Intuitive shooting. Is it for everyone?

[Pete D.]

Sounds like improvement.
Having a properly fitted gun is step one. I did myself a favor when i decided to shoot Trap; I went to Orvis and had myself measured and fitted with a Try Gun. Knowing that I have been able to adapt my Trap gun so that it points where I look when I mount the gun.
Mounting the gun properly is the second step. Keeping it mounted is the third step....don’t lift that head off the stock.
Knowing where your shotgun shoots is also a basic.....Trap specific shotguns tend to shoot high. Field guns, in general, tend to shoot flat. YMMV.

 

[Sniper66]

In the small midwestern town I grew up in I had a neighbor kid, probably 14 years old, who carried his BB gun everywhere along with several packs of BBs in his pockets. He shot 100s and 100s of BBs at anything and everything..point shoot, point shoot, point shoot...over and over and over. He got so good that he hit birds flying, cats running, and ants crawling across the sidewalk; not every time, but often enough that you knew it was not luck when he did. Drove his mother nuts shooting clothes pins off the clothes line. Could hit almost anything tossed in the air...balls, cans, walnuts, bottles, anything we found as we walked along and tossed in the air. Best instinct shooter I've ever known.

 

[rpenmanparker]

Man I like that story. There is a problem with it though. As good as that kid was, there was someone that bad. Way of the world.

 

[Pete D.]

One of my own shotgun training routines was similar to that boy’s. I took a Red Ryder BB gun...filed off the front sight and took off the stock. I got a piece of pine board, cut it into the shape of a stock -adult sized - and screwed it on the gun i made. Butt plate to fit my shoulder and adjusted thstock to my LOP.
The i taped on lead weights to the underside of the barrel, to the sides of the stock so that it weighed about six pounds or so. Kept it by the door and took it out every time that I went for a walk.

 

[Milkmaster]

I used a Crosman BB gun with the sights removed to shoot ping pong balls in the yard while sitting in a tree swing. That's how I trained my boy to shoot with a shotgun. In the summer we would shoot June bugs as well.

 

[rsrocket1]

Look at the shotkam videos on Youtube. You don't need to buy one but it gives you a very good look at how much lead is placed at the moment of firing. The camera and gun jump so you don't see the shot string but that's what happens in real life too.

The British guy on Clay Coach Online is good too. He has a set on skeet and one on trap

I wouldn't say it's like shooting from the hip or 3 pointers. It's more like bowling where after a while you aren't concentrating on your hand swinging back the ball and releasing it, or in golf where you're concentrating on just the swing. Shotgun shooting is more like those sports. It's a combination of all the things and if you make the constants you control automatic, it lets you concentrate on the variables (acquire the target, get the proper lead and shoot the target)

 

[Hookeye]

Standard Remington stuff fits me well.
Shot them since I was a kid (when they didn't fit very well).
They tend to shoot "flat". Which is what I like.
Beads, esp double beads, are nice for beginners, establishing form and or reference. Like on a trap range.
Having said that, I don't look at my beads, haven't for years.
Maybe in periphery I am aware of the barrel, but I focus on the bird out past my gun. Don't jump back and forth, nor do I mount my gun and wait for the bird
Last decade I have shot zero clays. Go out for the dove draw, that's one or two days of hunting..........all year. Hell of a sunburn and headache too.
Nothing great, but not too horrible, I usually shoot 50%.
That with no cherry picking.

 

[Hookeye]

I sold my Browning Citori Magnum because it hit too high for me.
Nice shotgun, very nice.
But had to go back to a regular old 1100.
My magnum w Superhandicap trap loads was top gun in the dove field quite often (back in the lead days).
More than one person told me it was too heavy, too slow.
It made doubles a breeze. And got a few triples.

That another thing to remember..................folks will tell you crap, just to try to get in your head.

 

[Hookeye]

I swing through on everything.
But long distance geese, is more of a sustained lead...........and a real mind blower.
Until you get used to it.
Using Bismuth shells at 2 bucks a pop (back then).......you either became a fast learner or went broke.
Heck the shells are 3 bucks a pop now IIRC

 

[Hookeye]

Can't tell you how much lead I do on doves.
Have no idea.
I just do it.
But I've been shooting them for a couple decades.
The first time I ever shot at birds...........I got one and missed 24 LOL
They were coming from all directions and I had a Special Field 20 ga.
The next day I went out and shot 11.
The lightbulb came on.
That gun was so light/trim I got excited and hurried..........proly shot out in front on most misses.
Slowed down, let the gun do its thing........and puffed the little speedsters.

I point my toe where I will hit the bird. Which is in the middle of my swing.
Shoot half my birds seated, half standing.

 

[rpenmanparker]

Can't tell you how much lead I do on doves.
Have no idea.
I just do it.
But I've been shooting them for a couple decades.
The first time I ever shot at birds...........I got one and missed 24 LOL
They were coming from all directions and I had a Special Field 20 ga.
The next day I went out and shot 11.
The lightbulb came on.
That gun was so light/trim I got excited and hurried..........proly shot out in front on most misses.
Slowed down, let the gun do its thing........and puffed the little speedsters.

I point my toe where I will hit the bird. Which is in the middle of my swing.
Shoot half my birds seated, half standing.

Some people point their finger on the fore end. You point your toe. But neither my finger nor my toe go bang. I’m trying to figure out how to point the gun.

 

[PWC]

Change your shooting glasses to yellow to help see the swarm. Sometimes shooting at night under lights also helps.

Use the mag lite/ laser pointer trick, I used to teach juniors that way. Trap is easier than skeet.

Remember, when you hit a baseball you are not watching the bat hit the ball, you are watching the ball and your back brain brings the bat (barrel) to the ball (clay target).

 

[rpenmanparker]

Change your shooting glasses to yellow to help see the swarm. Sometimes shooting at night under lights also helps.

Use the mag lite/ laser pointer trick, I used to teach juniors that way. Trap is easier than skeet.

Remember, when you hit a baseball you are not watching the bat hit the ball, you are watching the ball and your back brain brings the bat (barrel) to the ball (clay target).

You are not suggesting that hitting a baseball is easy, are you?

 

[PWC]

Only that the same process is involved. Practice is required, it ain't T ball.

 

[Hookeye]

I point my finger too, but swing isn't just with the arms. Follow through is easier when you pop in the middle.
Shoot once a year and hit 50% on doves. Sometimes better.
I'm nothing great, but am no slouch, if the standing ovations and cheers from the dove fields are of any consideration.
I'm usually in the top 3 guns......maybe everybody around me just sucks more.
Hell, I shot my deer on the run this yr w rifle, in a thick woods.
It was no big deal.

 

[d2wing]

As was said proper fit is huge. I bought a new A5 , It shot well on trap targets but horrible on live birds. I brought out my Beretta and hit every bird.