Most recently at the Autumn Grand, there was a situation where in a Championship round two shooters ended up going head to head for about 70 shots in a shootoff to determine a winner. During this shootoff it became apparent that one shooters pre shot routine was getting on the nerves of the other one. The shooter had his gun on the pad, and would rock back and forth on his feet once or twice to get his feet set before picking his gun up and mounting it. The other shooter was incredibly annoyed by this and ended up loosing the shoot off and the very large sum of money that was attached to it.
At the missed shot and instant loss of the championship, the shooter turned around and started yelling profanities and saying that this other shooter was being unsportsmanlike and trying to distract him. Instantly the herd of spectators jumped on him to shut up and keep his own behavior in check. The champion was 14, the loser well above 60.
Despite the constant yelling, grumbling and throwing hulls around the champion stuck to their pre shot routine and won it all.
Once you have your set routine you have to stick to it no matter what is going on around you. If you do not have a base, then when you call for the bird you are not gonna be ready. goofing around and changing what you are doing before each bird, your mind is in a completely different place and not focused. this directly relates to being behind the bird and trying to play catch up from the second you call for it.
I shot in 30 degree weather, while rain was coming down sideways. I was in a long sleeve cotton t-shirt and shorts and tennis shoes. I broke a 96/100. How did I do that? Baseline. Given in between shots I was shivering uncontrollably and hand my soaking wet hands in my soaking wet pants. But before each shot I would put that freezing temperatures, the fact I was in a puddle up to my ankles and the rain in my eyeballs aside and did the same thing every time.
Here is what I do. Now this is my personal thing but everyone I have seen has a derivative of this.
Pick the gun up and close it. Mount it, make sure it feels right in my shoulder. Look out and set the barrel where I think it should be on the trap house. Exhale. Inhale and set my eyes on my eye hold point. Exhale. Inhale and before I exhale, "PULL!"
To show how important this is I will give some examples. The whole above sequence takes me between 6.5 and 7 seconds. If I don't take the second breath, or just look out and call for the bird, My eyes are not set. I can tell this because 1 of two things will happen. I will be looking at the bird fly away and have to catch up to it and shoot at it. or I will lift my head off the gun and try and re mount the gun and still shoot the bird. Both of which will almost always result in a miss. If I take a extra breath or blink somewhere in that process I will extend my pre shot and end up staring straight out as the bird flies through my vision and I am way behind it playing catch up once again. This will also result in a miss for me.
Once you have the baseline and pre shot routine, never deviate from it even if other people complain or say something to you. The rules state you can take as much time as you want. You are out there for yourself to shoot a perfect round. sticking to the basics is how you do that.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Shotgun: ATA Autumn Grand
I had the recent opportunity to shoot in a national ATA shoot. There were 3 events a day from Mon-Sun with the champion ships on the weekend. Of the three events offered I shot in Singles Trap everyday and shot doubles a few times in the week. Thinking I had the best chance at winning something in Trap. In order to get classified I wasn't aware that a penalty was imposed on shooters that haven't shot more then 1000 registered targets in the past year. I briefly argued with the guy saying that I'm in college and how am I supposed to afford that, needless to say he didn't by the story. I don't even have even targets to be classified in a normal ATA shoot. I was put in B Class and 23 yd handicap. Normally I am put in C and at the 17yd mark. Although I can keep up with the A guys and the 25+ yd shooters I prefer the lower classes so I have a chance of winning money.
The week started out rough when I got in a small dispute in the qualifying rounds about the ammo I was shooting. I know there are a ton of rules about the weight and speed of ammo for ATA Singles. Since I shoot Fiocchi Int'l target loads I wanted to stay as consistent as possible and shoot those for all the ATA events as well. First out of the gate, two people flagged me for shooting Fiocchi's. Didn't even make it two shots. I argued that I could shoot these shells and a ATA delegate was called over and confirmed that my shells were at the absolute MAX of what I was allowed to shoot. the Max was 1350fps and thats exactly what the box said. Ended up shooting a 94/100 in the quals. I would have been happy with a 98 or higher but considering it wasn't a money winning event I wasn't concerned.
The next day I shot a 92/100. Less then what I wanted. I shot early in some fairly cold weather. I was on the leader board for some time but ended up getting knocked off about halfway through. I never have shot with gloves before but I was determined to get a pair for the next cold day. No idea what type of gloves to get but I went to Ross to dress for less on a college budget. I bought a pair of football receiver gloves with a sitcky ish palm and a pair of winter snow looking gloves. I opted for the football gloves for the grip on the gun and the shells. They also seemed more water proof then the cotton timberland gloves.
Wednesday was my day off so I slept all day as homework and other things kept my up late and was up at 5 am.
Thursday and Friday went off without a problems. Showed up before 8 both days and waited around to shoot, then took off fairly after the events were over. Both days I was in the 90's with a high of 96 and a low of 92.
Saturday was the Singles Championship. 100 birds in the morning and 100 in the afternoon. I shot the first 100 with a U of A teammate and a older guy whom we both knew. He seemed to not feel well in the second 100 and dropped out. I shot a 187/200 in this event and was on the leader board in 3rd place until the last round of shooters and was knocked off. That was quite disappointing.
Sunday I Shot doubles in the morning and Handicap in the afternoon. I have only shot doubles twice before, once in a local ATA thing and then once earlier in the week. Both times I sucked on the first round and would shoot 45-50 on the second round. So I decided that a practice round would help. It did not. I was surprised I stayed in the 80's for that.
Handicap in the afternoon. I also shot a full practice round which also didn't help. After the first round the rain rolled in and my scores picked up. I was planning to use the rain to my advantage since I like the rain and think it's fun to shoot in. I also know how to block out the cold and wet pain and suffering after many days in backpacking in freezing temps and soaking wet.
Overall I didn't have high hopes for the handicap. Earlier in the week I had a better shot but out of the 400 shooters in this event I knew I wasn't gonna win. I shot with the U of A team for this event and needless to say they were far from anything. Their scores ranged from 58-79. given I shot a 83 but when you look at it. I got a B grad and then had C's and F's. I am happy I proved myself as a good shooter in the event. Personal vendetta to be the best.
After being soaking wet and standing in puddles to shoot I hung around and got food then went home to rip apart the shotgun and dry it off and clean it before rust hit it.
More updates to follow this week about other experiences about the week.
The week started out rough when I got in a small dispute in the qualifying rounds about the ammo I was shooting. I know there are a ton of rules about the weight and speed of ammo for ATA Singles. Since I shoot Fiocchi Int'l target loads I wanted to stay as consistent as possible and shoot those for all the ATA events as well. First out of the gate, two people flagged me for shooting Fiocchi's. Didn't even make it two shots. I argued that I could shoot these shells and a ATA delegate was called over and confirmed that my shells were at the absolute MAX of what I was allowed to shoot. the Max was 1350fps and thats exactly what the box said. Ended up shooting a 94/100 in the quals. I would have been happy with a 98 or higher but considering it wasn't a money winning event I wasn't concerned.
The next day I shot a 92/100. Less then what I wanted. I shot early in some fairly cold weather. I was on the leader board for some time but ended up getting knocked off about halfway through. I never have shot with gloves before but I was determined to get a pair for the next cold day. No idea what type of gloves to get but I went to Ross to dress for less on a college budget. I bought a pair of football receiver gloves with a sitcky ish palm and a pair of winter snow looking gloves. I opted for the football gloves for the grip on the gun and the shells. They also seemed more water proof then the cotton timberland gloves.
Wednesday was my day off so I slept all day as homework and other things kept my up late and was up at 5 am.
Thursday and Friday went off without a problems. Showed up before 8 both days and waited around to shoot, then took off fairly after the events were over. Both days I was in the 90's with a high of 96 and a low of 92.
Saturday was the Singles Championship. 100 birds in the morning and 100 in the afternoon. I shot the first 100 with a U of A teammate and a older guy whom we both knew. He seemed to not feel well in the second 100 and dropped out. I shot a 187/200 in this event and was on the leader board in 3rd place until the last round of shooters and was knocked off. That was quite disappointing.
Sunday I Shot doubles in the morning and Handicap in the afternoon. I have only shot doubles twice before, once in a local ATA thing and then once earlier in the week. Both times I sucked on the first round and would shoot 45-50 on the second round. So I decided that a practice round would help. It did not. I was surprised I stayed in the 80's for that.
Handicap in the afternoon. I also shot a full practice round which also didn't help. After the first round the rain rolled in and my scores picked up. I was planning to use the rain to my advantage since I like the rain and think it's fun to shoot in. I also know how to block out the cold and wet pain and suffering after many days in backpacking in freezing temps and soaking wet.
Overall I didn't have high hopes for the handicap. Earlier in the week I had a better shot but out of the 400 shooters in this event I knew I wasn't gonna win. I shot with the U of A team for this event and needless to say they were far from anything. Their scores ranged from 58-79. given I shot a 83 but when you look at it. I got a B grad and then had C's and F's. I am happy I proved myself as a good shooter in the event. Personal vendetta to be the best.
After being soaking wet and standing in puddles to shoot I hung around and got food then went home to rip apart the shotgun and dry it off and clean it before rust hit it.
More updates to follow this week about other experiences about the week.
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