the other eye, and observes student pointing. Student focuses on and points at the tip of the instructor’s finger, alternating hands. TODD MCLENNAN

bbHere is what a left-eye-dominant shooter would look like using the self-test. TODD MCLENNAN

bbIn this self-test I am clearly left-eye dominant. TODD MCLENNAN

40 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

I then ask my student to point at the very tip of my right index finger with each of his index fingers while looking only at the tip of my finger. I caution the student against visually verifying alignment of his finger, but urge him to keep both eyes open and look only at the tip of my finger and feel the pointing action. I have him point at the tip of my finger with the index finger of one hand and then the other, quickly alternating back and forth but always returning each hand to the side of the body before raising the other hand. I look over the tip of my finger and observe the alignment of the student’s index fingers with his eyes. The diagnosis becomes clear. If the student’s index fingers align with the student’s right eye, then the student is right-eye dominant. If the student’s index fingers align with the student’s left eye, then the student is left-eye dominant. If the student’s index fingers line

bbRight-eye-dominant shooter. TODD MCLENNAN

bbLeft-eye-dominant shooter. TODD MCLENNAN

Eye D o m inance / / 41

bbCenter ocular shooter. TODD MCLENNAN

bbRight-eye-dominant shooter with center ocular shift. TODD MCLENNAN

bbLeft-eye-dominant shooter with center ocular shift. TODD MCLENNAN

42 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

up perfectly with the bridge of the nose, with no favoritism to one side or the other, PREVALENCE OF EYE the student is said to be center ocular. If DOMINANCE STATUS the student’s index fingers align somewhere AMONG SHOOTERS between the student’s right eye and nose, the student is said to be right-eye dominant with center ocular shift. Finally, if the alignment is Data from random students somewhere between the left eye and the nose, tested for eye dominance using the student is said to be left-eye dominant the pointing method. with center ocular shift. Sample size: 68 students So what does this mean? This test gives 2% = solidly left-eye dominant the instructor a clear indication of 1) which eye is more dominant and 2) how likely it is (1) that the nondominant eye will interfere with 19% = solidly right-eye the brain’s ability to subconsciously align dominant (13) the gun with the shooter’s dominant eye to 16% = left-eye dominant with achieve proper barrel placement. In very general terms, the closer to the nose that some center shift (11) the shooter’s index fingers align, the more 49% = right-eye dominant with likely it is that the shooter’s performance some center shift (33) will be affected, but this should never be 14% = center ocular dominant assumed. The accuracy of the shooter’s “point” with a shotgun on actual targets will (10) determine whether or not the shooter has an eye dominance anomaly that will affect gun placement. Once I have made my assessment of the shooter’s eye dominance status, I note my findings but never mention my findings to the student or make any adjustments until I see the student shoot actual targets. I have on countless occasions had students with significant center ocular tendencies who have no issues breaking targets, even those targets that are most likely to be influenced by the nondominant eye. In these cases the familiar rule applies: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, shooters who have center ocular shift often have challenges with targets that originate from the side of the non-shooting shoulder. On the other side of the coin, I have had students test with a minuscule amount of center

Eye D o m inance / / 43

EYE DOMINANCE DEFINITIONS Eye dominance: Eye dominance, or ocular dominance, is the tendency of the brain to prefer visual input from one eye over the other. The degree to which a shooter is dominant in one eye or the other is determined by how the shooter’s visuomotor system captures and processes visual information. One is said to be dominant on the side from which information is more rapidly captured and processed as compared to the opposite side. Occlusion: The act of shutting off or blocking something. In this context one can partially or completely occlude the non-shooting eye for the purpose of inhibiting or shutting down the non-shooting eye so as to allow the brain to default to the shooting eye as its dominant source of targeting information. Center ocular dominance: A condition in which neither eye is dominant. Simply put, if the right side and left side were racing to transport imagery information from the eye to the visual cortex of the brain and process it, it’s a tie race in most cases. Center ocular shift: While a person with center ocular shift may be more dominant on one side than the other, information from the nondominant eye may influence the reactive movements of the hands and arms, resulting in flawed shot placement. In many cases problems with shot placement will occur only on specific target presentations, usually from targets emanating from the side opposite the shooting eye.

44 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

ocular shift yet have a terrible time with crossers from their non-shooting side or outgoing quartering targets emerging from high and behind, off their non-shooting shoulder. How prevalent are eye dominance anomalies? I reviewed and collated my lesson notes from sixty-eight students whom I instructed in private lessons over a 3-month period. Contrary to myth number one above, only about 21 percent of the sample group was solidly dominant in one eye or the other, meaning that 79 percent of the sample was not solidly dominant in either eye and therefore somewhere in between left-eye dominant and righteye dominant. On further analysis, about 65 percent of the sample were either right-eye dominant with some center shift or left-eye dominant with some center shift. The remaining 14 percent were diagnosed as center ocular. So what is the significance of center ocular shift and what is its impact on shooting performance? The answer is that it depends and is totally unique to the individual shooter. I have seen hundreds of cases where a shooter’s test reveals some center ocular shift yet the shooter has no issues when engaging targets. On the other hand, I have seen others who do have an issue. Let’s take Tom, one of my students. He is a right-eye-dominant, righthanded shooter who shoots with both eyes open. Tom also has some slight center ocular shift, which I detected in my assessment. I wasn’t particularly concerned about it early on in our initial lesson because he was crushing targets in the first hour, but when we began engaging a left-to-right crosser and then an outgoing overhead target from his left side, the gremlin appeared! Once I confirmed that Tom was applying sufficient visual focus to the target, it was clear that there was just enough interference from his left eye to result in a very consistent miss of the target high and left by about 2 feet at 30 yards. THE PRESCRIPTION From Charles Lancaster and Churchill to Stanbury and Michael Yardley, the solutions for eye dominance issues have changed little over the last 100 years. Conventional wisdom from all reputable circles—the NRA, NSCA, CPSA, and others—is that 1) a shooter should shoot from the side of the dominant or master eye and 2) a shooter should ideally shoot with both eyes open and no occlusion (e.g., dot, winking). Once past these two essential truths, the controversy begins. The dominant eye that aligns over the shotgun rib when the shot is executed (presumably the more dominant eye) must be the eye that directs the shooter’s pointing action. If the brain is receiving interfering information from the non-shooting eye because of cross-dominance, center ocular shift, or center ocular dominance, it can affect proper gun

Eye D o m inance / / 45

placement. A right-handed shooter with an eye dominance issue will tend to consistently miss to the left of certain targets, indicating that the left eye is influencing shot placement. It is not uncommon, however, for shooters or their well-meaning instructors to put a piece of tape on the glasses to help the shooter hit targets when the reason for the miss could be something else entirely. Poor gun fit or insufficient visual focus can potentially cause the same pattern of misses. So, before deciding that winking an eye or using a dot over the nonshooting eye is right for you, make sure you have a well-fitting shotgun and ensure you are applying intense binocular (two-eyed) visual focus to each and every target. If this fails, an instructor knowledgeable about eye dominance should evaluate you. When a shooter’s eye dominance, or lack thereof, negatively affects gun placement, causing a pattern of misses on certain target types, there are essentially four alternatives to consider: 1. Switch to mounting on the side of the dominant eye. For a righthanded, cross-dominant shooter, for example (predominantly left-eye dominant but shoots on the right), this may be the best long-term solution. On the other hand, if this shooter is only an occasional recreational shooter or seasonal hunter, is right-handed in all other daily activities, has been mounting

bbImproper mount; right-handed shooter, left-eye dominant. Often cross-dominant beginners will attempt to subconsciously roll over the comb to move the dominant eye over the barrel. This is a sure giveaway that the shooter is cross-dominant. TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooter’s iris (the colored part of the eye) is centered on and immediately atop the rib with no white of the eye visible for a perfect gun fit. TODD MCLENNAN

46 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

his shotgun to the right side for many years, and is resistant to this change, we will likely explore one of the alternative solutions below. 2. Wink, shutter, or “dim” the non-shooting eye. The timing of the wink is of prime importance here. The eye should be open as the shooter visually acquires the target and then closed just before the comb of the stock reaches the cheek and through the execution of the shot. I personally don’t favor this option, because the potential for inconsistent timing of the wink adds inherent inconsistency to the shooter’s stroke, as timing must be precise. Winking or shuttering also adds an unnecessary element of facial tension through shot execution. It also denies the shooter’s brain of valuable information from his peripheral vision, as the non-shooting eye is shut down.

bbShooter “dimming” the non-shooting eye. TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooter “winking” the non-shooting eye. TODD MCLENNAN

3. Use a small dot or occlusion foil. The dot should be placed on the shooting glasses such that it is aligned between the iris of the non-shooting eye and the front bead of the shotgun when the shooter is fully mounted to the shotgun. This is a great solution because it preserves the shooter’s peripheral vision from the point of visual acquisition of the target through execution of the shot. Additionally, specialty occlusion foils are now available in varying densities or opacities. With these foils the shooter can still see the target through the foil, providing the most natural visual image of the target. These more translucent foils provide only limited occlusion yet inhibit the non-shooting eye just enough to put the shooting eye in dominant status.

Eye D o m inance / / 47

bbClose-up of shooter, not mounted to gun, wearing an occlusion foil. If occlusion is required due to an eye dominance issue, proper placement of the foil to cover the entire iris when the shooter is mounted to the gun is critical. TODD MCLENNAN

4. Shoot with a “crossover stock.” This is an expensive but viable option for a dedicated shooter who cannot adapt to any of the other alternatives above. If your gun placement is being negatively affected by an eye dominance anomaly, then we must somehow inhibit or handicap the non-shooting eye just enough to put the shooting eye back in charge of the information flow to the brain. Said another way, we must do whatever possible to ensure that the shooting eye is the eye feeding the brain the target guidance information it bbCrossover stock. This is the last resort for a righthanded, left-eye-dominant shooter who cannot switch to shooting off the left shoulder. This was made for a right-handed shooter who went blind in the right eye late in life. TODD MCLENNAN

bbWhen the shooter is mounted to the gun, the foil must completely occlude the front half of the barrel from the perspective of the non-shooting eye. TODD MCLENNAN

48 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

needs for proper pointing and gun placement. Keep in mind that everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another, but the least invasive solution (least occlusion) is always preferred. Lastly, if you suspect that an eye dominance anomaly may be affecting your shooting performance, it is always best to seek the assistance of an instructor knowledgeable on the subject. If occlusion is the best option for you, I recommend that the shape and size of the dot be round and the size of the dot be no smaller than 12 mm (the size of the average human iris) but no larger than 16 mm. If your mount is very consistent with little to no variability, then the smaller dot is the best option. If not, the 16 mm is advisable. When applying an occlusion device (dot, occlusion foil, etc.), the device should be positioned on the shooting glasses such that the device inhibits the ability of the non-shooting eye to see the front bead of the shotgun when the shooter has the gun fully mounted. The two best occlusion products on the market for eye dominance issues are the Shotspot (www.shotspot.co.uk) and Magic Dots by Morgan Optical (www.morganoptical. net/magic_dot), and I have worked with both extensively. Using these products is both an art and a science. Shotspot is the least invasive. They are circular spots that adhere to the inside of the shooting glasses and are imprinted with a repeat pattern of tiny microdots. They are offered in four strengths (1.0, 0.8, 0.6, and 0.3, in order from least to most occlusion) and in diameters of 12 mm and 16 mm. If your mount is very consistent, start with 12 mm; otherwise it’s better to go with the 16 mm to preclude interference from “peeking” around the dot. Start on a problematic target with a pack of 0.8 and see if, after a box of shells, you see some improvement. If not, increase the strength to 0.6 and then to 0.3. Make sure you stay on the problem target as you try to determine the effectiveness of the occlusion. In most cases I can cure the problem for a shooter with the Shotspots, but in those cases where there is severe center ocular dominance or where the shooter is crossdominant (e.g., left-eye dominant shooting from the right side), a Magic Dot is sometimes called for. These are offered in a variety of colors to match the tint of shooting glasses. Eye dominance issues are far from black and white. Thankfully for the afflicted, however, there are coaches and products ready to help you level the playing field. If you feel you may have an eye dominance issue, seek the assistance of an instructor knowledgeable about eye dominance. The great majority of shooters do not have any eye-related issues that affect shot placement. For shooters who have an issue, proper assessment and resolution will mean the difference between success and failure on certain targets.

C H A P TE R 5

GUN FITTING

Whether you are engaging clay targets or upland birds, a well-fitting shotgun is essential to your success. Unlike in rifle shooting, the proper fit of the shotgun stock is essential to achieving natural alignment of the dominant eye with the barrel without visual verification. To engage a moving target with a shotgun, you must apply and maintain sharp visual focus on the target just prior to and through the target’s break point. A shooter’s uninterrupted visual connection with the target through the break point is critical because it is this flow of visual imagery that feeds the brain with the information necessary to subconsciously point the gun in the right place and break the target. The most difficult concept for new shotgunners to understand is that we do not aim a shotgun. We point a shotgun. Because the shotgunner must maintain proper alignment of the eye with the barrel without breaking the visual connection between the eye and the target, the shotgun must align with the dominant eye naturally while 100 percent of the shooter’s visual attention is on the target. The shooter must see the target

bbTaking measurements off of a shotgun using a measuring stick. TODD MCLENNAN

50 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbWhile it technically violates a safety rule, getting in front of an unloaded shotgun is a useful technique for gun fitters to assess proper gun fit. Each time I do, I physically check to make sure the gun is safe. TODD MCLENNAN

and feel the point of the bbA properly fitted shotgun with the shotgun. iris of the dominant From a gun fit eye centered on and immediately atop the standpoint, two essential rib. TODD MCLENNAN elements hold the key to your shotgun shooting where you are looking. One is a consistent, repeatable stance and gun mount. A shooter’s mount and stance must be proper and repeatable in order for the gun fitter to fit a stock. The second is a gun that is properly shaped and sized such that, when you raise the comb to your cheek, your eye naturally aligns with the barrel without visual verification. Proper eye-barrel alignment is felt rather than seen, which is why the fit of a shotgun is so critical to higher levels of shooting performance. A shotgun is said to “fit” when, in the fully mounted position, the shooter’s iris or eyeball is centered on the rib horizontally and sitting just atop the rib vertically.

Gun Fittin g / / 51

bbProper stance, with weight distribution 60 percent forward, shoulder joints over balls of feet, and nose over toes. TODD MCLENNAN bbPoor stance—too much weight forward. TODD MCLENNAN

bbPoor stance—leaning back. TODD MCLENNAN

bbPoor stance—the “turtleneck mount.” TODD MCLENNAN

52 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

TAILORING GUN TO SHOOTER Fitting a gun to a shooter is both an art and a science. Just like a good tailor, a gun fitter starts a fitting with the presumption that the shooter will require a completely unique set of stock dimensions. Because the shooter’s lower cheek ledge on the side of the gun mount remains at a constant distance from the eye socket throughout shot execution, the shooter’s facial dimensions play an important role in determining the ideal shape and size of the stock. The cast or “bend” of the stock in relation to the centerline of the rib and the height of the comb in relationship to the top of the rib are critically important to the gun fitter to ensure proper alignment of the eye when the gun is fully mounted to the cheek. Proper alignment of the shooter’s eye over the rib of the shotgun ensures that the gun will shoot where the shooter is looking. Other physical dimensions critical to gun fit are the shooter’s height, arm length, shape of the upper chest region, and the size and shape of the hand. The uniqueness of each person’s bodily dimensions, combined with the need for the shooter to achieve proper eye-barrel alignment during shot execution without visual verification, are the reasons that the ideal dimensions of a shotgun are unique to the individual. How do we equip the 5'6", 120-pound female shooter and the 6'2", 200-pound male shooter with a gun that fits? The answer is individualized dimensions in the form of a custom shotgun. THE SHOTGUN STOCK Before discussing the various customization options available to you, let’s first look at the basic variables in the dimensions of a shotgun stock and how they affect the point of impact of your shot pattern. The physical variables of facial structure, height, arm length, shape of the upper chest region, and size and shape of the hand will all have an impact on these dimensions. The most important elements of gun fit are: • Length of pull • Drop at comb • Cast • Pitch There are many more dimensions that we gun fitters use to “spec out” a stock, such as dimensions for the palm swell, grip length, and toe out, but we will confine our conversation here to the basic elements.

Gun Fittin g / / 53

bbBasic parts of a shotgun. DON CURRIE

bbParts of a Beretta A400 semiauto shotgun. COURTESY OF BERETTA USA, DON CURRIE

bbDimensions used by most gun fitters (side view). DON CURRIE bbDimensions used by most gun fitters (top view). DON CURRIE

54 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbProper length of pull. DON CURRIE

Length of pull Length of pull is the distance between the front edge of the trigger and the back edge of the center of the butt pad. A gun that is too long for you will be uncomfortable to shoot, will be difficult to control, and will deliver more felt recoil. A gun that is too short may cause your face to ride up too close to your trigger hand. Your shotgun has the proper length of pull when the knuckle at the base of the thumb on the trigger hand is about 1 to 1½ inches in front of your nose when the gun is fully mounted and the shooter in a proper stance and body position. Female and youth shooters are especially likely to run into problems with length of pull because they tend to be smaller in stature and off-the-shelf guns are often too long. This can be remedied by cutting down the stock to the appropriate length for the shooter. One complication of shortening the length of pull, however, is the corresponding increase in comb height. Because most stocks have a comb that is higher at the peak and lower at the heel, reducing the length of pull of your shotgun also elevates the position of your eye over the rib, which can raise the point of impact.

Gun Fittin g / / 55

bbLength of pull too long. TODD MCLENNAN

bbLength of pull too short. DON CURRIE

56 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Drop at comb Drop at comb is the vertical distance between the top of the comb and a straight, imaginary line running along the center of the rib extending over the top of the comb back to the butt. This measurement is usually taken in three places: at the peak of the comb, at the face, and at the heel. As mentioned earlier, the drop at comb is typically greater at the heel than at the peak, unless dealing with a parallel comb, in which case the peak is the same elevation as the heel—or, in other words, the comb is parallel to the rib. If the drop at comb is too slight, your eye will come to rest at a point too far above the rib. If the drop at comb is excessive, your dominant eye will dip down below the rib when the gun is fully mounted, occluding your view of the target. Female and youth shooters, and others with high cheekbones and narrow facial features, tend to have challenges with drop at comb because, when fully mounted, their shooting eye tends to rest below the surface of the rib. Again, the goal is to have your eyeball or iris centered on the rib and positioned on top of the rib, like a marble on a table. For shooters who are still perfecting their mount, or those in search of a more customized fit at a lower cost, an adjustable comb is a great option. An adjustable comb allows the shooter to raise and lower the comb as well as adjust cast for bbAn adjustable comb is a great advantage for a shooter who is still perfecting his or her mount. a more precise fit (more on this later). TODD MCLENNAN Cast Cast refers to the lateral deviation of the comb from the centerline of the rib. Another way to think about cast is the amount of “bend” in the top of the stock, either right or left, as compared to the centerline of the rib. For a shotgun with no cast, the centerline of the comb is lined up exactly with the centerline of the rib. If a gun has right-hand cast, the centerline of the comb is off-center, or bent, to the right of the centerline of the rib.

Gun Fittin g / / 57

For a shotgun to fit a shooter properly, the stock normally needs some amount of cast away from the face, known as “cast off.” If a gun has “cast on,” the stock is slightly off-center toward the shooter’s face. (These terms vary slightly between the US and European markets.) A right-handed shooter will normally require some right-hand cast (cast off—stock bent to the right of the rib’s centerline), and a left-handed shooter will conversely need left-hand cast (cast on). How much cast is needed is determined primarily by the shooter’s facial structure and, in particular, the horizontal distance between the shooter’s eye socket and cheek ledge on the side the shooter mounts the gun. Pitch Pitch is the angle of the butt pad in relationship to the rib line. A gun is said to have “no pitch” if the angle of the butt pad is perfectly perpendicular (90 degrees) to the rib of the shotgun. A gun is said to “have pitch” if the toe of the butt is angled in toward the front of the gun (positive pitch) or, in very rare cases, angled toward the shooter (negative pitch). The goal is to have as much surface contact between the butt pad and the shoulder as possible when the gun is properly and fully mounted with the shooter in a good stance. Most guns are manufactured with a 4-degree pitch, but females and weight lifters, for example, tend to need a bit more. Shooting a gun with excessive pitch with only the heel in contact with the shoulder will be uncomfortable, and the recoil of the gun when discharged

bbPitch is an angle measurement measured from an imaginary line perpendicular to the rib line down past the butt pad. DON CURRIE

58 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

may cause downward barrel jump. Conversely, a gun with too little pitch, with only the toe in contact with the shoulder, will result in excessive upward muzzle jump and be equally uncomfortable for the shooter. CUSTOMIZING THE GUN Webster’s defines “bespoke” as “made to fit a particular person.” In the world of shotgunning, there are a variety of ways in which a shotgun can be made to fit a particular person. Normally, however, the term “bespoke shotgun” refers to a shotgun with a stock cut from a block of wood, or wood blank, to the specific dimensions of an individual shooter. How do you know if you really need a custom gun? A visit to a professional gun fitter will give you the clearest answer, but the following are factors you should consider. Most off-the-shelf shotguns are manufactured for a shooter who is male, right-handed, size 40, with a height of 5'10" and weight of 160 to 180 pounds. The more your bodily dimensions deviate from this “prototype,” the more likely it is that some customization will be required to get your eye centered above the rib of your shotgun when naturally mounted. If you are a novice shooter who lacks a consistent and repeatable mount, the process of equipping yourself with a perfectly fitting gun is more of a gradual or two-phase process. In phase one you have yet to perfect your mount to the point of being consistent and repeatable. Your goal in phase one, when your mount is not yet consistent, should be to shoot with a generally well-fitting gun with the eye positioned comfortably above the rib. Fitting a gun to a shooter with an inconsistent mount is like horseshoes: close enough is the goal. If the position of the shooter’s eye changes with every mount, it is difficult for the gun fitter to fit a gun to specifications that are ever-changing. In trying to achieve a phase one fit (close and rough), I usually like to see the eye of a novice shooter positioned slightly higher over the rib, as novices sometimes have a tendency to “scrunch down” onto the comb on some target presentations. A bit more height on the comb will preclude the shooter from occluding the eye with the back end of the receiver and breaking the visual connection between the eye and the target as the gun is mounted. I will often recommend an adjustable comb for a client who requires some customization but has yet to completely solidify the gun mount. In phase two your mount is well practiced, efficient, and consistent. You bring the comb of your shotgun to the same place on your face each and every time you mount. In phase two, when the gun mount is mature and consistent, I will fit the shotgun to more exacting tolerances. Your goal should now be a customized fit with a custom gun, a custom stock, or, at minimum, a more customized gun.

Gun Fittin g / / 59

There is virtually no limit to what you can spend on a custom gun. Restocking your existing shotgun with a custom stock can be pretty pricey: anywhere between $3,500 and $4,500, depending on the quality of the wood you choose. If you are considering restocking your existing gun, understand that you will never be able to recoup the money you spend for a custom stock when and if you resell the gun. While you can potentially save the expense of restocking a gun by ordering certain brands of new custom shotguns directly from the factory, you will obviously have to lay out more cash for the purchase of a new custom gun than you would for a new stock. Perazzi, Zoli, and Caesar Guerini, for example, do a very nice job on custom guns made to order. Guerini and Zoli levy a $1,300 upcharge for a custom stock, but Perazzi includes the cost of a custom stock in the price of all their models except the MXS. While you will have to wait anywhere between 4 and 8 months for delivery, it is well worth the wait. The Beretta Galleries and Beretta Premium Dealers offer a 6- to 8-month turnaround on custom guns, but this is limited to their EELL and SO models. On the other side of the coin, not all manufacturers are set up to make shotguns to custom dimensions. While neither Blaser nor Krieghoff offers custom stocks, both will provide a nominal credit toward a custom stock if you order their guns without wood, but the difference falls far short of covering the cost of a custom stock. I rarely recommend that my clients spend the money on either a formal gun fitting or a custom gun until their mount has matured and is consistent. I am not saying that gun fit is irrelevant to a novice shooter. It is still critical that the novice shooter shoot with a gun that fits reasonably well, with the eye positioned above and close to the center of the rib. It is senseless, however, to expect that your gun fitter can provide you with a gun that fits you precisely if your mount is not consistent. This is the hardest message that we gun fitters have to deliver to a client with his or her checkbook out and pen at the ready, but it’s the cold, hard truth. When I was general manager of the Gilchrist Club, a 55-year-old attorney named Rob came by with one of his law partners to take a lesson and hunt quail. In addition to my GM duties, I ran Orvis’s wing-shooting and fly-fishing Schools at Gilchrist and was the resident shooting pro and master gun fitter. Rob had been shooting for years. He was primarily a quail hunter but also really liked sporting clays. He was not a competitor but did participate in the occasional charity event. He was passionate about upland bird hunting and took great pride in the fact that he had hunted just about every species of upland bird in North America. He was a right-handed shooter and brought with him a lovely Caesar Guerini 20-gauge field gun, which had been fitted to him by one of the gun fitters at another Orvis

60 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

location about 5 years before. He expressed some frustration about his recent shooting performance and said that his percentages in the field had been steadily dropping. During the first part of the lesson, I saw him miss a number of easy, going-away targets, and he was missing high and left on most of them. At first suspecting an eye dominance issue, I tested him but only confirmed that he was solidly right-eye dominant. Puzzled, I watched him shoot a few more targets and, while watching him from the side, noticed that Rob’s eye was dipping down below the level of the rib just before he pulled the trigger. At the precise moment that the comb of his shotgun reached his cheek, his shotgun occluded his vision. In this case the issue was not eye dominance at all, but gun fit. This uncomfortable feeling came over me. I knew all the instructors and gun fitters at Orvis and had in fact taught with many of them. I knew all of them to be highly competent. I had personally worked with Orvis to establish and run one of their wing-shooting schools at the Gilchrist Club, and here I was, poised to inform this wing-shooting enthusiast that his Orvis-fitted gun didn’t fit! I asked him if anything had changed since the gun was fitted. “Not that I can think of,” he said. “Have you lost any weight since then?” I asked. After a brief silence and a knowing look, he sheepishly declared that he had lost 20 pounds in the last year. I explained how substantial loss in weight could easily account for the now illfitting gun with the excessive drop at comb. I strongly suggested that he either let me modify his gun or start consuming heavy portions of dessert after every meal. The importance of gun fit cannot be overemphasized. TOOLS OF THE TRADE There are a couple of tools used by expert gun fitters to establish the ideal fit dimensions for an individual shooter. Patterning board The first and most common tool used by gun fitters is the patterning board. A patterning board is primarily used to evaluate the point of impact of the shot pattern of a shotgun. A gun fitter will have his client stand some distance away (normally 16 yards), apply sharp visual focus to the center or focal point on the patterning board, and fire. The shot will impact the patterning board and make a circular impression. While a patterning board may follow any of a number of designs, the ideal is a 40-by-40-inch steel plate with a small hole in the center. By coating the patterning board with spray paint or industrial grease, a gun fitter can see the shape of the shot pattern, identify the center of the pattern, and “dial in” the gun to achieve the ideal point of impact by changing the height of the comb and the cast.

Gun Fittin g / / 61

bbPatterning board. DON CURRIE

The most important thing for you to remember when shooting at a patterning board is that visual focus must be exclusively on the center of the patterning board when executing the shot, rather than trying to aim the shotgun using the front bead. The mount must be natural, and alignment must be felt rather than seen; otherwise, the results on the patterning board will not translate to the field or the sporting clays course. Try gun A try gun is another tool used by gun fitters to arrive at the optimal stock measurements for an individual shooter. A try gun is a shotgun that is highly reengineered with a metal “knuckle” and other metal hinges that allow the gun fitter to make minute and complex adjustments to the dimensions of the shotgun. Raising the comb of the stock by 1⁄16 inch at the heel, for example, will raise the point of impact on the patterning board by 1 inch at 16 yards. Similarly, adjusting the cast by 1⁄16 inch to the left or right will move the point of impact to the left or right by 1 inch at 16 yards. Once the ideal point of impact is achieved on the patterning board, precise measurements can be taken from the gun and recorded. Using these measurements, a stock maker or manufacturer can build a new stock or an entire gun to your unique dimensions.

62 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbA modern try gun, like this Blaser Vari-Stock, allows the gun fitter to adjust a shotgun in multiple ways to achieve the appropriate fit, comfort, and point of impact for the individual shooter. TODD MCLENNAN

bbA traditional try gun uses a fully adjustable machined “knuckle” to adjust cast and drop at comb. TODD MCLENNAN

bbNotice that on the traditional try gun, there is no adjustment for a Monte Carlo as there are few field guns made with one. TODD MCLENNAN bbThe most unique aspect of a traditional try gun is the “knuckle,” which is a precision-machined adjusting “joint” that allows the fitter to adjust the cast and drop at comb to fit the shooter. TODD MCLENNAN

Gun Fittin g / / 63

SHOT DISTRIBUTION Whenever the patterning of a shotgun is discussed, the subject of shot distribution inevitably arises. Let’s assume that we are using a patterning board to evaluate point of impact, and the shot pattern is dead center horizontally. What percentage of your shot pattern should be above and below the visual point of aim? The general consensus is the following: If you primarily shoot rising targets, like trap and upland birds, then your gun should pattern at about 70 percent above and 30 percent below the visual point of aim. For sporting clays it should probably be closer to 60/40 percent, and for skeet, anywhere between 60/40 and 50/50. POINT OF IMPACT In the rifle and pistol world, we think of ballistics in terms of a single projectile. In shotgunning there are multiple projectiles consisting of multiple shot pellets encapsulated on the back and side by the wad. We geeks refer to this as the “ejecta,” which Webster’s defines as “material thrown out.” As the primer of the shot shell is activated by the firing pin, a spark ignites the gunpowder. Gasses burn and expand, creating pressure inside the shotgun shell that is contained within the chamber of the shotgun. At a certain point the pressure caused by the burning powder builds to a level sufficient to force the ejecta out of the shell and chamber and down the barrel.

bbShot distribution 50/50—half of the shot above the point of impact and half below. ROWDY JONES

bbThe majority of sporting clays shooters like a 60/40 shot distribution. ROWDY JONES

bb70/30 shot distribution is popular among trap shooters. ROWDY JONES

64 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbA shot string from a shotgun (side view) is actually football-shaped with a flatter leading edge. ROWDY JONES

As the ejecta is forced through the choke and muzzle, the shot pellets are freed from the confines of the wad and begin to spread. A shot column is created that is longer than it is wide, shaped similarly to a football. One limitation of relying on a patterning board for analysis of your shotgun’s shot pattern is that the pattern is only a two-dimensional reflection of the shot pattern, giving you height and width but telling you nothing of the length of the pattern. Nevertheless, the patterning board is useful for identifying the two-dimensional center of the shot pattern and, therefore, the point of impact of the shotgun. Reading and understanding the two-dimensional shot pattern on a patterning board and relating it to gun fit can be a bit confusing. Let’s try to demystify things a bit: Just think of the shotgun as having a hinge at the receiver. If the back of the gun (the heal and comb) and your eye is too high, the point of impact will be above your point of aim on the patterning board. Just remember that point of impact moves in the same direction as your eye, so if the eye is too high off the comb, the point of impact will be high and over the point of aim. On the sporting clays course, this will translate to frequent misses over the top of targets. If, from the shooter’s perspective, the eye is too far to the right of the rib (too much cast off for a right-handed shooter), the shot pattern will be to the right of the point of aim on the patterning board. If the eye is too far left (not enough cast, for a right-handed shooter), the point of impact will be to the left of center and the shooter will tend to miss to the left side of targets.

Gun Fittin g / / 65

bbCenter of pattern is too high. ROWDY JONES

bbCenter of pattern is too far to the right. ROWDY JONES

bbEye is elevated high above the rib line. Some shooters naturally shoot with the eye high and have no issue with a high point of impact. Others will shoot high and need less comb height. TODD MCLENNAN

bbFor this right-handed shooter the gun has too much cast (needs more cast on). TODD MCLENNAN

Again, the math on this is that 1⁄16 inch at the heel is equal to 1 inch at the patterning board at a distance of 16 yards. An exception to the “hinge rule” comes into play when the shooter’s eye is too low on the gun, i.e., too much drop at comb.

66 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbCenter of pattern is too far to the left. ROWDY JONES

bbFor this right-handed shooter the gun has insufficient cast (needs more cast off). TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooters shooting a gun with excessive drop at comb tend to either shoot low or occlude the target with the barrel. TODD MCLENNAN bbWith a gun that has too much drop at comb, the result will be a low point of impact or an erratic and inconsistent point of impact. ROWDY JONES

In this instance the barrel may be blocking the shooter’s view of the target when the gun is fully mounted, thus breaking the connection between the eye and the target as the trigger is activated. The shot pattern may or may not be low. For a right-handed shooter the point

Gun Fittin g / / 67

of impact may instead pull to the left as the receiver occludes the right eye and the left eye takes over. ALTERNATIVES TO A BESPOKE SHOTGUN If your mount is consistent and that Christmas bonus is burning a hole in your pocket, then by all means purchase a custom stock. On the other hand, if you are getting some pressure from your spouse to spend that money on the family vacation, here are some alternatives that may enable you to delay the purchase of that custom gun for another year. I’m not trying to talk myself out of custom gun sales here, but there are a number of ways to get your gun to fit without resorting to a custom gun purchase. Let’s explore some worthy alternatives. Adjusting the gun you already own is always less expensive than the alternative, but before you get started down this road, beware of whom you turn to for “expert” assistance. Not every gunsmith is experienced with working on shotgun stocks or adjusting shotguns to shooters. Most gun fitters (me included) have reliable, expert stock makers and craftsmen with whom they routinely work and in whom they have great confidence. In most cases gunsmiths are not gun fitters. Beware of a gun fitter who doesn’t have you shoot your shotgun, whether on a patterning board or on actual targets (the best do both). Turn to the experts who specialize in stock work and fitting of fine shotguns before throwing your gun up on your garage workbench or letting the gunsmith at your local pawn shop put his mitts on your Italian over/under. HOW MUCH IS IT GOING TO HURT, DOC? If your shotgun is too long, your gun fitter will likely shorten the stock and grind and install a new butt pad. If your stock is too short, he will likely use spacers and a new butt pad to increase the length of the gun. Leather butt pads are always my preference, but they can be pricey. Stay away from butt pads that are made of a very sticky rubber, as they tend to bind up in the vest or clothing during the mount. I highly recommend the 0.8-inch Pachmayr sporting clays pad for this reason because it has a black plastic insert integrated into the heel of the pad, which makes it less likely to catch on the vest or clothing during the mount. It is a bit more expensive but well worth the difference. A new butt pad and length-of-pull adjustment with spacers will run you between $100 and $150. If your gun needs a pitch adjustment, this can be addressed at the same time as the new butt pad is installed at little or no additional cost. If a change in cast or drop at comb is called for, an adjustable comb is a great alternative to a custom stock.

68 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Installation of a good-quality, lightmetal adjustable comb will set you back about $300 to $400 installed but will allow you to adjust the height of the comb as well as the cast. The nice thing about an adjustable comb is that it can be fine-tuned at any time. Changes in your mount or a 10-pound increase in your weight over the holidays may change your fit and point of impact. With a fixed custom stock, solving this problem can be an expensive proposition. With an adjustable comb, you can quickly make adjustments with an Allen wrench, and you are back in business. In a worst-case scenario, you are looking at a total of about $500 for the length-of-pull adjustment and adjustable comb installation. This is a whole bbAn adjustable comb is a great advantage for a lot cheaper than a bespoke shotgun or a shooter who is still perfecting his or her mount. new stock. TODD MCLENNAN One cautionary note: An adjustable comb, spacers, or an adjustable butt plate will all add weight to the back of your gun and therefore change the gun’s dynamics and the way it moves to and points at the target. This imbalance can be fixed by installing some small weights in the forend to compensate. For fans of automatic shotguns, the more-recent models come with an assortment of shims and spacers for fit adjustment. Providing your dimensions fall within the tolerances of these guns, you can save yourself the expense of a custom stock, but you would still be well served to have a gun fitter perform the fitting and adjustments. If you haven’t yet bought a gun, buying a new one with an adjustable comb is a great move and is typically a $400 option. If you feel that you might also need a length-of-pull adjustment from the standard 143⁄8- to 145⁄8-inch industry standard, you might want to pay a bit extra and order a gun with a custom length of pull, typically a $100 to $300 add-on. If you are under, say, five-foot-eleven inches and buying a new gun, avoid any gun with a synthetic stock, a built-in recoil system like a Beretta Kick-Off, or an adjustable comb

Gun Fittin g / / 69

bbComb adjusted for more cast on. TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooter has a bit too much cast. Needs more cast on. TODD MCLENNAN

bbComb adjusted for more cast off. TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooter needs a bit more cast, so the comb needs to be adjusted to the right for more cast off (away from the face). TODD MCLENNAN

70 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbAdjusted for less drop at comb (higher comb). TODD MCLENNAN

bbShooter’s eye is too low. Comb needs to be raised for less drop at comb. TODD MCLENNAN

bbIf the shooter’s eye were too high above the rib, the comb would need to be moved down for more drop at comb. TODD

bbOur goal is for the iris (colored portion of the eye) to be centered atop the rib of the shotgun. TODD MCLENNAN

MCLENNAN

Gun Fittin g / / 71

already installed. If you have to shorten the length of pull, you are out of luck and you are likely stuck with the gun. PICKING A GUN FITTER AND STOCK MAKER Unfortunately, there are both good and mediocre gun fitters, as well as good and mediocre stock makers. While there are gun fitters who conduct fittings without requiring the client to shoot his or her gun, I always use a patterning board and always watch the client mount the gun while engaging actual targets. Time and again I have seen shooters who mount differently on a patterning board or in the field than they do in the gun room. My advice: Don’t ever make irreversible alterations to a gun or order a custom gun or stock unless the fitter validates the measurements by having you fire the gun. At a minimum your gun fitter should use a patterning board. Ideally, he will have you shoot at a patterning board as well as watch you mount and engage clay targets in order to validate the fit of the gun and rule out any variances in your mount. In searching for the right gun fitter, my advice is to ask a lot of people for recommendations. Ask the shooters at your local club. Avoid second- or thirdhand recommendations, however, and rely on the opinions of those with firsthand experience with a particular gun fitter. Restrict your references to shooters who have actually purchased a custom stock. Post an inquiry on an online shotgun forum. Make a few phone calls to experienced instructors. You can’t ask too many people. You are getting ready to sink $3,500 to $4,500 in a custom stock. Get it right the first time. Secondly, stick with gun fitters and stock makers who are experienced in your particular clay target discipline. If you are going to purchase a new stock for your favorite over/ under shotgun, and you are a sporting clays shooter, hire a stock maker who makes stocks for sporting clays shooters. I recall a student who had taken a few sporting clays lessons with me a few years ago. After a short hiatus he called me to schedule another lesson. He showed up with a brand-new custom stock. The stock was very big and bulky but made of very nice wood and clearly customized for him. He eagerly showed me his new stock and told me about his gun-fitting experience. I knew that he lived near a large trap shooting facility, and during the conversation he mentioned the name of the stock maker he used: a well-respected chap who specializes in making stocks for trap shooters. The stock maker was excellent, but his experience and clientele were primarily in the trap world. The shooter had only the best of intentions, and the stock was undoubtedly perfect . . . if the shooter’s discipline were trap. The stock was simply too big and bulky to be agile enough for the

72 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

crossing targets one encounters in sporting clays. I confess, I didn’t have the heart to tell him. The stock and nice piece of wood likely cost him about $4,000. If you are a sporting clays shooter, get your gun fit and your stock made by experts who fit and make stocks for sporting clays shooters and bird hunters. Ask around. The reputation of a stock maker or gun fitter is his most prized asset. Ask enough people, and the answers will lead you to the right experts for the job. Remember, a gun fitter and a stock maker will likely be two different people, or should be anyway. BOTTOM LINE In shotgunning, your shooting eye must be centered over the rib of your shotgun when properly mounted or the gun simply won’t shoot where you are looking. A shooter with a shotgun that is off a mere 1⁄8 inch at the heel will shoot 2 inches off at 16 yards and 6 inches off at 48 yards. A well-practiced gun mount, however, is a prerequisite to a proper gun fit. If your mount is inconsistent, your scores will suffer, and the ability of any gun fitter to help you will be limited. If you haven’t yet achieved consistency in your gun mount or your pocketbook is a bit light for a custom gun, consider engaging a gun fitter to help you customize your existing gun. When you decide to take the plunge and purchase a custom stock or bespoke shotgun, seek the assistance of an experienced gun fitter. Shooting a well-fitting shotgun will enhance your performance on the sporting clays course and give you the confidence you need to compete and win. However you accomplish the goal, make sure your shotgun is shooting where you are looking.

C H A P TE R 6

THE ORIGINS OF FOCUS-MOVEMENT-FAITH

If success or failure at breaking clay targets or hitting birds could be attributed to just three factors, wouldn’t that simplify things? In my pursuit of higher scores, I have taken lessons from many of the big names in clay target sports: Wendell Cherry, Bill McGuire, Steve Schultz, Craig Hancock (father/coach of Vincent Hancock), Bobby Fowler, Andy Duffy, and others. But it was Bill Kempffer, owner of Deep River Sporting Clays in Sanford, North Carolina, an NSCA Level III certified instructor and avid wing shooter, who handed me the holy grail: Focus, Movement, and Faith. What I am about to share with you doesn’t replace the lessons, the tens of thousands of targets, or the years of practice. It does, however, distill all of the basic principles of clay target sports and wing shooting, including most of the possible causes of a miss, down to three interdependent elements—Focus, Movement, and Faith. Wow. When Kempffer first shared these nuggets of truth with me, it was like magic. It was so simple and made such perfect sense. It’s not like Bill invented anything new. He just expressed it in a new way. While the fundamental truths of good shotgunning have not changed since the late 1800s, the magic of Focus-Movement-Faith is in its simplicity. For any “system” or “method” to be repeatable, it must be simple and memorable. Focus-Movement-Faith neatly places all of the vital elements that contribute to a successful shot on a moving target with a shotgun. These three elements must all tie together for successful execution. Conversely, Focus-MovementFaith presents us with a “diagnostic tree,” if you will. With few exceptions, a missed target can be attributed to a shortcoming in at least one of these three performance areas. FocusMovement-Faith distills the principles gifted to us by the giants of shotgunning and presents them in a more dynamic way that is more adaptable to today’s target presentations. After all, with the advancement in the technology of target throwing machines, today’s shooters are faced with a level of target difficulty never contemplated by the forefathers of our sport. While my explanation might not be exactly how Bill Kempffer would explain it,

74 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the following describes Focus, Movement, and Faith in the context of my experience as a shooter, competitor, and coach. ORIGINS OF THE FUNDAMENTALS Many of the enduring fundamentals of good shotgunning came to light in England in the late 1800s, during the heyday of pigeon shooting. There were many who attempted to succinctly articulate their views of how best to master the art and skill of shotgunning. The principles of sound shotgunning expressed in such early works as Charles Lancaster’s The Art of Shooting (1889), Robert Churchill’s How to Shoot (1925), Churchill’s Game Shooting (1953), and Percy Stanbury’s Clay Pigeon Marksmanship (1964) are as foundational today as they were when they were published. Lancaster’s The Art of Shooting was groundbreaking, as it was one of the first widely distributed works on shotgunning but was mostly about technique rather than principle (more on this later). Those close to the West London Shooting School like to quote

bbA handful of early groundbreaking titles on shotgunning. TODD MCLENNAN

Th e O ri g ins o f Focus-Movem ent-Faith / / 75

their former head instructor and manager Percy Stanbury. He was a Robert Churchill contemporary and by most accounts a superior shot to Churchill. Stanbury wrote and published Clay Pigeon Marksmanship almost 40 years after Churchill’s first work hit the street. Stanbury’s book indeed includes many references to principles of shotgunning that he felt were foundational. It was Robert Churchill, however, in 1925 with How to Shoot and later in 1953 with Game Shooting, who was the first to boldly put to paper the groundbreaking principles of visual focus with regard to shotgunning. Because Churchill was the first to articulate his theory of forward allowance and other axioms of proper shotgunning, he is, in my mind, the person with whom the conversation should start. An axiom is defined as a proposition that needs no proof and is considered to be selfevident. An axiom is truth taken for granted and serves as a starting point for deducing and inferring other truths. It is a generally accepted proposition or principle, sanctioned by experience. Axioms contrast sharply with opinions or conjecture. Is there an appropriate axiom that can be applied to the act of intercepting a moving object? Whether catching an outfield fly with a baseball mitt, hitting a baseball with a bat, or intercepting a volleyed tennis ball with a racket, there is indeed an axiom we can apply: “You must focus on the ball, to the exclusion of all else, in order to hit it.” Few would disagree with this essential truth. Is it possible to catch a baseball while looking at the mitt, or hit a baseball while looking at the bat? Sure. And blind squirrels find nuts every now and then, too. But when intercepting a moving object, the universal guidance is to maintain concentrated visual focus on the object one is attempting to intercept (the ball), not the object we are trying to intercept it with (the bat). In his quintessential work Game Shooting, published in 1955, Churchill proclaimed, “The shooter should not be conscious of his muzzle, the rib, or sight. His eye, or rather his attention, should be fully occupied with the bird, and, if he holds his gun properly, he will hit whatever he is looking at.”1 This was the basis of Churchill’s theory of forward allowance, or lead, and one of the most important elements of what we now refer to as “the Churchill method,” and his most important contribution to wing and clay shooting. He essentially took the above axiom of “You must focus on the ball, to the exclusion of all else, in order to hit it” and broadened its application to include the art and action of engaging moving targets with a shotgun. When shooting a long gun, man’s natural tendency was, and continues to be, to consciously align the gun barrel with the target in order to intercept it. Against this backdrop Churchill’s axiom was groundbreaking. He further urged his students, “By correct mounting and body work, shoot naturally without constraint or effort [seemingly] straight

76 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

at the bird; but subconsciously, overthrowing a little and so giving the necessary lead.” It sounds like voodoo, but it works. No one before or since Churchill has advanced a theory, or articulated a principle, that is more significant to the wing and clay shooter. In so doing, Churchill placed shotgunning alongside other sports in which the participant must visually “fix” on the target and allow the subconscious to move the hand, bat, or racket to intercept the target or moving object. To his naysayers, he maintained that “All systems founded on allowances are inherently unstable and unscientific. Indeed, it is only in the sport of shooting that the matter even arises. I have never heard the question raised in any other form of game where the hitting of a moving object, such as a ball, is involved.” MALIGNED AND MISUNDERSTOOD When I first started shooting sporting clays, I read a bit about the Churchill method and instinctive shotgunning. At first glance, and for a few months thereafter, I couldn’t understand the concept of instinctive shooting or how a shooter could consistently break clay targets without consciously imposing a measured lead to the target using a split focus: perceiving the gap between barrel and target. From the age of 8, when I first started competing in NRA small-bore rifle competitions, through my coaching apprenticeship as a teen and my tenure in the US Army as both an instructor and marksmanship trainer, I had employed, taught, and perfected the technique of lining up the sights of a firearm to meet the center of a target. So, like many other neophytes to the world of sporting clays who stumbled across Churchill, I summarily dismissed his method as impractical and illogical. It wasn’t until a few months later that I experienced my epiphany under the watchful eye of Richie Frisella, the then-owner of Peace Dale Shooting Preserve in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. I came to understand that sporting clays targets, as with game birds, must be engaged in a wholly different fashion than stationary targets. We point a shotgun. We do not aim it. We intercept or engage a clay target much like we do a baseball, with the target being the sole object of our visual focus. By focusing on the target to the exclusion of the gun, we feed the brain the information it needs to guide the hands and arms to the proper place to break the target. Any conscious awareness of, or focus on, the bat or the gun barrel diminishes our focus on the object being intercepted, thus reducing the quality of the data reaching our eye and cerebral computer. Since my conversion I have tried to understand why the awareness of Churchill’s theory of allowance and his method are not more widely understood. A quick online search of “Churchill method” will turn up a number of “experts” who summarily dismiss the Churchill method because of what I would classify as misperception about the man and

Th e O ri g ins o f Focus-Movem ent-Faith / / 77

ROBERT CHURCHILL Robert Churchill (1886–1958) of London was a forensic ballistics expert, shooting instructor, expert witness, and gun maker whose passion was game shooting. Robert’s uncle, E. J. Churchill, or Uncle Ted, taught Robert all he knew about gunsmithing, ballistics, and the art of crafting English sporting shotguns. Uncle Ted died in 1910, leaving his London gunsmithing and gun making business to Robert. While continuing to innovate in gun making, Robert Churchill became one of the foremost authorities of his time on firearms ballistics, testifying as an expert witness for the prosecution in countless cases brought by Scotland Yard against criminal suspects. His expertise was unquestioned, as were his courtroom opinions. During the years 1910 to 1920, he introduced and perfected his signature game gun, a short-barreled (25-inch) side-by-side shotgun. He was “perhaps the last of the great gun makers of London,” wrote his friend Macdonald Hastings. In addition to being a famous London gun maker and ballistics expert, he was one of the greatest shooting instructors of his day. As Hastings further wrote, “The essence of Churchill’s method is that he taught his pupils to swing on to the bird; to trust the unerring ability of the eye to make the necessary forward allowance, and to leave it to the gun to do the rest.”2

his method. The two most significant principles put forward by Churchill are 1) his theory of allowance and 2) his method of mounting and moving to the bird. Some will scoff at Churchill and say that it is only on live birds that his style of shooting can be applied or that, because of his “portliness” and large girth, his style was not as elegant as that of Stanbury

78 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

or others. But to understand Churchill’s contributions, one must differentiate his personal style of shooting from the principles he put forward in a most groundbreaking fashion. Indeed, Robert Churchill employed a stance and foot position that was quite open, with weight more evenly distributed over both feet. While his stance was indeed unconventional, it compensated for his stout build and enabled him to point to a target more efficiently and with better result than most all of his contemporaries. In Game Shooting, Churchill himself acknowledges that stance should be adjusted or customized to the shooter. While I am a strong advocate of a consistent ready position or starting position, I will concede that Churchill’s recommended ready position, with “gun stock pressed tight under the right arm . . . and barrels on a line with the right shoulder, and at a right angle to the torso,” is not appropriate for many modern target presentations. It was, however, and still remains, the gold standard of techniques for engaging flushing birds, which was Churchill’s primary orientation. Most who reject the Churchill method do so because they have not delved deeply enough into his work. I employ and teach my students a stance that is more oblique to the target line than Churchill’s and closer to Percy Stanbury’s, with the lead foot generally pointed toward the anticipated break point but slightly offset toward the shooter’s dominant side. This seems to work better for most shooters, because most people have a somewhat similar neutral or relaxed position when they stand comfortably and without any torque or tension in their bodies. Stance should be individualized, however, to favor the shooter’s natural stance. Another point of differentiation between Churchill’s game-oriented ready position and the ready position ideal for most of today’s target presentations is barrel orientation. Imagine a laser pointer fitted to the muzzle of your shotgun aligned with the trajectory of the shot as it leaves the barrel en route to the target. Churchill held his barrels roughly parallel to the ground as he anticipated engaging a flushing bird flying out and away from him on a completely unpredictable flight line. With the wide variety of target trajectories we encounter in modern sporting clays and the fact that the flight paths of clay targets are more predictable than those of game birds, the shotgun barrel on a given target presentation should, in most cases, be intentionally oriented on the hold point and target line just prior to calling for the target. Despite a less than elegant shooting style, Churchill’s theory of allowance and detailed instruction on mount and movement are his greatest gifts to shotgunning, whether shooting game or clay targets. A shooter must be singularly focused on the target, with no conscious perception of the barrel-target relationship. Once the target is launched, the gun barrel(s)

Th e O ri g ins o f Focus-Movem ent-Faith / / 79

QUOTABLE CHURCHILL “In practice the shooter should not be conscious of his muzzle, the rib or sight. His eye, or rather his attention, should be fully occupied with the bird, and, if he holds his gun properly, he will hit whatever he is looking at.” “Dismiss all ideas of calculated allowances.” “All systems founded on allowances are inherently unstable and unscientific. Indeed, it is only in the sport of shooting that the matter even arises. I have never heard the question raised in any other form of game where the hitting of a moving object, such as a ball, is involved.” “It is high time that the whole allowance system was deposited in the waste paper basket. It is not practical and it establishes an entirely false foundation of thought at the back of the shooter’s mind.” “Your job is to keep your eye on the bird; forget all you ever knew and heard about the thousands of different allowances and the thousands of varieties of shots and let your eye and the natural overthrow of the gun take care of everything else.” “In my method there is no question of trying to compute muzzle movement, allowance, or any other complicated matter. All I ask you to do is to look at the bird and, by correct mounting and body work, shoot naturally without constraint or effort apparently [seemingly] straight at the bird; but subconsciously, overthrowing a little and so giving the necessary lead or compensation for time flight.” “When I say ‘look at the bird,’ I mean it. You must glue your eyes to it, focus on it, and see nothing else.”

80 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

should remain oriented on the target line while the shooter moves the gun and body with the target and simultaneously mounts the gun to the cheek and shoulder. On these points the Churchill method is as much essential truth today as it was in 1925. Many target presentations in modern sporting clays stray far from the ones of Churchill’s day. Today’s clay target throwing machines can dish up trajectories and target lines we are unlikely to witness in the wild. For this reason the character of the target should dictate the shooter’s ready position, including the orientation of the barrel. Beyond that, having read everything available by or on Churchill, I find his principles to be foundational and no less true today than they were when first published. So, before traveling down one of the many rabbit holes available to shooters in search of the newest target engagement method, understand that the world will always be round, the planets will continue to revolve around the sun, and in order to engage a moving target we need to apply our primary visual focus to the target and our subconscious will apply the necessary forward allowance to kill the target. The question is not, “Should I have an awareness of the barrel-target relationship when I pull the trigger?” The answer is obvious. Of course you should. But this awareness should not be conscious or measured. It should be subconscious, identical to the awareness you have of the bat when hitting a baseball or your fork when shoveling a piece of pork chop into your mouth. These are timeless truths.

C H A P TE R 7

FOCUS

Of the three interdependent principles of Focus, Movement, and Faith, Focus is the single most important element in one’s ability to break clay targets with a shotgun. I have never heard a better explanation than that offered by Robert Churchill in Game Shooting. He wrote that clay and bird shooters should “dismiss all ideas of calculated allowances” and have their attention fully occupied with the bird. If you remember nothing else from this book, remember this: Lead must be “felt,” not measured. The application of lead is subconscious rather than conscious. Measuring lead, or aiming, is a guaranteed path to frustration in clay target sports. When most new shooters come to clay target sports, they believe that they must aim a shotgun as one does a rifle. As a rifle shooter from an early age and for many years prior to becoming addicted to shotgunning, I understand the confusion as well as anyone. Neophytes to shotgunning not only tend to believe they must aim a shotgun instead of pointing it, they also tend to completely underestimate the intensity of visual focus required to break targets consistently. We encourage our squad mates to tell us what lead or gap they saw between the target and the barrel as they pulled the trigger, even though it is virtually impossible for us to replicate the gap our squad mate saw. If you want to learn how to estimate measured lead, magazine articles abound that reinforce the practice. One can even purchase a large green or orange front sight to aid in seeing the gap between barrel and target. Measuring the lead on a particular target may eventually get you to connect with the target by “bracketing” to achieve the correct measured lead, but once you move to another station, you are helpless. As a nation of rifle shooters, we have an irresistible urge to soften our focus on a clay target just prior to executing the shot in order to perceive the barrel-target relationship (“the gap”) and consciously control the lead. In order to see both the barrel and the target, human physiology requires that we intentionally relax our visual focus on the target if we are to consciously view the muzzle in our peripheral field. Reducing the intensity of focus on the target dilutes the quality of target information flowing to the brain and usually results in the

82 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

shotgun stopping or slowing in relationship to the target. When we aim a shotgun, instead of achieving and maintaining our visual connection with the target as we would when hitting a baseball, we override our subconscious target guidance system, our most reliable asset in shotgunning. It would be like standing at home plate and turning our attention to the bat as the ball approaches home plate. Intentionally fixing on the target is perhaps the only single action that should be a conscious act once the target is in view. Flexing the eye muscles to apply acute visual focus to the target is not an involuntary act. It must be planned, timed, and executed consciously. If you apply 100 percent of your visual focus to a clay target through shot execution, you will rarely perceive the lead on a conscious level; however, you will feel the lead subconsciously. To break clay targets consistently, you must, in fact, kill the target with your eyes with intense visual focus as the shot is executed. This intensity of focus will feed the brain the target information needed by the subconscious for proper gun placement and a broken target. THE SCIENCE So how do we know where the barrel is if we don’t look at it and visually verify its location in relationship to the target? It’s a phenomenon called “proprioception.” Proprioception is the continuous and subconscious awareness of the relative location of one’s own body parts. Proprioception allows us to maintain uninterrupted subconscious awareness of the location of our hands and arms even if we can’t see them. When we use a tool in a sports activity like a baseball bat, baseball glove, tennis racket, or hockey stick, our subconscious awareness of the location and orientation of our hands and arms extends to the tool being used. To an athlete new to these sports, the tool may seem awkward at first. With practice and familiarity, however, the tool becomes an extension of our hands and arms. Whether we are trying to intercept a moving object with the sweet spot of the tennis racket, baseball bat, or hockey stick, we can become quite proficient at placing these “tools” in the correct position to intercept an object without the need to visually vector or visually verify the location of the tool in relation to the target. The same holds true for the location and orientation of a shotgun as we point the shotgun at the clay target in motion. Proprioception, together with our natural eye-hand coordination, enables us to connect the bat with the ball and the shot string with the clay target. There is well-documented science behind the importance of an athlete’s visual connection with a target when attempting to intercept it during a sports activity. In 2007, over a century after Charles Lancaster’s book was published and 80-plus years after Churchill’s How to Shoot was released, a researcher named Joan Vickers, of the University

Focus / / 83

of Calgary, published Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action.1 In her groundbreaking research she defines the visuomotor system as a miraculous multicomponent, interdependent human physiological system consisting of eyes, brain, and nervous system. She then painstakingly explains how the visuomotor system gathers and processes visual information to enable an athlete to intercept a moving object in flight. In her research Vickers relies on sophisticated “mobile eye trackers” strapped to the heads of both elite and “near-elite” athletes participating in a variety of eye-hand sports like volleyball, baseball, hockey, cricket, and table tennis to detect and monitor the timing of visual focus throughout these sports activities in which athletes “intercept” moving objects. She concludes that, as a group, elite athletes differ from “near-elite” athletes in the way they visually recognize, track, and control moving objects in sports activities. The timing and consistency of their visual connection with the target is what sets elite athletes apart from the near-elite athletes. While she does not study clay target shooters specifically, there are significant parallels between Vickers’s research on “intercept-timing tasks” and clay target sports. In a later study published in the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine,2 the researchers (Joe Causer et al.) applied Vickers’s work to clay target sports. Both studies concluded that there is a disparity between elite and “near-elite” athletes in the quality and consistency of their visual connection with the “target” being intercepted. The elite athletes’ visual connection with the target 1) was longer, 2) was initiated sooner, 3) was maintained later and closer to the point of interception, 4) was more constant (void of distraction) from the moment of acquisition through fixation, and 5) involved a brief interval of head and gun stabilization just prior to interception. Among all of the sample studies Vickers conducted involving the interception of a moving object during a sports activity, there was never a mention of an athlete’s need to perceive a “tool-target” relationship. Vickers’s research and the Causer study reinforce Churchill’s original idea that “You must focus on the ball [bird, clay], to the exclusion of all else, in order to hit it,” thus allowing the subconscious to calculate “the lead.” It also confirms that the quality and continuity of an athlete’s visual connection with the target being intercepted was the key differentiating factor between elite and near-elite athletes and their ability to successfully intercept a moving target. Despite the overwhelming evidence, there are still those in our sport who advocate that a shooter must consciously perceive barrel-target relationship. These “perceived gap” aficionados urge the shooter to consciously split focus, applying a certain percentage of visual focus to the target and the remaining percentage to the muzzle, thus enabling the shooter to measure the gap or lead between the muzzle and the target. Whether the shooter attempts to allocate visual concentration with 95 percent to the target and 5 percent to

84 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the muzzle or with 85 percent to the target and 15 percent to the muzzle, the exercise is futile and not repeatable. Splitting your visual focus in a consistent and repeatable manner requires that you intentionally apply a specific percentage to one object and another specific percentage to a different object at a different distance. Basic human physiology tells us that it is impossible to visually focus on two different objects at different distances simultaneously. On the other hand, shooters easily understand 100 percent visual focus on the target and they can easily identify when they are, or are not, applying 100 percent of their visual energy to a target through the execution of the shot. I am not saying a split-focus methodology can’t work, particularly if the forward allowance and trajectory are constant and predictable, as in skeet. For the vast majority of shooters, however, “gap shooting,” or a measured-lead approach, does not work consistently in any clay target discipline. The measured-lead shooter will be relegated to competition scores in the 60 to 65 percent range and charity event scores in the 80 to 85 percent range at best. Even in skeet, where the target types, velocity, and angles are consistent from one round to the next, most AA Shooters will tell you that they don’t see the barreltarget relationship when shooting their best in competition. They are simply focusing on the target. If you are still skeptical about your ability to break targets without visually checking the lead, let’s refer to a couple of Robert Churchill’s quotes: “All systems founded on allowances are inherently unstable and unscientific. Indeed, it is only in the sport of shooting that the matter even arises. I have never heard the question raised in any other form of game where the hitting of a moving object, such as a ball, is involved.” “It is high time that the whole allowance system was deposited in the waste paper basket. It is not practical and it establishes an entirely false foundation of thought at the back of the shooter’s mind.”3 With that said, however, there is some anecdotal information we can glean from what we know about lead that can help us feel the appropriate lead when engaging a target. Of lead, or forward allowance, we know that the amount required on a given target increases as the distance between the shooter and the target increases. We also know that as the visible size or profile of the target changes, our brains can sometimes incorrectly calculate target speed to be faster or slower than it actually is. I will explain this in greater detail in Chapter 15 (“Deceptive Targets”). For now, however, you should think about lead and “the feel” of lead on a particular target as falling into one of three categories: “some,” “more,” and “a lot.” Since lead is felt rather than seen, lead is applied with the front hand or the pointing hand. A right-handed shooter feels the lead with his left hand as the front hand points the gun to the target. Again, the skeptic may ask, “How in the world will I know what the lead is supposed to feel like on a given target?” I’ll answer this question by asking you to perform the following exercise.

Focus / / 85

Gather together one golf ball, one softball, and one basketball and stand in the middle of a room with a 9-foot ceiling. Hold each of the three balls, one at a time, in your hand and toss each ball up to the ceiling from about the height of your waist. Use only enough force to barely touch the ball to the ceiling. The force needed to cause the golf ball to touch the ceiling will be less than that of the softball and even less than that required for the basketball. If you do this a few times, attempting only to barely touch the ceiling with the ball, you will see that your ability to accurately regulate the amount of upward force needed becomes easier and the accuracy of your tosses increases with each iteration. This is a perfect illustration for how your visuomotor system gathers intelligence. In very simplified terms this is how, over the course of time, your “visual-spatial database” of clay targets will grow with experience and enable you to engage targets with greater levels of success. Most top shooters and instructors across all disciplines in clay target sports will agree that intensity of focus on the target is the single most critical factor in a shooter’s ability to break a clay target with a shotgun. Applying sharp visual focus to the target, to the exclusion of the barrel, will feed the brain the information it needs to subconsciously “calculate” the proper target speed and line and trajectory of the target. This information, coupled with the subconscious awareness of the barrel location and orientation (proprioception), allows the brain to transmit the proper adjustment signals to the hands and body through the nervous system, resulting in the proper placement of the shotgun to break the target. This “process” is no different than connecting with a baseball using your baseball bat or meeting a tennis ball with the sweet spot of your racket. There is one distinction here worth mentioning. Unlike in tennis and baseball, the majority of clay target presentations are moving away from the shooter or across the shooter’s visual field. A shooter who is relatively well acquainted with the shotgun and is executing a shot perfectly may still miss certain targets due to the distance and speed of the target. I refer to this as a “database deficiency.” Most new shooters lack sufficient target engagement experience to break a target beyond the 30- to 35-yard range. Conversely, however, most new shooters have the ability and database to kill any target inside of the 30yard window once proper focus and movement are employed. Successfully engaging targets outside of 35 yards requires that the shooter accumulate exposure to targets at or beyond that distance. Vickers refers to this database of targets as “visual-spatial intelligence.”4 Over time, and with practice and training, a shooter will develop a repertoire of target experiences that will feed the shooter’s spatial memory and enable the shooter to adapt and successfully engage targets that may not be naturally intuitive. While there is nothing particularly magical about the distance of 30 to 35 yards, my coaching experience tells me

86 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

that minimally experienced shooters engaging targets at distances outside this range fail to possess the visual-spatial database to break these targets. When you or your coach feels you are ready, the cure for this deficiency is to challenge yourself by shooting targets outside your comfort zone. In working with hundreds of students over long periods of time, I have observed that the visual-spatial window gradually extends: starting at 30 to 35 yards and then increasing as the shooter gains more experience with longer targets. In essence, as the shooter shoots more targets at or beyond the limits of his database, his visual-spatial intelligence grows and the range at which he is able to consistently break targets gradually increases. Experience shooting targets at longer distances increases the distance at which the shooter is able to reliably engage targets while still applying lead subconsciously. Engaging a wide variety of targets will enhance your database and your shooting abilities. The two most difficult things for a clay shooter to do are to 1) apply strong focus just prior to and through the break point and 2) apply this hard focus consistently on every target thrown. Did you ever notice how you crush some clay targets and just chip others? Sure, it is possible for a particular miss to be the result of a miscalculation by your “onboard computer.” It is more likely, however, that you were not applying a sufficient level of focus to the target through your shot execution. I find that, in almost every case, the targets I chip are the ones where I failed to achieve sufficient focus prior to and through the break point. Whenever I experience a “chippy” break, I don’t try to figure out what part of the shot stream hit the bird. I simply put a little extra effort into my visual focus on the next bird, and it almost always breaks harder than the preceding target. Think of your eyes focusing on a target like a laser pointer illuminating a pinpoint spot on your wall. Now visualize shining a wide-beam floodlight at that same spot. The narrower laser-like focus is what we need to apply to the target just prior to and through the break point, not the floodlight or diffused focus. So how do top shooters focus on targets, and what can we learn from them? Top shooters in sporting clays and FITASC have the visual acuity and discipline to apply maximum focus just prior to and through the break point on every bird. That’s why they shoot in the 90s or the rare 100. While there are other reasons why top shots miss, most of them will tell you that when they miss it is usually a lack of focus. It takes a tremendous amount of mental and visual discipline to apply a high level of visual intensity to the targets on each and every station. So what can we mortals do? Well, there are two visual tactics you can use to enhance the quality of information you are feeding to your brain: focus small and time your focus. It may seem like a lot to think about, but if you take the time to practice this, it will become automatic and a regular part of your execution.

Focus / / 87

FOCUS SMALL If you saw the movie The Patriot, you may recall the scene in which Mel Gibson’s character and his two young sons were setting up an ambush to strike an enemy patrol. His sons were scared to death and likely afraid that if they didn’t shoot accurately, they might all be killed in the process. The father told his sons to “aim small, miss small.” Have you ever heard of focusing on the dimple of a golf ball or focusing on the threads of a baseball? Each of these instances contains the same nugget of wisdom: Focus small. If you’ve been to the sporting clays course or trap or skeet field more than twice, you have likely heard the expression “See the rings.” The fact is, many shooters can’t see the rings on the targets. As target distances increase, even the best shooters have difficulty seeing target detail. If that describes you, don’t be discouraged. Your ability to acquire and acutely focus on a fastmoving clay target will improve with experience. As you mature in clay target sports, your eyes will become more accustomed to visually acquiring and fixing on faster and more distant targets. Regardless of where you are in your progression, applying loose focus, or focusing on the whole of a target instead of a piece of the target, will not break targets consistently. To feed the brain the highest quality of target information available, you must focus on a piece of the target, known as the “focal point,” rather than the whole target. The focal point is that place on the target to which you will apply acute visual focus through the break point and shot execution. Frequently you can see the rings or dome of a close going-away or quartering target, in which case one of these features will be your focal point. If there is no visual feature on your target at the break point, then the focal point will normally be the leading edge of the target at the precise moment the target is at the break point. On a traplike, going-away, or shallow quartering target, the leading edge is usually not visible at the break point, in which case your focal point will be the back of the target. Examine the targets carefully. Many misses can be attributed to sloppy observation skills. Pay close attention to what the target is doing at the break point and in identifying the leading edge bbFocal point. If a feature is not of the target at the break point. If the target is in transition visible on the target, focus on the leading edge or top/trailing at the break point, such as a chandelle or descending target, edge for a trap target, as in this you should select a clock direction for your focal point. image. ROWDY JONES

88 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Determining your focal point is fairly straightforward and should be an integral part of your pre-shot planning process (more on this later). Again, use the following criteria to determine the appropriate focal point: 1. For a going-away, trap-like, or quartering target: back, butt, top, or back half of target. 2. All other targets: leading edge or front half at the precise moment the target is at the break point. 3. Exception: If a target is close enough or the target’s profile allows it, the focal point should be a feature visible on the target at the break point. Examples of visible features are the rings, the dome, a point of light reflection, a sliver of contrasting color on the underbelly of the target, or any other feature visible at the break point. If you can’t discern a feature on the target at the break point, then you should default to #1 or #2 above. 4. Rabbits: With crossing rabbits focus on the front foot (7 o’clock on a right-to-left and 5 o’clock on a left-to-right). With quartering rabbits focus on the lower back edge.

bbFor a left-to-right crossing rabbit, focus on the 4:30. ROWDY JONES

bbFor a right-to-left crossing rabbit, focus on the 7:30. ROWDY JONES

Focus / / 89

With a very close-in target, one that resembles a garbage can lid, you had better pick out a spot on that target to focus on rather than looking at the whole target. If you focus loosely on the whole target inside of 25 yards, you are likely to use your peripheral vision and thus become consciously aware of the barrel and barrel-target relationship. To avoid this pitfall, pick out a specific half of the target or some smaller detail on the target to focus on rather than the whole target. There will be some targets, such as a slow incoming target, in which a conscious perception of the barrel-target relationship is virtually impossible to avoid, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. You may see the barrel in your peripheral field, but your goal is to apply concentrated visual focus to the focal point on the target through the break point. I will sometimes see an article advocating that a shooter focus on a point in front of the target in order to impose the correct lead. This is never appropriate. When your eyes are focused on a point in front of a target, instead of on the focal point of a target, you are depriving your cerebral computer of the vital target guidance information it needs to direct your hands and shotgun to the target.

bbChandelle focal point. Focus on a feature on the target or the part of the target that is the leading edge at the break point. ROWDY JONES

bbFocal point for a trap or quartering target—feature or back edge. ROWDY JONES

90 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

TIME YOUR FOCUS/COMMIT TO YOUR BREAK POINT Plan your shot so that your visual focus reaches a crescendo just prior to and through the break point. Picture a long incoming or incoming/quartering target or any other target that has a long flight time. Have you ever mounted and focused early on a target like this, ridden it all the way in for what seemed like an eternity, and then missed the target? The problem likely wasn’t that you didn’t have enough time to figure out the target line. On the contrary, you had too much time. You focused on the target too early, applying maximum focus, and then waited for the target to get to a point close enough that you felt comfortable pulling the trigger. By the time the target reached the break point, however, your eyes were unable to maintain sharp focus and began to diffuse or “go soft.” Your eyes were probably drawn to the barrel—you checked to make sure it looked right—and you missed behind. For this type of “long-window” target, you must plan and commit to your breakpoint as well as time your focus in order to reach a visual crescendo at the breakpoint. In discussing the need to commit to your chosen break points, we are starting to encroach on the subject of shot planning, which we will explore in detail in the next chapter. For now, understand that a shooter’s commitment to a preplanned break point is absolutely critical to consistency and success in sporting clays. On targets with a longer flight time, it is particularly critical. Here is how it works: Develop your plan for engaging the targets as you always do. As you visualize the flight of the target in your mind, remind yourself of your break point. Select a point along the flight line, just before the break point, at which you will apply acute focus to the target. Make sure that your interval of intense focus is relatively short (no more that 1 to 1.5 seconds) and that you can maintain that sharp focus through the break point. Again, executing your shot at the break point is essential. Continuing to “drag” the barrel past the break point in an effort to measure and make the shot look perfect, otherwise known as “riding the target,” will not help you break the target. How long should this hard focus interval be? As short as possible but under 1.5 seconds. Remember, the longer your interval of intense focus, the less likely it is that you can maintain that intensity through the break point. Timing your focus will help prevent eye fatigue on long-window targets and help prevent your eye from wandering to the barrel or measuring the gap between the target and barrel. Once again, if you remember nothing else from this book, remember that lead must be “felt,” not measured. The application of lead is subconscious rather than conscious. Focus, or lack thereof, will determine your success or failure on a given target and is the chief differentiating factor between a break and a miss on the scorecard. If you execute a poor mount and move, your body can still react, overcome, and adapt provided that your eyes

Focus / / 91

are feeding the brain the necessary target guidance information. If you don’t believe me, try shooting in strong winds. As long as you are visually connected with the target and the weight of the gun is in your hands, you will most often connect with the target even when the target makes a sudden irregular move. Frequently, good focus will compensate for a poorly chosen starting position or an improper gun movement and enable you to walk away with an X on the scorecard.

C H A P TE R 8

MOVEMENT: PLANNING

Of movement Robert Churchill wrote, “a good shot doesn’t move his gun on to a bird; he turns the whole body and head, the gun moving rhythmically with, not independently of, the body. In fact, the secret of good shooting is to point yourself, not the gun, at the bird.” John Woolley, an advocate of the “Move-Mount-Shoot” technique, describes the key to movement as “getting the flow right with the target.” Wendell Cherry has similarly commented that the key to movement is “getting in sync” or “keeping pace” with the target. With this kind of consensus among the sport’s upper echelon both past and present, the path to perfect movement has been well cleared. Yet many shooters are plagued by poor, jerky, inconsistent, or out-of-sync movement to the target, which ultimately affects their scores. In the previous chapter, I introduced you to the first of the three principles of Focus, Movement, and Faith. These three principles are inextricably linked, and each is dependent upon the other. As the second principle of good shotgunning, Movement is every bit as critical for consistent performance as Focus, yet it differs a bit in that some elements of Movement must be adjusted or adapted to the individual shooter. Most elements of Movement, however, just like the principles of Focus and Faith, remain universally true and inviolable for shotgunning enthusiasts. As we delve into Movement, keep in mind that your ability to focus on the focal point of a target is highly dependent on the efficiency of your movement. If your shotgun is flailing about, moving erratically or in such a way as to interfere with your visual connection with the target, the quality of target information flowing to the onboard computer (your brain) will be negatively impacted. Consequently, the probability of a “lost target” on the scorecard increases. If your movement is planned, efficient, and allows for a high-quality visual connection with the target, then a broken target is more likely. Before jumping into the elements of Movement, let’s define a widely misused and misunderstood term as it relates to shotgunning: “instinctive.” Instinctive shooting is often

Movem ent: Pl annin g / / 93

interpreted to imply that one should shoot without a plan. Just look at the target, react to it, point the shotgun, and pull the trigger, and the shot string will miraculously pulverize the target. This isn’t exactly how it works. Even in quail hunting, with a low degree of target predictability, there is a certain amount of planning required in order to optimize performance. If a hunter establishes a proper starting position, with body and shotgun oriented toward the engagement area before the covey flushes, he is more likely to intercept his target. The hunter’s starting position, or “ready position,” plays an important role in the probability of a kill and should never be left to chance. In hunting flushing birds, for example, the ready position should be planned, practiced, and employed based on the orientation of the pointing dogs and the anticipated direction in which the birds will flush. As we will discuss in the following section, the targets in clay shooting are more predictable than in bird hunting. There is therefore an opportunity to achieve even greater consistency in clay shooting by establishing a ready position suitable for the given target or target pair. As discussed previously, applying acute focus to the target is an intentional act. For a shooter to apply intense focus at the break point of a target, planning and intentionality are involved. The difference between “instinctive shooting” in clay shooting and bird hunting is simply this: In bird hunting we cannot select or preplan a break point. We execute the shot when we have a good visual connection with the target and have successfully completed the pointing action of the shotgun. For consistency in clay shooting, however, we “manufacture” the instinctive nature of our shot execution by timing our focus and our movement so that it all comes together decisively at the preplanned break point. So, “instinctive shooting” in sporting clays is the converging of three key ingredients at the preplanned break point: 1) timed application of visual focus, 2) pointing of the shotgun, and 3) shot execution. I suppose the antonym of “instinctive” in this context is “measured.” Measuring the lead to engage a target would definitely not be instinctive shooting by any definition because to measure would mean to execute the shot when the appropriate “gap” is achieved, not necessarily at the preplanned break point. I often have shooters ask me, “When I watch a long incoming target approach and then pull the trigger, I am more likely to miss, but when I’m surprised by a target and don’t think about it, I’m more likely to break it! Why?” The cause of most misses on long incoming targets is a failure to time focus and a tendency to measure rather than trust. With each and every target you engage, your goal should be to create a short burst of focus (less than 2 seconds) just prior to and through the break point while at the same time completing your pointing action and executing the shot decisively at the planned break point. That is the definition of “instinctive” in sporting clays.

94 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Let us now delve into the three elements of Movement: • Planning (“painting the shot”) • Ready position (starting position) • Execution In this chapter we will focus on planning. PLANNING If planning every pair sounds like work and if your goal is simply to get out there, bust some targets, and have fun, by all means skip to the next section. At some point, however, most clay shooting enthusiasts fall victim to rising expectations. If you are like most of us, shortly after we are first exposed to the sport, we become addicted. We then discover that simply having fun isn’t good enough. We aren’t satisfied with our performance. We want to break more targets than our shooting buddy. We want greater consistency. Perhaps we even want to be competitive. This is when shot planning will be instrumental in upgrading your performance. In all clay shooting disciplines, we have the luxury of predictability. In every discipline except bunker trap, we always know exactly where the targets are coming from. With the exception of American trap, Olympic trap, and double trap, we always know the exact trajectory of the targets. In sporting clays, skeet, five-stand, FITASC, and super sporting, we always know the exact origin, speed, and trajectory of every target. This target intelligence gives us the opportunity to establish a target plan that includes a break point for each target as well as a starting position and line of movement for the eyes and gun. If properly conducted and faithfully employed, target planning will provide you with the highest probability of X’s on the scorecard. If you don’t have a plan each time you step into the box, you cannot expect to be a consistent performer. If you start in the right place (ready position), stay on the path (your line of movement), and finish the shot (execute the shot at your chosen break point), consistency and higher scores will result. To develop the ideal shot plan, you must allocate time to observe the targets and develop a target engagement plan prior to loading your shotgun. We refer to this as “pre-shot planning.” Shot planning consists of three key elements: Observe-Plan-Test, or O-P-T. • Observe. At each station observe the movement of the target pair throughout the flight paths of both targets from the trap arm all the way to the ground. Map or “paint” the target line against the surrounding terrain and vegetation to landmark your target lines.

Movem ent: Pl annin g / / 95

• Plan. Plan your break point, gun hold point, and visual pickup point. In other words, plan where your eyes and gun will go when you assume your ready position and call for the target, as well as the exact spot at which you will break the target. • Test. Test your plan, simulating the movement of your shotgun with the outstretched hand of your pointing arm (that’s the hand on the forearm of your shotgun). Observe a number of target pairs, and adjust the plan as needed. Testing allows you to rehearse and imprint your shot plan onto your subconscious prior to actually shooting the pair. Employing a pre-shot planning process forces you to visualize the targets, develop a target engagement plan, and test your plan by visualizing and moving with the targets in the form of a rehearsal (using your pointing hand). How many times have you wished you had the opportunity for a “do-over” at a particular station? By faithfully employing a good pre-shot planning process (O-P-T), you essentially give yourself the gift of a rehearsal at each and every station. This rehearsal allows you to implant virtually every aspect of your execution into your subconscious prior to engaging each target pair. In so doing, you are more likely to execute according to the plan. By imprinting your target engagement plan on your subconscious during rehearsal (the Test phase), you can simply and totally focus on the target, having relegated the rest to muscle memory and the replay of your rehearsal. You are now prepared to engage the targets at a subconscious level. You step into the station, assume the appropriate stance, and move your gun to the proper hold point and muzzle angle and your eyes to your visual pickup point. Once you call “Pull,” the remainder of the sequence— the movement of your eyes, body, and gun to the target—should all be executed at the “instinctive” or subconscious level, as you have planned and rehearsed it in your mind. The only aspect of your execution that must be executed consciously is your visual focus on the target and the activation of the trigger. THE SHOT PLAN Let’s explore the specific elements of a shot plan in greater detail. It may be helpful to think of the planning process as a mapping exercise of sorts with certain key landmarks identified and visualized. In golf this is commonly referred to as “painting the shot.” A good shot plan includes identifying and landmarking the following elements. Target line The target line is the line or flight path along which the target moves from the point at which it is first visible (often this is the trap arm) to its point of impact on the ground. This “line”

96 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbTarget line showing break point, hold point, and visual pickup point. ROWDY JONES

is rarely straight, and you should stay alert for specific points along the target line where the target changes speed or direction (transition points). “Mapping” or painting your target lines is important. You will use this imaginary line as a reference for determining the proper muzzle angle (aka barrel orientation) when establishing your ready position (more on muzzle angle and ready position in the next chapter). Break point The location of the break point is the most critical determination you will make during the planning phase. All other landmarks—the hold point, visual pickup point, and even your muzzle angle—will key off of the break point. The break point is the anticipated spot at which you feel you can best see, and most readily break, the target. It is the point along the target line where the target appears to visually slow down. At this spot the target looks “fattest”: most vulnerable and easiest to break. For some target pairs you may have to settle for a less-thanideal break point due to the timing of the pair. For example, the timing of a true pair with a short transition (must get to the second target quickly) may cause you to plan an earlier break point for the first target of the pair or a delayed break point for the second target. As part of the process for selecting your break point, you must study the behavior of the target at the break point and select the proper focal point for the target (see the “Focus Small” section in the previous chapter). Knowing the precise spot on the target to which you will apply your focus will directly affect the quality of the information captured by the eye

Movem ent: Pl annin g / / 97

and transmitted to the brain. Don’t be surprised if your squad mate selects a different break point than you do. Every shooter is unique in terms of visual acuity and the speed at which he or she can visually acquire and break a clay target. Shooters who are more controlled in their delivery and are a bit slower to acquire targets may establish a break point that is farther along the target’s flight line, while a more attuned shooter may have an earlier break point. The break point you choose should be where you are most comfortable breaking the target. Hold point The hold point is where you will orient the muzzle of your gun just prior to calling for the target and is one of the key elements of your ready position. Proper selection of the hold point will enable you to achieve the ideal amount of gun movement to successfully engage the target at the chosen break point. The hold point is normally positioned on or slightly offset from the target line between the visual pickup point and the break point. Exactly where you place your hold point will greatly depend on the character of the target you are engaging. The variables are endless, so the answer is not always immediately clear, but the following are some general guidelines regarding hold point selection: For a crossing target with a flat trajectory moving at a 90-degree angle to the shooting stand, your hold point should measure about two thirds of the distance from your break point to the point at which the target is first visible.

bbHold point for crossing target (half to two thirds back toward trap from break point). ROWDY JONES

98 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

For an outgoing quartering target crossing in front of the shooting stand at about a 45-degree angle, the hold point should generally be placed about one third of the way back from the break point. For a trap-like presentation, the hold point should be just below and slightly toward the trap from the break point.

bbHold point for quartering target (one third back from break point to trap). ROWDY JONES

bbHold point for trap-like target (just under break point). ROWDY JONES

Movem ent: Pl annin g / / 99

There are certainly many exceptions to these very general guidelines, but these are the basic principles of hold point selection. If your hold point is too close to your break point on a particular target, you may be unable to achieve proper “flow” or synchronization with the target. If your hold point is too close to the trap, you will have a tendency to generate excessive gun movement to the break point and may occlude the target line with the gun. The tendency for a novice shooter is to orient his or her gun too close to the trap, causing the target to outrun the shooter’s shotgun. This is often the cause of erratic or excessive gun movement, which in turn makes focusing on the target all the more difficult. If you encounter a target that is transitioning (changing speed and/or direction) at the break point, you may choose to engage the target using an alternative engagement technique, like direct intercept, cutoff, or diminishing lead. In this case you may want to adjust your hold points accordingly (more about this in Part II, Chapter 16). Visual pickup point Sometimes called the “look point,” the visual pickup point is the precise point along the target line at which the eyes are positioned to visually acquire the target. It is usually placed somewhere between the trap and the hold point and should almost never be placed where the target is still a blur. It should instead be placed where the target transitions from a blur to solid target. Said another way, the visual pickup point should always be at a spot where the target can be viewed as a solid object, not as a blur. Selecting the visual pickup point in this way will allow you to see the target emerge from the trap with your peripheral vision rather than your direct vision, and to visually acquire and merge with the target comfortably. Proper selection of the visual pickup point will allow for a smooth merging of the eyes with the target as it emerges from the trap. It will also allow you to more easily achieve a timely “fix” on the focal point of the target before the target reaches the break point. Research into the “gaze control” of elite athletes indicates that acquiring the target at the point at which it can first be clearly seen is critical to higher performance. It is also interesting to note that it is the peripheral vision, rather than our direct vision, that is exponentially more adept at initially acquiring a moving target. Seeing “the blur” with our peripheral vision, as the target emerges from the trap and approaches the visual pickup point, is critical to the accuracy of our initial burst of movement from the hold point. However, the eye delivers the most important target guidance information to the brain during the interval of sharp, fixed visual focus. The peripheral vision is best at initial acquisition. The direct vision then takes over and guides interception. Getting your eyes in the best position to merge with the target and visually fix on the focal point requires that your visual pickup point be close enough to

100 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the trap to see and use the “blur,” but not too far back towards the trap whereby the target “beats” or outruns your eyes. Simply put, elite shooters use both the peripheral and central vision to acquire and then kill each target. Early in my shooting career, two instructors, Bill McGuire and Richie Frisella, helped me establish a great foundation for shot planning. First came Richie, who, in my shooting infancy, schooled me on the practice of always picking out a break point and hold point for both targets of a pair while observing each target throughout its flight. Years later Bill elevated my level of sophistication and got me to think about planning as if it were a mapping exercise. He encouraged me to landmark the target line and establish specific points or areas against the terrain that represent the target line, visual pickup point, hold point, and break point. PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE When you step up to a station, survey your target area. Look at the terrain, the vegetation, the trees, the slope of the ground, and the locations of the traps. When the targets are thrown, follow each target throughout its entire flight path with the hand of your outstretched nonfiring arm. Pick out at least two, preferably three, landmarks through which the target flies, visualizing the target lines across the background terrain or sky. While observing the flight of your first target, identify your break point. This should be the point along the target line at which the target visually slows down and, ideally, where the target is not in transition but is moving at a constant speed and direction. This is the precise spot at which you will be applying your most intense visual focus to the focal point on the target and executing the shot. Depending on your experience and proficiency, you may feel more comfortable breaking a target as it is rising, instead of at its apex, for example. Your experience, confidence, and visual acuity will determine your ability to break a target at different locations along its flight path. Once your break point is selected, study the behavior of the target at the break point carefully and identify your focal point on the target: leading edge for crossing targets, back edge or leading edge for quartering targets, back edge for trap targets. If possible, use a particular visible feature on the target like the dome, rings, or underbelly as the focal point. Next, identify your visual pickup point—the spot where your eyes will go as you assume your ready position and call for the targets. Now, for your hold point. To breed consistency into execution and achieve higher scores, you must always identify and commit to your hold points just as you do your visual

Movem ent: Pl annin g / / 101

pickup points and break points. The great majority of my beginner-to-novice students have three tendencies when it comes to hold points: • They gradually move their hold points back toward the trap unconsciously with each subsequent pair, particularly after a miss. • They establish a hold point that is too close to the break point, resulting in either a sudden upward move to the target line or a movement back toward the trap once the target is launched. • They establish their hold point too close to the trap, resulting in the target outrunning the eyes and a quick catch-up move along the target line to compensate. What about the hold point and break point for the second target of a pair? At minimum you should know where your eyes and gun must go immediately after breaking the first target to successfully engage the second target. We refer to this as the second visual pickup point and second break point. Your second hold point is critical because it is the point from which your move to the second target will start. After shooting your first target, providing time allows, you should allow your focus to soften momentarily to pick up the second bird and then refocus on target number two to break it. The interval between your hard focus on the first and second targets will be dictated by the timing of the pair. Once you have carefully Observed both targets of a pair and developed a solid target engagement Plan, the best way to make sure that your plan is sound is to Test. Test your assumptions by visualizing and rehearsing the shot to ensure that you have the correct hold points and visual pickup points for the break points you selected. Make sure that you have carefully observed the behavior of the targets at the break points. Use the nonfiring arm and hand to perform dry runs prior to stepping into the box. Simulate going to your hold point (with your hand). Place your eyes at the visual pickup point. Watch the target launch. As you pick up the target with your eyes, move your pointing hand to the first break point while fixing on the focal point of the first target. Move to your second visual pickup point with your eyes and second hold point with your hand. Finally, move your eyes and gun through the second break point. If the timing works, go with it. If not, adjust your hold points and visual pickup points, and possibly your timing on the pair, and test again. If it is your turn to shoot first in the squad, make the most of your first view pair and ask to see a second show pair if you like. Under NSCA rules, you are entitled to at least two view pairs in registered competition. If after you engage your first pair you feel as if the target got ahead of you, adjust your hold point accordingly—but any change to your hold point after engaging the first pair should be intentional rather than accidental.

102 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

This sounds like a lot to think about and a lot of work—and it is, but remember this: It is the hard work outside the box that allows you to excel once you step into the shooting station. The most significant impact of pre-shot planning is that it provides you with a more accurate understanding of what the targets are doing, imprints your subconscious with the shot plan, and provides you with an opportunity to rehearse the engagement of the pair. In computer lexicon it would be like loading the files before running the program. This routine, if practiced and employed faithfully, will become second nature. Once the hard work is done and you step into the shooting station, you only need to “run your program”: take a deep breath, clear your mind, visualize your execution, assume your ready position, and call “Pull.” While you may not break them all, a well-rehearsed and faithfully executed shot planning process will improve your consistency and scores. Of that you can be sure.

C H A P TE R 9

MOVEMENT: READY POSITION

On the surface it may seem a bit excessive to dedicate an entire chapter of this book to the ready position. There are few factors, however, more critical to breaking a clay target than the position from which your body, eyes, and gun initiate movement toward the break point. In fact, aside from proper visual focus, your ready position for a given target pair will likely have the most significant impact on your probability of successfully breaking the targets. The more appropriate your ready position for the targets being engaged, the more likely you are to achieve perfect alignment or “oneness” with the target through the break point. Andy Stanley penned a book well known in Christian circles entitled The Principle of the Path. In it Stanley says, “Your path, not your intention, determines your destination.”1 While Stanley was applying this as a life principle, it is no less true as it applies to one’s line of movement to the break point of a clay target. In order to consistently and repeatedly break a given target or target pair, you must be very intentional about your starting position and line of movement: your path. Charles Lancaster, in The Art of Shooting, recognized the importance of a shooter’s starting position as early as 1889. He called it the shooter’s “first position.”2 Churchill first coined the term “ready position” in How to Shoot, published in 1925.3 While Lancaster’s “first position” and Churchill’s “ready position” differed slightly and were understandably oriented toward engaging game birds, they nonetheless placed a great deal of importance on the position of a shooter’s body, eyes, and gun as movement to the target is initiated. A proper ready position was then, and remains, one of the key elements to mastering the art and skill of shotgunning. Some believe that the world of sporting clays shooters is divided into two camps: “premounted” shooters and “low-gun” shooters. In the interest of fully disclosing my bias with regard to ready position, I advocate, instruct, shoot, and am a student of a more dynamic method of target engagement. Except for first-time shooters or those with less upper body strength, I don’t believe in pre-mounting on all targets unless shooting trap or competitive American skeet. That’s not to say that I reject the practice. I coach a number of students who

104 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

are pre-mounted shooters because it suits them. I also don’t believe that one should always shoot from a low gun position unless shooting FITASC, the European form of sporting clays (see Chapter 2). Pre-mounting on some targets, like a teal, robs the eye of valuable target data that the shooter’s brain needs to break the target. On the other hand, a low-gun ready position on trap and rabbit targets may set the shooter up for failure. I believe that the character of the target should dictate the proper ready position and that both the premounted and low-gun ready positions are viable for certain types of targets. How far the gun should be away from the cheek in the ready position is a question of technique. For the dynamic shooter it is often a trade-off between visibility and efficiency of movement. The need for intense visual connection with the target through the break point and the need for an efficient and fluid mount are both critical principles (more on this later in the chapter). DEFINING THE READY POSITION Contrary to prevailing wisdom, your ready position is not simply your hold point. The hold point, or two-dimensional location of the gun muzzle in relationship to the target’s flight path, is only one element of a shooter’s ready position as he calls for the target. The ready position is defined as the starting position of the body, eyes, and gun as the shooter calls for the target and initiates his mount and movement to the break point. It involves four essential elements: 1. Stance: Positioning of the feet, and body over the feet, such that there is: A. little or no bodily tension at the break points. B. proper balance to allow for an efficient gun mount and bodily rotation. C. proper positioning of the eye over the rib of the shotgun as the shot is delivered. 2. Hold point: The horizontal positioning of the gun such that the shooter can achieve proper flow or synchronization with the target along the line of movement to the break point. 3. Barrel orientation (or muzzle angle): The angle of the barrel in relation to the target line. 4. Draw length: The distance between the comb of the stock and the shooter’s cheek. Let’s discuss them one at a time. STANCE The purpose of a proper stance for a given target presentation is to minimize bodily tension at the break points and promote ease of rotation and target synchronization. Stance is an individualized aspect of one’s shooting technique and style. This doesn’t mean that achieving a proper and consistent stance isn’t absolutely critical or that there isn’t a definitively proper

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 105

stance for a shooter. It is advisable, however, that, together with a trained and qualified instructor, you establish the stance that is right for you based on your build, your physical flexibility, and, to a certain extent, your natural relaxed standing position. While proper stance is individualized to a degree, a shooter’s lead foot should generally be oriented slightly to the inside of the break point with zero bodily tension when the shotgun is oriented at the break point. I refer to this zero-tension position as the “neutral

bbRight-handed shooter—proper foot position, with lead foot slightly oblique to the break point (arrow points to break point). ROWDY JONES

bbYour goal is to have no bodily tension (or torque) at your break point. TODD MCLENNAN

106 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

position.” For a right-handed shooter, for example, if the break point of the target is at 12 o’clock, the lead foot should be oriented at about 1 o’clock with trail foot oriented between 2 and 3 o’clock. For a left-handed shooter with a break point at 12 o’clock, the right foot should be oriented at 11 o’clock and the left foot between 9 and 10 o’clock.

bbLeft-handed shooter—proper foot position, with lead foot slightly oblique to the break point (arrow points to break point). ROWDY JONES

bbProper stance and mount (frontal view), with weight distribution 60 percent forward, shoulder joints over balls of feet, nose over toes. TODD MCLENNAN

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 107

bbProper stance and mount (side view), with the butt (or “buckle”) slightly back. TODD MCLENNAN

When engaging a target pair, the left-handed shooter should orient on the rightmost break point and the right-handed shooter on the leftmost break point. For a target pair with significantly dissimilar break points, some adjustment may be necessary. Many novice shooters who come to the sport with some rifle shooting experience tend to turn their bodies away from the break point as they would in rifle shooting. This type of closed or oblique stance is not recommended, as it limits the shooter’s range of rotation and places the butt of the shotgun farther out on the arm of the trigger hand. If a shooter assumes an ideal stance with the proper orientation to the break point, she will need to “wind up” a bit to reach her hold point. As the shooter calls for the target and moves the gun from the hold point toward the break point, his body will essentially “unwind,” reaching the point of least tension as he arrives at the break point. In choosing the proper foot position for a target pair, your objective is to achieve maximum comfort and minimum physical tension at the break points and throughout the greatest portion of your swing. Pay particular attention and orient your stance so that you don’t overextend your swing to the

108 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbPoor stance. Too aggressive with excessive weight forward. TODD MCLENNAN

bbPoor stance. Leaning back is very typical for shooters lacking upper body strength. TODD MCLENNAN

bbPoor stance. The “turtle-neck mount” often results when shooters attempt to physically align the eye with the barrel. TODD MCLENNAN

point where you experience tension or are thrown off balance at the break point. Either will cause you to dip your shoulders and miss the target underneath. While the positioning of the feet is a critical element of stance, one’s balance, weight distribution, and posture play equally important roles in the ability of the shooter to efficiently move and mount the shotgun. In general, a shooter in the ready position should assume an athletic stance similar to that of a boxer, with about 60 percent of the weight forward and 40 percent back and the heels 8 inches to 10 inches apart. The knees should never be locked but instead bent ever so slightly. The shooter’s butt should be back, with the waist slightly bent and the shoulders and head forward. The head should be comfortably but noticeably positioned out over the toes such that if a “plumb bob” were dropped from the nose it would fall clear of the shooter’s upper body. There are indeed some different schools of thought with regard to stance that differ from the one presented

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 109

bbProper stance, with weight distribution 60 percent forward, shoulder joints over balls of feet, nose over toes. TODD MCLENNAN

above. Those in the Churchill camp will suggest a balanced weight distribution, with “the weight of the body supported evenly on both legs.”4 Devotees of Percy Stanbury at the London School will prescribe a more weight-forward approach, with “nearly all the weight on the left foot, the right heel just clear of the ground and a slight forward lean.”5 Which is correct? Here is where we are nibbling at the edges of technique as opposed to principle. Both will work, and neither is wrong. Today, the stance used by most shooters differs a bit from that of Robert Churchill, who was short and stocky (and some would say a bit portly) and stood very square to the target line with his weight evenly distributed on both feet. He actually shifted his weight from one foot to the other, depending on the direction of the bird on the left-right axis. This gave him a very wide swing radius, despite his large frame. He lifted the right heel and shifted his weight to the left foot for right-to-left targets and lifted the left heel, shifting weight to the

110 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

right foot, for left-to-right targets. For the bigger folks among us, as well as those who are less flexible or less able to twist for physical reasons, the Churchill stance remains a great alternative that I have used with a few of my students. Most shooters today use what Michael Yardley, author of The Shotgun, refers to as the “modern stance.”6 The modern stance is a modification of the stance taught at the London School and made famous by the more narrowly built Percy Stanbury, a contemporary of Churchill’s back in the early 1900s, a fellow Brit, and one of the world’s great shots. In the modern stance, for a right-handed shooter with the break point at 12 o’clock, the shooter’s left or lead foot points to 12 o’clock or slightly to the right (1 o’clock), and the right foot points to the 2 to 3 o’clock position. The heels should be about 8 to 10 inches apart with weight slightly forward, about 60 percent on the lead foot. For lefties the lead foot is at about 11 o’clock and the left foot at 9 to 10 o’clock. The modern stance is well suited for the majority of shooters, but again, adjustments may be necessary for some based on the abovementioned situations. When a proper stance is achieved, the shooter should be comfortable moving the gun anywhere between the hold point and past the break points without hyperextending the body or dipping the shoulders. Depending on the second target of the pair, the shooter may have to adjust or compromise the ideal positioning of the feet for one target or the other to comfortably engage both targets. If you over-rotate in an attempt to reach the target at the break point, the shoulders tend to roll to the outside, potentially resulting in a miss. In extreme cases, where the two targets of a pair force you to swing to both the left and right extremes of the swing, you may want to consider pivoting on one foot between shots to reorient your body and achieve a more comfortable swing through the break point. Obviously, the timing interval between targets must be sufficient for such a move. Short of this extreme case, your feet should never move after engaging the first pair until you complete your last pair at a given station. HOLD POINT We discussed hold points in the previous chapter on pre-shot planning, but a couple of points warrant revisiting. Once again, your hold point is the location of the muzzle while in the ready position and just prior to calling for the target. The location you choose for the hold point on a given target is a critical element of your ready position because it establishes the all-important distance between your starting position and the break point as you visually acquire the target and initiate your move. In very general terms your hold point for a crossing target should be about two thirds of the distance

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 111

bbHold point for crossing target (half to two thirds back). TODD MCLENNAN

bbHold point for quartering target (one third back). TODD MCLENNAN

bbHold point for trap-like target (just under break point). TODD MCLENNAN

112 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

back from your break point, thus giving you enough room to achieve proper flow with the target before reaching the break point (see figures). For a quartering target your hold point should generally be placed about one third of the way back from the break point. For a traplike presentation the hold point should be just below and slightly toward the trap from the break point. There are certainly many exceptions to these very general guidelines, but these are the basic principles of hold point selection. Your hold point must be repeatable and visually committed to memory. As such, you should identify a physical landmark for your hold point so that you can return to that exact spot as you assume your ready position prior to each target engagement. The location of your muzzle as you call for the target is of great importance because it will determine your ability to synchronize with the target as well as your gun speed as you arrive at the break point. In almost all cases the hold point will be closer to the break point than the visual pickup point and will rarely ever be in the same location as the visual pickup point. If your visual pickup point is at the same location as the muzzle of your gun, it is highly likely that the target will outrun your gun and an abrupt move will be required to engage the target. BARREL ORIENTATION The orientation of the barrel, or muzzle angle, is another important element of the ready position. Barrel orientation is the angle at which the bore of your shotgun (the barrel tube) is pointed in the ready position. Let me offer an illustration. Let’s imagine that a laser pointer were fixed to the inside of your shotgun barrel such that the laser beam reflected the orientation of your barrel at any given time. Generally speaking, the proper barrel orientation would have your laser oriented on the target line starting at the hold point, throughout the movement and gun mount, and at all points in between through the break point. This continuous orientation of the muzzle to the target line allows the shooter to achieve excellent flow with the target and engage the target at any point along the line of movement. There are admittedly some techniques, such as intercept or cutoff, for which your barrel will be offset from the target line, but this is the exception rather than the rule. As the target launches and the gun is mounted, the lead hand points the muzzle toward the target while the trigger hand moves the gun up to the cheek. Both hands move equally and together and with equal force but with the lead hand in control of the pointing action (more on this later). This pointing action and fluid orientation of the barrel produces the most efficient gun movement to the target. Some advocate and teach a much more elevated muzzle angle, with the bead at or above the target line and close to the shooter’s line of sight to the target. In

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 113

bbMuzzle angle correct, with barrel oriented at or just under planned break point. TODD MCLENNAN

bbMuzzle angle too high, causing “seesaw” muzzle movement. TODD MCLENNAN

bbMuzzle angle too low, causing excessive upward muzzle movement at the break point. TODD MCLENNAN

114 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the discipline of international skeet, or when engaging an outgoing target with a flat line, this approach may make sense, but for most sporting clays presentations, I believe this is distracting and often results in excessive muzzle movement at the precise moment the shooter is completing the mount and pulling the trigger. Still another school of thought regarding barrel orientation is that the barrel should be more parallel to the ground at the ready position, with the entire gun rising to the target line evenly and level until it reaches the cheek. I believe this results in the shooter occasionally missing over the top or having her eye drawn off the target and to the barrel as the barrel rapidly moves upward to meet the target. I have tried each of the above three methods of barrel orientation for many months at a time, and I believe the pointing orientation is the preferred method for sporting clays. And by the way, this opinion is shared by a number of national champions and others with a more distinguished shooting record than mine. Further, I believe that this style is completely transferable to hunting flushing birds. The two most common problems I see caused by improper muzzle angle are occlusion, or blocking, of the target with the barrel and a visual distraction caused by inefficiency of the muzzle to the target. Picture a shooter who establishes an excessively high muzzle angle in the ready position. As the shooter moves toward the break point and simultaneously mounts the gun to the cheek, the muzzle is lowered to meet the target line. The comb is then brought to the cheek followed by an upward movement of the muzzle to the target line as the target approaches the break point. We refer to this as “barrel wobble” or a “seesaw” motion. This excessive movement of the muzzle often causes the shooter’s eye to be drawn off of the target and to the muzzle, as the eye naturally gravitates toward the closest, fastest-moving object in the visual field. If muzzle movement is efficient, it takes less effort for the eye to maintain its connection with the target through the break point. A high muzzle angle can also cause a shooter to occlude (block) or interrupt the connection between the eye and the target through the break point. Another common flaw I see caused by improper barrel orientation occurs during the shooter’s transition from the first to the second target of a pair. Shooters have a tendency to use the back hand to lower the gun after engaging the first target, thus causing the muzzle to rise and occlude the second target. To recover from this, the shooter has to lower the muzzle to see the target, thus creating the barrel wobble described earlier. Improper muzzle angle and an overactive back hand destroy efficient gun movement. To avoid barrel wobble and occlusion, maintain the weight of the shotgun in both hands and lead the gun with the front hand, whether mounting the gun to the target or disengaging the gun between targets of a pair. We will discuss this in greater detail in the next chapter.

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 115

The best way to practice proper barrel orientation is actually indoors, using a laser pointer or laser device. The LaserShooter and LaserPro from Robert Louis Company are excellent tools for perfecting your mount indoors. DRAW LENGTH Draw length is defined as the distance between the comb of the butt stock and the shooter’s cheekbone when in the ready position. Just as we select the hold point and muzzle angle based on the character of the target, similarly we should vary the distance between the comb of the shotgun and the cheek in the same way. I believe Wendell Cherry coined this term, as it was in a lesson from Wendell in my earlier years that I first heard it. Essentially, the draw length can range anywhere from the standard ready position with full draw, sometimes referred to as a “low-gun” position, to the fully pre-mounted position with no draw, or somewhere in between such as in the half draw. Just as you identify your break point, hold point, and visual pickup point, your draw length should be determined by the character of the target during pre-shot planning. The critical factors that help you determine the appropriate draw length for a given target are 1) the window of time you have to acquire and engage the targets and 2) the need to establish and maintain a good

bbLow-gun/FITASC ready position (classic, full draw), with heel 25 cm below top of shoulder. TODD MCLENNAN

116 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbPre-mounted or “no draw” ready position for trap-like targets or quick quartering targets in sporting clays. TODD MCLENNAN

bbHalf-draw ready position for quartering and short-window crossing targets. TODD MCLENNAN

Movem ent: Ready Position / / 117

visual connection with the target from visual pickup point to break point. The shorter the draw length (the closer you position the comb to the cheek), the more likely it is that you will inhibit your visual connection with the target. There is nothing more important than feeding the brain the best possible target information. Keeping the gun out of your face will generally provide you with a superior visual connection with the target as compared to a “no-draw” or pre-mounted ready position. On the other hand, the farther away the comb is from the cheek at the ready position, the more movement that will be required to get the gun to the cheek after initiating movement. The type of target you plan to engage as well as “the window” you have to engage it should all factor into your decision regarding the appropriate draw length for the specific target. In general terms, the full draw should be used on the crossing target and other targets with a long flight time to the break point. The full-draw or low-gun ready position is required in FITASC. A pre-mounted or no-draw ready position is most effective in engaging fast, going-away targets, like a trap target, and a half draw is a great option for quartering targets or other targets with a short engagement window. Both the half-draw and no-draw ready positions will enable you to move to the break point faster and more efficiently. The downside, however, is that a shorter draw length requires careful planning to avoid occluding the target with the barrel as you move from hold point to break point. Regardless of the draw length used for the ready position on a given target, it is important to maintain the proper muzzle angle throughout the entire mount and movement to the break point to avoid excess muzzle movement and possible occlusion of the target with the barrel. If you start in the right place, with the correct stance, hold point, barrel orientation, and draw length for the given presentation, it is more likely that your muzzle will end up in the right place when you pull the trigger. Intentionally planned and faithfully employed, the ready position will inject greater consistency into your game and cause your scores to rise.

C H A P TE R 10

MOVEMENT: EXECUTION

While perfecting your mount and movement takes a little time and effort initially, the rewards are lasting. As we discussed in the last chapter, having a good plan and establishing a suitable ready position are the foundational underpinnings of sound movement to the target. Now that you have conducted the necessary pre-shot planning; identified your break points, hold points, and visual pickup points; and established an appropriate ready position for the target, all that’s left is to move to and kill the target! In clay shooting perfect movement can be defined as the fluid, rhythmic, and synchronized motion of the whole body, head, hands, and gun as a single unit along the target line to the bird, culminating in the almost instantaneous discharging of the shotgun as sharp visual focus on the target is achieved and the gun mount to the cheek is completed. So, as you are poised at the hold point, call for the target, and the target is launched, your move and mount should simultaneously initiate with the pointing hand or nonfiring hand, moving the front of the gun toward the target in a pointing action with the front hand in the lead and the trigger hand moving the gun up to the cheek. Both hands must move together and with equal force while the head remains steady and oriented on the target area. As the body, head, and gun move along the target line toward the break point, visual focus is heightened, the comb of the stock touches the cheek, and the gun is discharged. Mounting the gun while simultaneously moving to and synchronizing with the target may sound simple, but it takes practice to perfect, render consistent, and relegate to the subconscious. Perfecting your gun movement and mount requires a lot of work but yields the greatest return on your investment of time. FIVE RADICAL RULES OF MOVEMENT Fasten your seatbelt. The following rules of gun mount and movement may, on the surface, seem counterintuitive, perhaps even radical. If, however, you have “drunk the Kool-Aid”

Movem ent: Execution / / 119

to this point and understand that sporting clays is a sport of hand-eye coordination, then you understand that movement is executed in the subconscious. Just as the batter in Major League Baseball is able to subconsciously adjust to the slider and the curveball, it is your visual focus on the target that will direct your hands and gun to break the clay target in sporting clays. That being the case, these radical rules may be the final missing pieces of the puzzle for your game. Before we dive into the Five Radical Rules of Movement, let’s understand the purpose of the gun mount. Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of a good gun mount is not to get the gun to the shoulder. The purpose of a good gun mount is to 1) naturally align the shotgun barrel with your dominant eye prior to executing the shot and 2) allow your dominant eye to acquire and maintain visual focus on the target through the break point. With these essential truths as a backdrop, the Five Radical Rules of Movement may not seem so radical. Rule #1: Keep the weight of the gun in the hands, front hand leads As with most hand-eye coordination sports, the eyes should lead the hands. If all the weight of the gun is in the hands, the shotgun is then very responsive to the corrections made by the small muscles of the hands and arms in reaction to impulses sent by the brain. No one would suggest that you attempt to hit a baseball with the butt of the bat in contact with the hip. Nor would anyone suggest that you return a tennis serve with the butt of the racket in your rib cage. The small muscles of the hands and arms will be less responsive and unable to react as well to the subconscious signals sent by the brain. So why would we believe that we could move a gun as responsively to a target with the gun jammed in our shoulder? To maximize the responsiveness of the arms, hands, and gun, it is essential for the weight of the gun to be in the hands rather than jammed into the shoulder. I often see shooters overusing their back hand (their trigger hand), essentially overpowering the front hand and causing the barrel to dip as the shooter inserts the butt of the gun into the shoulder. Both hands should work together to manage the movement of the gun, with the front hand leading the front of the gun to the target in a pointing action. If the gun is “nested” or rested in the shoulder, gun movement is far less responsive to the impulses being transmitted by the brain. Even when engaging trap-like targets, premounting the shotgun for accuracy and stability is important, but maintaining the weight of the gun in the hands will help you respond more accurately and instinctively to the movement of the target.

120 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Rule #2: Keep the head still (oriented on the target) If you mount to the cheek instead of the shoulder and allow the shoulder to naturally come forward to meet the butt of the gun, you’ll be assured of proper eye-barrel alignment across a broader spectrum of sporting clays targets. Mounting to the shoulder first forces you to lower the head to meet the comb, which frequently causes a misalignment of the eye with the center of the rib. Moving your head as you execute the shot is like moving your camera as you snap a picture. A “quiet head” yields a sharp visual connection with the target. When pre-mounting your gun on a trap target, bring the gun to your cheek first. Then slide the gun back into your shoulder before calling for the target while still maintaining the bulk of the gun’s weight in your hands. This way, when you execute the shot, you know that you have maintained proper eye-barrel alignment and your gun will remain responsive to commands from the brain. Rule #3: Move at a comfortable pace Movement of the gun must be at an appropriate speed for the target and the technique used to engage the target. Synchronizing the movement of the gun barrel with the target allows the eye to focus clearly on the target just prior to and through the break point. It is this well-synchronized gun movement with the target that allows you to apply sharp visual focus. When the gun is moving erratically or at a speed significantly faster or slower than the target, the movement of the gun barrel tends to pull the eye off of the target by distracting visual focus. The eyes will naturally move to the closest, fastest-moving object. If gun movement is at a comfortable pace, suitable for the speed of the target, the barrel will seem to disappear and the eye will more effortlessly maintain its connection with the target. Think about how smoothly and efficiently a car can merge into traffic if the proper speed is achieved in the acceleration lane prior to the merge. I see many D and C Class shooters who swing through almost every target, often employing excessive gun speed. While pull-away or even swing-through may work on targets with a consistent target line, it often fails with more technical or transitioning targets. Excessive gun speed will also tend to pull the eye off the focal point of the target to the faster-moving muzzle. Movement that is synchronized with the target prior to and through the break point will greatly enhance visual focus and enable your eye to pick up the nuances of transitioning targets. Rule #4: Mount to the cheek, not the shoulder If your gun fits, your mount is consistent, and your head remains oriented on the target through the gun mount, the gun will come to rest in the same location on the lower cheek ledge every time you mount the gun. As a result, the gun will shoot where you are looking

Movem ent: Execution / / 121

because your dominant eye will properly align over the center of the rib each time the comb of the stock makes contact with the cheek. This assumes, however, that you mount to the cheek and not the shoulder. This is why you dedicated the time and money to own a fitted shotgun, right? The distance or dimension between the lower cheek ledge and the eye remains constant. So if you mount to the same place on your cheek each time, you will be assured of good eye-barrel alignment. What about the distance between your shoulder and your eye? This dimension will vary depending on the elevation of the target you are engaging. For a rabbit, or other targets below chest level, you will tend to mount the gun a bit higher in the shoulder. For a teal or tower target, you will naturally seat the gun a bit lower in the shoulder. If you mount to the shoulder first, how will you know where in the shoulder the gun should sit? In engaging a rabbit target, if you mount too low in the shoulder pocket, you will shoot high. If you put the butt of the gun too high in the shoulder on a high tower target, you will tend to shoot low. Mounting to the shoulder is inherently inconsistent because the spatial relationship, or distance, between the eye and the shoulder is variable whereas the relationship between the eye and the cheek ledge is constant. Additionally, if you mount the gun to your shoulder first instead of bringing the gun all the way to the cheek, you now have to move your head down to the gun before executing the shot. In mounting to the shoulder first and lowering the head to the comb, you will tend to roll over the stock, placing the dominant eye outside the centerline of the rib. Even worse is the tendency to inadvertently position the dominant eye below the rib line when lowering the head to the comb. By lowering the head to the gun, a shooter will tend to interrupt the visual connection while limiting the ability of the hands and arms to move the gun to the target. Shooters who lower the head to the comb are generally less consistent shooters because they produce different stock-to-cheek placement with each mount. I often hear shooters attribute a miss to “I lifted my head off the stock!” The reality is that shooters don’t miss because they fail to bring the head to the gun. They miss because they fail to bring the gun to the head. Rule #5: Commit to the finish The longer the ride, the more likely the miss. The moment the comb of the stock reaches your cheek, the quality of the visual information reaching your brain begins to degrade. Conversely, the moment the comb of the gun reaches your cheek, the quality of target information resident in your brain will be at its optimal level. As a result, it is critical to time your move, mount, focus, and execution to converge at the break point. The brain possesses the highest quality of information about the target just prior to the gun contacting the cheek. The quality of this information begins to rapidly degrade at this

122 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

point because many of the reference points the brain uses to determine the target’s distance, speed, and direction are occluded by the barrel. The longer the stock is in your cheek, the fewer data points the brain has to direct the shotgun to the target, thus increasing the likelihood of a miss. I refer to the interval of time between the time the stock reaches your cheek and the time you pull the trigger as “the occlusion interval.” The longer the occlusion interval, the more likely it is that something is going to go wrong. The longer the occlusion interval on a given target, the more likely it is that your visual focus will diffuse and you will become consciously aware of the barrel. To be clear, a shot should be executed such that three key events occur precisely at the break point: 1) your visual focus on the target reaches a crescendo, 2) the comb of the stock stabilizes in the cheek, and 3) the trigger is activated. Gary Greenway, former NSCA chief instructor, liked to describe this convergence at the break point as “Lock on, Lock up, and Deliver.” Visually “lock on” to the target with your eyes, “lock up” the comb to the cheek, and “deliver” the shot. This is where shot planning is an essential element of higher performance in clay target sports. When you plan your shot, you start by determining your break point. If you have chosen your break point because you believe it offers you the highest probability of a kill, why on earth would you override your plan? Why wouldn’t you commit to your break point? In bird hunting, where the flight, speed, and trajectories of targets are unpredictable, you don’t have the option of planning your break points, but in sporting clays you do. In sporting clays planning and committing to your break points not only is an option but is a key ingredient to the quest for higher performance. I see so many shooters “riding” targets in an effort to make them look perfect. In some cases the shooter is measuring the gap between the barrel and the target, but in others the shooter simply lacks the commitment to break the target at the preplanned break point. The break point you chose during pre-shot planning will always be more favorable than the one you choose with the gun in your face. Commit to your chosen break point. Finish the shot! If you are not yet convinced that commitment to your plan and your break points is critical, allow me to offer yet another way to look at shot planning and commitment to the finish. Think of a broken target as an algebraic equation with four variables: HP + MI + GS + BP = Broken Target Your HP (hold point—your gun’s starting position) plus your MI (moment of initiation—the moment you start your gun movement toward the break point) plus GS (gun speed) plus BP (break point) equals a broken target. If you break a clay target on the

Movem ent: Execution / / 123

first attempt, and all four of these “values” remain the same as you attempt the target a second time, you will break the target on the second attempt as well. If you change only one variable when attempting to break the target again, you will increase the probability of a missed target on the second attempt or you will have missed your break point, having broken the target in a spot that is less than optimal. To successfully repeat the broken target on the second attempt, you must either replicate all four variables or change at least two of the four variables. For example, if you repeated the target engagement with the same hold point but initiated your move late, you would need to increase your gun speed or, if shooting sustained lead, delay your shot execution and therefore move your break point to a location farther from the trap. Conversely, if you missed a particular target and, as an experienced shooter, you felt you were behind the target, the correct course of action would be to change one variable. As an example, you might want to increase your gun speed in this case. On the second attempt you start the gun in the same spot (hold point) and initiate movement at the same moment, but this time you add more gun speed while executing the shot at the same “kill spot” or break point. While some might describe this as “adding lead,” I would encourage you to think about this particular correction as adding gun speed instead of adding lead. The result is the same, but adjusting the lead will get you thinking about the visible gap between the barrel and the target at the break point. By looking for a larger gap or lead, you must now soften your focus on the target in order to see the gap clearly. This is otherwise known as “measuring.” Thinking about the above correction as a gun speed adjustment will reinforce the need to apply strong visual focus to the target and keep all other variables but gun speed constant. Other than applying acute visual focus to the target, commitment to the planned break point of a given target is perhaps the most important element of proper shot execution. CONCLUSION Proper movement in sporting clays involves pre-shot planning, a good ready position, and consistent execution. Perfecting your gun mount and movement will be the most time-consuming aspect of your skill development in shotgunning, but it is also an area of opportunity for most shooters. While shooters often look for shortcuts in perfecting mount and movement, there aren’t any. Any time and resources you dedicate to perfecting your mount and movement will pay great dividends in your performance. If you hone your preshot planning skills, always establish a good ready position prior to calling for a target, and “get radical” with the Five Radical Rules of Movement, you are guaranteed to yield more X’s on the scorecard.

C H A P TE R 11

FAITH

Faith is the belief in things not seen. It’s the belief in something that needs no verification. As a Christian, my faith is “unprovable,” but I still believe in God’s grace and eternal salvation through Christ. Similarly, sporting clays shooters must break targets by faith, most often without verification of the muzzle-target relationship. Some call this shooting in the subconscious. Shooting your best, with absolute confidence, requires a certain level of faith: a degree of letting go. Faith, as the third principle of Focus-Movement-Faith, is the steadfast trust in your innate ability to break a moving clay target with a shot shell pellet string while focused exclusively on the target. Shotgunning is all about fixing, pointing, and executing: fixing on the target with your eyes to feed the onboard computer, feeling the point subconsciously through proprioception and accumulated visual-spatial intelligence, and executing the shot. Even if your gun movement is perfectly synchronized with the target and focus is sharp, a lack of faith can cause a last-second check of the barrel-target relationship—and a miss. In some cases your check of the barrel with your peripheral vision can be subconscious. You didn’t plan to check. It just happened. Either way, it is a lack of commitment to killing the target with your eyes at your chosen break point that caused the miss. If after engaging a target you have any conscious visual notion of your forward allowance, or you failed to execute the shot at the break point, either you were not sufficiently focused on the target or your faith wavered. “Muzzle-itis” can be a terribly debilitating affliction for clay target shooters. I walked up behind a squad of shooters at the NSCA National Championship in 2015 to see a shooter attempt to engage a crossing target that was in transition during the second half of its flight path. By the movement of the shooter’s shotgun barrel, one could clearly see that he was aiming instead of pointing the shotgun, and he repeatedly rode the target almost all the way to the ground before executing the shot. As I walked up, his squad mate quipped, “I thought that target was going to die of old age!” I’m usually pretty studious and intense during such

Faith / / 125

events, but that crack sent me into a healthy belly laugh. I often hear shooters comparing notes on measured lead with squad mates. For the faithless and hopelessly analytical shooters among us, there seems to be an almost incessant curiosity with regard to measured lead, or forward allowance. The skeptic might ask, “If you focus exclusively on the target, how are you going to make sure the barrel is in the right place to break the target?” Applying singular focus to the target, without visual verification, seems counterintuitive to some and illogical to others, particularly the practiced rifle shooter and perhaps even the skeet shooter who was taught to measure lead. What about all the videos and books advocating different methods of calculating lead and estimating distance and speed? There are indeed volumes written on the measured lead that one need apply to targets of different sizes, at different distances, traveling at a variety of speeds, and engaged with a variety of shot sizes and loads. Charles Lancaster, of all people, published a table of allowances in his 1889 work The Art of Shooting1 describing the lead required to engage a crossing pheasant at 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 yards using shot sizes of 3 up to 7. These volumes and the specific distances and shot types are of little practical use when actually shooting targets or game birds, but it is indeed interesting. Even if we knew the exact lead required for a particular target, a shooter would need to apply the given lead to the target by sight, pulling the trigger when the barrel arrives at the appropriate measured “gap” between the barrel and target. In order to measure gap, then, by definition the shooter would need to clearly see both the barrel and the target, requiring her to relax her focus on the target and engage her peripheral vision. This of course, would be a self-defeating proposition, because as the shooter relaxes his focus to check the gap or measure the barrel-target distance, he is no longer visually connected to the focal point of the target, causing a miss behind. Disconnecting from the target denies the shooter’s brain the critical target guidance information needed to break the target. Even if it were physically possible for the eye to focus on the barrel and target simultaneously, the limitless combinations of terrain, target type, trajectory, and speed inherent in sporting clays make the practice of consciously measuring and applying lead a sure path to frustration. Sure, you can get away with “checking” the barrel here and there on closer or less technical targets. But more often than not, an attempt to check the barrel-target relationship or to simultaneously focus on both the barrel and the target results in a diffusion or softening of visual target focus, a loss of synchronization with the target, and an almost certain miss. Robert Churchill said, “It is high time that the whole allowance system was deposited in the waste paper basket. It is not practical and it establishes an entirely false foundation of thought at the back of the shooter’s mind.” He further said that you should simply “keep your eye on the bird; forget all you ever knew and heard about the thousands of different

126 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

allowances and let your eye and the natural overthrow of the gun take care of everything else.”2 Percy Stanbury similarly urged students to “keep your eye unwaveringly on the target” and “have no fear when you fire a gun; hold it firmly, be determined to master it and have confidence that you are going to point it in the right direction.”3 As discussed in the chapter on focus (Chapter 7), if you remember nothing else from this book, remember this: Lead must be “felt,” not measured. The application of lead is subconscious rather than conscious. It takes confidence to exercise faith. To gain confidence, one must accumulate successes by breaking more targets. By simply focusing on the target, pointing the shotgun, and executing the shot without conscious awareness of the barrel-target relationship, your confidence will grow. The more targets you break employing faith, the more likely you are to employ it repeatedly and successfully. Have faith in your natural hand-eye coordination and in your innate ability to intercept the target. Tell yourself, and know in your conscious mind, that if you are visually connected to the focal point on a target, your movement and mount are sound, and you execute the shot at the break point and leave the calculations to your subconscious, the target will break. This is the essence of faith. Churchill’s major contribution to shotgunning was his theory of allowance that simply applied what was already known from other similar sports. You have a God-given, innate ability to intercept an object in flight simply by focusing on it. This method of feeling the lead rather than consciously measuring it has been practiced and faithfully employed by the giants in game shooting, and later sporting clays, for over a century. Some of the best ways in which to promote faith-filled fearless shooting are positive selftalk and the use of mental cues just prior to calling for the target. Tell yourself, and know in your conscious mind, that if your focus on the target is sharp and timed correctly and the shot is executed at the break point, the target will break. This is the essence of faith. Another aspect of faith is confidence in your shot plan and your abilities. As we discussed in the chapter on shot planning (Chapter 8), it’s essential that you establish a plan for engaging each target pair prior to stepping into the station. Once your plan is developed, stick with it. Have absolute faith that your plan and your abilities are sufficient to break the targets. By planning and visualizing your shot execution, you are essentially preprogramming the “felt” forward allowance required to kill the target. To the new shooter, and especially the practiced rifle shooter, this will sound a bit like voodoo. It did to me the first time I read about instinctive shooting and Churchill’s theory of forward allowance. Shooting a shotgun without aiming? Whenever I first introduce a beginning student to their innate ability to break a target while having no conscious

Faith / / 127

awareness of the barrel-target relationship, they are flabbergasted. They can’t believe that it actually works. They are surprised when the target breaks. It is at that seminal moment that they have had their first taste of faith. As for me, I am a true believer and a Churchill evangelist. Do you need strong faith to enjoy sporting clays? No. Similar to a joyful atheist, it is quite possible for a shooter who lacks faith to eke out an existence, perhaps even gleaning years of pleasure from our sport, while measuring every target. But for other more committed shooters, faith may be the final missing piece of the puzzle. You won’t wake up one day with an abundance of faith. It is a gradual process. Each time you engage your faith and achieve positive results, your confidence will grow and your scores will climb.

P A R T

I I

THE PATH TO MASTERY

C H A P TE R 12

INTRODUCTION TO THE PATH TO MASTERY

I am truly blessed to be a witness and participant in the progression of shooters. It is a unique privilege. I enjoy instructing all shotgun enthusiasts, from hunters to advanced competitors, but I have a confession to make. The students with whom I glean the greatest satisfaction are those who have definitive goals and the desire and commitment to achieve them. Words are not sufficient to explain the sense of fulfillment and privilege I feel when I coach one of my students to a new milestone. When I have the opportunity to “ride along” with a shooter on his or her evolution from beginner to enthusiast to a master of the shotgun, the reward is great. Shooter after shooter, it never gets old, and I never forget what a blessing it is to play a part in a shooter’s path to mastery. In Part I we established a foundation of fundamentals upon which good shotgunning is built. In Part II we will expand on the fundamentals and equip you with concepts, techniques, and tools known to the best shooters and coaches in our sport. Through the following pages my fervent hope is to accompany you along your own unique path to mastery.

C H A P TE R 13

WHEN FOCUS AND MOVEMENT CONVERGE

A shooter’s ability to apply acute visual Focus to a target is largely dependent on the efficiency of the shooter’s Movement to the target. Most shooters of the sport completely underestimate the degree to which a shooter’s visual focus is either facilitated or inhibited by the shooter’s movement to the target. Having discussed Focus and Movement in isolation, let’s tie together these first two critical elements of Focus-Movement-Faith. In short, the single most significant thing you can do to improve your visual focus when intercepting clay targets with a shotgun is to perfect your gun movement and mount mechanics. No, it’s not eye exercises, new shooting glasses, vitamins, or carrot juice. Movement plays a far more critical role in a shooter’s ability to visually focus on a target than most shooters know or understand. If you are a sporting clays competitor and reached a plateau in C, B, or even A Class, more than likely you need to invest some time and energy into perfecting your gun mount and movement. As mentioned earlier, your mount and movement of the shotgun to the target either permits or inhibits visual focus. There is nothing in between. Earlier I defined movement as “the fluid, rhythmic, and synchronized motion of the whole body, head, hands, and gun as a single unit along the target line to the bird, culminating in the almost instantaneous discharging of the shotgun as sharp visual focus on the target is achieved and the gun mount to the cheek is completed.” I further described movement as being composed of planning, ready position, and execution. Efficient movement that is consistent with the speed and line of the target allows the shooter to visually acquire the target and apply focus from the visual pickup point through the break point. Conversely, inefficient movement detracts from the shooter’s ability to focus on the target. A shooter’s inability to focus most often occurs because the gun deviates from the target line and disturbs the shooter’s visual lock on the target or because the shooter moves the gun abruptly and at a faster speed than the target. This draws the shooter’s eye from the target to the front bead of the shotgun. (The eye is always drawn to the closest and fastest object.)

Wh en Focus and Movem ent Converg e / / 133

MOVEMENT INEFFICIENCIES Let’s first understand the most common flaws in a shooter’s movement (what not to do) and then the keys to optimizing movement (what you should do). Movement is one aspect of your game that you are not likely to fix on your own, because you simply can’t see the flaws yourself. Your best option is to turn to a qualified coach who has a particular eye for mount mechanics and can observe, diagnose, and treat whatever inherent inefficiencies you may have. Following are the five most common types of movement inefficiencies that prevent shooters from achieving the proper visual lock on the target: • Spoiling the line: The shooter traces the target line with the gun barrel, allowing the gun barrel to occlude his or her visual connection with the target. This causes the target to be partially obscured by the barrel just prior to and through the break point. • Barrel wobble: This is typically caused by allowing the trigger hand (back hand) to overpower the front hand during the mount and movement of the gun to the target. Similarly, if the shooter orients the gun barrel at an excessively high angle to the target line in the ready position, the resulting movement of the barrel may cause the barrel to wobble above or below the target line as the shot is delivered. This is also known as a “seesaw” motion. • Long occlusion interval: As the eyes lock onto the focal point of the target and the comb reaches the cheek, a shooter should decisively execute the shot at the break point. Many shooters, however, “ride the target,” thus reducing the quality of information the eye is capturing, often resulting in a visual “check” of the barreltarget relationship at the end of the stroke. For a target with a long flight time, timing your focus is critical. Remember, the eye can only hold sharp visual focus for about a second. • Abrupt or asynchronous movement: This occurs when a shooter acquires the target visually but then initiates movement that fails to synchronize with the line, speed, or trajectory of the target. While there are countless reasons for this asynchronous movement, a miss is most often the result of poor hold point selection during preshot planning or abrupt gun mount. • Eye-barrel misalignment: Rolling the head over the comb, canting the head or gun, or leaning the head to the outside of the comb during delivery of the shot can cause misalignment of the rib with the dominant eye. When this occurs, the gun will not shoot where the shooter is looking.

134 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

With so many ways to miss, why mount the gun at all? Wouldn’t it be easier to simply pre-mount the gun? Investment advisors will tell you that there are no get-rich-quick investments. It’s the slow, steady investors who reach their goals. The fact is that most shooters plateau because they don’t want to put the work into their mount and movement technique. The sporting clays equivalent of a get-rich-quick investor is the guy who premounts all the time. He has certainly eliminated any potential inefficiency in mount and movement without investing any time perfecting it. With very few exceptions, a premounted shooter will be limited in his ability to see targets well or discern the nuances of transitioning or dropping targets. He will certainly have difficulty engaging a teal target or a quail rising off the nose of a bird dog. So what is an aspiring Master Class shooter to do? Focus on the fundamentals of Focus and Movement, as the two elements are inextricably linked. TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR BETTER MOVEMENT • Move the gun to the cheek rather than the shoulder. The shoulder will naturally come forward to meet the butt of the stock. • Keep the head oriented on the target throughout the mount and movement, never moving the head down to meet the comb (keep “the camera” still). • Keep the full weight of the gun in the hands, leading with the front hand. Both hands must work equally and together, pointing the muzzle to the target with the lead hand and bringing the comb to the cheek with the back hand while simultaneously synchronizing the whole body, head, and gun with the target. • Minimize barrel wobble or “seesawing” by maintaining proper muzzle angle with the target line from ready position to break point. For most target engagements your muzzle angle, or barrel orientation, should be at a point on or just below the break point throughout the flight path of the target in order to promote good visual connection with the target. • For a transitioning target establish a hold point that is a bit closer to the break point and angled down a bit so that you can move the gun upward into the break point rather than tracing or “spoiling” the target line (see “Intercept” in Chapter 16, “Target Tactics”). • The gun should be at the cheek and shoulder only momentarily before the shot is delivered so that the visuomotor system is using the highest possible quality of information to kill the target.

Wh en Focus and Movem ent Converg e / / 135

• For a target with a shorter engagement window, use a shorter draw length, thus reducing the travel distance of the comb to the cheek and minimizing muzzle turbulence. While visual focus on the target is key, your ability to focus on a target is largely dependent upon the efficiency of your movement. Mounting the gun while simultaneously maintaining visual focus and synchronizing with the target may sound simple, but it takes time to perfect, render consistent, and relegate to the subconscious. The rewards of practice, however, are lasting. If your Movement allows your eye to maintain sharp visual focus from the visual pickup point through the break point, you are well on your way to another broken target.

C H A P TE R 14

THE DIAGNOSTIC TREE: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Fo + M + Fa = X It’s not a chemical compound. It’s the formula for a broken target: sharp Focus (Fo) just prior to and through the break point combined with sound Movement (M) and finished with Faith (Fa): fearless execution of the shot at the break point. Together they equal X’s on the scorecard. So what’s the formula for a miss? The good news is, disaster can be averted while still in the stand, by evaluating your Focus, Movement, and Faith to determine which one(s) might have failed you. The bad news is, there is more than one way to miss. As instructors, we have a little tool we call the “diagnostic tree.” It is a decision tree consisting of symptoms and causes that we employ as we attempt to solve our clients’ shooting challenges. Thus far we have discussed Focus-Movement-Faith as a set of principles for successful shotgunning. Just as this three-word mnemonic is a formula for success in shotgunning, it is also a diagnostic tree to help root out the reasons for a miss. As a shooter who has just experienced a miss, you can use Focus-Movement-Faith to reveal the possible reasons for the miss, address the reason on the next pair, and engineer a splendid recovery and a strong finish. Let’s cover some of the most common reasons for a miss. FLAWED FOCUS (M + Fa) – Fo = 0 Did you see detail on the target? Did you focus small (on the detail of the target)? Did you apply sharp focus too soon? Proper visual focus is characterized by an unwavering visual connection just prior to and through the break point. Lack of focus, or breaking the

Th e D iag nostic Tree: Puttin g It All To g eth er / / 137

connection between the eye and the target, is easily the most common reason for a miss. In many cases remaining visually connected with the target through the break point can compensate for an otherwise flawed movement. Churchill put it best when he said that the shooter’s eye should be “fully occupied with the bird, and, if he holds his gun properly, he will hit whatever he is looking at.” Your focus must be exclusively on the target, with no perception of the barrel-target relationship. If after breaking a target you think you visually perceived the “gap,” or lead, you likely were not sufficiently focused on the target and your perception of lead is a false one. Don’t try to repeat or consciously impose the lead you think you just saw. Instead, impose an even stronger visual connection with the focal point of the target through the break point and, once again, feel the lead. This is especially true for closer targets or those showing significant belly or face. Focusing on the whole target is not sufficient. You must focus small and see detail on the target. Typically our focal point is the leading edge or rings of the target. Failing to apply focus to a specific point on the target can cause your focus to diffuse, your awareness to shift to the barrel, and your shot string to miss the target. The timing of your focus might also have been the issue. As discussed, your strongest visual focus must be applied to the target just prior to and through the break point. If you focus on a target too early in its flight path, your eye may not be able to sustain sharp focus through the break point. As a result, your focus will diffuse, you will become conscious of the barrel-target relationship, your barrel will fall out of sync with the target, and you will miss. In the case of a long, incoming target, for example, be patient. Avoid applying sharp visual focus until the target approaches the break point. While focus is perhaps the most important of the three principles, it is somewhat dependent on the other two. So remember that flawed focus might be attributable to flawed movement. FLAWED MOVEMENT (Fo + Fa) – M = 0 Once practiced and perfected, movement from your ready position through the break point should be subconscious and guided by proper visual focus. As discussed earlier, movement starts with a good pre-shot planning process in which you map your target line across the background and identify your visual pickup point, hold points, and break points. Good shot planning results in a proper ready position for the given target. Remember, it is the shot

138 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

planning work and rehearsal outside the shooting stand that build the essential confidence needed to allow your subconscious to take over inside the box. It is not enough to just move. The movement of body and gun as one unit must be in perfect flow and synchronization with the target just prior to and through the break point. If, for example, your muzzle angle in the ready position is inappropriate for the target line, it is more likely that your muzzle will move erratically through the break point, interrupting your visual connection with the target. Movement and Focus are highly interdependent elements. Wendell Cherry said it best: “A shooter’s visual focus is controlled by how accurately the gun mount mirrors the flight of the bird. The entire length of the gun, from muzzle to heel, must be in perfect rhythm with the target all the way to the face and shoulder, letting the eyes stay on the target. If the gun is moving faster than the target, the shooter’s focus will be uncontrollably pulled away from the target.” In short, movement that is out of sync with the target will negatively affect focus. LACK OF FAITH (Fo + M) – Fa = 0 Of the three elements, Faith is perhaps the most difficult to master, because faith, or lack thereof, is the by-product of your mental game rather than your technical abilities. For the great majority of competitive shooters, their energy outside of competition is directed toward technical preparation rather than mental preparation. Most competitive shooters wait far too long into their competitive careers to turn their attention to the mental aspects of the game. The reason for this, I believe, is that shooters see only an indirect correlation between pre-shot routine and performance rather than appreciating the direct impact on one’s scores. While the strength of your mental game, or faith, may seem to have only an indirect impact on your scores, the affect is instead direct and significant. When does faith most often fail? Anytime: in competition, when trying to shoot a target with which you often have difficulty, when in the midst of a “streak” and shooting better than you think you should, when you see a shooter in front of you shooting a true pair in a way that differs from the way you were going to shoot it, and when you shoot in a mindset of fear rather than one of positive energy. When you call for the bird, do you have complete faith in your ability to hit the target while having no conscious perception of the barrel-target relationship? In my experience both shooting and coaching, there are two common causes of a miss that are directly attributable to a lack of faith: 1) failure to commit to a preplanned break point and 2) failure to maintain visual intensity through the break point (aka visual follow-

Th e D iag nostic Tree: Puttin g It All To g eth er / / 139

through). For reasons we discussed in the chapter on execution (Chapter 10), a failure to commit to preplanned break points will result in a miss unless one of the other three elements of execution is also modified to compensate. Since one of the most common causes of a miss is a lack of visual follow-through, a shooter must train himself to see the target break and avoid the temptation of allowing the visual focus on the target to diffuse for the purpose of checking the barrel-target relationship. Lack of faith can also cause your muscles to tighten and your movement to stiffen or stop. It can cause you to execute the shot after the planned break point or shift your hold points closer to the trap. While focus and movement can be controlled physically, controlling faith, confidence, or trust delves into the realm of sports psychology and the pre-shot routine. As we will discuss in Chapter 17, on the OPTIMAL Process, a solid, consistent, and unwavering preshot routine is one of the keys to achieving consistent faith or trust. It is tournament day. You are at the shooting station, waiting for your turn in the box. You conduct your pre-shot planning. You map the target lines and carefully select your break points, hold points, and visual pickup points. You step into the station, visualize yourself breaking the pair, and assume the proper ready position. You take a deep breath. Your work is done. At this point your only job is to intentionally connect with the focal point of the target. You remind yourself to focus. “Pull!” If you experience a miss, stop, take a breath, and ask yourself a few key questions: Did I see the focal point on the target as I pulled the trigger? Did I feel the point? Did I trust my onboard computer? The answers to these questions will guide you toward the necessary correction and a more probable X on the scorecard.

C H A P TE R 15

DECEPTIVE TARGETS

The purpose of this chapter is to help you identify target types and presentations that are inherently deceptive so that you can raise an internal “red flag” during pre-shot planning and alter your shot plan accordingly. There are some targets that are naturally deceptive to many shooters. By deceptive I mean that your brain—your cerebral computer—is telling you that the target is doing something different than reality. Said another way, your brain does not accurately perceive the character of the target at your chosen break point. It is not my purpose in this chapter to provide you with specific tactics to break deceptive targets. I will address this in the next chapter, titled “Target Tactics.” My purpose here is to assist you in identifying those targets that are particularly deceptive in the hope that your awareness will cause you to look at targets more carefully. By definition, sporting clays is dramatically different from skeet and trap because the types of target presentations are constantly changing throughout a typical round, from one station to the next. There really aren’t any deceptive targets in skeet. Barring weather conditions, skeet targets are thrown from the same relative locations, on the same trajectories, and at the same angles and speeds throughout the game. In trap, targets are a bit more random, as they are thrown at various trajectories within a 44-degree horizontal arc, but they are thrown at the same speed (approximately 47 mph) and to a constant distance (about 50 yards). As we know, sporting clays has an infinite number of potential presentations that extend well beyond the standard 108-mm target. In the hands of a creative target setter, the possibilities increase exponentially. A target setter has a variety of variables with which he can baffle and amaze shooters: a half-dozen target color combinations, spring tension to change target speed, trap angle to affect target trajectory, elevation of the trap platform, as well as the positioning of the shooting stand in relation to the traps. By maximizing the use of these variables, as well as making good use of terrain and the timing of pair combinations, the target setter can deliver a dizzying array of possible target presentations. This is what makes our sport so wonderfully exciting, and occasionally exasperating.

D eceptive Targ ets / / 141

The first step in identifying a deceptive target is to carefully observe the target from the moment it leaves the trap arm all the way to the ground. You should always opt for a view pair, or show pair, prior to engaging any target pair. Careful observation of a target during its flight will help you identify the visual deception that the target setter has prepared for you. As discussed in the section on pre-shot planning, it is essential that you carefully observe what the target is doing at the planned break point. Many shooters take the target for granted and fail to fully use their powers of observation. The most common trick of good target setters is to set a target such that it is transitioning at its most logical or natural break point. When a target “transitions,” it is changing speed, trajectory, or both. In general, it is easier to engage a target when it is moving at a constant speed and direction than when it is in transition. Another common tactic for target setters is to create a large contrast in the speed of a target pair, with the first target significantly faster or slower than the second. Another tactic commonly used by target setters when throwing true pairs is to force the shooter to engage one of the targets of a pair in a place other than the target’s natural break point. Of all possible types of deceptive targets, I’ve identified the three that prove most challenging for my students as well as experienced shooters. MIDIS AND MINIS Your ability to read midis and minis can really make the difference between winning and losing a tournament. Although they normally represent only 3 to 12 percent of the targets thrown in a competition, that’s just enough to send you back to the clubhouse as an also-ran if you fall prey to these “specialty targets.” Although the standard American trap and American skeet target has a diameter of 108 mm, midis and minis, as their names suggest, are smaller. The midi is 90 mm and the mini is 60 mm. Both of these targets can deceive your perception of speed and distance as you try to break them. While both the midi and the mini seem quicker and farther away than they really are, the mini’s lack of mass forces it to lose speed dramatically, making it even more troublesome. In either case you can easily find yourself shooting in front of these targets, thinking they are farther away and going faster than they really are. If your eyes and brain lead you to think that the target is farther away, you will naturally add forward allowance. If you see the bird charging out of the trap, you will also add more forward allowance and fail to apply a concentrated focus on the target. This target will prompt you to make a sudden or quick move to the target with a hold point that’s typically too far back toward the trap, thinking you need to get a jump-start and nail it early. But here is what you need to know: Before stepping into the box, while viewing the targets and

142 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

going through your pre-shot planning, understand that these targets will take less forward allowance than your eyes and brain would have you believe. Get comfortable with the speed of the target by using your outstretched lead hand to test different hold points along the target’s flight path. While it may prove more difficult, try to see detail on the target in order to give yourself a sense of the true speed of it. Your goal is to settle on an appropriate hold point for the character of the target that is somewhere between your visual pickup point and your break point but certainly not so far back that the target outruns your eyes or hand. The most important thing with regard to your hold point is that it be placed where you can apply concentrated focus to the target before pulling the trigger. So, you have settled on your hold point and plant in your subconscious the notion that you will need to apply less lead than your brain tells you to. Now you simply step into the box, go to your hold point, and apply intense focus on the target’s focal point. Commit to your break point and forget about everything else. Your subconscious will provide you with the proper forward allowance. SHOWING BELLY OR FACE The second kind of target that deceives many shooters is the target that shows a lot of belly or face, including the battue target. On these targets you are seeing more of the target than you normally would with an edge-on target. My first coach used to tell me, “You can’t miss those in front!” Targets showing more belly or face will require more forward allowance than your eyes and brain will lead you to believe. These targets look like they are floating and moving more slowly than they really are, because they appear bigger when they are really the same size as an edge-on crosser. Any target that’s showing more belly or face is going to take more forward allowance than your eyes and brain naturally think it will. You’re being deceived into believing that the target is moving slower than it is. During your pre-shot routine simply tell yourself that you will need to “feel” a bit more forward allowance than normal. Once again, don’t try to “measure” incremental forward allowance; simply apply focus to the focal point on the target, feel the front hand extend the lead, and pull the trigger. RABBITS The third and final type of deceptive target is that wily rabbit. I’ve saved the rabbit for last because it sort of contradicts everything I’ve said about targets that show belly and face. I’ll also add a caveat at this point: What I am about to share with you applies only to crossing rabbits (not quartering) and will hold true for rabbits inside 30 yards.

D eceptive Targ ets / / 143

Even though the crossing rabbit shows a lot of face (or sometimes belly), the above strategy for belly and face targets does not apply. The reality is that the rabbit always looks like it is moving faster than it really is due to its proximity to the ground. Most misses, therefore, are in front, and most shooters have their hold point too far back toward the trap, thinking they have to rush to the target. Consequently, shooters often mistakenly apply forward allowance to a rabbit as they would to a fast-moving standard target. The result is that most novice shooters miss the rabbit in front, even though their squad members all call the shot as a miss behind. For the rabbit your focal point is on the front foot of the rabbit— that’s about 4:30 on the clock for a left-to-right and 7:30 for a right-to-left rabbit. There are a couple of different methods with which to kill these deceptive targets that we will cover in the next chapter. The key is that your line of movement remains just below the target line so as to guard against shooting over the top of the target. Your muzzle should start behind the rabbit and sweep through the target on the target line at about the level of the rabbit’s “feet,” or bottom edge. While maintaining your focus on the chin, pull the trigger as soon as you feel the muzzle touching the butt, or trailing edge, of the target. While it feels as though you are going to miss behind, the natural forward movement of the gun will take your muzzle through the rabbit past its chin, and the momentum of your swing will apply the correct amount of forward allowance. If you apply soft focus, focus on the whole target instead of the chin, or try to measure your lead, you’ll miss the target. Feeling and applying the correct forward allowance can be challenging enough, particularly with your squad mates telling you that you were in front or behind the target. As you gain experience in recognizing deceptive targets and observing each target for signs of transition at the break point, you will become more skilled at the art and science of target planning. In addition to the differences in appearance of the various target types we encounter in sporting clays, you should also keep in mind that different targets and presentations have different “break resistance.” A rabbit target and a target presented on edge are more difficult to break, for example, compared to a battue or a target showing belly or face at the break point. You might consider a tighter choke or a #7½ shot in this instance. On the belly/face target or the battue, you might want to consider using #8 or even #9 shot, particularly if the target is inside of 25 yards. Also remember that a target with a lot of spin, which is rotating quickly, is easier to break than a slowly spinning target. The best defense against a deceptive target is, first, being aware of the deceptive nature of certain targets and, second, taking care to analyze the target’s type, speed, and trajectory during pre-shot planning.

C H A P TE R 16

TARGET TACTICS

I promised to provide you with both principles and techniques to guide your shooting as well as to clearly differentiate between principles and techniques throughout this journey. As mentioned in Part I, a technique or method is a means to accomplish a task or goal. For a given task there may be any number of techniques that will effectively accomplish a given goal and bring about the desired outcome. Techniques for engaging clay targets on the sporting clays course are numerous. There are multiple viable techniques for engaging the same target presentation, all of which are valid provided that they involve the following principles: 1) an acute visual connection with the target (Focus); 2) an efficient and appropriate ready position, move, and mount (Movement); and 3) a trust that the target will break without visual verification of barrel-target alignment (Faith). Techniques that fail to adhere to these principles are ineffective on a consistent basis and should be abandoned as viable means of engaging moving targets with a shotgun. In Part I, and the chapters on Focus, Movement, and Faith, my goal was to create a foundation of principles upon which technique is built. In this chapter we will shift gears and concentrate on technique by introducing you to an assortment of target tactics proven to be effective in breaking specific types and presentations of clay targets. Keep in mind that a large percentage of shooters have only a vague idea of exactly how they achieve lead on a particular target. By “achieving lead” I am referring to how the gun moves in relationship to the target in the moments leading up to shot execution. If you start your move at the moment you detect movement of the target, insert the gun in front of the target, match target speed, and maintain the distance between your muzzle and the target throughout the execution of the shot, this is referred to as “sustained lead” or “maintained lead.” Allowing the target to move in front of the muzzle or inserting the gun behind the target and accelerating the gun through the target before pulling the trigger is known as “swingthrough” or “pass-through.” If you insert the muzzle on the target, match the speed of the

Targ et Tactics / / 145

bbInsert in front, maintain the lead, and execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

146 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbInsert to the target, accelerate the muzzle away from target along the target line, and execute the shot as barrel separates from the target. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

Targ et Tactics / / 147

bbInsert behind the target (or allow the target to beat the muzzle), accelerate the muzzle through the target along the target line, and execute the shot as the barrel passes through the target. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

148 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

target briefly, and then accelerate away from the target, we refer to this as “pull-away” or “synchronize and separate.” I have a confession to make. At the time I achieved Master Class status on the competition circuit, I mistakenly believed that I used only one “default method” of achieving lead and that one technique, sustained lead, was all I needed. While I engaged most targets using my default method, I had a false perception of how I imposed lead on some targets. In other words, I would unconsciously depart from my default method to one that was more appropriate for the particular presentation. I later learned that I was not the exception but rather the rule. For all but the most experienced and self-aware shooters, the individual’s perception of the manner in which he or she achieves lead often differs from reality. Many shooters will unconsciously divert from their default technique as they address certain target types. As I matured as a shooter, I developed some alternative techniques or methods to achieve lead when the target presentation required it. As my shooting and awareness evolved, and a certain presentation called for an approach different than sustained lead, I was able to intentionally plan for and reliably execute the shot using a more appropriate technique than my default. Throughout my years of experience as a coach, I have had dozens of very advanced shooters seek me out for help with a particular target presentation. In most of these cases, the shooter’s default method was not a good fit for the particular target presentation. The fact is, a single-technique approach limits the ability of a shooter to engage the broad spectrum of targets found on today’s sporting clays courses. Nevertheless, many pro shooters who also happen to be instructors teach and claim that one method of achieving lead is the only method a shooter needs on the sporting clays course. If all of these folks, who are both pro shooters and instructors, shot the same method as their default, one might be tempted to believe that one method or technique holds the key. But this is far from the case. I have in my head the names and shooting styles of four masters of the shotgun who have won national or world championship titles over the last 10 years. All are instructors of note, and each favors a different technique as their default for engaging sporting clays targets. Of these four, each shoots and associates with a different default technique: pull-away, sustained lead, diminishing lead, and a fourth method that I refer to as the “dynamic” method. Pro #1 (pull-away), Pro #2 (sustained lead), and Pro #3 (diminishing lead) adhere to a fairly rigid approach in their shooting and tend to vary their default technique only when they encounter a rare target that, based on their experience, is best broken by modifying their approach. In their teaching, Pro #1 and Pro #2 tend to reject the possibility that any other technique could be more successful as a means to

Targ et Tactics / / 149

break most all clay targets. Pro #3 is more open to shooters who use other techniques of achieving lead. All three of these champions have a different default method, yet all of them will, on rare occasions, abandon their default method for a target that, experience tells them, is not easily broken with their default technique. This illustration alone should tell you that there is no single stroke, or single method of achieving lead, that won’t fail if faced with a particular target presentation. Are the approaches of these three pro shooters viable and successful? Of course! They are national and world title holders, so you can’t say their approaches don’t work. One must acknowledge, however, that there is more than one successful technique of achieving lead on a given target and that no single technique is a panacea. If a particular technique were the most likely to produce national champions, everyone would be adopting it and flying around the country to take lessons from anyone teaching that method. And if one shooting technique were the solution for breaking all target presentations, all four of these champions would be shooting the same default method. Now for Pro #4. This champion’s dynamic approach lends itself to the wide variety of target presentations we encounter on today’s sporting clays courses, thrown by the most advanced traps and set by the most innovative target setters. Rather than dogmatically adhering to a one-size-fits-all approach to generating lead on sporting clays targets, this champion’s approach is adaptive and flexible. My second confession is that I advocate the approach of Pro #4. If virtually every top shooter, when presented with a certain target, will abandon his default technique, why not develop a small handful of techniques to address the entire spectrum of targets on the sporting clays course? The reason that top shots use different default shooting techniques is that, as stated earlier, we all see targets differently. While we may need multiple techniques for engaging the broad spectrum of targets we encounter, each of us will most often default to one method or the other. But to dogmatically cling to one method for every target presentation will deprive you of a broader selection of “tools” with which to break different targets. Therein lies my approach as a coach. DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS A shooter with only one method of achieving lead is like a golf professional with no ability to draw or fade a golf ball. By utilizing a slightly different club angle or angle of approach to the face of a golf ball, the proficient golfer can impose spin, thus causing the ball to curve in the desired direction at a certain point in the ball’s flight path. In my opinion, this is directly analogous to target tactics in sporting clays.

150 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

The technology and adjustability built into today’s target throwing machines (traps) enable a skilled target setter to serve up an endless variety of target presentations. The complex angles, abrupt speed changes, and velocities with which a target setter can challenge shooters would have stunned Lancaster, Churchill, and Stanbury. As the complexity of target presentations has evolved, the demand for a more flexible and dynamic approach to breaking targets is required. Just as a golfer adjusts the angle at which he impacts the ball with the club to impose a fade, pull, push, or draw, so too must the serious sporting clays shooter adjust the manner in which he approaches the target at the break point. Few of the techniques I am about to share with you can be categorized as uniquely mine, or anyone else’s for that matter. Some, like sustained lead, swingthrough, and pull-away, are the traditional bbJust as a golfer needs to be able to fade or draw the golf ball with different “strokes,” the methods of achieving lead and are familiar high-performing sporting clays shooter must to most experienced sporting clays shooters. have a variety of techniques in his “toolbox” to engage the wide variety of target presentations Others, like intercept and diminishing lead, encountered on the modern sporting clays course. are familiar to most advanced shooters but DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES were only recently codified. When I rewrote the curriculum for the NSCA instructor program in 2014, I revised the Level I instructors’ manual to include these additional two methods of achieving lead. Other techniques, like the “quartering move” and “two-piece,” are variations of pull-away and swing-through that I learned from Steve Schultz, my current coach, the founder of the TargetLine Shooting School (www.targetlineshooting.com) and a world-renowned instructor who has trained numerous national and world champions. Regardless of origin, I have found each of the following techniques, or methods of achieving lead, to be highly effective for many shooters if executed properly and used on the appropriate target presentations. I have employed

Targ et Tactics / / 151

all of these methods, in practice and in competition, and coached my students on these techniques at the point that they displayed sufficient skill and experience to incorporate these tools into their game. I have honed and perfected both the descriptions below and my teaching of these tools over thousands of hours of coaching and have helped a wide variety of shooters identify their most effective method of engaging specific target types. Due to the differences in the way each shooter’s visuomotor system sees and processes target information, certain techniques are more or less effective than others for a given shooter. Just as there is no one-size-fits-all method for shooters, there is similarly no one-sizefits-all technique for engaging a particular target type. The following is an assortment of the most effective target tactics for engaging specific target types. Each shooter will have a default method and one or more favorite “specialty tools,” but few shooters will employ all on a given sporting clays course. Indeed, there will be some of the following techniques that a given shooter will reject based on the way his or her brain sees targets and the move with which he or she is most comfortable. This is why, in some cases, I have provided multiple methods to engage the same target presentation. You will have to decide which one is most effective for you on a given target type. In this chapter I will introduce you to a number of “strokes” or “tools” to engage the wide variety of sporting clays target presentations you will encounter. Most everyone has heard of sustained lead, swing-through, and pull-away. These are the most common and widely known techniques by which shotgunners get in front of clay targets with a shotgun. For a novice shooter a single method may serve them well for thousands of targets. For a beginner simple is always better and “less is more,” as we teach in the NSCA instructor program. While I teach any and all methods of applying lead to a target, I will almost always default to sustained lead or pull-away for a novice student. During a student’s first lesson, as I increase the angle of targets from incoming/outgoing to quartering and crossing, it is quite common for the novice to apply insufficient lead or separation on a crossing target. In these cases I will often introduce pull-away or have the student “synchronize and separate” a bit earlier in their progression. With the exception of two specific target presentations, swing-through is the least effective of all three basic methods. In general, gun speed that approximates the speed of the target is more conducive to a strong visual connection to the target. With the speed of the muzzle exceeding the speed of the target, as it must in swing-through, the fast-moving barrel becomes a significant visual distraction and the eye is often drawn off the target, weakening the visual connection between the shooter and the target. The exception to this rule arises when the shooter must pass through a target in order to break it. Such is the case

152 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

with the teal target that is outgoing and ascending and with the driven target, both discussed later in the chapter. But for these exceptions, the swing-through technique of engagement most often inhibits the ability of the shooter to maintain a good visual connection with the target through the break point. While many beginning shooters tend to use swing-through, this situation quickly rights itself as a shooter progresses and realizes that a “quiet gun” that is in sync with the target optimizes the visual connection with the target and is ultimately more successful. THE THREE BASIC METHODS Sustained lead (also known as “maintained lead” or “constant lead”) Start your move at the moment you detect movement of the target. As you start your mount and movement to the target, insert the muzzle of the gun in front of the target, match gun speed to target speed, and, while focusing exclusively on the target, maintain the distance between your muzzle and the target throughout the execution of the shot. Execute the shot at the break point after the comb of the stock has reached the cheek and acute focus is achieved. Sustained lead is the bread and butter for the clay shooter as it allows the gun to match speed with the target as the shot is executed. The target should never be allowed to reach or pass the muzzle of the gun. This synchronized flow of the gun with the target allows the eye to focus acutely on the target while allowing the muzzle to virtually disappear in the peripheral vision. This move works very well on targets with a flat/straight target line and a longer target engagement window. The danger with this method is that shooters will tend to ride the target (aka “drag the barrel”), prolonging shot execution well beyond the break point and often measuring lead. Planning and committing to a specific break point and decisiveness in execution are critical, as with all techniques. Pull-away (also known as “synchronize and separate”) As you start your mount and movement to the target, insert the muzzle of the gun to the target, match gun speed briefly and then accelerate away from the target along the same line as the target, and execute the shot. With pull-away you are inserting the muzzle on the target rather than inserting the gun in front of the target. As you execute the shot in pullaway, the distance between your muzzle and the target will be widening. The comb of the stock should reach your cheek at approximately the same time as the gun muzzle reaches the target, allowing for a smooth acceleration away from the target as the shot is executed. The target should never be allowed to pass the muzzle of the gun, as this would create excess

Targ et Tactics / / 153

gun speed and cause a miss in front. This method tends not to work as well with targets in transition: those that are slowing down, changing direction, descending, looping, or curling at the break point. Swing-through (also known as “pass-through”) As you start your mount and movement to the target, insert the muzzle of the gun behind the target. Alternatively, allow the target to accelerate in front of your muzzle; then accelerate through the target along the target line, executing the shot in front of the target. With swingthrough the target must “beat the barrel.” Said another way, the shooter must come from behind the target rather than inserting the gun on or in front of the target. As with pull-away the distance between your muzzle and the target will be widening as you execute the shot, but acceleration will be more dramatic because you are coming from behind the target. The comb of the stock should reach your cheek at approximately the same time as the gun muzzle reaches the point at which you will start your acceleration, allowing for a smooth movement through the target as the shot is executed. Once again, this method will not work well with targets in transition at the break point. As mentioned above, this is not a method that most shooters will adopt except at the very start of their shooting progression. With this method gun speed far exceeds target speed, which tends to pull the eyes away from the target and onto the barrel. In my opinion and experience with students, swing-through is best left for a survival move when a target has beaten your gun because of a faulty shot plan. Again, the exceptions are for a rabbit or a target that calls for a two-piece move. SPECIALTY TARGET TACTICS When a shooter comes to me for the first time, he or she has typically adopted one of the above three lead methods. Why individual shooters adopt one method over another is typically the result of past instruction received, influence from shooting buddies, trial and error, eye dominance, or the unique way in which that shooter processes the visual target information. As I begin a coaching relationship with a student, I like to observe the student shooting in an effort to understand his or her default style. Whether the student is employing sustained lead or pull-away, or utilizes a low-gun or pre-mounted ready position, I typically focus on optimizing performance while favoring the shooter’s default method. As the student’s gun-handling and target observation skills advance, it is inevitable that he will encounter targets that he simply can’t master with his default technique. It is at this point that the ability to engage targets using alternative techniques marks the difference between a novice and a shooter who has mastered the shotgun. The following

154 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

are nontraditional engagement techniques, or target tactics, for breaking certain types of targets. They are highly effective and are widely employed by top shots in sporting clays. As discussed previously, there is wide variation in the way shooters see targets and process target imagery. As a consequence of this visual diversity, shooters will become more comfortable with certain types of targets than others as well as certain techniques for breaking them. For this reason, and for certain target presentations, I may offer multiple techniques, knowing that some shooters will be more comfortable with one versus another. As you consider each of the target tactics below, understand that many will be hybrids of one or more other techniques. For example, the two-piece is a hybrid of swing-through, and intercept can be a hybrid of diminishing lead if executed with a slight collapse (see “Diminishing lead” below). It is not possible to learn how to employ these tools from the comfort of your lounge chair. Adopting these techniques will require practical application and some experimentation on the sporting clays course. To be clear, I am not telling you that you need to learn all of these moves to be a master of the shotgun. If you identify a target that you have particular trouble with, consider adding a technique or two to your repertoire of target engagement techniques. Mastering alternative techniques will make you a more dynamic and adaptive shooter, able to engage targets that prove difficult to break with your default method. The purpose of the following pages in this chapter is to increase the number of tools in your target engagement “toolbox.” Diminishing lead (also known as “collapse” and “come to the gun”) Used for: Any target but especially useful on a target that has a very short engagement window, an overhead outgoing target such as skeet high house #1, a teal target just as it has reached its peak and started its descent, a target that is dramatically losing speed at the break point, an edge-on rabbit that is quartering away, and other targets with little to no movement at the break point. Hold point: Close to or on the break point. Execution: With diminishing lead the shooter holds the gun at or near his preplanned break point and allows the target to come to the gun, thus causing the lead to diminish or collapse while maintaining good visual focus on the target. The shooter visually engages the target at the visual pickup point but, instead of moving with the target, allows the perceived gap between the target and the gun to diminish until the proper lead is felt and the shot executed. As with other techniques lead is “felt” rather than visually verified. Because the target closes on the muzzle of the gun, the lead decreases from “too much” to “just right” and the shooter executes the shot as

Targ et Tactics / / 155

bbWith minimal muzzle movement, hold/insert the gun at the break point, and as the target approaches the break point, execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

156 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the target reaches the break point. Most novice shooters find diminishing lead very unnatural and prefer to flow with the target through the break point. As shooting experience and “target database” grow, shooters find the technique less challenging. While diminishing lead may not be the default method of very many shooters, you might want to consider practicing diminishing lead for the above conditions. One analogy for this move that my students have found helpful is the outfield fly in baseball. When an outfielder fields a fly ball, he attempts to position his body and mitt in the best location to catch the ball and then proceeds to catch the ball. His body and mitt move to the ball first; then he focuses and catches the ball. This is similar to diminishing lead in that the fastest part of the move is at the start of the move. The slowest part of the move should be just prior to shot execution. Caution: Good timing and a very intentional visual connection with the target are critical. Intercept (also known as “cutoff” or “direct intercept”) Used for: Targets that are transitioning and/or descending at the break points, where the leading edge of the target at the break point is between 8:30 and 3:30 (at the bottom of the clock). Hold point: With intercept the shooter preplans and visualizes a break point and establishes a hold point well off the target line and closer to the break point than he would otherwise use on a non-descending target. Execution: Because the target is descending at the break point, the intent of this technique is to create an angle of approach to the break point that is offset from the line of the target. Establishing a hold point that is a bit closer to the break point and offset from the target line also enables you to preserve that all-important visual connection with the target. You will essentially be sacrificing a bit of flow (synchronization) to maintain your strong visual connection with the target through the break point. Picture a left-to-right crossing target that is the second target of a true pair. By the time you break the first target, your second target is descending with the leading edge at about 5 o’clock at your planned break point. In this case, if the shooter were to “track” the line of the target, moving from left to right, the shooter would likely insert the barrel of the gun between the eye and the target as the target descends, causing the shooter to visually disconnect from the target just before the break point.

Targ et Tactics / / 157

bbMove the gun along a line that is at an angle different from the target line—with reduced muzzle movement, insert the gun to the break point, and as the target approaches the break point, execute the shot (ideal for transitioning targets). DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

158 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

To intercept this target, the shooter must move the gun to a point on the line ahead of the target after the first target is shot and execute the second shot as the target approaches the break point and proper lead is felt. Commitment to break point is essential. Movement should always be a straight line from hold point to break point. Novice shooters find intercept a bit unnatural and would much prefer to flow with the target through the break point instead of intercepting the target at an angle. Indeed, most shooters would much rather flow with a target than intercept it. While intercept is unlikely to be your default method, when a target is descending at the break point, you had better pull the intercept technique out of your toolbox. In most cases an intercept or cutoff move involves a slight collapse as well, meaning that you want to arrive at the break point before the target and reduce gun speed slightly before executing the shot. To properly execute an “intercept and collapse” move, one must initiate movement early so as to arrive at the break point just before the target does. You have executed the intercept properly if you feel as if you are initiating movement early, in anticipation of the target, and you are arriving at the break point in advance of the target, briefly waiting for the target before executing the shot. Caution: Movement from hold point to break point must be a straight line. Don’t be tempted to insert a “fishhook” at the end of your movement to the break point. Execution of the shot must be decisive, with a strong commitment to the break point. Quartering move Used for: Quartering targets with a flat line (not transitioning). Hold point: Typically one third of the way back from the break point. Execution: Establish a hold point on the target line no more than 40 percent back from the break point. Also establish an imaginary vertical line above the muzzle at the hold point. As you call for the target, let the target approach the vertical line (above the muzzle). Initiate gun movement along the line of the target only when the target pierces or touches the vertical line. Move in front of the target and pull the trigger (while maintaining sharp visual focus on the tail end of the target through the break point). Just prior to shot execution, you will accelerate your gun away from the target and execute the shot decisively. Caution: Don’t move too early, but don’t let the target beat the barrel either. Maintain good focus through the break point; don’t overuse the hands to get to target. You must initiate your gun movement as the target reaches the vertical line (the muzzle) and aggressively separate the muzzle from the target toward the break point. Commit to your break point!

Targ et Tactics / / 159

bbAs the target approaches the hold point and muzzle, accelerate the muzzle along the target line and execute the shot as separation is achieved. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

160 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Two-piece Used for: Teal targets that must be broken under power and on the way up and away from the shooter. A good candidate for a two-piece is the teal target that is moving away from you very quickly and, by the time it reaches its apex, is too far away to engage. Also, any target that you must occlude (cover up) to kill is a good candidate for a two-piece. The key concept here is that if you have to cover up a target to kill it, you must keep the “occlusion interval” to an absolute minimum. In other words, you must limit the amount of time that elapses between the moment you cover up the bird and the moment you execute the shot. Hold point: Establish your hold point and imaginary horizontal line one third of the way back from (under) the break point along the target line, making sure that the target is still under power at the chosen break point. In assuming the proper ready position, move the gun away from the shoulder directly toward the hold point (not down, just out). Execution: As you call for the target, slowly move the butt of the gun back toward the shoulder so that the moment the target reaches the muzzle the butt is in the shoulder. Immediately after the target rises up and appears above your horizontal line (the muzzle), move the muzzle through the target and pull the trigger (while focusing acutely on the target). The two-piece move will feel a bit strange because you will essentially be occluding the target with the barrel as you execute the shot. By definition, then, you will be visually disconnected from the target as you execute the shot. Decisiveness in shot execution is critical. This is the only move in which you should feel the back hand move first. The movement upward through the target should be all front hand. Caution: Don’t wait for the target to rise above the muzzle to start your back hand movement into the shoulder. Start moving the gun into the shoulder as you call for the target such that the butt reaches the shoulder as the target rises to the level of the muzzle (the horizontal line). This is accomplished with the back hand and little or no upward movement of the muzzle with the front hand. Once the target is visible above the barrel, your move must be decisive and along the line of the target. Know that you will have to pass through the target and cover it up to break it. If you pass through the target and hesitate, the brain will be executing the shot based on aged information, so shot execution must be decisive once you pass through the target.

Targ et Tactics / / 161

bbAs the target is launched, initiate movement into the shoulder with the back hand. As the target reaches the hold point and muzzle, accelerate the muzzle to/through the target and execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

162 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbFor overhead incoming targets, initiate movement into the shoulder with the back hand and allow the target to pass the barrel. Then accelerate the muzzle to/through the target and execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

Targ et Tactics / / 163

Another type of target for which we might use the two-piece is an incoming target passing overhead, otherwise known as a driven target. With the driven bird the ready position includes a very high muzzle angle. The target is allowed to pass through the gun. The gun is then inserted just behind the target, allowing the target to pass over the muzzle so that you have a clear visual connection with the target. You then move the gun through the target, occluding the target and executing the shot decisively. Bump the lead Used for: Very long crossing targets with a medium to long engagement window at distances beyond a shooter’s “comfort zone,” usually starting at 45 yards or more for a novice shooter. Quite often shooters do not possess the “subconscious database” for targets at or beyond these distances. By using “bump the lead,” a shooter will add the incremental lead necessary to break targets at ranges beyond his or her comfort zone. Hold point: Roughly one half to two thirds of the way back from the break point. Execution: This is a hybrid of sustained lead and pull-away and is used to generate incremental lead on very long targets. It is most similar to a sustained lead move but with a push or “bump” of the lead at the end of the stroke and just prior to shot execution. The move starts as a sustained lead move, inserting the gun to the lead in front of the target. The shooter must increase gun speed at the end of the stroke in order to increase the distance between the muzzle and the target as the shot is executed. Start by establishing your hold point one half to two thirds of the way back from the break point. While applying intense visual focus to the leading edge of the target, go to the lead and then accelerate, stretching or bumping the lead. It will feel like a sustained lead move to the target with a bit of a push with the lead hand just before shot execution. The push should be smooth rather than abrupt. Instead of “pulling away” from the target, you are actually pulling away from the lead. Caution: You must maintain sharp visual focus on the target through the bump and execution of the shot. You should initiate your move as soon as the target is launched. Never allow the target to get to the barrel; always stay in front of the target. Pace-and-pull Used for: Crossing rabbits inside of 25 yards. Hold point: Halfway back from the break point. Execution: This is essentially a sustained lead move. Because rabbits always look like they are moving faster than they really are and most misses on rabbits are in front,

164 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbInsert in front of the target (similar to sustained lead), accelerate the muzzle away from the target along the target line, and execute the shot as the barrel accelerates away from the target. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

Targ et Tactics / / 165

bbFor slow, short-range rabbits, insert the muzzle to and maintain the muzzle on the front foot, and then execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

166 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

precisely pacing the target (matching the speed of the target) is critical. If you fail to match the speed of the bird exactly or add gun speed at the end of the stroke, a miss in front is likely. Establish your hold point no more than 50 percent back from the break point (distance measured between break point and the trap). After the target is launched, precisely match the pace of the rabbit with your barrel. Maintain good visual connection with the “front foot” of the rabbit and, when speed is matched and good visual focus on the front foot is achieved, pull the trigger. The focal point on this target is about 4:30 on a left-to-right crossing target and 7:30 on a right-to-left. Caution: Don’t hold too far back. Anticipate the target by initiating your move before the target reaches the muzzle. If you allow the rabbit to beat your barrel, you will instinctively add gun speed. Execute the shot when you have matched the pace and visual focus on the front foot is achieved. As with any target, commit to the break point. The rabbit move Used for: Most any rabbit target, particularly fast-moving rabbits and rabbits outside of 35 yards. Look spot: Planning your move on a rabbit using the rabbit move is slightly different than for other target types. Instead of starting your planning with the break point, you should first establish a “look spot” along the target line. That look spot is the first spot along the ground where you can see the front foot (the focal point) of the rabbit clearly. Remember that the front foot will be 4:30 on a left-to-right rabbit and 7:30 on a right-to-left rabbit. Hold point: For the rabbit move the hold point is just inside the look spot, toward the trap. That’s right. Unlike any other hold point on any other target, the target will get to the gun before the eyes. The key to this move is that the gun must come from slightly behind the target and moves only when the target reaches the look spot. This setup guarantees that the target will beat the muzzle and the muzzle will come to the target from behind. Execution: This is very similar to the quartering move except that you must allow the target to reach your look spot before moving your gun. This means that the target will beat your gun, not just come to the gun. In the ready position your eyes should stay fixed on the look spot with the hold point slightly to the inside of the look spot toward the trap. The instant the target reaches your look spot, move the gun in a short but stabbing movement to the target. The move should not feel like a swing-

Targ et Tactics / / 167

bbAllow the target to approach and pass the muzzle, accelerate the muzzle to the front foot (“stab it”), and execute the shot. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

168 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

through but rather like stabbing a steak with a fork. Good visual focus on the front foot of the rabbit through the break point is critical. Caution: Selection of your hold point and look spot are critical. Don’t leave the hold point until the target gets to your look spot. Make sure you let the target completely beat your barrel before stabbing the target with a fork and executing the shot. As with any target, commit to the finish. CONCLUSION You will notice that there is a degree of overlap in the above techniques. For example, I am suggesting that a shooter could engage a crossing rabbit inside of 25 yards with either pace-and-pull or the rabbit move. Should a shooter be able to use both? Possibly. Visualize this example. You are engaging a report pair with both traps in close proximity and located about 20 yards in front and 10 yards to the right side of your shooting stand. The pair consists of a fast, right-to-left crossing rabbit followed by a very fast, shallow, right-to-left quartering target moving away from the stand. You might want to use the rabbit move to dispense with the rabbit more quickly, leaving your gun a bit closer to your hold point for the second target. If you use pace-and-pull on the rabbit, you will likely execute your first shot farther to the left side of the shooting stand. This will require you to execute a much more abrupt move from the break point of the first target to the hold point of the second target, and you will be engaging the second target at a much greater distance. In this instance having both target tactics at your disposal will give you better options as a shooter. No two shooters see targets in exactly the same way. Nor do all shooters possess identical “defaults” in their arsenal of shooting techniques. I personally believe that teaching a shooter only one method of engaging targets is doing them a disservice. There are also countless hybrid techniques to achieving lead used by a number of well-known competitors. One could argue that the quartering move is a hybrid of diminishing lead or a collapse move (letting the target come to the gun) and pull-away (just as the target reaches the gun). I’m not suggesting that you abandon your favorite seven iron, or your default method of achieving lead on a target. I am, however, suggesting that you augment your arsenal of target engagement techniques with other techniques, if you haven’t already. It is my experience that most shooters will comfortably gravitate toward using sustained lead or pull-away as his or her default method. No matter which default method you claim, you need multiple engagement tools to consistently break any target presentation under any condition. The best defense against a crafty target setter is a dynamic shooter who possesses a variety of target engagement techniques.

C H A P TE R 17

THE MENTAL GAME AND THE OPTIMAL PROCESS

In virtually every sport an athlete performs best when executing in the subconscious. As he matures in the sport, his proficiency and ability to execute in the subconscious grow. Physical movement that was once labored and thoughtful is now fluid, instinctive, and requires little conscious thought. This is the utopia we all seek when we engage clay targets with a shotgun, whether we are recreational shooters or competitors. How you get there and how fast you get there are primarily determined by a combination of factors. Yes, natural ability has something to do with it, as does eye dominance. Past that, however, achieving a high level of performance is typically tied to the amount of time you spend behind the gun: shooting, practicing, competing, as well as receiving instruction. As your skill with a shotgun increases and you mature in the sport, there will be fewer and fewer targets that exceed your ability to break. You will start to notice that the reasons for your misses are less often due to a lack of proficiency and more frequently due to something else entirely. It is at this point that you will begin to seek a path to greater consistency. Simply breaking targets is not enough. Consistency and higher scores are your goal. After all, if you can break a pair of targets once, why can’t you break the same pair three or four times in row? The answer to the question and the search for consistency lie in what the athletic community broadly refers to as the mental game. Besides being great shots, competitors at the top of our sport have something else in common—a process. Whether in sporting clays, FITASC, or any other self-paced sport from golf to shot put, top competitors have a mental process or program that they run through as they prepare for and execute the task at hand. Simply put, a pre-execution routine or process breeds consistency in execution and reduces the likelihood that our conscious mind will be occupied with thoughts that are destructive, distracting, or otherwise counterproductive to optimal performance.

170 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Like most seasoned sporting clays and FITASC competitors, I searched high and low for the process that I could perfect and follow in competition to land me at the top of the scoreboard. I took dozens of shooting lessons from some of the best instructors; read and studied the art and science of shooting; was coached by sports psychologists; conducted independent research on the brain, hand-eye coordination, and biofeedback; and swapped notes with other top competitors. So, I would describe my quest for the perfect pre-shot process as a lifelong pursuit. While I now concentrate most of my energy toward coaching, what I am about to share with you evolved during a period in my shooting career when I was completely obsessed with winning in competitive clay target sports. After winning the side-by-side event at the NSCA National Championship in 2011, I gave myself a challenge: to capture and journal the process I used that Thursday afternoon, in 35-mph winds and shooting a gun choked extra-full, that enabled me to get in and stay in the zone and win the competition. The OPTIMAL Process is the result of my journaling and subsequent effort to reduce my musings to a simple, memorable, and repeatable process that I could impart to my students and use in competition. In my careful study of pre-execution routines both in and out of shooting sports, I have come to certain conclusions related to sporting clays and FITASC. The goals of any pre-shot routine should be: • To study the target and understand its character. • To establish a definitive target engagement plan. • To imprint an image and feel of the target and execution of the pair. • To assume the proper physical position to execute the pair. • To promote proper visual information flow to the brain (focus). • To occupy the conscious mind with constructive thoughts. THREE PARTS OF THE MIND To understand the importance of the mental game, planning, and pre-shot routine, you must first understand the parts of the mind. Don’t worry; I’m not going to start talking about the cerebral cortex or the cerebellum. You don’t need to be a neurologist to be a great shooter, or a great instructor for that matter. It is important, however, that you understand the three parts of the brain from an athlete’s standpoint, and how each part interacts with the others. More importantly, a shooter possesses a competitive advantage when she understands how she can influence the mind to achieve higher scores. The ego is the way you think about yourself as a shooter. Is your glass half full or half empty? How you see yourself as a shooter will impact your success either positively or

Th e Mental Gam e and th e O PTI MAL Process / / 171

negatively. A positive attitude is a shooter’s most important tool. A shooter who keeps a positive attitude when approaching a difficult station will usually score higher than the shooter with a negative attitude. Positive is powerful. Negative is destructive. Positive “self-talk” is a very powerful tool. But the power of negative suggestion is far stronger. The top shooter has a positive attitude. He is confident and has a high opinion of his shooting abilities. He thinks about what he wants to happen, and wills the outcome. The potential of a lost target does not enter his mind. He believes he is among the best and can break any target. Paramount in his mind is breaking the target rather than avoiding a miss. The second part of the mind, the conscious mind, is best defined as the part of the brain that stores and manages what you are thinking about at the present moment: your present awareness. Whatever occupies the conscious mind at the precise moment a shooter calls for a target pair may have a significant impact on the outcome, good or bad. Dawn Grant, a sports hypnotherapist well known in the sporting clays world, describes the conscious mind as a naughty little boy with a one-track mind who often wanders off and is a bit disobedient. The conscious mind can only think of one thing at a time, which is bad news if you allow negative thoughts to enter your consciousness. A thought like “Oh no, a rabbit” is more likely to negatively impact the outcome of a target pair than “No problem, I got this.” In the case of the conscious mind, the good news is the same as the bad news: The conscious mind can only think of one thing at a time. With some effort and training, you can control what occupies the conscious mind at certain pivotal moments in your execution. The key here is the pre-shot routine: a mental program or thought sequence that keeps you “in the present” and effectively occupies the conscious mind with constructive thoughts. The third part of the brain, the subconscious mind, is a multitasking machine that has the ability to simultaneously control dozens if not hundreds of tasks “in the background.” In the world of shotgun sports, or any other sport, certain aspects of our execution are transformed from conscious to subconscious through practice and repetition. For a brand-new shooter, gun mount is a very conscious act. With practice and repetition, however, the mount of the experienced shooter becomes completely subconscious. Practice and repetition, executing correctly over and over again, is the most effective way to hone the subconscious mind. We can also influence the subconscious by visualizing our execution just prior to calling for a specific target pair. Just as golfers visualize the shot and swing the club once or twice just prior to taking a stroke for score, sporting clays shooters should visualize shot execution prior to calling for a target pair. Using a computer analogy: By visualizing the shot before we call for the targets, we “load” the brain with the “files” we will execute prior to running the program for score. Visualizing feeds the subconscious, and thus facilitates subconscious execution.

172 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

All three parts of the mind can potentially impact our shooting performance. Influencing these three parts of the mind to better our shooting performance is our goal. It takes a great deal of time and effort to influence the ego, because the ego is a product of your cumulative experiences and determines how you feel about yourself a shooter, as a competitor, and as a person. In this chapter we will focus primarily on controlling the conscious mind and programming the subconscious mind. I will leave the subject of influencing the ego to sports psychologists and hypnotherapists. BIOFEEDBACK One way you can influence both the conscious and subconscious mind is to understand the impact of brain waves on your performance. The types of brain waves that your brain emits throughout the day, and at specific intervals in your shooting routine, can impact your performance. To a degree, however, and with some practice, they are controllable. Biofeedback is a technique you can use to learn to control your body’s functions, such as your heart rate, breathing, and brain wave activity. In essence, biofeedback gives you the power to use your thoughts to control your body functions and maximize physical performance. While there is a sizable volume of published research on brain wave activity and biofeedback in self-timed sports, it is not necessary for you to understand the science of biofeedback. Just know that your brain emits various types of brain waves depending on what you are doing, thinking, and seeing and that there are certain brain wave types that optimize hand-eye and mindbody coordination. These are referred to as low-alpha or SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) waves. You can train yourself to increase low-alpha brain wave activity just prior to engaging a pair of targets by executing a simple, memorable, and repeatable pre-shot “program,” which is commonly referred to as a “pre-shot routine.” In other words, by executing the right pre-shot routine just prior bbBiofeedback (brain waves scale). DON CURRIE AND to calling for each pair, you can optimize lowROWDY JONES

Th e Mental Gam e and th e O PTI MAL Process / / 173

alpha waves and your hand-eye coordination. A proven technique for momentarily increasing your low-alpha waves and optimizing your hand-eye coordination is to briefly close your eyes, take deep breaths, and visualize the pair in your mind (more on this later). While a competitor’s pre-shot routine is highly personalized, the common elements of the mental game for a self-timed sport such as clay shooting are 1) planning, 2) visualization, and 3) a pre-shot routine. Planning Pre-shot planning is most often accomplished outside the shooting stand, unless you happen to be the lucky first shooter in the rotation. Once pre-shot planning is complete, you should be very familiar with the pair you are about to shoot. In fact, you should have essentially memorized the pair, the location of the traps, and the target lines. You should have identified your visual pickup points, focal points, hold points, and break points. You should know exactly where your eyes and your gun will move for every step in the execution of the pair. You now have a solid shot plan, and you have rehearsed it a few times to make sure that it’s sound. Having a plan, a plan that you believe in, will feed your confidence as you approach the stand and execute the shot pair. Visualization One top shooter describes his pre-shot visualization as an “out-of-body rehearsal” of how it will feel to move to each target and successfully execute the shot pair. Visualization occurs during pre-shot planning and is then repeated during the pre-shot routine as you are loading your gun and preparing to shoot. Visually establish the target line across the sky, vegetation, and terrain. Visualize the targets in your mind at the actual speed you will see them as you call for the pair. Recall the break points you established during your pre-shot planning. As you execute the pair in your mind for a second time, take another deep breath, and as you slowly exhale, feel yourself moving to and focusing on each target as it breaks. Imagine seeing the first target break, then transitioning your eyes and gun to the second target. Visualization is a critical part of your routine for two reasons: It serves as a rehearsal of sorts, and it has been proven to enhance low-alpha brain waves. Pre-shot routine/program Pre-shot routines help us focus our mental energy on the task at hand. Virtually all sports psychologists will tell you that, in order to consistently deliver peak performance during competition in a self-paced sport, the athlete should focus on the process, not the results. In

174 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

competition you can’t control the weather, your competitor, malfunctions, or the behavior of your squad mates. You can, however, control the process you use when competing and how well you adhere to that process for each pair. Your pre-shot routine is the “program” you run each and every time you set up to shoot a target pair. As you load two shells, take deep breaths and focus your attention on the area over which you will shoot the targets. Execute your out-of-body rehearsal, visualizing the targets, feeling your move to the targets and your intense visual focus, and watching the targets break. As you move into your ready position, breathe deeply as you deliver your mental cue: the last trigger thought before calling for the target (for example, “See the bird,” “Focus,” or “Dead pair”). “PULL.” As you load the gun again, you visualize the pair you just broke and let it sink into your subconscious. Without moving your feet, you load two more shells for your second pair. You rerun your pre-shot routine, move to your ready position, and call for the targets again . . . and so on. If you focus on the process, repeating the same pre-shot routine for each pair, higher levels of performance will follow. The top four mental errors committed on the shooting course are 1) trying too hard, 2) becoming distracted, 3) succumbing to stress, and 4) focusing on the outcome rather than the process. If your conscious mind is occupied with a memorable, repeatable, and effective pre-shot routine, your subconscious mind can make the shot without distraction and with very little effort. To be a great shooter, your mental game must be every bit as solid as your technical game. If you occupy your conscious mind with constructive thoughts and rely on your subconscious mind to execute the shot, your scores and consistency will rise. THE OPTIMAL PROCESS—MEMORABLE AND REPEATABLE After completing my research into the mental game in 2001, I still felt a bit emptyhanded (as you might at this point). I understood why the mental game was important. I understood that a solid pre-shot planning process and a pre-shot routine were important, but I still didn’t have a process to follow. Nowhere could I find an example of a process used by any competitor in sporting clays, or in any other self-timed sport for that matter. I knew, based on my research, that pre-shot planning and pre-shot routine had to be divided into two phases; otherwise one would be analyzing the targets and developing a plan while simultaneously attempting to occupy the conscious mind with constructive thoughts. So I took what I had learned and started experimenting with different processes to increase my performance.

Th e Mental Gam e and th e O PTI MAL Process / / 175

So, now that you have the background and rationale for pre-shot planning and preshot routine, and have a bit of insight into how I developed them, you are ready for the memorable and repeatable process. The OPTIMAL Process OPTIMAL is an acronym, or more accurately a mnemonic, designed to provide you, the competitor, with an airtight process to follow at each station, from the time you first approach the shooting station to the time you shoot your last pair. OPTIMAL stands for Observe, Plan, Test, Image, Mark, Align, and Laser Focus. The OPTIMAL Process is divided into two phases: • Phase 1 (pre-shot planning): Observe-Plan-Test is the pre-shot planning phase and is usually accomplished before you step into the shooting stand. • Phase 2 (pre-shot routine): Image-Mark-Align-Laser Focus is the pre-shot routine, which is the program you will run once you step into the shooting stand and just before calling for each pair. Phase 1 (pre-shot planning): Observe-Plan-Test The pre-shot planning phase of the OPTIMAL Process (Observe-Plan-Test; see also Chapter 8) usually occurs outside the shooting stand, unless you are the lucky first shooter in the rotation, in which case you will only have the opportunity to Observe, Plan, and Test during the view pairs while standing in the shooting station. Once you are in the best position to see the targets, Observe. Study the surrounding terrain, backdrop, and vegetation. Locate the position of both traps. Look at the angle of the traps and trap arms, if you can see them. Observe each target throughout its entire flight, from the time it leaves the trap until it hits the ground. Look specifically for transition points where the target seems to noticeably change speed or direction. Identify two or more landmarks through which each target flies and visually map the target lines across the background terrain, vegetation, or sky. Identify the point along the target line at which the target looks most vulnerable and at which you are able to visually slow the target down and see the greatest detail. Next, Plan how and where you intend to break the targets. Your plan must consist of a break point, hold point, and visual pickup point for each target. First, identify your break points—the areas along the target lines in which you are most comfortable breaking the targets. This is the precise point at which the target comes into sharp focus and seems to slow down visually. Ideally, the target should be moving at a fairly constant speed and

176 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

direction (not in transition) at the break point. It is critical that you landmark your break point, as this will be the point at which you will commit to executing your shot. Now, identify your visual pickup point—the area on the target line closest to the trap where you will first visually acquire the target with your peripheral vision as it emerges from the trap arm. Establish a hold point for the first target between the visual pickup point and the break point. This is where you will orient the barrel of your gun just prior to calling for the target. For the second target of a pair, identify a point where your eyes and muzzle will go immediately after discharging the first shot. This will allow you to efficiently pick up the target with your eyes and align your gun with the target line of the second target. If you plan well, you will always know where your gun and eyes will be oriented throughout your execution of the target pair. If you start from the right place (the hold point) and stay on the path (the line of movement) through the break point of each target, consistency and higher scores will result. With time and practice this pre-shot planning process will become second nature to you. Next, Test your plan. Using the outstretched hand and arm opposite your dominant eye, conduct rehearsals of your plan, with particular attention to confirming the proper location of your hold points and visual pickup points. Simulate moving your gun to your hold point and your eyes to the pickup point. Watch the target launch. Pick up the target with your eyes, and move your arm and hand along your line of movement through your first break point. Now, move your eyes to the visual pickup point of your second target and your outstretched hand and arm along the line of movement of the second target and through the break point. If the timing works, go with it. If not, adjust your hold points and possibly your timing on the pair and test again. If, during the test, the targets jump in front of your eyes or your hand, you should think about moving your hold point out a bit more from the trap. If you don’t possess and execute a plan each time you step into the box, you can’t expect to be a consistent performer. The most significant impact of pre-shot planning is that it provides you with an accurate understanding of what the targets are doing and infuses your subconscious with the shot plan you are about to execute. Observe-Plan-Test. You have observed the targets and know precisely what they are doing. You have a solid target engagement plan, and you have tested your plan to make sure it works. Now you are ready to crush the targets. Phase 2 (pre-shot routine): Image-Mark-Align-Laser Focus Have you ever missed the second target of a pair because you forgot where the target was coming from? Have you ever felt yourself rushing through the third or fourth pair because

Th e Mental Gam e and th e O PTI MAL Process / / 177

you just wanted to get it done and get out of the station? Have you ever crushed your first two pairs and then missed one or two in the third or fourth pair? When I see lapses like these by competitors, the root cause is most often attributable to a flawed pre-shot routine. Once pre-shot planning is complete, you should be very familiar with the pair you are about to shoot. In fact, you should have essentially memorized the pair and the location of the traps and the target lines. You should have identified your break points, your hold points, and your visual pickup points. You should know exactly where your eyes and your gun will move for every step in the execution of the pair. You have a solid shot plan, and you have tested that plan to make sure that it’s sound. With all this done, you should conduct an out-of-body rehearsal, visualizing and feeling the movement of your body as you execute the pair. Continue to revise and solidify your plan while the shooter immediately preceding you in the rotation engages the targets. Phase 2 of the OPTIMAL Process, the pre-shot routine, starts the moment you step into the box to shoot your target pairs. While the pre-shot routine described here is simple to remember and execute, it is important that you understand the science and purpose behind the process. The pre-shot routine aspect of the OPTIMAL Process is designed specifically for sporting clays and FITASC competitors and is based on four general concepts: 1. If your ready position is correct, then you are more likely to break the pair. 2. If you mentally rehearse the execution of a target pair, you are more likely to execute the pair properly than if you don’t rehearse it. 3. If you fail to manage your conscious mind, you are more likely to allow certain thoughts, doubts, or distractions to interfere with your execution. 4. There are certain types of brain waves that optimize hand-eye and mind-body coordination (low-alpha, also known as SMR). If you can train your brain to emit low-alpha waves at will, you can optimize your hand-eye coordination immediately prior to calling for the targets. The key to increasing low-alpha brain wave activity just prior to engaging a pair is the pre-shot routine: a simple, memorable, and repeatable pre-shot program. By executing a pre-shot routine just prior to calling for each pair, you can occupy the conscious mind with constructive thoughts while clearing it of destructive thoughts and optimizing low-alpha waves and hand-eye coordination. A scientifically proven technique for momentarily increasing your low-alpha (SMR) waves and optimizing your hand-eye coordination is to briefly close your eyes, take deep breaths, and visualize the pair in your mind.

178 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

The Perfect Pre-Shot Routine I had the opportunity to squad with Wendell Cherry once at the Florida Challenge for a two-hundred-target main event. I shot immediately behind him in the rotation. Anyone reading the headlines knows that Wendell has probably posted more 100 straights than any other US competitor in our sport. Frankly, the experience of shooting behind Wendell was completely destructive to my personal performance that day, because I found myself studying his pre-shot routine rather than the targets. He was absolutely fascinating to watch. His routine was like granite, never wavering in any detail. He studied the targets from outside the box, then stepped into the stand and flipped his safety back and forth as he scanned the target area. With stance erect and gun to his side, he moved his head from side to side along the target trajectories as he visualized the targets he was about to engage. Sometimes he would visualize two pairs, other times three. With each iteration of his rehearsal, his head moved back and forth. Once ready to call for the targets, he lifted his Perazzi, grasped the pocket of his vest, and dropped two shells into the chambers. With the gun closed, he lifted his gun to the target line, took a deep breath, and partially exhaled. “Pull.” Wendell’s pre-shot routine never wavered. Not on one target. Not on one station. Not for 2 days. For a lifelong student of the shooting sports and the mental game, it was the finest example of disciplined execution I had ever witnessed. No doubt, his pre-shot routine had gotten that way through intensive practice and reinforcement. Putting Theory into Practice The pre-shot routine phase of the OPTIMAL Process is Image-Mark-Align-Laser Focus. As you step into the shooting stand, your surroundings may look different compared to your vantage point during pre-shot planning. As the trapper confirms your name and announces “Trapper ready,” and you load two shells, take a deep breath and focus your attention on the area over which you will shoot the targets. Visually reestablish the target line across the sky, vegetation, and terrain. Visualize (Image) the targets in your mind at the actual speed you will see them as you call for the pair. Mark the break points you established during your pre-shot planning and set your feet appropriately. For right-handed shooters the left or lead foot should be pointed at 1 o’clock in relationship to the leftmost break point of the pair (for left-handed shooters, right foot to the 11 o’clock of the rightmost break point). As you execute your out-of-body rehearsal for a second time, take another deep breath and feel yourself “focusing small” with heightened visual focus, seeing detail on the targets.

Th e Mental Gam e and th e O PTI MAL Process / / 179

Imagine seeing the first target break, then transitioning your eyes and gun to the second target. Shut your eyes briefly in what I describe as a long blink. In final preparation Align your body and gun to your ready position and hold point. Your barrel should remain oriented on your line of movement from your ready position and hold point, all the way through your move, mount, and break point. As you Align your barrel with the hold point of the first target, you utter these final words to yourself as a mental cue to apply sharp focus to the targets: “Laser Focus.” Then “Pull.” Putting It All Together As you clear your shotgun, pause for a moment. Let the pair that you just broke sink into your subconscious. If you missed a target, replay the pair in your mind, visualizing a “dead pair.” Think about how it felt, not how it looked. Without moving your feet, load two shells for your second pair. The only situation in which you should move or adjust your feet is if you feel that your stance was misaligned with the break points. Now it’s time to shoot the second pair. Once again you Image the pair in your mind (run your out-of-body rehearsal) in real time while marking your break points and taking deep breaths and a long blink with your eyes. Take a second deep breath as you move your body and gun to your ready position. As you Align your barrel with the target line and hold point of the first target, you tell yourself, “Laser Focus.” Then “Pull.” You repeat the process for the third and fourth pair. It’s 8 and out. As you step out of the box, ask yourself: How well did I adhere to the process? How was my pre-shot planning? Did I stick to my pre-shot routine on each pair? Give yourself a grade for your mental performance on that station. Was it a 6 out of 10? 8 out of 10? Forget about the X’s and O’s on the scorecard. Performance orientation is just one of the many mental speed bumps we can hit during competition. Focus on the process, not your performance. This is the only score that is worth keeping until you have fired your last shot of the day.

C H A P TE R 18

PRACTICE

MOUNT DRILLS Good mount mechanics are a critical element of success in wing shooting and sporting clays. Mount drills are the best and perhaps least expensive way in which to practice and solidify your mount technique when you can’t be at the gun club. Mount a small, thin flashlight or, even better, a laser pointer toward the muzzle end of your barrel such that the line of the beam is in precise alignment with your shotgun barrel. Use cloth, tape, and rubber bands to affix the light to the gun so as not to scratch your gun barrel. Pick the biggest room in your house, and use the seam between the wall and ceiling as your target line. Simulating a clay target crossing left to right, use the left corner as the trap location. Pick a spot about 2 feet to the right of the corner as your hold point and a spot about 3 feet to the left of the right corner as your break point. Assume a good stance and ready position with the heel of the stock (top of the recoil pad) at mid-chest level and the forearm of your firing hand parallel to the comb of the stock. Orient the barrel on your hold point so that the flashlight beam is on the seam. Now imagine a slow, gradual, left-to-right crossing target as you move along the target line simultaneously raising the gun straight up toward your cheek (not to your shoulder) and moving in synchronization with the target. Move both hands equally and together to keep the beam on the seam the entire distance along the seam to the break point. The comb of the stock should reach your cheek just prior to the break point, and your gun should continue to move through the break point smoothly. Focus on the seam only, not the bead or muzzle. The shoulder should naturally roll forward to the gun if you execute properly and your gun fits. Say “Bang” as the comb of your stock reaches the cheek and the gun reaches the break point. Alternatively, you can use snap caps and pull the trigger as you pass through the break point in each iteration. Reverse all the above for a right-to-left crosser. Practice/simulate an equal number of right-to-left and left-to-right crossers to ensure that you don’t get too

Pr actice / / 181

accustomed to one or the other. If you can, do this at least twenty-five times each day until your mount is consistently smooth, with no “barrel wobble.” SKEET FOR PRACTICE After a few years on the competition circuit, there aren’t many target presentations that will come as a surprise. As we ascend through the ranks of seasoned sporting clays and FITASC competitors, misses are more often attributable to inconsistent shot execution than they are to unfamiliar target presentations. When I reach a plateau in performance or feel that I might have developed a flaw in my game, I regularly turn to the skeet field for practice. Craig Hancock, coach and father to Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock, says, “There is no better place than the skeet field to learn and teach the fundamentals.” Vincent medaled in international skeet, by the way, where the targets are slighter in profile than standard sporting targets, they move about 20 percent faster than in American skeet, and competitors must start from a lower low-gun position than in FITASC. Vincent’s fundamentals are, quite simply, flawless. On the circuit he is referred to as “the machine.” Here are eight reasons why you should periodically move your sporting clays practice to the skeet field. Repetition with fewer variables Just as a bodybuilder performs certain lifts to intentionally isolate specific muscles, the repetitiveness and predictability of the skeet field affords the sporting clays and FITASC competitor the opportunity to concentrate on very specific elements of shot execution. Because skeet targets emanate from the same two locations (high and low house), aspiring sporting clays champions can concentrate on the fundamentals of shot execution without having to plan for a new trap location at each station. Comprehensive array of angles While eliminating the variables of trap location, the skeet field presents a comprehensive array of targets covering virtually all of the variations one would encounter in competitive sporting clays. The rabbit and teal are the only two that you won’t find on the skeet field, although one could argue that the rabbit is a variation of the crossing target. Pre-shot routine and the mental game At the upper echelons of our sport, a competitor shooting less than 90 percent rarely wins a position on the podium, and that 90 percent is usually 90 percent mental. While the mental

182 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

game has many components, the pre-shot routine is chief among them. If a competitor, standing in the box and preparing to call for targets, consistently loads the same information into his conscious mind, his subconscious mind is much more likely to execute consistently. Since on the skeet field we are executing more shots in more rapid succession, we have an opportunity to experiment with, refine, and perfect our pre-shot routine: visualizing; regulating our breathing; marking target lines, hold points, and visual pickup points; and executing our mental cues (the very last thing we say to ourselves before calling for the target). While skeet is inherently repetitive and may be boring for sporting clays enthusiasts, the close proximity of the eight stations makes the skeet field the perfect place to perfect the pre-shot routine. Ready position Given the relatively short window in which the shooter must visually acquire, focus, move, and engage each target in skeet, the positioning of the feet, eyes, and gun before calling for the targets is critical. Even though target locations never change, the shooter’s position does. In a single twenty-five-target round of American skeet, the shooter must adjust and establish a ready position to twenty different target presentations in less than a half hour. Gun mount When it comes to perfecting your gun mount, there are few better places than skeet stations 3, 4, and 5, particularly if you are a FITASC competitor and starting from a low-gun position. In FITASC competition, at least one or two times per parcour, we are faced with a target that requires a quick mount and move. If I’m out of practice, my less efficient mount creates some degree of muzzle turbulence, making it more difficult to focus on the target. On the other hand, if my mount mechanics are near perfect, with my lead hand guiding my other hand and both hands working together, I can easily pick up one to three targets per parcour. As you practice and perfect your mount from a low-gun ready position, your mount will become more efficient, your ability to focus on the targets will improve, and your mechanics will become increasingly imprinted on your subconscious mind. Visual discipline While a well-learned gun mount should be subconscious, the act of applying sharp visual focus should never be relegated to the subconscious. Perhaps the most important element in breaking targets is intense focus on the target through the break point. If the eye focuses,

Pr actice / / 183

THE GRID This drill is a “commitment to break point” exercise. The objective is to increase your ability, and confidence in your ability, to execute a shot at the precise location of the planned break point. Again, we use the skeet field for this exercise. We utilize stations 2 through 6 and create five additional stations between each of the aforementioned stations and the center stake. So you end up with ten total stations: stations 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and “half-court” 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. You will shoot five incoming targets from each of the ten stations for a total of fifty targets (for station 4 and half-court 4, you will shoot three targets from the high house and two from the low house). The menu is as follows: Half-court 2: 1 Five single, low house

Station 4: 6 Three single, high house; two single, low house

Station 2: 2 Five single, low house

Half-court 5: 7 Five single, high house

Half-court 3: 3 Five single, low house Station 3: 4 Five single, low house Half-court 4: 5 Three single, high house; two single, low house

Station 5: 8 Five single, high house Half-court 6: 9 Five single, high house Station 6: 10 Five single, high house

Note: • Shoot all singles. • Shoot five targets on each of the ten positions. • Shoot only incoming targets except on station 4 (low house from positions 1 through 4 and high house from positions 7 through 10 ). • Shoot (execute the shot) for all targets at the center stake. Even if you don’t hit the targets, you must execute each shot at the center stake.

184 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

bbThe Grid positions are superimposed on a skeet field. Shoot five singles from the low house from positions 1, 2, 3, and 4. Shoot a mix of high house and low house from positions 5 and 6. Shoot five singles from the high house from positions 7, 8, 9, and 10. One round of Grid practice totals fifty targets. DON CURRIE AND ROWDY JONES

the hands will move the gun to the target. Visual focus is an intentional and conscious act. Applying intense visual focus and immediately releasing the shot in rapid succession will increase your confidence and transform your performance in competition. The skeet field is a great venue for practicing the act of intentional visual focus. Game play Competition is always different than practice because in practice you are not competing. That may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, but the fact is, it is difficult to replicate the mental, emotional, and psychological pressure one feels in competition during a practice session. One way to approximate the pressure one feels in competition is to hold yourself accountable to certain standards in practice. Compete with yourself. Challenge yourself to shooting a perfect 25, or better yet, challenge yourself to breaking five consecutive pairs on each station. Challenge yourself to adhere to your pre-shot routine on each presentation. Practicing on a skeet field approximates competition better than shooting a practice round of sporting clays because it is easier and quicker to count to twenty-five than it is to count to one hundred, and it puts more pressure on you.

Pr actice / / 185

Time and money Ah! If we only had more of both. Not only will four rounds of skeet cost you less than one round of sporting clays, but it takes less time. You can shoot twice the number of targets in about half the time because navigating your way around a sporting clays course and developing a new shot plan for each new target pair takes time. I prefer the game of sporting clays to skeet any day. But going out and shooting a round on the sporting clays course with your buddy isn’t always the best way to improve your performance and consistency in sporting clays competition. Occasionally shooting a hundred targets or so on the skeet field, while developing and perfecting your pre-shot routine, mount, and stance, can be a game changer.

C H A P TE R 19

GO AHEAD, ASK ME!

Since 2014 I have been writing a column for the NSCA’s weekly online Target Talk newsletter called “Ask the Instructor,” in which shooters have the opportunity to ask me questions anonymously and have them answered in a future issue. Through the wonders of technology, by way of “click-throughs” data, we can determine the most popular questions. A collection of the most-read questions from “Ask the Instructor” are included below.

ALL-PURPOSE LENS COLOR Q: If you were to recommend a single all-purpose color for shooting glasses, what would your choice be? I know that different background colors and different skies can dictate the best color, but I am looking for a general-purpose lens tint for prescription glasses. A: I am an advocate for changing the tint of your shooting glasses to compensate for changing backgrounds and ambient light conditions: purple for shooting against green (foliage), orange lenses for orange targets against blue sky, and yellow for lower light and diffused light conditions such as overcast skies. Choosing not to change the tint of your glasses when the shooting conditions change would be equivalent to choosing not to change your modified choke in your shell gun when faced with a 15-yard rabbit. It will work, but why not avail yourself of every possible advantage? I will actually make a change to my lens color before I will change chokes because I believe the shooter’s visual connection with the target is of greatest importance. That said, if I were forced to choose one lens or set of lenses, I would choose a broadspectrum lens type such as Pilla’s Enhanced Definition (ED) lens assortment consisting of 26ED, 44ED, and 76ED. These lenses are bronze to gold in color. If I had to use only one, I would choose Pilla’s 44ED, as it is a mid-density lens designed for daylight conditions, as well as being a broad-spectrum lens for more-diverse background conditions.

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 187

HIGH GUN OR LOW GUN? Q: Why is pre-mounting the gun discouraged by so many instructors? Not doing so seems like another moving part of the equation that can go wrong with a catch in the clothing, etc. Also, the second shot is never from a low gun. Why not pre-mount to the shoulder and put cheek to gun as you’re focusing on the target? A: To address this question, we need to separate principles from techniques. Intensity of visual target focus and efficiency of movement are two essential principles of good shotgunning. We must acquire the target using intense visual focus through the break point with gun movement that is efficient and does not obstruct our visual connection with the target. For most targets, that requires the gun muzzle to remain below the target line and move to the break point without interfering with the connection between the eye and the target. On the other hand, it is critical to maximize efficiency of gun movement as we move from the hold point to the break point. Erratic or inefficient gun movement can be distracting and divert the eye from the target, reducing the eye’s ability to apply sharp visual focus. Those who advocate a low gun (non–pre-mounted) argue that starting with a lower gun reduces the likelihood that the barrel of the gun will get between the eye and the target and allows for improved visual connection with the target. Advocates of a high gun (pre-mounted gun) argue that by starting with the gun closer to the face, a shooter will have a “quieter” gun, and this greater efficiency will result in a better visual connection with the target. Who is right? Both philosophies have merit. Again, the argument of high gun or low gun falls in the category of technique rather than principle.

THE DREADED TEAL Q: Why is the rising teal so difficult to hit? I can generally break dropping teal targets without a problem, but sometimes on a true pair you really have to shoot that teal early. What’s the secret? A: Great question! You are describing a teal target that must be engaged on the way up, before it has reached its peak. For other teal targets the tactic of choice is to simply wait until the target stalls at its peak, approach the target from just underneath, look at the bottom of the target, point at the target with your shotgun, and pull the trigger as the target starts its downward movement. For the stalling teal, as with almost every other target on the sporting clays course, you

188 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

should always avoid occluding the target (getting the gun between the eye and the target) through the break point. But the rising teal breaks all the rules. If you are forced to break the teal under power and before the target reaches its apex, the “Don’t occlude the target” rule goes out the window. To break this target under power, your gun has to be above the rising target as you execute the shot, forcing you to cover it up. So, what do you do? If you can’t avoid occluding the target with the barrel, then you need to minimize your occlusion interval, the interval of time during which your barrel gets between the eye and the target before the shot is executed. Remember, the brain processes target guidance information only when the shooting eye is connected to the target. From the moment we occlude a target, we break the connection between the eye and the target, and the eye and brain are cut off from the vital target information needed to turn the target to dust. However, in a situation in which you must cover up the target through the break point, if the target is moving at a constant speed and direction from the moment you last see the target to the moment you pull the trigger, your gun is still moving along the same line as it did at the moment the connection was broken. So, a move that limits the amount of occlusion time is the key. What I’m describing here is a pass-through move, also known as swing-through or two-piece. Try this: Determine your break point on the rising teal at a point where the target is still under power and not yet slowing down appreciably. Establish your hold point no more than one third of the way below the break point (as measured from the break point back to the visual pickup point). Ensure that when you are in your ready position your gun is just far enough away from your face that you can see the rising target from underneath the barrel, as it approaches the muzzle. After calling for the target, let the target come to the muzzle; then move through the target and break it! This move will give your eyes a brief but essential momentary visual connection with the target as it rises above the muzzle. A couple of cautionary notes: 1) If you pass through the target as it is rapidly losing speed, you will tend to shoot over it, so make sure the target still has plenty of power through your chosen break point. 2) You need to be very decisive at the break point. Any hesitation in your shot execution once you occlude the target will result in a miss. As always, commit to your break point. Practice makes perfect. Start training on a teal inside 30 yards, and then gradually work your way out to the longer ones. Once you gain confidence with the two-piece, you will never again fear the rising teal.

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 189

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MASTER AND C CLASS Q: Besides equipment and hours of practice, what are the most basic differences between a Class C shooter and a Master Class shooter? A: I believe they are commitment/resources, attention to detail, and regular lessons. Commitment and resources: In one of Lanny Bassham’s mental management presentations (www.MentalManagement.com), he talks about commitment level. Each of us has a different set of variables when it comes to our ability to get to Master Class. While it is true that some shooters, because of a physical limitation, might be handicapped in their quest for Master Class, I find that in most cases it is a lack of available time, desire, and/or resources that holds them back. Whatever your situation, it is important that your commitment level match your personal goals. There is no such thing as a “wrong” commitment level unless your commitment level is out of sync with your personal goals. For some shooters the goal is simply to avoid embarrassment at the next local charity shoot. If, however, you want to get to Master Class in 2 years but can only shoot once a month, your goal is a bit loftier than your level of commitment. If your desire is to get to Master Class, it will take time, money, and determination to get there. That includes time dedicated to practice and competition, good equipment, and regular lessons from a coach who is dedicated to helping you achieve success. Attention to detail: Master Class shooters are more skilled in their ability to develop and consistently execute a target engagement plan. Shot planning is one skill that improves with time and practice, so most anyone can acquire it. It is a skill that skeet and trap shooters don’t really need. In trap the targets always come from the same location. In skeet there are essentially only sixteen different “leads” or shots. Sporting clays is unique in that a top shooter must be skilled at analyzing twelve to fifteen shot pairs in the course of a one-hundred-target competition, developing a plan for each pair, and flawlessly repeating each plan for three to five pairs on a given station. Master Class shooters tend to work very hard at developing a sound target engagement plan just before they step into the box or call for the targets. Make it a point to observe a Master Class competitor during your next local competition. Normally the gun starts in the same place and the target breaks in the same place every time. Lessons: Our sport is not cheap. Shooters pay hundreds to thousands of dollars to travel to, attend, and participate in a registered competition and earn their way to the next class.

190 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, except lessons. There is no question that regular lessons with a coach committed to helping you achieve success will save you time and money. If you have a limited amount of time, money, and resources (like most of us), regular lessons from a coach is a proven way to stretch those resources. Good luck in your quest!

FAILING AFTER THE FIRST PAIR Q: In looking at my last several scorecards, I have noticed that I regularly hit both clays in the first pair at a station and then miss the same pair at least one more time at the station. Since I clean the first pair of clays, the answer can’t be that I haven’t figured out how to shoot them. So is my problem overconfidence, overthinking, or just sloppy shooting? A: The problem you describe is very common, and the root cause always falls into one of three categories: Focus, Movement, or Faith. From the first pair to subsequent pairs, you changed something in one of following three areas: 1. Focus: You changed the way you were looking at the targets. With the first pair you were visually connected. You simply looked at the targets and had a strong visual connection with them just prior to and through the execution of the shot. In subsequent pairs you allowed your visual connection with the target to relax a bit, either because you were trying to see “the gap” (the barrel-target relationship) better or you simply forgot to repeat the same level of visual intensity on subsequent targets. Applying intense visual focus is a conscious act and the one thing that you can’t forget. We must engage our visual muscles and apply visual intensity to clay targets in order to break them. 2. Movement: Your movement to the targets changed. This almost always traces back to shot planning and consistency in execution. If you start with a solid plan, your eyes, body, and gun start in the same place, and you commit to your break point, your likelihood of consistently breaking consecutive target pairs rises exponentially. Consistent execution will dramatically reduce the opportunity for inconsistent misses. Start with a good plan (see the section on Planning in Chapter 8). Use landmarks on the terrain in front of your station to pinpoint the exact location of your break points, hold points, and visual pickup points. Start your movement upon seeing the target emerge from the trap and commit to your break points. 3. Faith: Emotionally, shooters shoot in one of two ways: They shoot to kill the targets or they shoot to avoid a miss. We often approach the first pair at a station with

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 191

the clear intention of killing the pair. As we experience success, we want to try and figure out exactly how we broke the first target pair so that we can repeat our success. As we do, we change the nature of our focus on the targets. Body tension increases. We slip our hold points and visual pickup points, and our commitment to break points fails us. We allow our conscious mind to override our subconscious onboard target guidance system. We are being careful not to miss. When a shooter goes from “killer” to careful, there is almost always a change in the location of the break point. Commitment to break points is critical. After developing a sound target plan with a clear and complete view of the targets, why on earth would you ever want to second-guess that plan with the gun in your face? The next time you miss, ask yourself the following three questions: 1. What did I see on the target as I executed the shot? (Focus) 2. Did I have my eyes and gun in the same place and according to plan? (Movement) 3. Did I execute the shot at my preplanned break point? (Faith)

STAYING FOCUSED VERSUS MEASURING Q: I’m struggling with the concept of focusing on the target (i.e., not looking at the barrel) and lead (either swing-through, pull-away, or maintained). Once I have focused on the target, mounted the gun, and swung it, should I shift my focus from the target to the lead point in front of the target before I shoot or maintain focus on the target while consciously swinging the gun to achieve the lead without changing my focus from the target? A: Follow-through in most sports is critical, whether in clay target sports, golf, tennis, or hitting a baseball with a bat. However, proper follow-through in clay target sports is quite unlike follow-through in most other sports activities. In those other sports we think of follow-through as “keep swinging.” But this doesn’t apply in clay target sports. In sporting clays a squad member may tell you, “You stopped the gun” or “Keep swinging.” (I have to admit, I giggle a bit every time I hear that on a sporting clays course.) But this is not the problem. It is only the symptom. In shotgun sports we point at the target to intercept it. As such, we must look at the target in order to accurately point at it. If we continue to focus on the target through the planned break point, then our front hand will continue to move the gun with the target. It is only when we “disconnect” our eyes from the target that our gun stops. While the symptom of some misses may be that you stopped the gun, the cause of the stopped gun is not the failure to keep swinging. It is actually a visual disconnection from

192 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

the target just prior to shot execution. Said another way, stopping the shotgun is the effect of visually disconnecting from the target prior to shot execution. The cause is lack of visual follow-through. Visual connection with the target must extend through the execution of the shot so that the gun continues to move through the break point. So, the answer to your question is no, you should never shift your focus away from the target through the break point, and no, don’t consciously swing past the target to obtain lead. Maintain laser focus on the target and trust your hands to move the gun with the target.

THE BEST WAY TO PRACTICE Q: What is the best way for a C, D, or E Class shooter to practice? A: If you are a beginning shooter, concentrate on simply getting your eyes, hands, and gun working together to break some easy targets. Start on going-away and incoming targets, and then gradually introduce more angle: quartering targets, then crossing targets, followed by specialty targets. More-experienced competitors who find themselves frustrated and stalled in C or D Class probably haven’t developed an effective practice strategy. Shooting one hundred targets at the local club once a week probably isn’t going to get the job done. Here are some tips for enhancing your game and increasing your punches. Increase your “target database”: Become proficient at breaking a wider variety of targets by exposing yourself to different clubs and different target setters. If time, money, and your job allow it, plan to travel to some bigger shoots out of your home area like a state championship, regional championship, or the nationals. The larger the variety of targets you are exposed to, and the more difficult they are, the less likely it is that a particular target presentation will stump you come competition day. Compete, don’t just practice: Pressure can’t be practiced. The psychological conditions of a tournament are very hard to replicate, so compete regularly. Just as you have to be in good “technical shape” to break tougher targets, you also have to be in tough mental shape to be consistent in competition. Regular competition yields mental toughness. Practice to a standard: Hold yourself accountable to achieve specific standards in practice, like breaking five straight pairs before moving to the next station. While you can’t replicate the mental conditions of competition, you can get close. Compete for score against a shooting buddy who is of equal or higher skill level. In the coaching field we call this form of mental practice “game play.”

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 193

Practice repetition: After the tournament is over, it’s the easy targets we missed that haunt us most. For honing your mental game, practice “high reps” on a skeet field or on targets of only moderate difficulty. Concentrate on flawlessly executing your preshot routine. Repetition is the key. Shoot well!

THE FLINCH Q: I have developed a terrible flinch. Why do I flinch, and how can I stop it? A: There are two types of flinches with very separate and distinct causes. The first is a physical flinch, which is caused by the anticipation of recoil. You can take a couple of actions to cure this. Shooting with a smaller-gauge gun or very light load for a time may help you overcome a physical flinch. As you execute your shot with the lighter recoil, concentrate on activating the trigger with a lighter touch. Instead of using a heavy-handed trigger pull, activate the trigger gingerly, using just enough finger pressure to activate the trigger. Try to shoot enough shells through the gun to get accustomed to the feel of the lighter recoil and lighter trigger pressure. Then gradually work your way back to your normal load. If you are recoil-sensitive and shooting a 11/8-ounce load, I recommend that you consider going to a 1-ounce load permanently. We use only 1-ounce loads in FITASC, where the targets are generally at greater distances, so there is plenty of lead in the air. You can achieve a higher shot speed with less recoil and only 11 percent less shot in your pattern. The second type of flinch is a visual flinch caused by visual confusion. This is a bit more complicated to diagnose because a number of different causes could be responsible, and you may only experience this type of flinch on certain target presentations. In shotgunning the brain can experience a subconscious confusion when the flow of visual information is either 1) interrupted by the barrel or 2) interfered with by unwanted targeting information from the non-shooting eye. When the barrel interrupts the connection between the eye and the target, it is usually due to poor gun fit, improper gun mount, or improper gun movement, otherwise known as “spoiling the line.” A shooter spoils the line when, instead of moving the barrel below the target line from the hold point to the break point, the shooter moves the barrel along the target line and unwittingly occludes the target. By doing so the shooter breaks the connection between the shooting eye and the target. Regardless of whether the cause is gun fit, gun mount, or improper gun movement, when the shooting eye and/or the target falls below the rib, it causes the non-shooting eye to

194 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

acquire the target and take the lead in transmitting target guidance input to the brain. In one instant the brain switches from taking its cue from the shooting eye to the non-shooting eye, causing the visual confusion. The second reason for the brain to experience visual confusion is because of an eye dominance issue unrelated to gun fit. This rarely happens with shooters who are solidly dominant on the side they shoot from. However, only about 25 percent of the population are solidly dominant in one eye, so the rest of the shooting population experiences interference from the non-shooting eye to some degree. For some shooters this interference is insignificant enough to have no effect. For other shooters, with a meaningful amount of center ocular shift, this interference can cause significant difficulty when engaging certain target presentations—for example, a left-to-right crossing target for a right-handed shooter. If you are a “flincher” but convinced that you are not suffering from a physical flinch, you should schedule some time with an instructor well versed in gun fitting and eye dominance anomalies who can make the proper assessment.

WHAT SHELL SHOULD I USE? Q: I’ve noticed that some sporting clays shooters use expensive ammunition with heavier loads like 11/8 and 11/4 ounce. Is there a real advantage? A: The 11/4-ounce load is better saved for duck or turkey season. Most courses and clubs don’t allow heavy loads, and in competition the rules require that 12-gauge shells have no more than 11/8 ounces of shot. If the choice is between a 11/8-ounce and a 1-ounce load, I’ll give you both sides of the argument and then my preference. Some shooters prefer 11⁄8 ounces of shot because they believe they are more likely to break a target with more lead in the air. A 11⁄8-ounce shell puts 12.5 percent more shot (forty-four more pellets) in the air than a 1-ounce shell; however, you have to pack more powder (and more recoil) into the 11⁄8 shell to yield the same muzzle velocity as the 1-ounce load. Shooters who prefer automatic shotguns will often shoot 11⁄8 because the additional recoil isn’t a big factor, and the added recoil actually helps engage the action more reliably. Those who swear by a 1-ounce load usually do so because they can achieve greater speed with less felt recoil and experience slightly better pattern integrity over distance. Personally, I use only 1-ounce loads, for two reasons: 1) Since I shoot FITASC, I have to use a 1-ounce shell anyway and really don’t want to change back and forth between 1-ounce and 11⁄8-ounce loads; and 2) I can have the advantage of a faster shell with less felt recoil.

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 195

Keep in mind that felt recoil can vary considerably from one brand of shell to another. I can show you a 1-ounce shell with greater felt recoil than another brand’s 11⁄8-ounce shell. And yes, you usually get what you pay for. Whatever camp you are in, you should pick your preferred shell and stick with it. The fewer variables you have to manage, the more consistent you will be.

SHOT SIZE? Q: Is there an advantage to using heavier shot like #7½ versus #8 for sporting clays targets at longer distances like 40-plus yards? A: Yes, there is some. With all other variables being equal, the #7½ shot has slightly greater inertia than #8 shot, so the shot pattern of the #7½ shot shell will maintain its integrity over a longer distance than the shell with #8 shot. Using a #7½ shell might also be a good idea on targets that are harder to break. The impact point of an edge-on standard target is harder than the belly or face area of the target. You might consider switching to a smaller shot size for battue targets (#8, #8½, or even a #9) and a heavier shot size (#7½ shot) for edge-on targets and rabbits at longer distances, which tend to be tougher to break.

CHANGING CHOKES Q: I see some shooters change chokes a lot and others hardly ever change chokes. What is the best approach? A: Are there benefits to be gained by changing chokes? Yes, within reason. But focusing a bit harder on the target will gain you a whole lot more than changing chokes at every station for another 5/1,000-inch constriction. Your time outside the box, in preparation for your turn in the box, is best spent studying the target presentations and developing a target plan. I know this sounds like blasphemy to some, but there is much more to be gained by conducting pre-shot planning before stepping into the shooting stand than there is in fumbling with chokes. Use a good middle-of-the-road choke like an improved cylinder (IC) or light modified (LM) and leave it in. Change your chokes for the extreme targets: those within 20 yards and in excess of 45 yards. You won’t see a lot of the top shots changing chokes on every station. Many will even use fixed-choke guns with fairly tight chokes (modified or improved modified), although I’m not necessarily suggesting that for novices.

196 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

If you do change chokes, you might want to think about a tighter choke on minis, midis, rabbits, and edge-on targets, as they are harder to break than standard targets showing face or belly at the same distance. Of all the targets we encounter on the sporting clays course, battue targets are the easiest to break, particularly at shorter distances, so a more open choke is advisable. When it comes to choke changing, remember the ancient saying: “Moderation in all things.” That’s not doctrine, but rather my opinion.

BARREL LENGTH Q: For a new over/under competition gun, would you recommend 30- or 32-inch barrels? Why? A: The answer has more to do with individual preference than performance. There are many factors that impact your shotgun’s performance more than a 2-inch variation in barrel length. From a shotgun ballistics standpoint, there is no appreciable difference between 30- and 32-inch barrels. The powder burns and pressure builds for a bit longer before the wad and shot are expelled, but the incremental friction in the additional 2 inches of barrel likely offsets the slightly incremental gain in barrel pressure. Either way the difference is negligible. More or less weight at the front end of a gun, however, will affect weight, balance, and the dynamics of a gun in a shooter’s hands. The dynamics, or “nimbleness,” of a particular shotgun in the hands of a particular shooter is unique. When your gun is properly fitted, you generally want to have the weight of the gun distributed as evenly as possible over both hands. This maximizes the shooter’s ability to efficiently move the gun to break targets. A 5'8" shooter might not handle a 32-inch gun as comfortably as he or she would a gun with 30-inch barrels because of the gun’s added inertia or weight forward. It’s also likely that the 5'8" shooter would require some shortening of the stock from the standard 14½ inches, thus removing weight from the back of the gun and creating an even more front-heavy shotgun. Adding weight up front can help with follow-though and reduce “whippiness” of the barrel. The downside is that the gun will have more inertia: It will take more energy to start the gun moving as well as to slow the gun once it’s in motion. For a 6'2" shooter I would likely recommend 32-inch barrels simply because the stock would most likely have to be lengthened from the standard. A longer barrel would offset the additional weight on the back of the gun and be better proportioned to this taller shooter. For a shooter measuring between about 5'8" and 6'1", it is more a matter of preference, feel, and balance. Some shooters prefer a gun with a bit more weight forward to reduce

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 197

inertia and whippiness of the barrel. Others shooters, particularly in skeet, prefer a lighter front end to generate greater gun speed when moving to a target.

CHANDELLES Q: Chandelles are giving me trouble. I think I’m shooting over and end up chasing them. Can you give me advice on shooting chandelles? A: If you are having trouble breaking chandelle targets, or arcing targets, it is likely because of the unique characteristics of the chandelle that differentiate it from other target presentations: 1. It is showing either all belly or all face, which tricks the brain into believing that it is moving more slowly than it really is. 2. It is arcing and thus changing trajectory throughout its flight path. 3. It is in transition, changing speed throughout it entire flight path. Since most shooters choose to break a chandelle at the apex or, more often, at some point after the apex, the target is almost always in transition at the break point. To increase your percentages with these sometimes-tricky presentations, follow these simple steps: 1. Select and commit to a break point. In other words, pick your break point and execute the shot where you planned to break it. 2. Select the focal point on the target (the leading edge of the target at the break point) and make sure you are focusing on that point through the break point. Don’t focus on the whole target! Focus small. 3. Achieve good flow with the target. Matching gun speed with target speed on this target will actually help you achieve better target focus. 4. Approach the break point at an angle different from the target line so you don’t get the gun between your eye and the target. For chandelles, and any other type of target that is descending at the break point, it’s easy to miss a target over the top and behind by moving your gun into the target line and interrupting the connection between your eye and the target just before you execute the shot. Whatever you do, don’t follow the line of the target with your shotgun. This is a recipe for frustration with any transitioning target. So, you step onto a sporting clays station and come face-to-face with a trap shot followed by a fast, left-to-right chandelle at about 35 yards. You determine that you’ll break the chandelle below and about 4 feet to the right of the apex of the arc, so the leading edge of the target will be at about 4 o’clock at the break point.

198 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

Because the target is descending, it will be crucial for you to move the gun barrel at an upward angle to the break point—in this case along a line that’s about 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock (lower left to upper right direction). This will help you to avoid any interruption of visual focus on the leading edge of the target through the break point. This also means that your hold point will be a bit lower and farther away from the visual pickup point and closer to the break point than for a crossing target—let’s say halfway to the break point. For a quartering chandelle your hold point will be even closer to the break point to avoid excessive gun speed when you execute the shot. You establish your ready position, call for the pair, and break the first target with ease. The chandelle launches, and you match gun speed with target speed, moving the gun up to the break point while maintaining sharp visual focus on a dime-size piece of the target at the 4 o’clock position. Dead bird.

EJECTING FROM THE GUN Q: I have a problem with coming out of the gun. Can you suggest an exercise that will help me overcome this problem? A: If you came to me as a student complaining of a tendency to come out of the gun at the end of your stroke, I would first try to understand the root cause. It is possible that you have simply developed a bad habit, but I have found that there is typically a root cause for a shooter “ejecting” from the gun. More often than not, if we address the cause, we eliminate the problem. Here are the typical causes for coming out of the gun: 1. You are “giving up” on the target visually as you execute the shot. Said another way, you are voluntarily detaching from the target visually as you execute the shot instead of visually following through with your eyes as you execute the shot. 2. You are anticipating recoil, subconsciously moving away from the gun as you execute the shot, trying to avoid impact with the comb. This cause may stem from shooting loads that are too hot for you or the result of shooting an ill-fitting gun. A gun that is too long will beat you up a bit, and one that has insufficient pitch (angle of the butt pad of your gun) may be causing the comb to impact your face upon shot execution. 3. Your drop at comb is excessive for your facial dimensions; i.e., there is insufficient comb height, causing the gun to occlude your view of the target as you complete your mount of the shotgun to the target. As a result, you are subconsciously raising your head as you execute the shot in order to see the target over the rib.

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 199

4. You might be lowering your head to the comb of your gun instead of mounting the gun to your cheek. Similar to #3 above, this causes you to raise your head up in order to see the target as you are executing the shot. As with most shooting problems, it is important that you attack (or your instructor attacks) the root cause rather than the symptom. If the issue is #1 above (visually “giving up” on the target), then you can use the drill below to train yourself to visually follow through on targets as you mount your gun and move through the break point. If you suspect that the issue is gun fit (#2 or #3 above), you should seek the assistance of a knowledgeable gun fitter who will likely recommend that you install an adjustable comb, have your stock bent, or have the pitch of your butt pad modified. If the issue is insufficient comb height, another short-term fix is to install a Beartooth Comb Riser (see www.youtube​ .com/watch?v=mEf03XOSlOU) to raise the comb and subsequently raise your eye over the rib to enable you to better see the target over your gun. If the issue is #4 above (lowering your head to the gun at the end of your stroke), then you will need to practice mounting to the cheek while keeping the head still. Maintaining a steady head position during your mount and move will greatly improve your visibility of the target through the break point. The drill: Once you have solved the root cause of ejecting from the gun, it’s time to practice maintaining your visual connection with the target through the break point, which will in turn help you stay in the gun. Start with a slow incoming target that reaches its peak about 25 yards in front of your position and at an angle that is at about a 40- to 75-degree elevation. Load two shells. Break the target with the first shell and break a piece of the target with the second shell, making sure to keep the gun in the cheek throughout the pair. This is a great drill that you and a shooting buddy can have some fun with. If you are shooting a two-barrel gun, use a cylinder or skeet choke in the first barrel and a tight choke in the second barrel. Good shooting!

SHOOTING GLASSES: IS MORE EXPENSIVE BETTER? Q: I’ve been using shooting glasses with interchangeable lenses that I bought as a set. I’ve noticed that the top shooters use a variety of brands and different colors. Are the more expensive glasses actually better? How do I know which color lenses to use? A: If you can’t see the target, you can’t hit the target. Among all the other equipment and accessories that we use and adorn ourselves with on the sporting clays course, including our

200 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

choice of shotgun and chokes, our shooting glasses may very well be the most important. The better we see the target, the more likely it is that we will break it. The higher the quality of the lens, the less visual disruption the shooter will experience. Translation? The clearer the lens, the sharper the shooter will see the target and the less fatigue or distortion the shooter will experience. Technology in optics and shooting lenses does not come cheap, however. As with most things, you get what you pay for. For the purposes of this discussion, we will address only the visual quality and color of lenses. Obviously, eye protection is the most important consideration but will be the topic of another time. The ability of a shooter to achieve the highest possible visual resolution through the shooting glasses is a direct result of three factors—the quality of the lens material used (substrate quality), coating technology, and filtration science. The shooter’s ability to see the dimples and edges of the target is directly related to all the three elements of a great lens. Clarity of a lens or glass can be measured. The Abbe scale (pronounced 'a-bē) runs from 0 to 60 and is a generally accepted measurement of lens clarity. A rating of 0 (zero) would be complete occlusion (visual blocking). A rating of 60 is the equivalent of the clarity provided when looking through mineral glass. The clarity of mineral glass is great, but it’s not a very good choice for lenses that need to protect the shooter against flying pellets and pieces of clay targets. Most of the commonly known brands of shooting glasses on the market use a material called polycarbonate to make their lenses. This material is easier, faster, and less expensive for manufacturers to produce lenses, but because of the properties of polycarbonate lenses, even under the most stringent of manufacturing processes, the maximum clarity a manufacturer can yield is 27-28 (Abbe scale). Some companies use other proprietary technologies. A disclaimer: I wear and sell Pilla Zeiss lenses because I like their visual technology and not because their prices are lower (they are not) or because they pay me money to do so (they don’t). Pilla uses Zeiss’s proprietary lens technology that uses a monomer substrate. In its manufacturing processes Zeiss subjects the lenses to less stress and applies a combination of high-quality lens coatings. As a result, Pilla Zeiss lenses achieve clarity ratings in the 5254 range, double that of most other glasses. Lens coating is another factor that differentiates lenses. When purchasing shooting glasses, ask the seller if the lenses are coated and what coatings are used, if they know. In a lens without an antireflective coating, light will reflect and create “noise,” or a splintering of visual light. This distraction reduces the visual clarity of targets seen through the lens.

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 201

Coatings are expensive, and many products on the market do not use high-performance coatings because of this cost. So, to answer your question regarding price and quality: Yes, based on my homework, I have to say the expensive glasses are better. As for color, here is quick reference for when to use which color lens: Color: Purple Properties: Deadens/suppresses green background. Use when: Shooting targets against a lush green background. Caution: Many polycarbonate purples, while deadening green, actually decrease depth of field. Color: Yellow Properties: Magnifies the amount of perceived light and increases contrast. Use when: In low light/overcast shooting situations. Color: Orange Properties: Targets a very specific spectral range that increases contrast and a shooter’s ability to pick up visual orange. Use when: Shooting orange targets against a blue sky. Caution: Less balanced color filtration may lead to an “oversaturation” of orange, reducing the visual sharpness. Color: Amber (high definition) Properties: Optimizes a broader range of the visual spectrum. Use when: General purpose, high definition across a broader spectrum.

MULTIPLE INSTRUCTORS? Q: I have had a few lessons I considered productive from a Level II instructor and have considered going to another instructor who is a Level III, just for another perspective. My friend advises against this, saying that if another instructor contradicts the first one it will just mess up my game. Does it make sense to work with multiple instructors or stick with one? A: It sounds like you may have hit a plateau with your current instructor. If that’s the case, you might want to have a discussion with him about your goals and where you want to go with your shooting. If you feel that you are not progressing rapidly enough, tell your

202 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

instructor. Perhaps he is not aware of your desire to progress at a more rapid pace. Make sure that your expectations of your own performance are in line with the amount of time and practice you are able to dedicate. It is not uncommon for shooters to expect an instructor to hand them a silver bullet without the practice and necessary time behind the gun. It’s also quite common for students to have self-expectations that are unreasonable for the time and resources they are able and willing to dedicate to shooting. If after the conversation with your coach you still feel that you need to seek out a second opinion or explore an alternative coach, don’t hesitate to do so. Most shooters at the top of the game got there by adopting a style that is unique to them—heavily influenced by the styles learned from coaches over time, but unique to them. So, gaining more knowledge by exposing yourself to new schools of thought is not a bad idea. It’s also not a bad idea to ask fellow shooters for references regarding the instructor with whom you are thinking about taking a lesson. Since you mentioned taking a lesson from a Level III, let’s define what a Level III instructor is. He or she has progressed through NSCA Levels I and II and has had a minimum of 5 years and 2,000 hours of instructional experience. The Level III has been evaluated by other Level III instructors during the certification course and was deemed to be a very experienced diagnostician. While many Level III’s teach all levels of students, they are more “coach” than “instructor,” working with the highest level of shooters, Master and AA Class, who are serious competitors and need to improve on minute details. Shooters often go to Level III instructors to tweak their performance—either physically or mentally—to pick up a few additional targets in a tournament. Some Level III instructors start with beginning shooters who want to learn the game from the most highly trained instructors and continue to train with the same person for a period of years. If you are serious about learning and improving your game and intend to engage an instructor on an extended basis, that might be a good approach. I encourage you to read “How to Choose an Instructor” on the NSCA website. To determine whether or not you want to take a lesson with a particular instructor, ask for references from other shooters, particularly from shooters who share a common ability level with you. Ask these shooters who they have taken lessons from and what they liked and didn’t like about a certain instructor. Evaluate a new instructor or coach in two areas: 1) personality/culture fit; and 2) the abilities of the instructor based on his or her certifications, experience, and references provided by other shooters. To evaluate personality fit, have a phone conversation with

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 203

the instructor before booking a lesson. If your goal is to get to Master Class in 18 months, for example, look at how many Master Class shooters the instructor has taught or produced. If you are a new shooter to the sport, consider taking lessons from an instructor who introduces many new shooters to the sport and whose students show continuous advancement. Bottom line: Pick an instructor who is a good personality fit, can teach at your level and higher, and can take you to the next level of shooting ability.

BARREL LENGTH OR GUN FIT? Q: I recently bought a sporting clays gun with 32-inch barrels, and now my scores have fallen sharply. I started out with 28-inch barrels, then moved up to 30-inch, and now with the longer barrels I can’t seem to catch up to the target. My previous two guns were Beretta 682s, and this one is a 692. I’m 6'5" and 250 pounds, so the gun does not seem too big to me. I was pretty happy with the shorter barrels but succumbed to advertising, I suppose. A big part of this is seeing the top shooters in the country with the longer barrels and trying to duplicate what they are using. Can you offer me tips for improving my scores? A: Answering your question is sort of like trying to conduct a gun fitting by e-mail or Skype. It’s impossible! But allow me to speculate. First of all, I seriously doubt that a 2-inch difference in barrel length is the cause of your catastrophic reduction in scores. At 6'5" you are certainly tall enough, and the length of pull of your gun presumably long enough, to carry the extra 2 inches. Ballistically speaking, there is no appreciable difference between 30- and 32-inch barrels on the same gun. More or less weight at the front end of a gun will affect weight, balance, and the dynamics of a gun in a shooter’s hands. I seriously doubt, however, that this slight increase in weight at the muzzle is the cause of the plummeting scores you are describing. There are many other factors that impact your shotgun’s performance to a much greater degree than a 2-inch variation in barrel length. From your question I understand that you didn’t just switch to a longer barrel on the same gun. You changed guns. More than likely, that’s where the problem lies. I’m a big fan of the Beretta 692, but my guess is that the new gun doesn’t fit you. Is it possible that your Beretta 682 had a higher comb? An adjustable comb, perhaps? With such a dramatic impact on your scores, I am speculating that you might not be seeing the target when the gun is fully mounted. Shooting with a gun that has a comb that is too low or a rib that is too high will sometimes cause the shooter to lose sight of the target through the break point. Again, this is just a guess based on the information in your question.

204 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

I would suggest that you set up a short session with a gun fitter and have him look at both guns. Let me know what your gun fitter determines.

SPOILING THE LINE Q: I’m having a terrible time with tower shots and battues that pass by or fall into obstructions such as trees. I think the obstructions are causing me to get “jammed.” The more I miss, the harder I try to put the barrel in front of the target. I end up measuring, which I know is incorrect but is perhaps a fallback to rifle shooting. How can I remove the barrel from the sight picture and improve the focus on the target? A: One very common cause of a miss is “spoiling the line,” when the shooter’s gun gets between the shooting eye and the target. In these cases the gun blocks, or occludes, the shooter’s view of the target through the break point. When this happens, the flow of target information to the brain is momentarily interrupted, usually causing the gun to fall behind the target and miss behind. For some targets, like a teal, the shooter is forced to cover up or occlude the target with the barrel as the gun passes through the break point. A good example might be a teal target that is rapidly moving away from the shooter such that it would be difficult to shoot the target at its apex. In this case the shooter is forced to insert behind and move to the front of the target to break the target as the target ascends away from the shooting stand. In almost all other cases, however, you should avoid placing the barrel between the shooting eye and the target before or through the break point, thus spoiling the line. How do you know when you are spoiling the line? It is usually very difficult for a shooter to self-diagnose because, when a shooter spoils the line, it is often just the shooting eye that is disconnected from the target, rather than both eyes. The connection between the non-shooting eye and the target through the break point often leaves the shooter a bit confused as to why the target didn’t break, because the shooter feels as if they were connected to the target through the break point. In fact, they were. They were just seeing the target with the wrong eye. How do you avoid spoiling the line? The most common remedy is to move your hold point a bit closer to the break point and a bit farther away (or offset) from the target line so that your move to the break point is at a sharper angle to the target line. This greater angle of approach to the break point makes it less likely that you will occlude the target before reaching the break point. For tower shots (an overhead and outgoing target), this means that you may want to employ more of a “diminishing lead” or “come-to-the-gun” technique,

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 205

similar to the move you would use on high house station 1. Establish your hold point on or near the break point and let the target come to the gun while maintaining sharp visual focus on the target. For a battue target (dropping after the apex of the target line) or any other target that is arcing or descending at the break point, you may want to use more of an “intercept” move with a sharper angle of approach up to the break point. For a more in-depth explanation of “diminishing lead” and “intercept,” see “Lead and Lead Types” in the new Level I instructor certification manual.

DO CHOKES WEAR OUT? Q: Do chokes wear out? I have put tens of thousands of rounds through my Beretta DT10. While I have multiple chokes for the gun, I wondered if—at some point—the walls of the choke tubes will no longer be true, requiring replacement. A: Great question. It really made me stop and think. I was pretty sure I knew the answer to this one, but just in case, I checked with the Obi-Wan Kenobi of barrels and chokes, Jim Eyster. So, with Jim’s help, here’s the answer to your question: Chokes really don’t wear out. They can be damaged by improper use or application or become “un-true” from lack of cleaning. Let me explain. One great way to damage your chokes and gun, and perhaps even yourself, is to use steel shot with chokes that are too tight. Lead is an inherently softer metal than steel, and steel does not “give.” There are certain choke sizes that may be fine for lead shot, because lead shot tends to give as the wad and shot cup are compressed when passing through the choke and out the muzzle, but not for steel. Since steel shot does not give or compress when it passes through the choke, it can cause damage to the choke and barrel if a tight choke is used. If using a shell with steel shot, make sure your chokes are rated for steel shot. A more open choke is required. Many manufacturers and choke makers now label each choke tube with the specific constriction for lead and steel shot. It is also important to clean your chokes on a regular basis. Over time residue from powder and shell wads will build up on your chokes, forming an additional layer on the inside of the choke and adding minute amounts of constriction to the choke. Another consequence of a dirty gun is that powder residue may build up over time near the “skirt” of the choke (the lip of the choke farthest from the muzzle). Each time a wad passes the skirt of the choke, this residue can be further compacted and pushed farther into the joint between the skirt and the gun barrel. This pressure can cause the skirt to actually

206 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

be deformed and bend upwards into the barrel. This creates a somewhat dangerous situation in which a wad can catch on the deformed lip of the choke on its way down the barrel and blow out the end of the barrel. Short of the above scenarios or accidental damage to the chokes, your choke tubes should last for the life of your gun. Just be sure to perform regular maintenance on your gun and always grease the chokes before putting them into your gun. This will help them go in and out easily and will also help seal the seam between the chokes and the barrel and prevent carbon from building up.

BRUISED CHEEK Q: I have recently begun to get a bruise on my cheek from the recoil of my new gun. I am a midlevel shooter, have a smooth move and mount, but probably once per twenty-five rounds I will feel myself getting whacked. I have had lessons from two Level III instructors. Both began each session by checking gun fit and eye dominance. Each agreed that my fit is great. Can you help me? A: My guess is that one of two things (or a combination of the two) is happening: 1. Your cheek may not be in contact with the comb of the stock during shot execution; thus the comb may be impacting your cheek as the shot is executed and the recoil causes the gun to jump into your cheek. I’m not an advocate of cramming the shotgun into the shoulder and the face down onto the comb, but some contact is needed to avoid having the gun bounce into the shoulder and cheek. 2. Your shotgun may not have enough pitch. Pitch is expressed in degrees of angle. It is the angle of the butt pad as compared to an imaginary line that runs perpendicular to the barrel rib off the back of the gun. Most off-the-shelf guns have a positive pitch of about 4 degrees, meaning that the butt is angled with the toe a bit closer to the front of the gun (angled away from the shooter) as compared to the heel. This slight angle of the toe away from the shooter allows the gun to fit more evenly and comfortably against the chest of the shooter. It also allows the recoil from the gun to be more evenly spread across the entire butt pad. Everyone is built differently, so some may need a bit more or a bit less pitch. Weightlifters and ladies tend to need a bit more pitch than others. If a gun does not have enough pitch for the shooter, it might cause the toe of the butt to absorb more of the recoil than the heel, resulting in excess muzzle jump. In this case, when the

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 207

shot is executed, the excessive upward movement of the gun may cause the comb of the stock to impact the face with a bit more punch than is ideal. First, make sure your lower cheek ledge is in good contact with the comb through your shot execution. Shooters often can’t tell when they are missing the cheek with the gun, so have a buddy take a few close-up videos of you shooting your gun. If this doesn’t reveal anything, you might want to have a good gun fitter check the pitch on your gun and watch you shoot.

THE BATTUE Q: Are there any general rules or adjustments for shooting battue targets? A: If the battue target were human, it would suffer from multiple personality disorder. These targets can be thrown in so many different ways and are affected by wind and light conditions to such an extent that it’s difficult to provide one silver bullet for breaking them. If you examine a battue target closely, you will notice that it differs dramatically from a standard target in one significant way: it lacks mass at the edges. It’s essentially a Frisbee with the edges cut off. As a result, it tends to turn over (or not) at a certain point in the target’s flight, depending on the wind and the way in which the target setter sets the trap. In an ideal world the target setter presents the battue’s belly or face just prior to and through the break point. At those separator stations, however, the target setter will sometimes force you to engage the battue while still in transition. With that said, let’s zero in on the most common battue profiles you might encounter and what tactics you might employ to yield more X’s on the scorecard. Battue on edge: These are extremely difficult to hit with a pattern at any distance, but if you are forced to engage a battue on edge, you might want to tighten up your choke. I’m not a big choke changer, but in this case you are essentially trying to hit a dinner plate on edge, so a tighter choke is recommended. Battue presenting belly or face: Whether battue or standard, a target with lots of real estate (exposed belly or face) lulls the shooter into thinking the target is moving a bit slower than it actually is. Think about the jumbo jet that just took off from an airport runway. It looks like it’s standing still. The reality is that it’s moving at about 260 mph. You’re being deceived into believing that the target is moving slower than it is. The apparent slowness of the aircraft, as with the belly/face target, is an optical illusion. That means the target is moving much faster

208 / / MASTERI N G SPO RTI N G CLAYS

than your brain would have you believe, and the target will require more perceived forward allowance to break it. So, from a conscious point of view, you need to tell yourself that these targets need a little more forward allowance than your internal computer indicates. Once again, don’t try to measure incremental forward allowance; simply apply hard focus to the leading edge of the target, feel more lead, and pull the trigger. Additionally, a belly/face battue is exceedingly easy to break, so a #8 at distance or even a #9 inside 25 yards will do the trick. Finally, battues tend to have a lot of velocity. It’s pretty easy to “get beat by the target.” As with all targets, but particularly the fast-moving battue, having your eyes and your gun in the right place is critical to earning an X on the scorecard.

CUSTOM VERSUS CUSTOMIZED SHOTGUN Q: I don’t think my gun fits, but I can’t afford a custom stock. What are my options short of shooting it as is or telling my family there won’t be a vacation because I’m buying a custom shotgun stock? A: There are several viable alternatives to a custom stock or a new custom gun that you may want to consider. Adjusting the gun you already have is always less expensive than the custom route, but before you get started down this road, beware of who you turn to for “expert” assistance. Not every gunsmith is experienced with working on shotgun stocks or adjusting shotguns to shooters. Most gun fitters (me included) have reliable, expert stock makers and craftsmen whom they routinely deal with and in whom they have great confidence. Turn to the experts who specialize in fine shotguns before throwing your gun up on your garage workbench or letting the gunsmith at your local pawn shop put his mitts on your fine over/under. If your shotgun is too long, your gun fitter will shorten the stock and grind and install a new butt pad. If your stock is too short, he will likely grind and install a new butt pad and use spacers to increase the length of the gun. Beware of those butt pads made of “sticky” rubber, as they tend to bind up in the vest or clothing during the mount. A new butt pad and length-of-pull adjustment with spacers will run you between $100 and $150. If your gun needs a pitch adjustment, this can be addressed at the same time as the new butt pad is installed at little or no additional cost. If a change in cast or drop at comb is called for, an adjustable comb is a great alternative to a custom stock. Installation of a good-

Go Ah ead, Ask Me! / / 209

quality, light-metal adjustable comb will set you back about $300 to $400 (installed) but will allow you to adjust the height of the comb as well as the cast. The nice thing about an adjustable comb is that it can be fine-tuned at any time. Changes in your mount, or a 10-pound increase in your weight over the holidays, may change your fit and point of impact. With a custom stock this is an expensive problem. With an adjustable comb you can quickly make adjustments with an Allen wrench, and you are back in business. In a worst-case scenario, you are looking at a total of about $500 for the length-of-pull adjustment and adjustable comb installation. This is a lot cheaper than a shotgun or new stock made just for you. One caution about these customizations: An adjustable comb will add weight to the back of your gun and therefore change the gun’s dynamics and the way it swings to the target. This imbalance can be fixed by installing some small weights in the forend to compensate. For fans of automatic shotguns, the more recent models come with an assortment of shims and spacers for adjustment. Providing your dimensions fall within the tolerances of these guns, you can save yourself the expense of a custom stock, but you would still be well served to have a gun fitter perform the fitting and adjustments.

GLOSSARY

Bespoke shotgun: A shotgun with a stock cut from a block of wood, or wood blank, to the specific dimensions of an individual shooter. Break point (aka “kill spot”): The three-dimensional spot at which the target breaks or at which the shooter plans to break the target. Cast: The lateral deviation of the comb of the shotgun stock from the centerline of the rib. Another way to think about cast is the amount of “bend” in the top of the stock, either right or left, as compared to the centerline of the rib. Center ocular: An eye dominance status in which the shooter does not have a dominant eye. A shooter is said to be center ocular when the left and right eye are equally dominant. Cross-dominant: When a shooter is shooting off the shoulder opposite the dominant eye. Draw length: The distance between the comb of the butt stock of a shotgun and the shooter’s cheekbone when in the ready position. Drop at comb: The vertical distance between the top of the comb (on a shotgun stock) and a straight, imaginary line running along the center of the rib extending over the top of the comb back to the butt. Eye dominance: The tendency for the brain to prefer input from one eye over the other. Hold point: The three-dimensional spot at which a shooter orients the shotgun as he or she calls for the target. Length of pull (“LOP”): The distance measured between the front edge of the trigger and the back edge of the center of the butt pad. Movement: The fluid, rhythmic, and synchronized motion of the whole body, head, hands, and gun as a single unit along the target line to the bird, culminating in the almost instantaneous discharging of the shotgun as sharp visual focus on the target is achieved and the gun mount to the cheek is completed. Ocular shift: A term related to eye dominance status, referring to a person who is predominantly dominant in one eye over the other but with a slight bias toward the nondominant eye.

212 / / G lossary

Occlusion: To block out or interrupt visual connection with the target. Occlusion foil: A film or dot placed on the lens of the shooting glasses (in front of the nonshooting eye) to block or inhibit the visual connection between the non-shooting eye and the muzzle of the shotgun. Pattern stock: A rough-cut unfinished stock used as a pattern from which the stock maker will later create a finished custom stock. Creating a pattern stock out of an inexpensive stock blank (usually pine) is an intermediate step often taken by a gun fitter in an effort to “prove” the fit of a stock for an individual shooter before creating a finished stock out of a finer and more expensive piece of wood (usually Turkish walnut). This intermediate step is very beneficial in situations where the shooter’s palm swell, cast, and/or drop at the shoulder (Monte Carlo) deviates significantly from the average. Pitch: The angle of the butt pad of a shotgun in relationship to the rib line. A gun is said to have “no pitch” if the angle of the end of the butt pad is perfectly perpendicular (90 degrees) to the rib of the shotgun. A gun is said to “have pitch” if the toe of the butt is angled in toward the front of the gun (positive pitch) or angled toward the shooter (negative pitch). Ready position: The starting position of the body, eyes, and gun as the shooter calls for the target and initiates his or her mount and movement to the break point. Self-timed sport (aka self-paced sport): A sports activity in which the moment of execution is at the option of the participant. Squib load: A potentially dangerous situation in which the wad of a shot shell becomes lodged in the shotgun barrel. This is usually caused by insufficient pressure in the chamber and is a potentially dangerous situation if the barrel is not cleared of all obstruction prior to loading and firing another shell. Target line: The line of flight of a target. Visual pickup point: The three-dimensional spot along the target line at which the shooter will loosely focus in order to initially acquire the target as it becomes visible.

ENDNOTES

Chapter 2. A Brief History and Other Disciplines 1. Michael Yardley, Clay Pigeon Shooting: A History (Tansley, U.K.: Blaze Publishing, 2005). 2. Amateur Trapshooting Association (http://www.shootata.com). Chapter 4. Eye Dominance 1. Charles Lancaster, The Art of Shooting, 14th ed. (Sheffield, U.K.: Ashford Press Publishing, 1985), 125. Chapter 6. The Origins of Focus-Movement-Faith 1. Quotations from Churchill in this chapter are from Robert Churchill, Game Shooting: A Textbook on the Successful Use of the Modern Shot-Gun (London: Michael Joseph, 1955). 2. Macdonald Hastings, ed., Robert Churchill’s Game Shooting (Lanham, Md.: Stackpole Books, 1963), 14. Chapter 7. Focus 1. Joan N. Vickers, Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action (Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 2007), 25–26. 2. Joe Causer, Simon J. Bennett, Paul S. Holmes, Christopher M. Janelle, and A. Mark Williams, “Quiet eye duration and gun motion in elite shotgun shooting,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 42 (2010): 1599–1608. 3. Churchill. 4. Vickers, 136–137. Chapter 9. Movement: Ready Position 1. Andy Stanley, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008). 2. Lancaster, 28.

214 / / Endnotes

3. Robert Churchill, How to Shoot: Some Lessons in the Science of Shot Gun Shooting (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1925), 25. 4. Ibid., 17. 5. Lancaster. 6. Michael Yardley, The Shotgun: A Shooting Instructor’s Handbook (London: The Sportsman’s Press, 2004). Chapter 11. Faith 1. Lancaster. 2. Churchill, Game Shooting. 3. Percy Stanbury and G. L. Carlisle, Clay Pigeon Marksmanship, 3rd ed. (London: Hutchinson, 1974).

SOURCES

ATA (Amateur Trapshooting Association): www.shootata.com/GeneralInformation/ TrapshootingDisciplines.aspx, 04/15/2017 Causer, J., S. J. Bennett, P. S. Holmes, C. M. Janelle, and A.M. Williams. “Quiet Eye Duration and Gun Motion in Elite Shotgun Shooting,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp. 1599–1608, 2010. Churchill, Robert. Game Shooting. Camden, ME: Countrysport Press, 1990. Churchill, Robert. How to Shoot: Some Lessons in the Science of Shot Gun Shooting. London: The London and Norwich Press, Ltd., 1925. Lancaster, Charles. The Art of Shooting, 14th Edition. Sheffield, U.K.: Ashford Press Publishing, 1985. Stanbury, Percy, & GL Carlisle. Clay Pigeon Marksmanship, 3rd edition. London: Barrie & Jenkins Ltd., 1974. Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011. Vickers, Joan N. The Quiet Eye in Action, Perception, Cognition and Decision Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2007. Yardley, Michael. The Shotgun Instructor’s Handbook. London: The Sportsman’s Press, 2001. Yardley, Michael. Clay Pigeon Shooting: A History. Tansley, U.K.: Blaze Publishing, 2005.

INDEX Italicized page numbers indicate illustrations. Amateur Trapshooting Association, 11 ammunition, 32–34, 33, 194–95, 205 Art of Shooting, The (Lancaster), 74, 74–75, 103, 125 attitude, 171

banks (trap fields), 9, 9, 14

barrels, shotgun barrel to target relationships, 76, 81, 83–84, 93, 125 eye-barrel alignment, 50, 50, 52, 120, 121, 133 length recommendations, 196–97, 203 ready positions and orientation of, 78, 104, 112–15, 113, 133, 134 safety inspections of, 33, 34 barrel wobble, 113, 114, 133, 134 Bassham, Lanny, 189 battue targets advice for, 143, 196, 205, 207–8 deceptive, 142, 143 descriptions, 17, 22, 23, 207 Beretta, 53, 59, 68, 203 bespoke (custom) shotguns, 58–60, 67, 208 biofeedback, 172, 172–73 bird hunting, 78, 93, 122 Blaser, 59, 62 brain function, 171–73, 172, 177, 193–94. See also mental game break point (kill spot) focus timing and shot planning, 90 identification of, as shot planning element, 96–97, 100 instinctive shooting and preplanning, 93 missed shot diagnoses and, 90, 123, 133, 138–39, 152, 191 stance orientation to, 105, 105, 106, 107 bump the lead, 163, 164 bunker trap, 21, 94 butt pads, 54, 57, 57, 67, 198, 206, 208 butt plates, 67, 68

Caesar Guerini, 59

cast, 56–57, 67, 208 center ocular dominance, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 chandelles, 24, 89, 197–98 cheek placement, 104, 115–17, 116, 120–21, 206 Cherry, Wendell, 73, 92, 115, 138, 178 choke, 14, 143, 195–96, 205–6, 207 Churchill, Robert biographical information, 77 focus philosophies, 79, 81, 84, 125, 137 movement philosophies, 92 ready positions, term origin, 103 shotgunning fundamental theories, 75–80, 81, 84–85, 125–27 stance style of, 78, 109 Clay Pigeon Marksmanship (Stanbury), 74, 74, 75 Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA), 38, 44 clay shooting sports, overview. See also skeet; sporting clays; trapshooting categories of, 22 fundamentals and theory development, 74, 74–76 history of, 6, 6–8, 7 practice recommendations, 8, 29, 181–85 types of, 8, 21 clay targets. See also target tactics break resistance of, 23, 143, 196, 208 colors of, 23, 28 deceptive, 140–43, 197, 207–8 history of, 7, 8 presentation types, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 140, 150, 150 types of, 17, 22, 22, 23, 28 collapse (diminished lead), 3–4, 148, 154–56, 155, 204–5 comb(s) adjustable, 68, 68, 69, 208–9 cheek bruising and placement of, 206 drop at, 56, 56, 66, 67, 70, 198, 208 height adjustments, 54, 58, 203

I ndex / / 217

come-to-the-gun (diminished lead), 3–4, 148, 154–56, 155, 204–5 coming out from the gun, 198–99 commitment, 189 COMPAK, 18, 22 confidence, 124, 126, 173 conscious mind, 171, 177 constant/sustained lead, 144, 145, 148, 151, 152 crossing targets descriptions, 24, 25 draw length and ready positions for, 116 hold points for, 97, 97, 110, 111 target tactics for, 163, 164 crossover stocks, 47, 47 cutoff (intercept), 150, 156–58, 157, 205

database deficiency, 85–86

diming, 46, 46 diminished lead, 3–4, 148, 154–56, 155, 204–5 direct intercept, 150, 156–58, 157, 205 drag the barrel/ride the target, 90, 133, 152 draw length, 104, 115, 115–17, 116, 135 driven target, 162–63, 162 drop at comb, 56, 56, 66, 67, 70, 198, 208

earmuffs and plugs, 31, 31, 34–35

edge-on targets, 142, 154, 195, 196 ego, 170–71, 172 ejecta, 63, 63–67, 64, 65 ejecting out from the gun, 198–99 England, 6, 6–8, 7, 14, 73–76, 74 eye-barrel alignment, 50, 50, 52, 120, 121, 133 eye dominance assessments for, 38, 38–42, 39, 40, 41, 48 debates on, 37 definition, 43 flinching and visual confusion due to, 194 myths about, 37 prevalence of, statistics, 42, 44 shooting performance potential and use of, 38 solutions to, 44–48, 45, 46, 47 eyewear, 31, 32, 46, 47, 186, 199–201 Eyster, Jim, 205

faith, 124–27, 138–39, 190–91

FITASC event descriptions, 19–21, 20, 22 menus at, 20

predictability in, 94 ready position style of, 19, 104, 115, 115, 117 score sheets for, 21 five-stand European versions of, 18, 22 event descriptions, 18, 18, 22, 28 predictability in, 94 flash targets, 23 flinches, 193–94 focal point, 87, 87–89, 88, 89 focus challenges to, 86 Churchill theories on, 79, 81, 125–26 measured lead approaches and split-, 76, 80, 81, 83–84, 125 missed shots and diagnosing flawed, 136–37, 190, 191–92 movement impacting, 132–33, 138 practice methods for, 182, 184, 199 principle of, overview, 81–82, 90–91, 125–26, 191 scientific theories of, 82–86 tactics to enhance, 87, 87–89, 88, 89 timing of, 90, 93 Focus-Movement-Faith principles, ix, 4–5, 73–74, 136. See also faith; focus; movement following pairs, 14, 17, 17, 28 follow-through, 139, 191, 192, 199 forward allowance. See lead Frisella, Richie, 76, 100 full draw ready positions. See low-gun (full draw) ready positions

game play, 184, 192

Game Shooting (Churchill), 74, 74, 75, 78, 81 gap shooting, 76, 80, 81, 83–84, 93, 125 gaze control, 99 glass ball targets, 6, 8 glass ball throwers, 7 glasses, shooting, 31, 32, 46, 47, 186, 199–201 Greenway, Gary, 122 Grid, The, 183, 184 gun fit assessment techniques for, 50, 52–58, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 benefits of proper, 49, 50, 50, 72 costs of, 67–68, 208–29 custom (bespoke) guns for, 58–60, 67, 208 female shooters and, 46, 54, 56, 57, 206 mounting expertise prior to, 58, 59, 72 problems with, 198, 199, 203–4, 206–7

218 / / I ndex

professional gun fitters, selection of, 67, 71–72, 208 shooter’s physical dimensions and, 52, 58, 60, 68, 71, 203 stock maker selection for, 71–72 tools for, 60–67, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71 youth shooters and, 54, 56

half draw ready position, 115, 116

Hancock, Craig, 73 Hancock, Vincent, 181 hang fire, 32–33 head positioning, 120, 121, 133, 134 hearing protection, 31, 31, 34–35 height of shooter, 68, 71, 196–97, 203–4 hinge rule, 65 hold point movement improvement tips with, 134 as ready position element, descriptions, 104, 110–12, 111 as shot planning element, 97, 97–99, 98, 100–101 spoiling the line remedies with, 204–5 How to Shoot (Churchill), 74, 74, 75, 103

incoming targets (incomers), 24, 26

instinctive shooting, 74–80, 84–85, 92–93, 125–27 instructors evaluation and selection of, 202–3 eye dominance assessments, 38, 39, 39–44, 40, 41, 48 low-gun mount advocacy of, 187 Master Class lessons, 189–90 missed shot diagnoses, 136–39 multiple, 201–2 single-method approaches of, 4, 148 stance evaluation and instruction, 105 student expections of, 202 intercept, 150, 156–58, 157, 205

Kempffer, Bill, xiv, xiv–xv, 73 kill spot. See break point knuckles, 61, 62

Lancaster, Charles, 38, 74–75, 103, 125

laser pointers, 115 lead (forward allowance) Churchill theories on, 75–80, 81, 82, 83–85, 90, 125–26 for deceptive targets, 142, 143, 208 gun fit for optimal, 49–50

measured approaches, 76, 80, 81, 83–84, 93, 125 target tactics for achieving (See target tactics) left-eye dominance, 39, 40, 40, 41, 42, 44 length of pull, 53, 54, 54, 55, 67, 68, 209 lessons, 189–90. See also instructors Ligowsky, George, 7, 8, 9 look (visual pickup) points, 22, 99–100, 176 low-alpha brain waves, 172, 172–73, 177 low-gun (full draw) ready positions, 19, 19, 103–4, 115, 115, 117, 187

Magic Dots, 48

maintained/sustained lead, 144, 145, 148, 151, 152 mapping, 94, 95–96, 96 mastery skills development. See also target tactics attitude for, 171 deceptive targets and, 140–43 Master Class level descriptions, 189–90 mental processes for, 169–79 missed shot diagnoses, 136–39 movement assessments and improvement tips, 132–35 practice for, 180–85 McGuire, Bill, 3–4, 73, 100 mental game attitude, 170–71 biofeedback for body performance, 172, 172–73 brain function and competitive advantage, 170–71 elements of, 173–74 errors impacting, 174 faith and, 124–27, 138–39, 190–91 overview and benefits of, 169–70 practical application of, 178–79 pre-shot planning phases, 175–76 pre-shot routine phases, 176–78 midis and minis, 17, 22, 23, 141–42, 196 misfires, 32–33 mounting. See also stance barrel orientation for, 78, 104, 112–15, 113, 134 cheek placement, 104, 115–17, 116, 120–21, 206 draw length for, 103–4, 114–17, 115, 116 eye dominance issues and solutions, 45, 45–46, 46, 47 gun fit and inconsistency in, 58, 59, 72 head positioning, 120, 121, 133, 134 hold point and, 104, 110–12, 111 practice for, 118, 180–81, 182 proper techniques for, 37, 45, 50, 50, 75–76 purpose of, 119 ready positions for, 19, 19, 103–4, 115, 115–17, 116, 120, 187

I ndex / / 219

rules of, 118–22 shooting performance impacted by, 50 movement. See also ready positions; shot planning definition, 118 elements of, 94 focus impacted by, 132–33, 138 importance of efficiency in, 92, 132 inefficiencies in, common, 133–34 missed shots and diagnosing flawed, 137–38, 190 rules of, 118–22 shot execution, 118, 121–23 theories on, 92 tips and techniques improving, 134–35 muzzle angles, 78, 104, 112–15, 113, 134 muzzle jump, 58

National Rifle Association (NRA), 38, 44

National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA), 30–31, 38, 44, 101, 186, 202 National Sporting Clays Championship, 35 no draw (pre-mounted) ready positions, 103–4, 115, 116, 117, 120, 187 Noise Reduction Rating (NRR), 35

occlusion

barrel orientation causing, 114, 117 definition, 43 eye dominance and corrective devices for, 46, 47 gun movement causing, 133, 188, 204–5 shooting glasses and clarity ratings, 200 tactics to minimize, 122, 133, 160, 188 occlusion interval, 122, 133, 160, 188 ocular shift, 41, 42, 43–44, 194 OPTIMAL (Observe, Plan, Test, Image, Mark, Align, Laser Focus) Process development and research for, 169–74 practical application, 178–79 pre-shot planning phase, 94–95, 175–76 pre-shot routine phase, 176–78

pace-and-pull, 163, 165, 166

“painting the shot.” See shot planning pass-through. See swing-through patterning boards, 60–61, 61, 63, 63–67, 64, 65, 66, 71 pegs, 19, 20 Perazzi, 59 Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action (Vickers), 82–83

peripheral vision, 46, 89, 99–100, 124, 176 pigeon shooting, 6, 8, 74 Pilla Zeiss eyewear, 32, 186, 200 pitch, 57, 57–58, 198, 206, 208 practice cross-discipline, 8, 29 for mastery skills, 180–85 for rising teal mastery, 188 skill levels and strategies for, 192–93 visual connection drills, 199 pre-mounted ready positions, 103–4, 115, 116, 117, 120, 187 pre-shot planning, 94–95, 175–76, 195 pre-shot routines brain function and, 171, 172–73 deceptive targets and preparation at, 142 development of, 173–74, 175, 176–78 goals of, 170 practical application of, 178–79 professional shooters and examples of, 178 skeet for practice of, 181–82, 184 Principle of the Path, The (Stanley), 103 proprioception, 82, 85, 124 pull-away (synchronize and separate) limitations of, 120 for novice shooters, 151 tactic descriptions, 144, 146, 148, 152–53 variations on, 150

quartering move, 150, 158, 159

quartering targets descriptions, 24, 25 draw length/ready positions for, 116 focal points for, 89 hold points for, 98, 98, 111, 112 target tactics for, 158, 159

rabbit move, 166–68, 167

rabbit targets choke for, 196 deceptive, 142–43 descriptions, 17, 22, 23 ready positions not advised for, 104 target tactics for, 163, 165, 166–68, 167 ready positions. See also mounting barrel orientation for, 112–15, 113 for bird hunting, 93 definition and elements of, 104 draw length for, 115–17, 116, 187

220 / / I ndex

factors influencing, 80, 104 hold point for, 110–12, 111 importance of, 103, 117 skeet for practicing, 182 stance for, 51, 104–10, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 recoil flinching and anticipation of, 193 gun fit issues creating, 54, 57–58, 198, 206–7 shell selection and, 194–95 reloads, 32, 33 report pairs, 14, 17, 17, 18, 28 riding the target, 90, 133, 152 right-eye dominance, 39, 40, 40, 41, 42, 44 rising teal targets, 154, 160, 161, 187–88 rocket targets, 22, 28

safety, 30, 30–36, 31

Schultz, Steve, 73, 150 seesawing, 113, 114, 133, 134 self-talk, 126, 171 shell primers, 33, 33 shells, 32–34, 33, 194–95, 205 shooting performance. See also mastery skills development eye dominance knowledge enhancing, 38 focus methodology for, 81–86 fundamentals for, 49–50, 74–80, 84–85, 125–27 gun fit for, 50 missed shot diagnoses, 136–39, 190–93, 204–5 shot planning for, 94 shot, 205 shot distribution, 63, 63–67, 64, 65, 66 shot execution, 118, 121–23, 138 Shotgun, The (Yardley), 110 shotgunning fundamentals of, 49–50, 74–78, 81 history of, 6–8 safety considerations, 30, 30–36, 31 shotguns. See also comb(s); gun fit; mounting; recoil ammunition, 194–95 barrel length recommendations, 196–97 bespoke (custom), 58–60, 67, 208 carry techniques, 31 chokes, 14, 143, 195–96, 205–6 cleaning and maintenance, 205–6 eye dominance issues and modifications to, 47, 47 noise emissions and hearing protection, 34–35 safety issues and procedures, 30–34 for skeet, 13

for sporting clays, 18 terminology for, 53 shot planning (“painting the shot”) choke changes vs., 195–96 elements of, 95–100, 96, 97, 98 faith and confidence in, 126 focus timing and, 90 mental processes for, 94–95 practical application, 100–102 purpose, 94, 137–38 Shotspot, 48 shoulder mounting, 119, 120–21, 134 shuttering, 46 simo (simultaneous, true) pairs, 14, 17, 17, 18, 28, 96, 141 skeet American, 11, 11–14, 12, 13, 14 category descriptions, 22 focus methods in, 84 international, 21, 181 predictability of, 94, 140 for sporting clays practice, 181–85, 184 target types for, 22 SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) brain waves, 172, 172–73, 177 split-focus, 76, 80, 81, 83–84, 125 spoiling the line, 133, 193, 204–5 sporting clays, overview. See also related topics course layout, 16, 17 descriptions, 14, 22, 28 European versions of, 19, 19–21, 20, 21 event types, 18, 18, 21 history of, 14 menu options, 14, 17, 28 rounds for, 18 safety considerations, 30, 30–36, 31 scorecards, 16 shotguns and gauges for, 18 skill set requirements for, 28–29 squad organization for, 17–18 stations for, 14, 15 target presentation types for, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 140, 150, 150 target types for, 17, 22, 23, 28 squib loads, 33–34, 34 Stanbury, Percy, 74, 75, 78, 110, 126 stance definition, 104 fundamentals of, 78

I ndex / / 221

improper techniques, 51, 107–8, 108 individualization of, 78, 104 of left-handed shooters, 106, 106 modern style, 110 proper techniques for, 51, 104–5, 105, 106, 107, 108–10 of right-handed shooters, 105, 106 shooting performance impacted by, 50 standard targets, 17, 22, 22, 23 Stanley, Andy, 103 stress, 174 subconscious mind, 171–72 super sporting, 21, 22, 28, 94 sustained lead, 144, 145, 148, 151, 152 swing-through (pass-through) limitations of, 120, 151–52 for rising teal targets, 188 tactic descriptions, 144, 147, 153 variations of, 150, 154 synchronize and separate. See pull-away

target line, 95–96, 96, 133, 193, 204–5

target presentations. See also crossing targets; rabbit targets; teal targets; trap targets chandelles, 24, 89, 197–98 deceptive, 140–43 incomers, 24, 26 types of, overview, 24 variety of, 150, 150 targets, 6, 8. See also clay targets target tactics. See also bump the lead; diminished lead; driven target; intercept; pace-and-pull; pull-away; quartering move; rabbit move; swing-through; two-piece basic, 144, 148, 152–53 default methods and single-technique approaches, 148–49, 151, 168 dynamic methodology and diversity, 149, 154, 168 least effective, 151–52 Master Class skills in, 189 practice for proficiency in, 192 specialty, overview, 153–54 for students/novices, 151 Target Talk (online newsletter), 196 target throwing machines. See traps

teal targets descriptions, 24, 27, 28 target tactics for, 154, 160, 161, 187–88 traps (target throwing machines) early, 7 presentation variety of, 73, 149, 150, 150 pre-shot planning and, 175, 177 in sporting clays, 14, 18, 19, 21 trapshooting American, 8–11, 9, 10, 14, 94 bunker, 21, 94 category descriptions, 22 double, 21, 94 international, 21 predictability of, 140 target types for, 22 trap targets descriptions, 24, 26 focal points for, 89 hold points for, 98, 98, 111, 112 ready positions for, 104, 116, 117 true pairs, 14, 17, 17, 18, 28, 96, 141 try guns, 61, 62 turtle-neck mount, 51, 108 two-piece, 150, 154, 160, 161, 188

Vickers, Joan, 82–83, 85

visual blocking. See occlusion visualization, 173, 174, 178–79 visual pickup points (look point), 22, 99–100, 176 visuomotor system. See also eye dominance; focus athletes and studies on, 82–83 database deficiency and, 85–86 eye-barrel alignment, 50, 50, 52, 120, 121, 133 individuality of, 4, 149, 151, 153 peripheral vision, 46, 89, 99–100, 124, 176

weight of shooter, 52, 60, 68, 78, 109–10, 203–4, 209 winking, 46, 46 Woolley, John, 92

Yardley, Michael, 44, 110 Zoli, 59