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Friends:

Went to the skeet range Sunday afternoon. Nothing fancy intended, just wanted to burn a couple of 100 rounds and have fun, do some informal practice , particularly crossing shots. Wanted to stand at Station 4 and shoot high house until I got tired, then low house, then some doubles. I had done the same last weekend with my Ithaca NID clays gun with its current "try-gun" stock extension ( 15-1/8" LOP to front trigger,1-5/16" DAC, 2-1/8" DAH ). That was a frustrating experience. Broke about 30 % . Figured I was having an off day.

Ok, so this weekend, I head to the range with my LC Smith 00 E, 30" barrels choked full/full. I figured Id give up a few birds for the joy of shooting the gun, and giving it an outing. That gun has a 15" LOP to front trigger, 1-5/8 DAC, 2-5/8" DAH.

I could hit almost nothing. At station 1 I missed 10 low house birds in a row. Broke one. Gave up, moved to Station 2. I missed 14 birds in a row. Moved to Station 4. Then missed 9 in a row. Broke three or four, almost by accident, shot the remainder of the second box, with about 3 more hits. I had lost count. The trapper was embarassed for me. My shooting partner, who I helped teach to shoot clays years ago, was cringing. I was not, to say the least, a happy camper.

Then I went back to the gun rack and got out my Ithaca Model 37 Skeet Deluxe with ugly Poly-Choke. That gun was special ordered by my grandfather for my use as a duck gun, and the stock is a tad short 13-3/4" LOP, 1-1/2" DAC, 2-1/2" DAH. I cranked the Poly- Choke to cylinder and returned to Station 4. Broke 18 straight birds, high house and low house. Went to station 5, broke 10 birds, as true-pair doubles. Walked back to Station 1, missed one out of about 10 birds. Walked to 7 and broke about 8 birds as pairs. These were not "visible chips". These birds were being broken to smithereens. I certainly felt better.

Now I am confused to say the least.

I know it is impossible to diagnose by internet, but some thoughts on this from you really smart and experienced folks would help me a good deal. I think that the LC and the NID both have stocks which may be too long by a bit, and since they are significantly straighter than the Model 37, the extra length exacerbates their tendency to shoot high. I have shot well with the NID with its current stock configuration, but perhaps I was in some way compensating for a poor gun fit, and the last few outings I have lost my ability to compensate. I do know it seems I can always hit with that Model 37 - even took it to a sporting competition several years ago ( as you may know I compete casually ) and shot about 72%, better than a whole host of folks with the "correct " equipment.

Ok, enough of my sad tale. Wisdom from the assembled gun sages?

Thanks

Regards

GKT

Been there, done that. You're overthinking and measuring your targets. And when you do miss with people looking on, you get nervous and continue making the same mistakes. Go out to the range by yourself and work out the problem, but pattern both guns first. Find where they're shooting. And when you get up to the station, look at your setup, foot position, etc. You've made all the shots from all the stations hundreds of times, so it's not a question of learning. Sometimes the brain won't let you do what you know you're capable of. In other words, unless your guns are completely out of whack (which they probably aren't), it's all in your head. Fix it with a good, working practice session.

Consider getting a real coach to watch you shoot and help figure out what is going on. I'm betting head work will fix this problem.

Greg:

I'm hardly a consistent duffer skeet shooter so you should get better advice than mine but here's my .02. Specifics are hard to diagnose by mail, aren't they? We can't see your head, feet, and gun barrel. But just a couple of general comments. I think you're practising your miss. When I was starting not so long ago, I thought it would be helpful to practise at one station. I heard this was good for beginners. See the same shot until you hit it, hopefully do everything the same way the next time, imprint the biomechanics. Bad timing and bad biomechanics imprint just as easily, so that caution about "perfect practise" from Mr. MacIntosh does come into play in "volume practise". At my age 200 light loads expended might not appear to challenge my physical endurance but would certainly challenge my focus, visual acuity, and even desire to be there doing that. The only benefit I can think of from a lot of reps is the situation where someone (squadmate, coach) is watching. Without diagnosis, you'll groove your miss. For instance, I was shooting last summer with a fellow who swings from behind on high house 2. I do much the same thing as this is a hard shot for me to do short-stroke sustained before the stake. It's also a very easy shot beyond the stake after it's "straitened out" and the "apparent" angular momentum neutralized. So he misses the single, misses the option, misses it on the double. Our squads are pretty informal so "gimme dat agin" is not a problem. On the fifth or sixth miss and just before the onset of hysteria, one of the guys noticed that Mr. Shooter's first move from the hold point (he's a "just off the shoulder" low gun shooter)was to take the muzzles back towards the house at the call. Made aware, he stopped doing this and hit two in a row and we moved on. I think when we are miss-tifyed, we should remember that skeet is largely a matter of the body doing or not doing what it's always done. Add something, take something away, different timing, different result. Altho skeet is largely a matter of repeated mechanics, I think it's better to shoot with a squad, get the reps intermittently, maintain at least part of the illusion that skeet provides the same opportunities for using reflexes and instinct that hunting provides. The 499X500 shooter probably wouldn't agree; just my thoughts.

jack

All the above is good advice, Greg, but I have found that when I get to missing such as you did, I simply try to relax, concentrate on the target, keep the gun moving and let things go as they will. It usually works for me and I start getting back to consistently breaking targets. BTW, this works on either the skeet field or the SC course. For me, anyway. Perhaps the fact that I shoot only a couple different guns other than my Beretta 687 on clays, and then shoot other guns only occasionally, may have a good deal to do with getting back in swing of things, so-to-speak.
Hope this helps. -- Ed

I am sure the diagnosis by those above that this is a head space adjustment is correct. Instead of shooting the harder stations you have been missing, shoot stations where you can get your confidence back. And I suspect after missing you started concentrating on seeing the muzzle to line up a nice lead picture - certain failure. Probably made worse by the double muzzle versus the single on your pumpgun. Go to the swing through method, just focus on the leading edge and let it happen for a while. Don't stand there and drill in a failing method either. Move around the field and shoot with a squad so you aren't standing up there grinding your teeth shot after shot. Use the force Luke!!

I've been shooting Sporting Clays lately with a couple of guys that like to fool around with different games. An example is "how low can you go" trying to hit the bird closest to the ground, trying to hit crossing pairs together, and the list goes on. What it does for me is it loosens me up and relaxes my shooting style. I shoot from an unmounted gun position and we make the rules up as we go. This is great therapy for my stress and gives me practical shooting experience that helps with my hunting.

I usually have a missing streak shooting skeet full choke, too.

Sorry, missed the cylinder choke and increased %. Yeh, just use that one.

jack

Chill man, and count your blessings. It's the hitting that I find inexplicable, the missing is just SOP.

Regards
Eug