OSP Sponsored and Endorsed by:

Relax When calling for the target -- Relaxed? or Tense? Yes, is not an acceptable answer! When calling for your target, your arms and shoulders should be calm and relaxed. The reason for this is that a muscle when it is tense must first relax before it can move. Try this experiment. Place your hand, palm down, flat on the table. Press down on the table and feel the muscles in your arm and shoulder tighten. Now raise your hand slowly off the table. Feel your muscles relax and then your hand move? Now do it again, but this time just barely touch your hand on the table keeping the muscles in your arm and shoulder calm and relaxed. Now raise your hand slowly off the table. Notice the difference? Smooth, wasn't it. More importantly that movement can be duplicated 10 times in a row, if your muscles are calm and relaxed. It is impossible to duplicate the movement if your muscles are tense. I don't know about you, but I always shoot better when I'm calm and relaxed. There are thousands of degrees of Tense, there is only One relaxed. I have to believe if you keep your arms and shoulders calm and relaxed prior to calling pull every time, you will shoot smoother and more consistently, whether you are shooting practice or for the Buick. Back to Article Directory Shoot Better and Hit More At the beginning of each of our clinics, we ask each student what they want to get out of the day. One morning a student said he wanted to "shoot better". Our question to him was, is there a peticular target we need to work on. His answer was everything. Pretty broad subject--so we begin our day and our work is cut out for us. By noon, the student realizes that to improve "everything" to "shoot better" boils down to 3 things-sharp focus on the target, the gun must move with the target and a perfect gun mount.Focus on the bird means to have sharp focus on a specific part of the target- the front edge. When looking at a target, if you are not specifically looking at the front your eyes will naturally go to the back edge of the target. You must make yourself look to the front. If that is the last thing you tell yourself before calling pull, it will be the first thing to happen as you see the target.Move the gun the speed of the target. Barrell speed = target speed. If you move the gun faster than the speed of the target, you will outswing it. Likewise, it the gun moves slower than the target-you will be behind. Insert the gun into the lead-bring the gun to your face and pull the trigger. Which brings us to the perfect gun mount. If the mount is not perfect, the gun will not go where you are looking and you will miss the target, even though the picture looks perfect. It doesn't take much of a difference high or low and you will not hit the target. By the end of the clinic, our student was "shooting better" and had worked on "everything", but found that he simply had to focus, move and have a good gun mount. Pretty simple. These 3 things helped him to shoot better at everything, but even more important he could remember these 3 things and start to self correct himself. That made the frustration level go down as now he had a place to start to figure out not only why he missed the target, but how to hit the target. That is the goal. Back to Article Directory Teal Targets Why doesn't the teal target break everytime? I see the same thing everytime, but I'm inconsistent on breaking them. How many times have you said this to yourself? The difference between a hit or a miss is usually the result of not having sharp focus on the target or the movement of the gun to the target is too fast or too slow. Consistency on a teal target comes from having sharp focus on the target and very little gun movement. If you want to hit the target at the peak of the flight path-you will need to have very little gun movement. This is where the path of the target has the least amount of swing, in fact this is when it becomes a perfect point with the gun as opposed to a swing, because the target is slowing down. If you are still swinging, you will sail over the top of the target. The picture will look the same each time-whether you hit or miss the target. Lead cannot solve this problem, better focus and a perfect point makes this target break. Many times, you will need to shoot the bird quick--on the way up. Pull your eyes closer to the trap and as you see the bird mount the gun over the top of the targets flight and pull the trigger, trusting your point. If you hestitate the target will be gone so trust yourself and put the gun where it needs to be to break the target.What about those times when you need to break the teal on its way down? After you get past the question why would anyone want to?, you need to know how as there will come a time when you have to take that target on its way down. Look at the bottom of the target as it begins its way down and insert the gun underneath and along the flight path of the target. How far you ask? Depends on the speed of the target we respond. Remember to match the target speed and barrel speed and insert the gun into that big lead window and pull the trigger. This is a great game we play but there are no absolutes in how to achieve the breaking of the target. Each "lead picture" is different for each person so trust yourself and your judgement.Learn to break teal targets going up, at the top and coming down because every range owner will set them a different way and you need to know how to shoot it all ways. Go and have fun. Back to Article Directory Eyes First Then the Gun "Why do I miss 20 to 30% of the second birds on pairs?" (Lee Miller, Vandenberg Air Force Base Rod and Gun Club) I saw Lee at River Road Sporting Clays and he spent a day with me and we solved his problem. Here is what he said.... "I quickly found that when I broke the first bird, my eyes were not moving to the other bird before I moved the gun. I found that I had been controlling my eyes with the gun, and I should have been letting my eyes FIND the bird before I moved the gun." Lee is certainly NOT alone in this problem. Vicki and I teach hundreds of shooters each month. Most of them who are with us for the first time learn the same lesson that Lee learned...EYES FIRST THEN THE GUN. We both emphasize that whether its the first bird or the second on any kind of a pair------- any movement given the gun, prior to: Focus on the target, is waisted and increases Risk by the cube! Slow down - see the bird and trust your eyes. Back to Article Directory   Fear of Failure We are taught from birth that Failure is bad---and something to be avoided. Failure can be your friend---if you let it Every success is born and dies in failure. Failure is bad only if nothing is learned. Striving for perfection excites the presence of the Fear of Failure. How many times have you run the first 4 or 5 stations and thought to yourself "I'm straight" and you immediately begin to miss targets -- the easy ones!--- What happened? On stations 1-5, you were in the present- shooting the birds one at a time- relaxed and confident. When you realized you had not missed any you began to think about your final score. At that point in time you left the present and moved into the future, by thinking about your overall performance. You have no control of your future. The only thing you can control is the present. What you are doing right now. A good round is the sum of all shots both good and bad. A great round is the result of staying in the present on every shot, and giving positive emotion to every shot reguardless of result. Guard against going into a competition with expectations of score or results. Go into a competition with the resolve that you will be positive, stay in the present, and let the score take care of itself. Ability doesn't control performance--- Your ability to trust your ability controls performance--- Back to Article Directory Have other questions on other issues? Visit our Clinic FAQs section or submit your own question. How We Teach • Teaching Schedule • Tips & Articles Our Services • Clinic FAQs • Products & Programs • Meet Gil & Vicki Client Comments • More Info/Sign-up • E-mail Us • Home OPTIMUM SHOTGUN PERFORMANCE SHOOTING SCHOOL Toll Free 800-838-7533 P.O. Box 826 • 29354 McKinnon Rd., Suite A • Fulshear, TX 77441 Voice: 281-346-0888 • Fax: 281-346-1500 Copyright © 2000-2006 Optimum Shotgun Performance Shooting School