Wingshooting-2nd Try (Thanks Dave McC)

[Rockrivr1]

A local club was having a 5-Stand shoot last night. A buddy of mine belonged to the club and invited me along. I was excited to give this a try but was wondering how well I would do. As you may remember from a previous post, my first attempt at hitting hand thrown clays was less then stellar.

The clays were definately coming out a lot faster and farther away. The thrower was putting clays all over the place, which I'm not sure is correct for this type of shooting and going by the grumblings of some of the other shooters, I'd bet not. Seeing it was my first time with a real thrower, I had no idea what to expect. Some clays were straight out, some left, some right and some so far left or right that they were actually crossing shots, depending on which station you were at.

I was comfortable with the straight out shots and the ones that faded to the right. The ones that went left or acted as a crossing shot I pretty much missed every time. Seeing I'm right handed, I figure that had something to do with effecting my accuracy going left.

Overall I shot a 9 out of 25. I know, some of you are saying that is still pretty bad, and your right. BUT, considering my first time out with a hand thrower was an 11 out of 50, I figure I've double my accuracy and it was against faster clays. It's not so bad seeing the best score with my line was a 15 out of 25.

I would like to thank Dave McC for his very indepth and obviously time consuming post on Wingshooting. It definately helped me with my stance as my shoulder felt great after the round. No pain or bruising, which is always a plus. It also gave me a good idea on where to target the clay.

I will have to say the crossing shots were definately difficult. I tried to "Paint" across the target but I noticed that because I was in a rush, as that shot was unexpected in that direction, I went to far with the barrel and had to almost stop my swing and wait for the clay to catch up. I knew I'd miss as I was pulling the trigger. I didn't have the experience yet to figure what to do in order to reaquire the shot in the short time period available. Figure that will come with time.

Sorry, long thread. Let me finish by saying I cannot wait to hit the range again. Thanks again to everyone who put in a piece of advice on how to get better. I appreciate it. I might suck now, but with practice that 25 out of 25 is just around the corner.

Troy

 

[BigD]

Good to hear you enjoyed your first try at 5-Stand. It is definitely a challenge. As a new wingshooter, I would try to find a club that offers Trap and Skeet as well. Use the Trap game as a first step in honing your wingshooting skills. This is because the presentation angles are relatively shallow and the targets are all moving up and away from you regardless of the crossing angle. This will allow you to concentrate on your actual shooting technique without a lot of the confusion added by hard angles.

The Skeet field is next. In skeet, you get a vastly greater array of angles due to the layout of the field itself. Both of these shotgunning games will allow you to hone your shooting skills without being frustrated by the array of presentation methods and target sizes afforded by Sporting Clays.

Most of all, have fun!

 

[Jim Watson]

I agree with BigD (Except for one thing, it *is* easier to learn the basics of Trap but I think it is enough easier to go from Skeet to Trap than vice versa that I would start you on Skeet, but that is a small matter.)

Shoot the older, standardized games until you know what is going on. I would not recommend you doing 5-stand or real SC until you were in the 90%+ range at skeet and trap both.

 

[Dave McC]

You're VERY welcome,Troy. And thank you for letting me know all that stuff I laboriously two fingered out helps. I'm a better wingshot than typist(G).

ALso, experience will teach you how fast you must swing on a particular presentation. Practicing while using good form and method will give you the experience. Go shoot some more, always keeping the basics right.

One thing....

Right to left presentations for a PH shooter are usually a bit easier than left to right. Just keep increasing the daylight between your bbl and the clay until they start exploding. When I set up for a right to left crosser, my rear foot is a tad more advanced than on left to right shots. Again, have your forward foot pointing towards where you want to break the bird.

Remember to pivot from the lower legs up, rigidity is the enemy here.

HTH...