Hip Shooting

[kudu]

Over the last twenty-five to thirty years I have done a lot of hip shooting on skeet and sporting clay birds. I have gotten pretty good average wise and had quite a lot of 24 out of 25's, usually stay about 21-22. Today I was shooting skeet with 3 of my friends, beautiful fall day, pretty warm at about 65 degrees and no wind to speak of. I shot a regular round with my new SxS SKB 20 gauge and broke a 24, then switched over to my old fun gun 1897 Winchester and shot from the hip my first ever 25 straight. Then shot a second round from the hip and broke another 25 straight. All the planets lined up for me today, had great focus and got my first and probably only 50 straight for hip shooting.

It has an old poly choke that I generally keep at cylinder bore choke and I have been running 7/8 oz light target loads. I believe it was a 1934 gun IIRC. For some reason this gun and my 11-87 Remington lend themselves to hip shooting, at least for me.

My one friend said I had to try for a third round, so we went and got another round paid for. Other two friends had to leave for the day. We went out and shot again, the wheels fell off for me on that round and dropped 3 birds, which is still great from the hip. The desk guy at the club gave me a 50 Straight patch, said I needed to get it embroidered with 'From the Hip' on the edge.

I had been working at this for a long time, was hoping that my one buddy that I have been teaching skeet to for the last year would get his first 25 the same day as me running a round from the hip. He still had a very good day with a pair of 22's and a 23.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Beautiful gun. Love those '97s.

 

[I6turbo]

That is impressive(!) and certainly believable. I've done a decent bit of hip-shooting practice with shotguns as well. I've never tried a round of clay targets that way, but I'm good enough that hitting a stationary or near-stationary target is near 100%. I would feel no real need to actually "aim" at any such target inside of 20 yards or so. I have some videos of shooting swinging 5-gallon buckets at about 10 yards, just wearing them out. And that type of accuracy is what makes me opt for a 12 gauge semi-auto for HD.

 

[Virginian]

I saw Tom Knapp shoot wild ducks with the gun behind his back - including a double - so I know it's possible. Tom said all you have to do is learn the right sight picture to make hits.

 

[kudu]

Back in the early 90's we had a gentleman at our gun club that was hip shooting. He ran a round and called it quits. I believe he was there visiting from Kansas City, he had friends at our club at the time. I just remember his name was Jim. There are 2-3 other guys at our club that can hit maybe 75% from the hip, and I knew a guy that could shoot from behind the back and between his legs and do about 50-60%. It definitely takes a lot of practice. I have had several people that pretty much called BS on me, then had to back pedal after a few shots. I am not the best skeet shooter, best trap shooter, or best sporting clay shooter, but I am very good at all of them. Many people excel at one shotgun sport and muddle through other types. But practice seems to help.

 

[sappyg]

Congraduations on the 50! I'm still working on a 25 any way I can get it.

Practice makes perfect.

 

[lpsharp88]

There's a guy where I shoot trap/skeet who will shoot regular, until he misses, then shoot from the hip. He'll hit over half easy. It always blows my mind, considering I'm happy to hit 20 or more

 

[kudu]

There's a guy where I shoot trap/skeet who will shoot regular, until he misses, then shoot from the hip.

That is what I used to do also, if I couldn't run a straight round I'd mess around and shoot from the hip. As long as you have the muscle memory where you know where everything is related to your gun, you are good to go.

 

[243winxb]

From the hip, you did great.

Time to move up to TC contenders in 410. One in each hand. Seen it done.

I did it with one contender, doubles are Hell. Broke 10 of 25. (singles)

 

[Wireman]

I'm having a hard time visualizing how one might shoot skeet whilst firiing from the hip. Sheet is generally thrown in pairs at a high angle, putting a load of .410 whzzing upwards near a shooters face if he is holding the gun at hip level. Then there is the problem of swinging the barrel which all clays shooters find to be absolutely necessary. So, some videos of a person doing this near-impossible stunt would certainly be of interest. Then there is the question of why someone would want to shoot skeet in this manner in the first place, putting himself and nearby shooters in absolute danger of their lives. I don't know about your range, but at mine, someone trying this kind of stunt would be immediately removed from the field and possibly expelled from the club.

 

[243winxb]

The 410 Contender is not shot from the hip. Its shot like a handgun.

The Hip shooting i have seen, is with a 28" long barrel over/under. Perfectly safe.

I seen 1 person in PA. shot an O/U from the hip, he broke 20+. It's not easy to do.

 

[macgrumpy]

This must be a Midwest thing because every range I've shot at (Utah, Arizona, and Montana) requires shooting from the shoulder.

 

[kudu]

The muzzle and shot are no nearer the shooters face than they are when firing from the shoulder and at no time does the muzzle cover anyone else, it is still pointed at the clay target. Swinging the gun is still done, with the gun stock basically locked at the belt line and the swing is from the hips and knees, just like it should be done shooting from the shoulder.

Sheet is generally thrown in pairs at a high angle

This is a standard registered skeet field, the sharpest angle is station 8 where you must break the bird before it passes the center stake. Doubles are on stations 1, 2, 6, and 7.

This is my home shotgun club. http://www.koskoshotgunsports.com/photos.html

 

[macgrumpy]

So is hip shooting just more common in the Midwest? I'm not a shotgun enthusiast so I've only shot trap or skeet a couple of times just for the experience.

 

[kudu]

I don't know that it is common at all, I only have seen maybe 3 other guys that can actually hit above 75% of the flying clays from the hip. There is nothing dangerous about it that I or anyone else has seen. I do it on occasion when I am bored with standard skeet, I just decided to keep at it until I got really good. I have my good days and bad days. I shot last weekend standard skeet and broke an 18, 21 and 23, for me average wise that was a horrible day, I am used to 24's and straight 25's. But if I could do it all the time I would be a world champion.

Some guys can hit targets with a pistol from the hip like old time cowboy shooters, and I know at least one that can, it's just another way of trick shooting.

 

[10point]

Over the last twenty-five to thirty years I have done a lot of hip shooting on skeet and sporting clay birds. I have gotten pretty good average wise and had quite a lot of 24 out of 25's, usually stay about 21-22. Today I was shooting skeet with 3 of my friends, beautiful fall day, pretty warm at about 65 degrees and no wind to speak of. I shot a regular round with my new SxS SKB 20 gauge and broke a 24, then switched over to my old fun gun 1897 Winchester and shot from the hip my first ever 25 straight. Then shot a second round from the hip and broke another 25 straight. All the planets lined up for me today, had great focus and got my first and probably only 50 straight for hip shooting. View attachment 225052 View attachment 225052 View attachment 225053

It has an old poly choke that I generally keep at cylinder bore choke and I have been running 7/8 oz light target loads. I believe it was a 1934 gun IIRC. For some reason this gun and my 11-87 Remington lend themselves to hip shooting, at least for me.

My one friend said I had to try for a third round, so we went and got another round paid for. Other two friends had to leave for the day. We went out and shot again, the wheels fell off for me on that round and dropped 3 birds, which is still great from the hip. The desk guy at the club gave me a 50 Straight patch, said I needed to get it embroidered with 'From the Hip' on the edge.

I had been working at this for a long time, was hoping that my one buddy that I have been teaching skeet to for the last year would get his first 25 the same day as me running a round from the hip. He still had a very good day with a pair of 22's and a 23.

You should video that and post would be cool to see

 

[kudu]

You should video that and post would be cool to see

Technology wise I don't even have a smart phone. One of these days I will have to get one of the other guys to video it when the weather gets better. Shot on Sunday again and had a 19, 22, and a 21 from the hip. Still waiting for my buddy to shoot his first 25, he had a 23, 21 and 21. We were shooting in a snow storm that started as we began to shoot, big lake effect flakes.

 

[Sebring Pop]

WOW you guys are good. I have tried it a few times with a 10 being my high score. I think I'll leave my hips to hold my pants up.

 

[kudu]

Still waiting for my buddy to shoot his first 25, he had a 23, 21 and 21.

My buddy was shooting normal skeet, I have been working with him for a year now and he went from about 15 to 22 average wise. It's just a matter of time before he runs his first straight 25. And then I am going to shoot his hat per tradition on the first straight.