Silly Sporting Clays Question?
My question is regarding lead. I shoot fairly well, depending on the course but when I try to think about lead I can’t quite figure out if I’m looking at the bird or the spot in front of the bird. So, say I want a 3’ lead, do I look 3’ in front of the bird or am I looking at the bird and leading it subconsciously? I haven’t been able to shoot since February and now I’m over thinking it possibly? Any advice? What do you all do ?
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Valid question. The former (just my opinion). I look at where I want the shot to be. Sometimes the bird is fairly clear (straight away, incomer). Sometimes it's blury (crossing).
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You are overthinking it Swampy. If you are consciously measuring lead pretty much bet money you are bead checking. And that will stop your gun movement, lost bird.
Even with sustained lead you by now know how much you need. Let the peripheral vision take care of the gun and your mind subconsciously measure the distance required. And pull the trigger when it is, don't ride it cowboy. Stare the bird down and make it the center of the universe and everything else happen automatically. If you think you will stink. At least I do
Assume you are shooting sustained lead if you want to measure 3'. Doesn't really matter swing through, pull ahead, sustained or maintained lead stare the bird to death. When I am really on them I can't tell which method I used. Just that as the bird got closer to the barrel at my hold point I focused harder on the leading edge of the bird. Might have moved the gun ahead of it for sustained lead and if I could tell you by how much I can say I usually missed it. Or I might have just swung through it. Many times can't tell which way I did it. Pull ahead I usually can up to a point. But even then not by how much I pulled ahead. Just let the hands and eyes do their thing. Automagically and I try not to get in the way.
Did I mention one of my favorite sayings after all these years of shooting is if you think you will stink?! Stare that bird down. Hard.
Even with sustained lead you by now know how much you need. Let the peripheral vision take care of the gun and your mind subconsciously measure the distance required. And pull the trigger when it is, don't ride it cowboy. Stare the bird down and make it the center of the universe and everything else happen automatically. If you think you will stink. At least I do
Assume you are shooting sustained lead if you want to measure 3'. Doesn't really matter swing through, pull ahead, sustained or maintained lead stare the bird to death. When I am really on them I can't tell which method I used. Just that as the bird got closer to the barrel at my hold point I focused harder on the leading edge of the bird. Might have moved the gun ahead of it for sustained lead and if I could tell you by how much I can say I usually missed it. Or I might have just swung through it. Many times can't tell which way I did it. Pull ahead I usually can up to a point. But even then not by how much I pulled ahead. Just let the hands and eyes do their thing. Automagically and I try not to get in the way.
Did I mention one of my favorite sayings after all these years of shooting is if you think you will stink?! Stare that bird down. Hard.
The answer really is both.
You look at the bird and then move your gun ahead of the bird to the proper lead. Two exception are the swing through method where you look only at the bird and the diminishing lead method where look at where the bird will be and wait for it to get there
You look at the bird and then move your gun ahead of the bird to the proper lead. Two exception are the swing through method where you look only at the bird and the diminishing lead method where look at where the bird will be and wait for it to get there
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Bingo, we Have a Winner!!!
Never take your eye's off the target. The lead is the same for a crossing target, whether the target is 20 yards, 40 yards, 60 yards, or 80 yards. The distance between your barrel and the target remain the same at the end of your barrel. Of course the barrel speed and target speed must be the same. This is the tip most shooters miss. To reach Master Class in sporting clays. You must be able to break any target using all 3 methods of target breaking. 1) Spot Shooting, 2) Pull Through, and 3) Sustained Lead. Its up to the shooter to decide which is best to use for each target pair when he sees the show-me pair. Each style has a time and a place to be used. You have to figure out what works best for you.
So, in conclusion, just watch the target, and watch it break while shooting. Don't think while your shooting. Decide how you'll break them before you call pull. Then your mind will just do it without you ever thinking about it. break em all Jeff
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I tried skeet a few times and got frustrated at 3 4 and 5 by 27 people saying "Look at the bird and lead it 3 basketballs look at the lead get in front and stay in front swing through from behind and lead it a yard blah blah blah".
Then someone said "Just shoot it like a hard angle in trench (bunker). Swing fast through the target and pull the trigger. Gunspeed gunspeed gunspeed".
Shot a 24 and thought "That's my skeet career done".
I would imagine sporting is just as frustrating with everyone telling you different, and contradictory, things.
Then someone said "Just shoot it like a hard angle in trench (bunker). Swing fast through the target and pull the trigger. Gunspeed gunspeed gunspeed".
Shot a 24 and thought "That's my skeet career done".
I would imagine sporting is just as frustrating with everyone telling you different, and contradictory, things.
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Do you even realize you used traps #1 coveted number, to describe 3 skeet stations. How ironic don't you think!!! LOL break em all jeff
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It's only coveted in America. There is a trap shooting world elsewhere.
Swampy, I suppose you are fairly new to sporting clays so you would not have built up sight pictures in your memory. So, would do as Bobby Fowler does and others, figure your lead before you load the gun. It takes years to build a sporting clay memory bank.....the following is a short cut for you:
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Hey, You used the numerical number of 27!!! Not I. The number 27 just happens to be the number every Trap shooter wants to reach here in the USA for the handicap event. There must be a reason "You" picked the number 27 out of a Hat. Most people would use a round number to describe something. I just picked up on it, is all. break em all jeff
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Some people use fourtyleven as a hyperbolic number. He chose 27. The only person obsessed with it is a skeet shooter.
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If you say so, It must be true!!! I thought it was just a observation, and was bored. break em all Jeff
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Nope. It simply came to me.
I have a background in comedic writing and music.
"Twenty six" or "Thirty four" don't sound as hyperbolically ridiculous as "twenty seven" or "thirty seven". I was going for hyperbole.
"Making the 27" means nothing to trap shooters other than in the USA, where I fully accept it is a goal. Down here it's "getting to 25" because we use metric.
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Long or fast crossers shoot the gap start in front and increase the lead watch Richard Faulds shoot long targets minimal gun movement less chance of screwing up!!
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Swing through is a terrible way to shoot because your barrel is moving faster than the target. All 3 methods, sustained, pull away and swing through are utilized in Sporting clay, with swing through being the least. An example of a swing through shot would be one coming at you and that’s about it.
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