practising the follow through??

[ORSON CARTE]

i have a proplem when shooting, i swing through the target, and a lot of time stop the gun!!. this bloody annoying, as i know i'm doing it, but can't seem to to rectify the problem. is there anyway of sorting this out at home using snaps,or any other method? i've tried waiting untill i shoot some clays, we shoot sporting mostly, but i think shooting just skeet for a while might be a better way to get me swinging the gun through???. any ideas??

 

orson

[Oly]

What is it they say, bum, belly, beak then push on through?

[charliem658]

I have exactly the same problem orson. the local gamekeeper has been trying to rectify it at the pheasant shoot but so far to no avail.

 

charlie

[Blackbart]

The best way to follow through without doubt is a vindaloo!!!

 

On the shooting front dont know how long you have been shooting for but nearly every one does it when they start,they aim at the target and at the point of catching up with it they stop and fire.You are allready on your way to stopping this because you know your doing it,and realising where your going wrong is half the battle.I find if your tense you seem to do it more where as if you relax its easier to follow through and nothing beats practice.If your at a clay ground watch the good shooters practicing if they miss a certain type of clay they will ask for that one again and again untill they suss where to put the shot,but a lot of it is what picture you get,after a while you will know the split second you pull the trigger if your gonna miss or hit and that just comes with practice,so keep going it will come.

[Cranfield]

Don't be afraid to have a lesson, or two at your local Clay Ground.

If you are missing birds because of your shooting swing, then go and have a lesson, just like the golfers do, its much the same thing.

[Sundowner]

I find this thread most interesting as i still have the same problem, well, ererrrrrr ...........once in while I meant to say

[ORSON CARTE]

yes i think a couple of lessons are in order, but my only reservation is, will the tutor say(after i've paid him 50 odd quid), your behind it!! swing the gun!!, as i've got half the shooting ground yelling that at me

thats why i was wondering if anyone had a technique for overcoming this prob at home. for instance mounting the gun in the mirror, can help with probs in that dept. which brings me onto, is it best to have the gun in the mounted position before calling trap/pull. i do not do this, as i think it's very classy

(and more like shooting in the field) to mount the gun after you shout trap/pull. could it be i'm concentrating too much on the mounting of the gun?? perhaps i should have the gun mounted first, and learn swinging through, before worring about correct mounting??.

DEFO A COUPLE OF LESSONS

 

regards orson.

[Gully]

Not sure if this works but its worth a try. I used to do it to practice gun mount and getting an even swing. Stand in the corner of a room at home and mount the gun and follow the line between ceiling and the wall. Try saying 'bang' to yourself about half way along but consciously forcing yourself to keep the gun swinging.

[Cushat]

Just have a lesson - any decent instructor will do a load more than shout "you're behind". More than worth the money. I've shot for years and would consider myself a half decent shot, but I learnt so much when I went for a lesson last year.

 

Skeet will help, especially the middle stations, as you've got to keep the gun moving there.

 

As for practising in the house - it won't make much difference to you stopping the gun as you need to start breaking the clays/killing birds and building up the sight picture in your head. You can't do that with static targets/mirrors etc. Stop worrying about shooting gun-up or gun-down (an instructor will correct any errors in gun mount - another advantage) - but dry mounting is something you can do in the house which will improve your shooting in general. 5 mins a day mounting the gun and it'll soon come up second nature and you'll not need to worry about it, giving you more time to pick the bird up, pull through and... BANG.

 

Lots of practice (pref at clays rather than pheasants ) - keep at it, it'll come!

 

[Spaniel]

Dry mounting costs alot less

 

Just practise mounting your gun looking at a point on the wall, do it slowly until you get a feel for how the gun fits, so you are spot on the target.

Then with the gun mounted on the target, wind yourself back, say approx 6ft and just slightly lower the gun out from your mount position.

Then swing back to your spot again and when the gun hits your face, you should be on the target.

At this stage push up on your toes (Right foot, swinging from Right to Left) and punch out with your Left arm, this should make the gun swing pass the point on the wall and give you natural lead on the target.

 

When out shooting the point where the gun hits your face should be where you pull the trigger, the rest of the motion should give you the required lead on your target....

since i have been doing this things seem much better, but keep your eyes on the target and not the gun.

 

Do it slow until you get a feel of the gun hitting your face in the right position

 

Good luck,

[ORSON CARTE]

as ever with pw, lots of encouragement, common sense, and good humour (vindaloo indeed )

many thanks.

 

 

orson

[marco you missed another one]

Hi all,

 

As I personally know orson carte I would like to say that you not alone trust me. Remember on Saturday when we were rost shooting how many cartdriges I used to get that super difficult fast camouflaged squirrel............ yes 5 you heard 5 cartdriges ahahahahahahahaha i'm so **** sometimes, but hey did we have fun or not with the rooks.

So I think that what you need its a bit of practice and a proper gun, a nice semiauto that fires like a gatling gun. In any case what counts its that we had lots of fun.

Don't discourage everyone as bad days.

 

Now comon all of you be nice to me, I only said five cartdriges to cheer Orson up

 

That flying rat cost me a pound and my reputation

 

Ciao

Mark

[clayman]

As noted in other replies, this is a fault of many shooters without developed style.

 

You are shooting "swing through".

 

There are two types of swing through, controlled and uncontrolled.

 

The difference is from how much behind you come and at what speed.

 

Novices typically shoot uncontrolled, and because the gun is moving rapidly past the target they look back at the bead to try to measure the forward allwance.

 

There are two cures ( and you may need to apply both).

 

One is to make the swing through controlled. This means starting with the gun further along the flightline and not moving it much faster than the target. The steadier movement gives more control and less urge to check the gun speed. Or change to pull away, - put the gun hold 1/2 way between the kill zone and the visual pick up point, watch the target come to the gun and mount directly on to it. This establishes the first two variables - speed and direction, and only leaves one third variable to address, ie forward allowance. Pull away ( not flick away) and see the sight picture. Squeeze the trigger while the elad opens up to the desired amount. Controlled swing through is exactly the same, but you start just a bit behind the target and have a constant but regular speed of swing slightly faster than the target.

 

Starting with the gun right back at the point the target emerges to sight always results in too fast a swing, with inevitable random results as the kill ratio will depend on the speed of swing, not checking, and trigger timing. More variables means more misses.

 

The other point here is that many novices ( and established shooters) shoot with their eye flat to the rib. This means they tend to £aim" through the bead. The moment you focus back on the bead you will slow the swing. Raise your eye to at least 1/8" ABOVE the rib ( use the £1-00 coin test - see below). View the target over the bead not through it.

 

This way the bead becomes irrelevant, as you see the pointability od the gun by seeing the whole rib tapering away in front of you in your peripheral vision. ( this is correct gun fit / mount). Keep you eye on the target and then the space in front you want the shot oad to go. If your mount and swing is right, the shotload will alway go where you are looking, and that not at the bead!

 

£1-00 coin test:

 

Mount the gun into the shoulder pocket with the but heel level with the shoulder top. Do this a about 30 degrees evelation. Put you head ion the stock with the minimum of gun movement, ie the gun goes to the face, not the face to the gun. Check the pull, there should be 2" +/- 1/2" between the back of the knuckle of you trigger hand thumb, and your nose. If the pull is short, lengthen it with a rubber boot or pad spacers. ( note, this needs to be right before you check eye height as the comb on most guns is tapered, and altering pull length alters eye height).

 

When the pull is correct, bring the gun down by moving the whole body torso, not the gun out of the cheek with the face dropping , but but leaning forward onto the leading foot breaking the knee to do this if needed. Now, have a £1-00 placed 9" down the rib. You should still see the whole bead. If you don't, raise the comb ( 30% of all clients coming to me need a comb raising). Rubber saddle comb raisers or Neoprene types both work well.

 

So, in a nutshell:

 

Check you gun fit and mount, raise the comb.

Start with you gun further along the flight line and use a slower economical gun movement.

Keep you eye on the target / lead space - don't look at the bead gun.

 

Jerry

CPSA Senior Coach

[ORSON CARTE]

fantastic reply jerry, thank you for spending the time effort, it'll take a little time to disect and digest all the info though. (you don't live in the midlands and want to earn yourself a few quid? )

 

regards orson.

 

ps when you said "in a nut shell" how big a nut were you referring to

[Sundowner]

Practised "following through" in the house a few times, telling myself to keep going after pretending to pull the trigger, then went out into the dene and did the same with a crow flying over and away at about 30 -35 yards up, followed through, and......................... now it;s a dead crow !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missed a couple of pigeons after that, but that was due to me not seing them in time, with only limited view through trees

[clayman]

No, but go and see Andy Kirkland at Doveridge, he will sort you. Say I sent you

 

Jerry Parks Young

[lewis]

yeah thats what i found i wasnt doing towards the end of the season and why i missed most of the birds

 

so i went to me local clay shoot and constantly practised the follow through and pretty much sorted it, got the hang of it after a few boxes

 

pitty grants gun couldnt handle it hehe

 

Lew

[Cushat]

clayman - very good reply but would you not agree that things like the £1 coin test are better done with/by an instructor. It's easy for novices who aren't hitting things to read stuff like this (as factually and technically correct as it is) on a forum and go away and convince themselves that their gun doesn't fit and start messing around with comb raisers etc.

 

Reading all the theory in the world isn't any substitute for a lesson with a (CPSA registered ) instructor. Either read the theory AND have a lesson or just have a lesson but DON'T just read the thoery on it's own.

 

My two penneth!

 

[soreshoulder]

say to yourself when your just about to pull the trigger bang but say it so you finish after the bird is down, so bbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaashotngggggggggggg

[Pirate]

i have a proplem when shooting, i swing through the target, and a lot of time stop the gun!!. this bloody annoying, as i know i'm doing it, but can't seem to to rectify the problem. is there anyway of sorting this out at home using snaps,or any other method? i've tried waiting untill i shoot some clays, we shoot sporting mostly, but i think shooting just skeet for a while might be a better way to get me swinging the gun through???. any ideas??

 

orson

Hi Orson Carte:

 

Although it sounds like you are using a swing through method, it may be just the way you have tried to explain, so I won't assume.

 

There has been plenty of good information already posted, and I have not a lot to add. Except.

 

Count a beat. (In your head of course) For example, if you were shooting the 'method'.

 

One (1) would be as you mount on the target.

Two (2) would be as you go with it.

Three (3) would be the taking of the shot when your lead picture is right.

Four (4) would be to keep the swing going.

 

You should be able to adapt this to whatever method you actually use, as it merely creates a 'trigger word' to encourage you to complete your swing!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Pirate:

Edited March 3, 2008 by Pirate

[The Great Cornholio]

Apart from being a good friend of mine, Pirate is also an accredited coach. He has helped and taught me no end.

There are quite a few things such a coach can teach you that you just can't read in a book.

 

I've been shooting just under a year. With Pirate's guidance I now regularly shoot 70% at "Sunday shoots" and I'm now looking to shoot at a registered level.

 

I am by no means a natural and have of course suffered from all the usual problems:

Bad mount

picking up the target to early.

Stopping the gun.

Running out of swing.

Etc Etc....

 

Together with Pirate we address each problem as it arises.

 

Although I still have a lot to learn, what I have learnt is a sound foundation on which to build my own technique.

[bignoel]

i have been trying hard to get the follow throu right. and guess what friday it just happend on its own ? 27 crow /rook mix 2 woodies 4 1/2 hrs again today not as many birds but still 11 crow/rook mix 1 woodie 3 hrs. i just followed the advise on this site now shooting is getting better