March/April 2009 - New Zealand Clay Target Association

use of the forend hand to move the gun,
and that resulted in lost targets.
The ‘understanding’
aspect to good scores
It seems that all trapshooters, no
matter what class they happen to be
in, will have their good days and their
bad days. It just stands to reason that
shooters in the lower classes seem to
have more bad days than those in the
higher classes. While scores may be
relative depending on our class, we are
all able to recognise a bad day or a bad
score when we experience one. What
is more difficult in these situations is
recognising the reasons for bad days or
bad scores and turning them into great
days.
One of the reasons for fewer bad days or
bad scores among AAA shooters is that
they are usually more experienced and
far more consistent in doing what they
need to do to break more targets. It is
that level to strive for, and sometimes
all it takes is time, understanding and
practice. The purpose of this column is
to offer a bit more on the “understanding”
aspect of shooting good scores.
Even great shooters will sometimes
develop a bad habit. They may forget
a simple fundamental or just fall into
a habit that costs them an occasional
target. The problem is, in their class, an
occasional target is enough to lose the
race. I was recently fortunate enough
to watch a great shooter hammering
handicap targets with ease. I was
impressed with his shooting until I saw
him miss a couple of targets because of
a fundamental error. I like to use names
(but never the actual name) of shooters
that I have observed and write about,
so I’ll just call him Smitty, a common
name that could be anyone.
While I was watching Smitty hammering
his targets, I noticed that at times he
failed to shift a bit of his weight to his
front foot. I also noted that every time
he missed a target, he hadn’t shifted his
weight. When he missed a target on Post
1, he used his forend arm to move the
gun toward the target. It was apparent
that Smitty had lost track of this simple
fundamental, and it was costing him
targets.
Whenever you mount the gun prior to
calling for your target, you should shift
a bit of weight to the front leg. For a
right-handed shooter, this is the left
leg; it’s the right leg for a left-handed
shooter. This sound simple enough,
but you also need to understand the
reason for shifting the weight. To begin
with, the feet should be positioned at
shoulder width and comfortable. The
weight shift should be just enough
to have more than 50% of the body’s
weight on that front leg. This will
result in the shooter’s head being over
the front leg. Now when the shooter
mounts the gun and shifts the weight,
he will form a straight line of pivot over
the front foot. He can now lock the gun
into place, and when he calls for his
target, he will pivot to the target. He
will not move the gun with the forend
arm; he will only support the gun with
the forend arm. The gun will be moved
to the target using the pivot.
If a shooter fails to pivot to the target,
Sometimes all it
takes is time,
understanding and
practice.
he will likely find it necessary to use
the forend arm to move the gun to the
target. This could create a situation
where the shot looked pretty good, but
the result was a lost target. The reason
for this is that the shooter’s mount fell
apart when he used the forend arm to
move the gun, and this can change the
point of impact. Some targets will still
be broken when a shooter makes this
fundamental error, but as trapshooters,
we are not after some of the targets –
we’re after all of them. When Smitty
failed to shift his weight forward, he
approached the target flat-footed and
did not pivot his entire upper body
toward the target. This resulted in his
When the weight is shifted to the front
leg and the shooter uses a pivot to
move to the target, he will also find that
he is able to approach the target from
the bottom and have a great view of the
target all the way to the shot. As he
pivots, the gun will automatically come
to the target without the need to lift the
gun up to the target with the forend
hand. If the gun needs to come up,
the pivot will allow it to happen. It will
feel like your moves, especially to angle
targets, are mostly horizontal. This
method does not require the shooter to
hold an exceptionally high gun, but he
should be holding above the traphouse
prior to his call for the target. If a
shooter stands flat-footed – or worse
yet, lets his weight shift to his back
leg – the tendency will be force the gun
to loop toward the target with an arc,
and many times the shooter will lose
sight of the target just as he is about
to shoot.
A left-handed shooter is more likely to
shift his weight to the back foot when
he is standing on posts 1 or 2, while
a right-handed shooter will have this
tendency on posts 4 and 5. The next
time you get the opportunity, with
an empty gun, stand on one of these
posts and simulate your move to a
hard right or left angle while allowing
your weight to rock to your back leg.
You will probably notice that the gun
rises as you make this move and has
a tendency to arc toward the target,
and make it more difficult to see. Now
maintain your weight on the front leg
and pivot toward the simulated target.
You will probably notice that you can
approach the target from the bottom
without the gun looping in an upward
arc. This technique will allow Smitty
and all other shooters a better view of
the target without the clutter of the gun
hiding it. The better you see the target,
the better you will break it.
In order for the pivot to work for you,
good foot positions on each post will be
required. You will want to avoid having
your back turned to the angles, so on
Post 1, a shooter should stand facing
those angles, which will be all left angles.
As you move to each subsequent post,
you will move your stance slightly to
the right progressively. This applies to
both right- and left-handed shooters.
When you arrive on Post 5, you will
again be facing the angle targets, which
are now all right angles. If your stance
doesn’t allow you to pivot toward your
angle targets, adjust it before you end
up using the forend arm to move to
the target. You should feel smooth
Gunshot 25