When an entry-level shooter decides to work with me, I can almost always count on his or her open mind and eagerness to listen. That's because from their perspective of "why did that just happen," they have little or no experience to fall back on. X's and 0's are a complete mystery. That's OK of course, and very much understandable. Underway enthusiastically, instruction is received and implemented with little if any resistance. Predictably, student comprehension and progress accelerate rapidly. Here's a common, subtle difference with a more experienced shooter in a lesson. XXXXXX. We're off to a good start, yes? My student's thinking, "Darn right we are! I smoked those targets!" ...

 You shot well today. Even your not-quite-there swings managed to catch a piece, XX. Everything just felt right, the sporting clays targets looked bigger and slower than usual. Your hits were hard, center-punching, building a momentum. Planned and rehearsed, sight picture after sight picture appeared right on right time, at the right place, again and again. XXXXXX. A surge of confidence carried you through the final 3 stations to your best tournament score ever. It’s 3:15 in the clubhouse and you’re reminiscing so many good clay target shots today. A friend strolls by and says you’ve tied the club “protester,” there’ll be a shoot-off at 4 ...

 As I work with students of all skill levels, I’m frequently asked if I prefer gun up or gun down? My answer will depend on my student’s skill level and what types of shooting he participates in.  Wingshooting, of course, we’ll start with gun down. Sporting Clays, I prefer gun up with certain caveats. If my student spends a lot of time in F.I.T.A.S.C. events, we’ll likely be working from the gun down position. From the starting position, gun up or down, what must remain constant is “muzzle control.” By that I mean, during the gun mount, the trigger hand must not disrupt what the fore-end hand is doing, which is guiding the gun. To best ...

It's hard not to be impressed with a Big Dawg breaking those long-distance targets no one else can seem to hit. Final score: 97, a worthy accomplishment deserving of congratulations. Here's a look at how that score was built. This month's Tip asks you to look at your scorecard and review the score and the target presentations, individually, Station by Station. I'm willing to bet there's a pearl of information on that scorecard staring back at you, waiting to be discovered. I won't be the one telling you not to practice on those long-distance, more challenging targets. For good reasons, we should. But I am proposing that your best score this weekend won't be built on these ...