Took the day off to get some coaching at Fauxdegla, really nice grounds (although I havent been to many!). My second day with Arnold Cliffe, had another good one.
Began the day with some skeet & a Miruko 800 sporter. Did not get on with it at all. Found I kept lifting my head off the stock, which I hadnt done with the trap gun from the previous lesson. Kind of a frustrating start. Entirely my own fault, not the gun, but I found it just didnt suit me like the trap stock.
So we put that back in the car & got the 682 I used the last day. Straight away things improved but still missed plenty of skeet. Its a very hard discipline.
Shot a round of compact sporting next, 14/25. Happy enough with that. Missed 4/5 battue's & all five rabbits, so that was the bulk of my misses. Pretty happy other than that, but the rabbits were frustrating. Practiced a few more after the round, and found a way to finally get in front of it enough. So I'll get a few of them next day.
Had a bit to eat then shot two rounds of DTL, which is what I plan to do competition-wise for a while. Shot 21 (with maybe 6 2nd barrels) & then a much better 22. After 3 early misses & maybe 3 2nd barrels on 1 & 2, I shot 15 straight 1st barrels on 3-5. Very happy with that.
I had been closing the gun, mounting it, then shifting my weight backward & forward, moving my elbows & arms, pointing at the trap house, moving my glasses back up onto my nose, then re-mounting. Leaning back caused my balance wasnt right, then leaning too far forward on the next shot, so my back heel was off the ground by 3". A bit of a mess.
So Arnold got me to adjust my specs (normal glasses, which slip down my nose constantly!) first, sort my feet out, then lean forward, look out at my hold point, THEN lock the gun and move it smoothly to my shoulder, looking forward the whole time. I was calling for the bird maybe 3 seconds later (previous method was taking 10-12 seconds of faffing about). Doing all the same actions, but in a correct & Much smoother operation. Doing all my thinking before mounting the gun, then just shooting, with no thinking! Made a big difference. I still need to get onto the birds a bit faster and just stay relaxed and in the routine.
Arnold is a great coach, really good advice, encouraging, loads of experience, good hints & tips and loads of funny anecdotes! Highly recommend.
Going back to Fauxdegla next Sunday 18th with Arnold and some of his other students (is students correct?) for 100 DTL, my first in several years (since I first got into shooting, back using my Baikal game gun in Ireland when I was 18. Only 7years but feels a long time). My previous best is 68 kills I think so I will be aiming to beat that, maybe not going to get 100 (or even any 25's) but should sneak into the low 80s if I keep it together. But just going to relax & enjoy it at this stage. Cant wait! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Also (jeez this is a long post), got my SG cert earlier this week, so looking for a gun. I've been using Arnolds 1983 Beretta 682, fixed choke trap gun, 30". If any one has an original 682 for sale from this period fitting that description, please pm me. I'll put a post in the buy n sell section here also.
Began the day with some skeet & a Miruko 800 sporter. Did not get on with it at all. Found I kept lifting my head off the stock, which I hadnt done with the trap gun from the previous lesson. Kind of a frustrating start. Entirely my own fault, not the gun, but I found it just didnt suit me like the trap stock.
So we put that back in the car & got the 682 I used the last day. Straight away things improved but still missed plenty of skeet. Its a very hard discipline.
Shot a round of compact sporting next, 14/25. Happy enough with that. Missed 4/5 battue's & all five rabbits, so that was the bulk of my misses. Pretty happy other than that, but the rabbits were frustrating. Practiced a few more after the round, and found a way to finally get in front of it enough. So I'll get a few of them next day.
Had a bit to eat then shot two rounds of DTL, which is what I plan to do competition-wise for a while. Shot 21 (with maybe 6 2nd barrels) & then a much better 22. After 3 early misses & maybe 3 2nd barrels on 1 & 2, I shot 15 straight 1st barrels on 3-5. Very happy with that.
I had been closing the gun, mounting it, then shifting my weight backward & forward, moving my elbows & arms, pointing at the trap house, moving my glasses back up onto my nose, then re-mounting. Leaning back caused my balance wasnt right, then leaning too far forward on the next shot, so my back heel was off the ground by 3". A bit of a mess.
So Arnold got me to adjust my specs (normal glasses, which slip down my nose constantly!) first, sort my feet out, then lean forward, look out at my hold point, THEN lock the gun and move it smoothly to my shoulder, looking forward the whole time. I was calling for the bird maybe 3 seconds later (previous method was taking 10-12 seconds of faffing about). Doing all the same actions, but in a correct & Much smoother operation. Doing all my thinking before mounting the gun, then just shooting, with no thinking! Made a big difference. I still need to get onto the birds a bit faster and just stay relaxed and in the routine.
Arnold is a great coach, really good advice, encouraging, loads of experience, good hints & tips and loads of funny anecdotes! Highly recommend.
Going back to Fauxdegla next Sunday 18th with Arnold and some of his other students (is students correct?) for 100 DTL, my first in several years (since I first got into shooting, back using my Baikal game gun in Ireland when I was 18. Only 7years but feels a long time). My previous best is 68 kills I think so I will be aiming to beat that, maybe not going to get 100 (or even any 25's) but should sneak into the low 80s if I keep it together. But just going to relax & enjoy it at this stage. Cant wait! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Also (jeez this is a long post), got my SG cert earlier this week, so looking for a gun. I've been using Arnolds 1983 Beretta 682, fixed choke trap gun, 30". If any one has an original 682 for sale from this period fitting that description, please pm me. I'll put a post in the buy n sell section here also.
