"I really dislike low 6"   Recently I've heard several shooters state that they dislike one target or another or one station or another. Disliking a station or target may make you miss them just because you think about how much you dislike them, rather than having positive thoughts about each and every target and station. When you find yourself disliking a station or a target you have two choices, one:  get your problem with that station or target identified and fixed, or two:  continue disliking and complaining about that station or target. Sometimes you can identify your … [Read more...]

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...]

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 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...]

Test Shots Many times, a shooter needs—for one reason or another—to test fire their gun before a competition begins. This can also be the case after a gun malfunction during a round to ensure that the malfunctioning gun will fire as intended. If you find it necessary to test fire your gun on a competition field, always gain permission from the referee and inform the other shooters on your squad that you are about to fire your shotgun. In this way, everyone will make sure they have their eye and ear protection in place, and they won't be startled by the shot. Also, if you are on a … [Read more...]