Move, Mount, Shoot on loooong crossers.

[Saffie]

I need some help please. I have recently started shooting again after a 15 year break and everything is going ok…as long as the birds are under 40 yards. After that, carnage!

When I  started shooting FITASC 30 years ago I used Move, Mount, Shoot and worked myself up to A class. Now I have difficulty shooting a 60! I also shoot a lot of birds (especially rabbits!) purely on instinct, to the point where I sometimes don’t even mount properly before pulling the trigger. This works well on short targets but on the long crossers I am completely but completely lost. I have tried sustained lead and pull-away but it is just too different from my usual style and doesn’t work for me. All the guns at my club (there is no real coach) are deliberate shooters and not much help to me. I also have a problem with vertical teals. Angled teals (left or right) are ok, verticals I hit 1 in 4.

Some advice would really be appreciated!

Thanks!

Deon

 

[Will Hewland]

As ever, just can't coach on a forum; happy to help if I see you shoot. My mate has a similar issue where he is moving fast and "instinctively" and this works better on closer stuff. He is calming down and getting better now. He has taken a long time to realise that there is almost never a good reason to shoot something very very quickly. Calm it down to see what is going on, otherwise it will always feel random and will vary with your mood etc..

 

[Hamster]

Mate if everything is OK as long as the birds are below 40 yards then believe me everything is basically OK.  :lol:  

Joking aside though soooo much depends on practice, practice and more practice, in other words repetition. Nobody hits the long ones all the time and certainly not when at the beginning of the journey. There are rarely more than 2 or 3 birds that are truly further than 40 yards anyway, my advice is always to learn to hit the easy/close ones, the harder ones will follow organically. I am afraid there is no magic piece of advice that will apply to what you consider long/hard. 

The true trick is familiarisation. 

 

[Will Hewland]

True Hamid. But could be a number of things (as I say, can't see without seeing). Some over lead long stuff, in awe of it. One other popular fail is not appreciating line on longer targets. There is often drop or loop to consider which really needs addressing; whereas the shorter targets don't have time to drop so far. Just guessing really..

 

[Saffie]

Thanks so far gents. i was hoping for a magic bullet! My son actually suggested last night that I go to these particular stands on my own, start close to the target and step back a metre or so every time I kill the bird and then at that point keep repeating until I get it. It is so irritating. I shoot good scores on Compak (85+) and hit most of the closer clays on FITASC. Hamid, here at the 3 clubs I have visited so far they really enjoy their long targets. At my home club I counted 37/100 over 40 yds, The other 2 where I made one visit each did not do much better! I am probably simply overawed by the long targets and also, 15 years ago there was one or two on every range so it wasn't much of an issue. Very different now!

 

[paul b]

Your son sounds like he knows what he is talking about,ive herd a few of the top shots do this practice,give youself 3 lives,go back a pace hit one go back hit,when you miss you lose a life and have another go,lose all 3 go forward a pace,all this depends on you having enough room to do it safely obviously. I would play with different techniques aswell,as its practice you can try and work out the most consistent method for that type of target.

 

[Salopian]

Try Pull away or maintained lead !

 

[MJJ]

Mounting the gun to early on long crossers is the habit i got out of. I wait for them now, To just give me enough time to shoot, without giving the brain time to go ooh a bit more, no a bit less uh oh more underneath. 

As for teal ,i would normally hold around halfway up on its path, slightly to one side, just wait to crest and shoot a bit underneath them. As ever don't rush things.