Did you know that if you just hold your head still, use a
proper gun mount, focus on the bird and never let it pass your gun AND if your
gun fits you, then you won’t miss!!
Really, that’s all there is to it!
Well, according to John Woolley that’s all there is to it.
First
I should tell you who John Woolley is in case you haven’t met him on the
sporting clays circuit for the last 30 years.
John is from England and has been living in the US for 10 years and
teaching sporting clays. Before coming
to America to teach at Grinders Switch near Nashville, John had most recently
won the Beretta World Sporting Clays Championship in 1990. Prior to that John had represented England
on their prestigious shooting team numerous times and he has many gold medals
from those world class events.
For
the past ten years John has taught shotgun shooting to thousands of people
including myself and I have been asked to share some of his techniques with
you. The opening sentence of this
article oversimplifies the process of successful shooting but in fact those
five steps are essential. In order of
importance John believes that number one, you must keep your head still. Next you must have a proper gun mount that
you practice regularly. Third, you MUST
focus on the target and fourth never let is pass you gun. Fifth, your gun should fit you properly.
This month I will elaborate on the first step and hopefully in following issues
I will go through the rest.
KEEP YOUR HEAD STILL!
Sounds simple doesn’t it. The
whole idea is that when you mount your gun there should only be one smooth
movement. You should not bring the gun
to your shoulder and then push your head down to meet the gun. If you do the two separate movements you
will find you are very inconsistent at getting your head in the same place
every time. Also, it is impossible to focus on a moving target while
concentrating on moving your head down to meet the shotgun.
Now
go get your gun and practice your mount as if you were shooting a rabbit for
example (close the curtains or your neighbors might call the police). Did you find that you are doing the double
movement, first shouldering the gun then moving your head to make it fit “just
right”?? Well there are several
reasons you might be doing this. First,
your gun may not fit you properly. It’s
hard to believe that would make a difference since I am sure you have seen
people pick up a gun off the vendor table at an event and break targets with
it. But the truth is that we can all
MAKE a gun fit us in order to shoot it BUT for consistency, your gun should
have all the right measurements (length of pull, cast, pitch…) for YOU to shoot it comfortably. Basically, if you have never had your gun
“fitted” to you and you really want to improve your shooting, it would be worth
the cost to find an instructor or gunsmith who can do that for you. Generally the measuring session only takes
an hour and the cost of the work is reasonable. Ask a fellow shooter for recommendations of a good gunsmith.
Another
possible cause of the double movement could be your eye dominance. Right handed shooters that are left eye
dominant often subconsciously roll their head over the top of their gun after
the mount in order to give the left eye a better look down the barrel. Typically they never realize they are doing
it. One of the very first steps in
learning to shoot is to determine eye dominance and I would guess that there is
someone at your local gun club who can help you determine yours if you
ask. If you find that you are “cross
dominant”, for example left eye and
right shoulder, the best move you can make is to begin shooting from the left
shoulder. This may sound difficult to
the veteran shooters but if your goal is to be a better shot, then it is the
best move. Our friend Norm has been
shooting all of his life and he is 59 years old. Two years ago he had peaked at an average score in the 50s. John convinced him to switch shoulders due
to his eye dominance. It was awkward
for about the first 1000 rounds that he fired but soon it was just as
comfortable as right handed shooting had been.
He now shoots game and clays left-handed and he often shoots in the 80s.
If
your gun fits and you are not cross dominant but you are still doing the double
movement, STOP. The best way to perfect
this is to practice your gun mount at home.
Mount the gun, set your head in the right place and then hold your head
still and bring the gun down. Now stand
as though you were calling for a target and practice mounting over and over in
a straight line. Remember the position
of your head and practice keeping it still and bring the gun to your cheek just
BEFORE it hits your shoulder. While
actually on the course shooting for practice you can do this “pre-mount”
(except in FITASC) to get the feel for where your head needs to be, but don’t
get into the habit of doing it before every shot. Especially in competition it is best to avoid the fatigue caused
by repetitive unnecessary movement.
Competition is not the time to be thinking about anything but focusing
on the targets, therefore practicing your gun mount at home is one the best
ways to accomplish a comfortable natural feeling gun mount while in
competition. Thanks for your interest
and if you have any questions please send them to the Clay Pigeon and we’ll
address them next time.
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