Concentration

[Lloyd]

Lloyd , one thing to think about with “ Chuck it and chance “ is , “what is your plan for ...” 

a) a follow up second barrel shot  on  missed targets where you have full use of the gun 

b ) arriving at the  pick up point for the second shot in a pair of clays .

If you go to any  competitive shoot , even a decent club shoot  , you will get pairs on report , and simultaneous pairs  even trailing pairs If you shoot at these unplanned with gun-speed alone you might find your muzzles are in absolutely the wrong place for the second shot .  

Go onto a skeet layout on station 4 get someone to give you high and low on report ,  and high and low as a pair and  high / high  or Low/Low on report  etc . you’ll see what I mean . 

Ps I’m not a competition shooter anymore ,(  I was never  brilliant anyway. )  ,  I just shoot club , social, and game in my retirement  but I’ve had first class tuition and shot alongside some truely class shooters . The class guys all have a system , 

Will , A bit off topic , but I understand that E.J. Churchill are opening a ground in North Yorkshire , I believe that they are taking over the operation of  the Warren Gill shooting school . We might see you driving a bit further North than your proposed excursions to  Nottingham then ? 

Ahh, I didn't see this post on Sunday.

I've never taken a second shot on a clay. I've either missed or hit. I don't think I yet have the wherewithal to gather my thoughts for the second shot.

So far I haven't experienced a problem getting the gun moving quickly enough to get to the next pick up point and not having to wait for the next on report clay.

I've shot a few simultaneous pairs including trailing and my hit rate is comparable with single clays. 

Gun movement doesn't seem to by a particular problem. I'm told my accuracy of gun placement is good and swing usually smooth. 

What I'm being told and also beginning to recognise is my "tempo" as one instructor called it can be off. It is apparently my tempo and how this is varying where my main reasons for missing alternately behind - in front  -behind  - in front. This then trends towards my swing becoming more stucato as frustration sets in and I try to think more about getting things right, ironically making things worse.

I'm told that on the slow stuff I'm taking it too quickly and on the quicker stuff, too laid back. But again, this isn't consistent. Shooting gun down has helped a fair amount as it seems to speed up the slow stuff for one thing and I tend to focus on the clay much more strongly which seems to yield good results

One thing I find fascinating is my instructor is able to predict before even loading the gun which shots I'll miss. For example when being introduced to rabbits. He wrote down 'rabbit. Will hit the first, miss the second, hit the third and fourth. That's exactly what happened. Weird!

Also I cannot see the shot. I occasionally see the wad, so it's pretty hard for me to know how much to correct by, though I am starting to get a feel for this

 

[squimp]

I have a similar concentration problem to the originator of this thread.

I switch on and off almost unconsciously.....

I also have a propensity to panic when I see a really hard target  - which means I almost talk myself out of hitting it and then throw the gun at it without proper preparation. 

If I hit  the first pair on a sporting layout then by the third or fourth pair I start messing about and shooting fast/slow just to make it more interesting!! That partly explains why I don't shoot much sporting and prefer FITASC/game as the targets vary more and so I find it easier to maintain concentration.

A few years back I was one of the people who signed up for Phil Coley's mental training (it was actually really good). One of the exercises involved shooting a reasonably tricky clay with  a heart rate monitor attached to my back. Phil stood behind me and when I called for the target he could tell the likely result simply from my heart rate. If I was too relaxed I missed and if I was too hyped up (faster HR) I would miss...….somewhere in the middle and he expected a kill. Really interesting stuff.