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Make It Ugly to Make It Right Gun fit is different for each person--and it is an ongoing process--a journey. It is not something you can go out and do just once. As you improve your gun mount so will your gun fit change. We have gone through more stocks than most people have guns, because we were on a journey to find the correct stock fit. It has taken years. Now, after all this time, when we get a new gun, we know what the correct measurements are, because we also have a perfect gun mount. The only way to get the correct fit for your stock is to first of all get a close measurement for length of pull. Then practice with the gun until you are comfortable with it and it comes to your face in the same place each time, then go to the pattern board. On the pattern board, you want to draw a circle about the size of a half dollar. Inside this circle you need to color a circle about the size of a dime. Back up 16 yards. Put a skeet or improved choke into the barrel. Focus on that dime circle and bring the gun up to your face and pull the trigger. Do this about 10 times, then go look at the pattern. This will tell you where the gun is going in relation to where you are looking. If something needs to be changed, such as drop of the comb, or cast off or on, you can make these adjustments with tape, gauze or moleskin or even towels and duct tape. It is a lot easier to change dimensions to find out what works for you with duct tape and towels than after it has been bent and cast and it might not be right. You will need to shoot this ugly gun for a while to see if the fit is correct. Then take it to someone who can bend and drop it where you need it to be. Too many people don't take the time to make the right adjustments. It is better to be ugly for a while then make it right, than have to redo because you wanted it too fast. Make it ugly to make it right. Thanks to DeeDee Bird for the use of her "ugly" gun, but boy can she shoot it. Congratulations for a fine US Open performance. Second Bird on a Pair Should I dismount for the second bird of a pair? Doctor Stewart -- Lafayette, La. If on the second bird you have time to bring the gun away from your face, our suggestion would be yes. Remember, the first thing you need to do is to see and focus on the bird. If the gun stays into your face and you move to the second target then your eyes will go to the barrel of the gun. The reason for this is your eyes naturally go to the fastest moving thing in the picture, if you move the gun to the target faster than the speed of the target your eyes will go to the gun. The most important thing, no matter how much time there is in between shots, is to make your eyes find the second bird before you move the gun to the 2nd bird. EYES FIRST THEN THE GUN! On 2 outgoing targets, you don't have the time to dismount to get to the other bird. You must find a break point for the first target and pull the trigger no matter what, then find the 2nd target with your eyes then go to it. You can slightly pull your face from the stock of the gun in order to find the target or you can take your eyes immediately to the place where you can see the 2nd target then move the gun. If the eyes and gun both move to the target at the same time you will not only look to the gun but you will out swing the target. To see this work, point your front hand that would be on the forend at something, then move the gun and your eyes to another object. You will notice that your gun will out swing your eyes. Now, point your front hand at something, then move your eyes to focus on something else, then move the gun to where you are looking. Now you are pointing the gun where you are looking. EYES FIRST THEN THE GUN. If you have a quick outgoing target and a real slow incoming target, dismount the gun. They are 2 different moves--real fast outgoing and real slow incoming. If you don't take the gun away from your face to see the incoming target clearly, then the gun will move into your sight and your eyes will go to it. Your focus then shifts to the gun and not the target. This does not mean you have to completely dismount and bring the gun down off your shoulder. It just means to separate the eyes away from the gun so that you can focus on just the target. You want an efficient move with the gun to the target--any extra movement will increase the risk of missing the target. SEE the target, move to it and pull the trigger. And always-- EYES FIRST THEN THE GUN. How to
Stay Focused for 10 Shots At every clinic the same question arises about how to not only get focused at the first stand, but how to stay focused for 10 shots. We have found that the best way to solve this problem is for you to practice getting focused and staying focused. How? In your practice routine, you must start making sure you go to the range with a specific thing to practice, like left to right crossers. Make yourself stay in a stand until you can shoot 10 in a row. When you are in a tournament you will go back to those things that are in your subconscious or in other words, those things you have practiced. Don't leave that stand until you can hit that target 10 times in a row. That will help you stay focused for the 10 times, which is what you will do in a tournament. If you only have to shoot 6 times, you are ahead of the game. How to get focused is also something you must practice. Having a preshot routine is very helpful. That will make you be consistent in your approach to the targets. It should take you the same amount of time between shots to be consistent. How many times have you started a stand and as you went from the 3rd pair to the 4th you got a little faster in your approach. From the 4th to the 5th you got even faster and end up dropping at least one on the 4th pair and one or two on the 5th. Your mind starts thinking I'm going to run this stand and that I better hurry up so that I don't lose this and then you have taken yourself out of the present and into the future and you will miss a bird. Make yourself sloooooooow down and make the same move between shots. Do the same thing between shots. That will keep your mind focused only on hitting the birds, not on your score or what is going on around you. That will keep you doing the same thing in the box. If you are consistent in your approach to each target, then you will be consistent in hitting the targets. When you walk up to a stand watch the targets and decide how to hit them and what chokes you are going to use and choice of ammunition. Get those things done then find the spot where you can see the target clearly and decide where to break it, then find the spot where you can see the second target and where to break it. Now you have a plan on how to hit these targets. Hopefully the plan will work, but if it doesn't then you have a starting place to figure out how to correct the miss. If you have just put the gun out there and called pull, your anxiety is at an all time high because you are flying by the seat of your shorts. This is not a confident way to approach the targets. Have a plan, if it works put your eyes in the same place, break the first target in the same place and see the second target in the same place and break it in the same place. If it works once, it will work 4 more times. You will find that this will put you more at ease with your shooting. You are not having to constantly worry about how to hit the targets. You know you can if you will continue to do the same thing before you call pull. Now the work has been done, and you can relax and enjoy the breaks because you trust your ability to hit the target. You have confidence that it will break. Always expect it to break and be surprised if it doesn't.
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