doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to Manage Weight and Balance?

Rocketman,

I've seen 25's from the hip. Good gun fit reduces the need for high order hand-eye coordination and practice.

I find this statement hard to believe. If it was true then why do the top olympic and world competitors have the highest year end shell counts? Staying at the peak of performance requires constant practice and maintenance. Anything less, regardless of your level of expertise and your performance falls off.

To top competitors gun fit is a non issue, they all fit perfectly. But these guys and gals still put in the hours of practise. The practise amounts to eye to hand coordination and making sure that is consistent across all shots.

There are shooters blessed at birth with hand-eye coordination as required to be a top tier competitor. Most of us will never get there, no matter how much we shoot. All top tier shooters I've ever known have a gun(s) on which "the dollars" have been spent. Yet, most are constantly looking for "the nickles" that may get them "just one more clay."

Humankind has been looking for the "magic XXX (whatever was in vogue at the time)" to supplant learning and practice. A very good question is, "What is it that causes me to shoot some guns better than others?"

DDA

Rocketman,
Yes, yes and yes. BUT...it doesn't address the hours and hours these people with 'top tier eye to hand coordination' put in at practise. They aren't shooting guns with different alterations every day. They are shooting the same over and over because the only way to win is though consistency and that is what they strive at.

On a slightly different note, now the winter games are on there are all sorts of discussions on athletics. One that seems to be repeatedly coming up of late is that man's top performance has peaked. Fewer and fewer world records are broken. Scores have plateaued. Its now up to significant break throughs in technology and the translation into new 'equipment' that seems to be required to advance to a higher level. That or better drugs

I have been shooting Skeet this week in between snow storms.
Thinking about the "marginal bird" and my efforts to claim it.

With the borrowed gun I'm using, I hit low 7 on the left.
The mount is about maybe 4-5" left at 20yards, so by rights, I'm shooting 8" or so off my sight line at 40 yards.
So, why wouldn't I try to optimize this shotgun, (or 1 like it) to capture the marginal bird?

For me, and this has been consistent for a couple decades, I lose 4 birds/rd when my practice drops below 100 targets/mos. Crank it up pre-season, and I shoot some straights. Lay off, and uh uh.
I'd say that to compete at an elite level, the coaches probably notice consistency problems at less than 1000 targets a week.

Most people have no idea how many rounds are required to stay at your best. Her's an excerpt from an interview with Kim Rhode:

Randy: For readers to get a good idea of how extensively and repetitively you train and practice, how many shooting days a year is it, how many shots per year, and how many clubs do you shoot at when you do practice?

Kim: I practice everyday that I'm home, 500-1000 rounds per day. I also have the opportunity to train at three different ranges. I see this as a great advantage because each range has it's unique environment; backgrounds, windage, targets, etc.



As to handling, shooting from the hip has nothing at all to do with how well a gun fits you. True story: Years ago, at a big SC tournament at Elk Creek, when Jon Kruger was at his best, he was waiting in line to shoot a 5 Stand with a good friend of mine. As they waited a couple young guys were standing behind them talking. One of them said "If Kreighoff gave me a $25K gun like his I could shoot like that too". Jon didn't let on he heard him. When it came Jon's turn to shoot he turned to the young guy and said "What kind of gun do you shoot?" Guy replied "Beretta". Jon asked if he could shoot it, to which the guy replied "Sure". Jon pulled the trigger once or twice on an empty chamber to see how it felt (he has to pull the trigger with his little finger, other than the thumb it's the only one left on that hand), then cooly ran the 5 stand with it ............from the hip. He walked back over to the astonished young shooter and handed his gun back to him with the comment "There's nothing wrong with your gun, son". The two young guys left.

SRH

I've bird hunted with some former pro baseball players. Talk about hand/eye coordination! I could practice till Kingdom come and never be that quick or that good...Geo