What costs you targets?

[Jonny English]

Bit of an open discussion.

Most of us have all got that one re-occurring problem that costs us a few targets nearly ever time that we shoot.

Mine is currently head lifting and not pushing through to complete the shot, resulting in stopping the gun and killing the gun movement. Do it a hand full of times at nearly every shoot.

So what causes you to lose targets?

 

[Will Hewland]

I get the occasional flinch. Well, more that I don’t pull the trigger hard enough and then have a messy second go. Other than that it’s just lack of talent that causes issues.

 

[Cosmicblue]

Concentration - caused by being too chilled out when I ought to sharpen up a bit..

 

[jonz]

All of the above plus lack of ability

 

[Iggy]

Lazy set up in most cases, that and not taking time to properly read what it’s doing beforehand. 

 

[diver682]

Not looking at the target properly , measuring the lead , trying to protect the score 

 

[Bebo]

I'd join in this thread but I'm worried about making my fingers ache from all the typing I'd need to do.

 

[Charliej]

Trigger freeze usually only one first target but will often miss the report one as well as your timing and position is out of sync bloody annoying. This is reduced by shooting gun down but still v frustrating  as well as all the above

 

[chippy]

It used to be shooting behind targets but now its mostly shooting in front of targets. There should have been a transitional period when I hit everything but I must have had that week off.

 

[Garwood]

Overleading targets and lifting head on r-l targets are my main problem atm.If I get those sorted ,a different one will crop up ......

 

[Davy_B]

99% of the time its just me starting to think . im going along brilliantly haven't missed any and BOOM the same thought always comes through my head " wow your going well here what are you doing right i must remember this  "

followed by 

pull bang bang  :no:

 

[Wonko the Sane]

Aside from a general ineptitude a sure way for me to miss is to short-cut the setup.  The process vs/ result mantra of recent years only clarified what everyone has talked about forever and by means of building a defined setup I have managed to overcome some otherwise unfortunate habits.  Process Rules ! ! !  but you do have to remember to do it

 

[Finners]

I always say that clay shooting is like ***, the more you think about it, the harder it gets.  :angel:

 

[ips]

Finners has hit the nail on the bonce.

Same for me, my natural ability after 30 odd years of shotgun is good....but as soon as i try too hard to force it ...the wheels fall off.

 

[Paul120]

On the same lines as above. Trying to make sure.  

 

[Gavin]

Shooting a yard in front of 70s  

 

[Sian]

I'd join in this thread but I'm worried about making my fingers ache from all the typing I'd need to do.

Me too.  For me it ranges from the lack of ability to just being moody and everything in between.

 

[Stigger]

Clays not being thrown in the same area I am shooting, I blame the traps 

 

[Hamster]

This is a huge subject, what costs us all targets is part psychological part mechanical, almost everything that blights and ruins a given persons scores will also cost others enough dropped targets to put them out of placings.  

Flinch, too relaxed, not enough alertness, too much thinking, under-thinking, over leading, poor address, poor pick up, hesitation, shooting too quickly (through fear of not knowing what else to do), lack of follow through (not finishing the shot) will cost you when you eventually mistime your dismount by lifting and abandoning the process too early, forgetting last weeks lessons/errors, not having the ability/experience to make micro corrections during even successful shots, poor transition, poor selection of first bird of a simmo, lack of confidence will also cost you birds that you can actually hit all day etc, etc,. 

FWIW if I had to pick a couple of things that seem to affect more or less everyone, it is the inability to detect and compensate for quartering targets and treating them as crossers, plus putting more emphasis on lead than they do on line. Poor lead will often still break one or even two, poor line will miss them all. 

If I had to cut to the chase and tell the truth without fear of hurting feelings, it is that we miss through basic lack of shooting skill, yes I have stolen that from George Digweed but only because I agree with it. 

ps. must qualify everything and also state that we all have a certain ability level beyond which we seem incapable of meaningful improvement, that plateau is damn hard to break out of without zillions of practice hours.