Saturday’s round complete, Chad Brendle and myself take a peek at tomorrow’s course. The presentations are creative, all within easy shotgun reach. More than a few are fast. As we perused the course, two things came to mind. The targets were broadcasting “pay attention,” and many gun swings were competition tentative. It wasn’t that the targets were too fast—they weren’t—often the muzzles couldn’t find enough lead.
I’m sure you can relate to this. The knee-high target on the left is crossing at a leisurely 65 mph while the shallow quartering away on the right is curling and dropping, barely, just barely defying gravity. Effectively managing forward allowance on both of these targets goes to the heart of sporting clays and the other clay target sports as well. Success behind the trigger is dependent upon this skill. Gun management ultimately determines the hit or miss.
Like it or not, missing comes with sporting clays. And while causes of missing may be endless, depending upon the presentation, after awhile community errors do surface. I’ve frequently professed my affinity to learning more about why we miss rather than where. In this case, the miss location I’m referring to is behind the target. I wouldn’t go so far as to say missing in front of the faster targets was rare, but, from my vantage point, I saw the majority of misses falling behind. The question of why is a good one.
The answer, partly, takes us into shooting methods. Now, taking a stand on a shooting method is akin to stealing the All-Pro lineman’s girlfriend. Every method has its champions, all who are ready to defend it with statistics and looks of incredulity should you disagree. Nevertheless, I think I can sway you with my abacus and mostly unbiased argument.
Lead, forward allowance or windows all refer to that important space between the muzzle and the target. To my knowledge, excluding deer and turkey hunting, effective shotgun shooting methods depend upon gun movement. The intent is to create lead, the shotstring arriving at where the crossing target will be as opposed to where it was. To varying degrees, a space created by the muzzle in front of the bird is required to hit a moving target, feathered or clay. .......
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This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in September 2001.
The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website:(http://www.paragonschool.com/
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Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let's not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.
The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.
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