Back to earth with a bump

[BTC3]

Will, yet more great, sensible advice - this place is great! However, my red mist will beat your analytical common sense any day of the week. Or at least on Thursdays in early October

 

[BTC3]

Sorry to drag this thread back from the depths, but I figured an update was due.

Since that miserable Thursday I've had time to shoot a few times:

Two weeks ago I trotted down to A1 sporting layout, full of the joys of autumn and serious jetlag (which I'm using as the excuse 'cos I don't normally suffer from it), and hit maybe 20 from 50 clays. Not thinking properly, not in the mood. Jacked it in and went home.

Out again yesterday with one of the coaches from my local ground.  I had explained the source of my misery and asked him to start from scratch with me and see where we could get to.  Started on a pattern plate, shots consistently running a little low of centre, and apparently I was forcing my head too low onto the stock.  Adjust the comb a little, pattern now running slightly high of centre.  Sight pattern down the gun totally different from what I was looking at before (previously just the bead and v little rib, now about 1/1.5cm of rib + bead).

Onto a sporting stand, start with relatively gentle L-R crosser, mid height. Miss, miss, miss. Quick discussion on hold points (along the lines of "what the heck are you doing?"), adjust and hit, hit, hit.  Switch to L-R rabbit in the middle distance, recap on hold points, hit, hit, hit.  Some incoming clays all hit, some quartering away, about evens.

Onto the skeet range, stand 1, shooting at low house clay. Agree hold point, 5 hits, and so on through stand 4.  So far so good.

Onto the stand that gave me so much grief last time (L-R crosser from a 30' tower, aimed at about 20 degrees off horizontal upwards) couple of misses, add a lot more lead than I expected, and a couple of hits.  Change hold and break position, give it a lot less lead (good thinking Rosso!!) and hit, hit, hit.  Things falling into place.

Back out again today, still hitting clays, much happier than I was.  Best of all is that having picked up a few basic pointers to work out hold points, etc. I have something of a method to work through when things aren't working to help get back on track.

Happy happy happy happy!

 

[westley]

Like you have said about this Forum, one never stops learning. I am pleased to read that you have sought advice and at least established why you have been missing certain targets. Judging by your first and final posts you also have learned that Trap shooting is far easier than Sporting, which is something that we Sporting shooters have known for some time but we just do not like to shout about it.

Off to the bunker now, so will say goodnight !

 

[BTC3]

Westley, I think I sort of agree with you. I've yet to try the tougher trap disciplines (abt, ut, ot) but I've watched them, and I get the impression that one can walk onto a trap layout and hit a few clays, dare I say with ease, or at least without the benefit of fully understanding what you're doing, and feel good about it. But, I also get the impression that the point there is to hit all of the clays, all the time. So the concentration game is about smooth consistency over a long time, rather than the problem solving (target reading) that I see in sporting, or the instinctive strike of helice.
I've done indoor archery at 30 yards with a compound bow equipped with enough accessories attached to it to put a socialite to shame, and the thrill of a bullseye is non existent. You lament the 9s and 8s, berate yourself for anything lower, and can only be happy with a perfect score. I see trap in a similar way. Might explain the fluffy rabbits in sporting and the stony silence in trap.

OK, no more wine for me (highly recommend the Pulenta Gran Corte), off to bed.
Night all.

 

[westley]

There you go, you see you are learning fast. Just think that after another 50 years of clayshooting, you could be another bitter and twisted old F**T.................................................er, a bit like meself I suppose ! Keep busting em. W.

 

[Santa2512]

Should have changed your gun ., would have made for better reading

Good on you for working through it

:santa:

 

[Paul120]

Should have changed your gun ., would have made for better reading

Good on you for working through it

:santa:

Yea and taken up proper Archery with a recurve bow and shoot at 90m outside. Indoor is just training.

 

[BTC3]

I was close to changing gun, but the one that I was going to change was a gift, so it would have been wrong.
I've done recurve to 90m and 100m, as well as compound to that range, both with and without sights. Per my point above, for me it was a totally different exercise, a centred bullseye is special, more so in a cross wind where you're aiming at the next butt along to get on target. I've also done some long range rifle stuff on open ground as opposed to a range (out to 1800m, didn't hit a thing, but it makes 1000/1100 look easy), and that's even more fun!!!

 

[Bryn12]

Glad you're getting things sorted and at least you now have some new tools to sort yourself out when things aren't working.

 

[Will Hewland]

I am feeling I have hit a bump lately, but looking at the shoots, I have had a run of pretty tough ones. Coming like buses..

 

[jwpzx9r]

Westley, I think I sort of agree with you. I've yet to try the tougher trap disciplines (abt, ut, ot) but I've watched them, and I get the impression that one can walk onto a trap layout and hit a few clays, dare I say with ease, or at least without the benefit of fully understanding what you're doing, and feel good about it. But, I also get the impression that the point there is to hit all of the clays, all the time. So the concentration game is about smooth consistency over a long time, rather than the problem solving (target reading) that I see in sporting, or the instinctive strike of helice. I've done indoor archery at 30 yards with a compound bow equipped with enough accessories attached to it to put a socialite to shame, and the thrill of a bullseye is non existent. You lament the 9s and 8s, berate yourself for anything lower, and can only be happy with a perfect score. I see trap in a similar way. Might explain the fluffy rabbits in sporting and the stony silence in trap. OK, no more wine for me (highly recommend the Pulenta Gran Corte), off to bed. Night all.

 What a haiver ! The bit the underlined I actually burst out laughing at... lay off the red wine !  .

 

[BTC3]

 What a haiver ! The bit the underlined I actually burst out laughing at... lay off the red wine !  .

^_^ yeah, yeah...
Wine affecting nuance, you can win sporting more frequently with, for example, a mid nineties score, all I've ever heard is that you can't win at trap if you miss one or two clays...

 

[jwpzx9r]

Everything is relative. To say trap is the sort of discipline you can hit targets at with ease without fully knowing what you are doing is probably correct... but I have had the same with ESP I had never even shot clay targets of any discipline before in fact I had not shot more than a few shells through my gun full stop and it was not even a target gun but I managed to hit 30% of what was thrown 15ex50. I only did it because I was going to do some game shooting and had never fired a shotgun at a movingtarget before so thought it best to have some notion of what might happen in the field. I have never shot sporting since then, ten targets all the same one after the other and you have already just watched them before you shot them........... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

[BTC3]

Helice is the answer!!

 

[jwpzx9r]

Helice is the answer!!

Sorry at couple of quid a target my Scottish gene just went into hyper drive

 

[BTC3]

Don't be daft, it's fun!!!

 

[jwpzx9r]

To Be honest I have to say I have no knowledge of any club around here that shoot Helice mostly UT ,OT and DTL . You have to remember that the clubs down here are owned by the shooters and any traps etc have to be bought by the club not many shooters I know would want to take a day to shoot a round of twenty five targets for €50 that is just the way it is. UT is by far the most popular trap shooting here.

 

[** Pending Removal **]

To Be honest I have to say I have no knowledge of any club around here that shoot Helice mostly UT ,OT and DTL . You have to remember that the clubs down here are owned by the shooters and any traps etc have to be bought by the club not many shooters I know would want to take a day to shoot a round of twenty five targets for €50 that is just the way it is. UT is by far the most popular trap shooting here.

Le Touquet.........don't know how far that is from you though.

 

[** Pending Removal **]

LE CLUB DE TIR AUX HÉLICES DU TOUQUET ORGANISE SON ANNUEL TIR DE NOEL.
REPAS : COUSCOUS, DESSERT, CAFE, BOISSONS
PRIX : 27 EUROS
UNE POULE DE 15 A 20 HELICES SUIVANT L'AFFLUENCE SERA EGALEMENT AU PROGRAMME.
VENEZ NOMBREUX
RESERVATION AU 06-07-32-60-81 AVANT LE 14 DECEMBRE

Their facebook page is here

https://www.facebook.com/tiraux.helices?fref=ts

 

[jwpzx9r]

Le Touquet.........don't know how far that is from you though.

.... 1000Km !!