Newbie question

[jonnyoftheboy]

Without wishing to bore anyone....

 

I am right eye dominant, right handed shot......

 

what I found was when I started shooting I tended to squint left eye... which over time (of 4 lessons or so) turned into a close of left eye. Meaning by then I was pretty much aiming - did a lot of rifle shootin as a kid.... so was an easy bad habit to get into. 1st few lessons, breaking lots, last couple...... performance down

 

now am trying to keep both eyes open.... but think I am often lifting my eyes up to see the target rather than actually moving the gun. so obviously need to concentrate more in keeping both eyes looking down the rib... past the bead....at the clay. Am I right in saying that the picture I see, with both eyes open, is almost 2 barrells - 1 from left eye & 1 from right..... with a single bead at the end.... which, if I am properly looking past it to look for the clay, should be blurred in my vision?

 

I don't want to go back to squinting left eye..... as I want to learn to shoot with both eyes open, & I have not been shooting for that long, so still early enough to break bad habits & learn good ones..... but found I was breaking more clays with a slight squint in the left eye.

 

The other side of the coin..... it may have more to do with where I have had lessons, there is quite a lot of trees.... so easier to pick a point where you can pick up the flight of the clay & pretty much determined where your mount should be & where you should break clay. have shot at willow farm & west kent & they are very open in comparison.... not much (if any) tree cover...... so can see the clay a lot earlier & for longer....with very little natural points of reference to help you remember the flight of the clay...... & am finding it a little harder to "get my bearings" & decide where break point should be.

 

any advice greatfully received. Hope they are not stooopid newbie questions....

[T.C.]

The key to your solution is that you say you see 2 barrels . If you wish to do well in clayshooting you will need to learn to look at the clay not the barrel . If you look at the clay all the time you should be aware of the barrel but not really see it. The idea is to point the shotgun rather than to aim it as you would with a rifle.Ideally your focus should be on the target with just a vague awareness of where the barrel is. To see the clay and not look at the barrel is the holy grail of good shotgun shooting . Best of luck ... most people get there in the end!

For further help try here :- http://www.ospschool.com/index.html

Edited November 8, 2008 by tonyk

[daser66]

some one told me if you were playing tennis or squash would you look at the racket i think not

[Chard]

Me and one of the lads I shoot with have ripped the beads off our guns recently and are trying it out :blink:

 

The thinking being that, if you're not supposed to be looking at the barrel, what's the bead all about?

 

I've been twice with no bead and haven't noticed a difference either way, Steve has only been once without the bead and I reckon he's improved already :unsure:

 

It was his idea, as he felt that on some targets, he was becoming fixated by the bead and kept glancing at it when he should have been looking at the clay. I certainly don't "miss" it, but strangely, I am sometimes aware that it's not there. We'll give it a few more trips before we pass judgement on it, but early signs are that beads on shotguns are a complete waste of time

 

I'll get the Mossberg out again one of these weeks. That's got two beads on it, and I'll hook both of them off

Edited November 9, 2008 by Chard

[LXX73]

Without wishing to bore anyone....

 

I am right eye dominant, right handed shot......

 

Im not 100% but it sounds like your left eye dominant, right handed shot. I had the same symptons, used to shoot with left eye closed. Fitted easyhit trained myself to shoot with both eyes open. Removed easyhit and still shoot with both eyes open, just takes some getting used to.

[T.C.]

Most people feel that removing the bead is unhelpful in the end . If you are looking at the clay and not the barrel it should not matter whether the barrel has a bead or not . Generally people use the bead or beads to check their gun mount and for the odd time when rifling the target is appropriate ie what some refer to as a "spot shot".

If the gun is mounted most people will be able to see the left side of the barrel with their left eye . This just means you are still looking at the gun and not the clay. :unsure:

Edited November 9, 2008 by tonyk

[clayman]

From your description your comb is too low, either inherent in the gun, or more probably being set too low in the shoulder.

 

The result is that 1/2 the shooting eyes periphery vision is cut off by the back of the gun, and the off eye naturally fills this in for you creating the "ghost" barrel.

 

Try raising the comb, or the place you mount the stock so you have a clear view along the rib and over the bead ( you do not aim a shotgun through the bead, the sighting device is seeing the parrallel sides of the rib tapering away from you, providing the pointing direction of the gun, with the eyes set firmly on the target seen ABOVE the bead).

 

While you may have an eye dominance problem, I'd put money on it being aggravated by fit and mount problems.

 

Buy and read the Clay Target Shooters Handbook, it discusses all this in detail so when you see a competent coach you will understand corrections they make, or you may be able to sort some out on your own.

 

Jerry

[jonnyoftheboy]

Gentlemen...... I have been away in vegas losing far too much money..... & appreciate ALL the replies.

 

Jerry, got the pm..... will be back to you. thanks for the advice.... think you are right, maybe bad mounting more than fit (but yes, easily either).

 

glad you all understood the dodgy description...!

 

have just briefly read replies & will digest, as off to bed now!!!! knackered!