Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
A couple things have turned up recently, and I'll lump them together here.
First is head position.
With your shotgun double checked to ensure it's empty, mount it as you usually do.
Now, did you bring the gun up to your shoulder, or your face?
Hopefully, your brought it to your face. If your shotgun is close to fitting you correctly, the butt will be where it belongs when the comb nestles in under your cheekbone.
We've all seen it,and maybe done it. A shooter, and trap shooters are terribly prone to this, mounts the gun to the shoulder, then drops the face into place.
That's wrong. If you move your face into position before raising the gun, then bring the gun to the face,you will hit more birds and hit them better.
Try it this way when you premount as in trap and also when you're shooting low gun.
And as always, regular practice at home with a shotgun KNOWN to be empty will groove the move in.Do it right at home until it's automatic and watch your scores soar.
Attached to this, is your head level and parallel to the ground when you shoot?
Lots of us have adapted to slight discrepancies in fit by tilting the head over the comb a bit. Those shotguns that have cast off for RH shooters and cast on for the sinisterly inclined get the master eye where it belongs. The head stays level and that means one less problem for our internal computer to deal with.
I've done some very good shooting with my Beretta lately and some long ago with a little French SxS. Both had some cast off and strange looking stocks.
Beauty is as beauty does. Getting the eyes where they belong and level aids accuracy no end. A little time at the patterning board and some stock adjustment as needed will show the truth.
Next head game has to do with SEEING that target. There's scads of flying stuff and game missed because we're looking at the back of the thing and not the leading edge.
I used to hunt some with a jack pine savage whose brush gun was a cut down single shot. He was deadly because, according to him, he focused on the beak.
My father, a fine game shot, told me to look at the eye and if I couldn't see the eye, look at the head where the eyes were. It works.
And on stuff going straight away, we may not see the front edge, beak etc, but we know where it is. Visualize and apply a cloud of shot.
Any questions?
First is head position.
With your shotgun double checked to ensure it's empty, mount it as you usually do.
Now, did you bring the gun up to your shoulder, or your face?
Hopefully, your brought it to your face. If your shotgun is close to fitting you correctly, the butt will be where it belongs when the comb nestles in under your cheekbone.
We've all seen it,and maybe done it. A shooter, and trap shooters are terribly prone to this, mounts the gun to the shoulder, then drops the face into place.
That's wrong. If you move your face into position before raising the gun, then bring the gun to the face,you will hit more birds and hit them better.
Try it this way when you premount as in trap and also when you're shooting low gun.
And as always, regular practice at home with a shotgun KNOWN to be empty will groove the move in.Do it right at home until it's automatic and watch your scores soar.
Attached to this, is your head level and parallel to the ground when you shoot?
Lots of us have adapted to slight discrepancies in fit by tilting the head over the comb a bit. Those shotguns that have cast off for RH shooters and cast on for the sinisterly inclined get the master eye where it belongs. The head stays level and that means one less problem for our internal computer to deal with.
I've done some very good shooting with my Beretta lately and some long ago with a little French SxS. Both had some cast off and strange looking stocks.
Beauty is as beauty does. Getting the eyes where they belong and level aids accuracy no end. A little time at the patterning board and some stock adjustment as needed will show the truth.
Next head game has to do with SEEING that target. There's scads of flying stuff and game missed because we're looking at the back of the thing and not the leading edge.
I used to hunt some with a jack pine savage whose brush gun was a cut down single shot. He was deadly because, according to him, he focused on the beak.
My father, a fine game shot, told me to look at the eye and if I couldn't see the eye, look at the head where the eyes were. It works.
And on stuff going straight away, we may not see the front edge, beak etc, but we know where it is. Visualize and apply a cloud of shot.
Any questions?
