Spoiling the Line   At a registered shoot last weekend, I really had trouble with a 40-yard crossing target that was descending a little bit just before my break point. I tried to stay under the link of the target but I was still very inconsistent. Any thoughts?   It sounds like this crossing target was losing its line just before the break point. When a shooter struggles with this presentation, they are typically “spoiling the line.” This means that the gun is occluding the target just prior to the break point. In other words, the gun got between the eye and the target. For some … [Read more...]

Can't See Target   I am an older shooter, and the color orange can be difficult to see against backgrounds. Can you offer some suggestions for target setters to consider that will lessen the difficulty some of us have with seeing certain colors or targets against certain backgrounds?   Because I travel around the country to many different clubs, I do indeed see an opportunity to inform and train local target setters with regard to the proper target color for a given background. The average age of shooters in our sport is mid-50s and, for most, the eyes start to decline in the … [Read more...]

ShotKam   Will a ShotKam really help me?   I’m a big fan of the ShotKam as one of the best self-diagnostic tools available to the shotgun shooter, but its value depends on how you utilize the information the device provides. The ShotKam is a high-tech camera that automatically takes a short video of every shot. It attaches to the underside of your barrel and detects the movement of the gun to initiate recording. To set up the ShotKam, you “zero in” the reticle using a smartphone or tablet. The reticle is the dot or crosshair in the ShotKam videos that reflect your gun’s bore … [Read more...]

Tournament Stress   How do you deal with tournament stress that causes you to miss easy targets?   The answer and solution to this challenge require far more than the space I have, but let me give it a go. First, always take a picture of your scorecard after shooting a round in competition, as it provides insight as to the reason for your misses, and it will guide your practice and path to improved scores. If your scorecards indicate a scattering of misses — you drop one here, one there, sometimes in the middle of a station but more commonly on the third or fourth pair — this is … [Read more...]

Cross Dominance   I am 63 years old and only took up shooting in the last few years. I am left-eye dominant and shoot sporting clays and skeet right-handed, and I wink my left eye. I do just ok with this method but would like to shoot better. Would a gun fitting or lesson benefit me?   While you should always shoot off the shoulder on the side of the more dominant eye, it is theoretically possible to overcome the biased sight picture caused by the dominance of your non-dominant-side left eye. Many shooters who start shooting at an early age (as a teenager or 20-something), shoot … [Read more...]