Shooting School

HenryHawthorne said:
Glad you had a fun shoot!
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Thanks to your advice Henry, I really did have a good shoot over the weekend. You would think that with such margin of error, hitting anything with a shotgun would be a cakewalk.
A quote by an unknown source goes something like this, "The average shooter will practice until they can hit their target; a master will practice until they can't miss." RM
 
There are those who have natural ability and exceptional hand-eye coordination and shoot well effortlessly and those who shoot competitively and work tirelessly at shooting, but for the rest of us it's about having fun and shooting enough rounds to figure out what works - and tolerating those days when nothing does.

I've always enjoyed shooting targets (skeet and sporting clays variants), but so much more the last 5 or so years since I stopped shooting for score and focused on shooting as if hunting. And I've become a better shot. Though I have no idea if my clay busting % is better since I don't keep score, I do know my bird shooting is improved.
 
HenryHawthorne said:
There are those who have natural ability and exceptional hand-eye coordination and shoot well effortlessly and those who shoot competitively and work tirelessly at shooting, but for the rest of us it's about having fun and shooting enough rounds to figure out what works - and tolerating those days when nothing does.

I've always enjoyed shooting targets (skeet and sporting clays variants), but so much more the last 5 or so years since I stopped shooting for score and focused on shooting as if hunting. And I've become a better shot. Though I have no idea if my clay busting % is better since I don't keep score, I do know my bird shooting is improved.
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True that Henry. I've never kept score or shot competition. My only motivation is to become the best I can be with my own God given talents. Hopefully this will translate to becoming a better hunter. RM
 
Found this video to share. The shooting practice is really coming along great with only a few short weeks left before the real fun begins. When I first purchased my thrower a case of 135 clays would last one case of shells. Lots of exercise picking up unbroken clays. Now I am at almost two cases of clays for one case of shells. Next year I will begin practice with the Acro S2. RM
 
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RM Anderson said:
Found this video to share. The shooting practice is really coming along great with only a few short weeks left before the real fun begins. When I first purchased my thrower a case of 135 clays would last one case of shells. Lots of exercise picking up unbroken clays. Now I am at almost two cases of clays for one case of shells. Next year I will begin practice with the Acro S2. RM
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Thanks for sharing, will watch when I get off the road this evening. I'd checked out their website and a few videos they had on it, but could never quite figure out what the things do for certain. My takeaway at the time was that they didn't throw a laser/dot, but rather represented a larger, see through sight with a reticle of some form. Hopefully this will provide more insight.
 
I totally agree you can learn a lot from reading books. Gun fit is premium, practicing your mount in front of a large mirror is great, but one on one lessons is better. I went from C class to master class quickly by taking lessons. Ive had 5-6 different instructors in those years, learned different things from different ones. One on particular, Bruce Ney, helped me become a two eye shooter. Takes a lot of practice as the scores go up and down. Don't shoot with friends, practice with one friend and put your classes to use. Then go shoot with friends and have a good time. Go to a registered shoot and watch a few of the big dogs, what they do in the stand, Watch them from when they get in the stand till they pull the trigger. Watch them not the bird...
 
Capt Rich,
Thanks for the tips. There are alot of neat tricks for shooting clays. Just this year I learned about hold point and break points. Using soft focus as the bird leaves the thrower and switching to hard focus just before mounting the gun and shooting. The maintained lead system Gil Ash and others recommend really work well for clays. Everything was honky dory until the battery died in my wireless remote key fob for the delay timer release. All of a sudden I found myself behind the birds trying to catch up while using the foot pedal with instant release. That is what made me realize the fallacy of learning only one method of shooting. Since then I have been shooting follow through just using my foot pedal release to simulate bird flushes when I am not ready. Fortunately alot of what I learned shooting maintained lead has helped and not hurt shooting swing through. I would love some one on one instruction as you mentioned to get me over the hump, so to speak. Can you advise on things that I should look for when choosing an instructor? RM
 
Well wouldn't you know, the Aimpoint Acro S2 came in early. I was told that it wouldn't ship till after the first of the year but here we are at the beginning of hunting season. What to do? Since I have two nearly identical shotguns, I couldn't help myself and decided to use it this season. If it gets in the way, I can use my M1 Super 90. Shot some clays last weekend and though there is a slight learning curve, it did not alter the way I shoot. Straight away and left to right shots I absolutely smashed them. Right to left crossing targets couldn't hit a thing until I realized my mount was causing the red dot to disappear from view. I always wondered why my perceived lead was different for those shots. Like the Aimpoint rep said, it is like a shooting instructor looking over your shoulder. Still too soon to be definitive, but so far I really LIKE this red dot. One thing to mention is the sight sits about 3/8" above line of sight so to maintain proper cheek weld I reduced the drop of the stock by 10 mm using the Benelli shims.
RM
 
RM Anderson said:
First bird with Acro S2. About 35 yard crossing shot. No time to think about aiming or consciously using the dot. It is simply a reference point that tells you where the shot will hit. Seemed to have fixed the sliding issue I had earlier by swapping out mounting plates. RMView attachment 70039
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I tried a SpeedBead once on a Maxus for almost a whole season. Then, the plate that goes between the stock and receiver broke. I gladly removed it and threw it in the trash, and gave the Burris FastFire3 away. Just wasn't for me. Hopefully that works out better for you.
 
RM Anderson said:
Well wouldn't you know, the Aimpoint Acro S2 came in early. I was told that it wouldn't ship till after the first of the year but here we are at the beginning of hunting season. What to do? Since I have two nearly identical shotguns, I couldn't help myself and decided to use it this season. If it gets in the way, I can use my M1 Super 90. Shot some clays last weekend and though there is a slight learning curve, it did not alter the way I shoot. Straight away and left to right shots I absolutely smashed them. Right to left crossing targets couldn't hit a thing until I realized my mount was causing the red dot to disappear from view. I always wondered why my perceived lead was different for those shots. Like the Aimpoint rep said, it is like a shooting instructor looking over your shoulder. Still too soon to be definitive, but so far I really LIKE this red dot. One thing to mention is the sight sits about 3/8" above line of sight so to maintain proper cheek weld I reduced the drop of the stock by 10 mm using the Benelli shims.
RM
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I'm not a fan of all the gadgets on shotguns. I shoot browning o/u and they come with hi viz front sight, my instructor took mine off. If you see the sight, your not seeing the bird correctly. You should be seeing the ridges on the clay birds, hard focus. I mount my gun, then drop it off my face a little , then call for the bird. When you drop it off your face, drop the whole gun, barrel and stock even. Raise whole gun together, like a elevator.
As Andy Duffy says, shoot them in the peeper, not the pooper!
 
Capt Rich Geminski said:
I'm not a fan of all the gadgets on shotguns. I shoot browning o/u and they come with hi viz front sight, my instructor took mine off.
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Believe it or not, I am not a fan of gadgets in general. I love the idea of an instructor which is the premise of the Acro S2. It doesn't change the mechanics of shooting if you follow the same principles of shooting properly. It is simply a coach looking down your barrel telling you where you are hitting. The transition form a light weight shooting vest to bulky late season cloth always causes issues for me and many others. As does shooting from a layout blind. Another benefit is that it doesn't penalize a more heads up position when a bird flushes. In fact it has helped so much that I have switched stock shims on my non-Acro Benelli M1 to increase drop. The result, I have not missed any going away birds (my nemesis) by shooting over them with the non-Acro Benelli M1. Like other folks who have tried the Acro S2 have said, "It helps my shooting even when it isn't there." RM
 
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