Hello again…or maybe this is your first time here? Either way, I very much appreciate your stopping by. That you are here says you may be looking to improve your shooting? If that’s so let me begin by saying, most definitely, there are answers to your good questions.

As all of us search for those answers…what’s better or best in our game…we might want to remember that there can be more than one consideration on the table. Here are a few of those considerations that can assist in finding the “best” answer.  

Let’s look at a discussion on shooting methods…a common topic on shooting forums and rightfully so. Here’s the question: Which method is best? And the FINAL, long-awaited answer is: that depends. Here are what I believe to be 3 worthy questions / considerations. 1) Do you mean best for this shooter? 2) Do you mean best for this particular target presentation? 3) Or do you mean best based on over-all dependability? Reliability. It has to work. Right? When executed properly…X. Not just sometimes…consistently. We might want to think about all of these 3 considerations before a “right” or “best” answer is given.

Last week, I was working at a private plantation with the owner’s VIP guest. In the clubhouse, before shooting began, my student shared with me he was competent with his gun, but inconsistent…a very common comment. Preliminaries completed, we rode out to the clays course. At this time, understandably, my student was hoping to see his shooting improve. So it might be fair to say he was looking to me for “the” best shooting method. In the beginning I would be looking for “his” best shooting method…question #1. For me to do that, I also had to keep in mind #2 and #3 above…a very careful blending of the 3 considerations. In other words…together, we had to create a better shooting formula…or his inconsistencies would continue.

When shooting commenced, I was watching for set up and swing errors…and for his personal “preferences” with his shotgun…a pattern to his movements. Early in his swing, was his target intercept, “on” the target; “behind” the target; or “in front” of the target? Each of those three intercept points has long been proven dependable, but his intercept “preference” would be a strength, an advantage we didn’t want to overlook and would want to capitalize on. After a few minutes of repetition, watching how and where he set up the early bird/barrel intercept, I mentally voted for the pull away method for him. Fortunately, pull away was the right answer to question #1.

Which brought me to question #2, whether or not pull away would work on this target presentation? I said fortunately above because the answer now was, yes, it definitely would. And, right on schedule, question #3 appeared. Would this method break this target, and various other presentations, in the future, reliably? Consistently? In this case, again, yes it would.

So, is the pull away method the best method?

Decades of instructing, coaching and competing, nationally and internationally, have shown me that a well placed muzzle accelerating away from the target, paced correctly, will break a great many of our Sporting Clays target presentations…very dependably…thus meeting conditions 2 and 3. Multiple methods do this very well. Not all of the time, but most of the time, pull away fits shooter after shooter.

Say my student was struggling with pull away and we had to abandon muzzle acceleration for another shooting method: maintained lead. Generally speaking, good maintained lead has follow through but less or no acceleration away from the target. Yes…that’ll work. Well. Dependably. On some targets. On other presentations, using that method, performance and score inconsistencies will predictably surface. Please see the paragraph above this one.

All to say, just what is the best shooting method, for you, on this presentation? If you are a social shooter where score is secondary, consideration #1, shooter preferences might take priority in choosing a method. When score matters, however, method selection now becomes more critical. Shooter preferences; target presentation applicability; dependability; all 3 of these considerations should be carefully evaluated to maximize our performances and scores.

Personally, for the reasons given, I don’t believe there is one, best shooting method. In my experienced opinion, it doesn’t exist. Not for all people…on all target presentations. That said, there is a “method formula” that will work best for you on this presentation. And that formula may be very dependable for you on a multitude of target presentations. That might (?) be your “foundation method,” an “all around,” dependable method that you can depend on. But…but…count on this…your crafty target setter can and probably will defeat your favorite method. It’s why they called it called Sporting Clays, not Skeet. And why our learning, then building competency with multiple methods, will put more X’s on our score card. There’s a truth!

Some of what’s been said above can also apply to choosing our shotgun; ammunition; shooting lenses; chokes; etc. Considerations 1, 2 and 3? Think carefully…choose wisely…rest assured, there is a “best formula” for you.

Thank you again for stopping by. Be safe. I hope to see you out on the course!