Hot Weather We all should know the contents of this hint, and maybe you do, but I believe it's worth reminding all of us about what hot weather can do to you. I used to believe that I could live with the heat, and then I went to Little Rock for our Zone 6 shoot a few years ago and the heat got me. I saw the proverbial 'White Light' and felt like I was numb all over. I walked to the air conditioned clubhouse and sat down outside the building for about an hour before I had the energy to go up the four or five steps into the cool building. The heat got me! When weather … [Read more...]
Hartmann’s Hint #41: Annoyances
Annoyances As shotgun shooters, we use concentration as one of our tools in order to be proficient at our chosen games. Concentration is, in my opinion, the one thing that separates the mediocre shooters from the great shooters. We all can handle the physical parts of shooting, but the mental parts are much more important. For many of us, there are things that we find annoying that break our concentration. Among these are loud voices, tobacco smoke, aircraft flying overhead, and circumstances in your family or home life. As you can see by that short list, the things that can … [Read more...]
Ask the Instructor: Visualization
Visualization In a recent edition of “Ask the Instructor,” you talked about the mental process and the three elements of a pre-shot routine: (1) deep breathing, (2) visualization, and (3) a trigger thought. Can you describe visualization in greater detail? You have hit upon an important point. When we talk about “visualization” as part of a shooter’s pre-shot routine, we immediately think of “picturing” the pair you are about to break – visually imagining the targets launching and seeing the targets break at the break points. But there is an important distinction between … [Read more...]
Ask the Instructor: Books and Videos
Books and Videos What do you think of books and videos for learning how to shoot? Books and DVDs definitely have their place in the learning process of a shooter. With that said, however, there is no substitute for time behind the gun, pulling the trigger and breaking targets. The great majority of people, and therefore shooters, learn best by “feeling” the movement of a shotgun and the shot, not by seeing, hearing or reading about it. As an instructor, if I can get you to understand what a particular gun movement feels like as you execute a shot on a target, it is much … [Read more...]
Hartmann’s Hint #39: Ask Before Touching
Ask Before Touching A few years ago, I was at a gun club when I saw an unusual shotgun in the gun rack. The shotgun had a significant modification to the rib on the barrel. The gun turned out to belong to a member of the California Golden Bears Trap Club, a gentleman that I knew. He had lost the vision in his right eye, and he was right handed. He was in his early eighties and, rather than learn to shoot left handed, he chose what I called a canary ladder. That's what it looked like to me. He could still mount the gun to his right shoulder but use his left eye for alignment—an … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- …
- 17
- Next Page »