Sporting Clays Tips, Clay Target Techniques, Wing Shooting Preparation
Time proven tips to make you a better Sporting Clays, Clay Target, Wingshooting, Skeet, Trap, or recreational shotgun shooter.

Most all Clay & Wing shooters desire to shoot better. But for many, shooting mistakes create frustration during competition, in the field, and even during practice sessions. Dan Schindler teaches shooters, from all skill levels, a shooting process that creates more consistency and proficiency by eliminating mistakes both before and during the shot.
Each month, Dan provides a new shooting tip to help you be more consistent in the shooting box and on your scoresheet.

Gun UP vs Gun DOWN
March 2008 Shooting Tip

Full Article

The fastest way to take random gun movement (RGM) out of your swing is to pre-mount your gun. As sporting clays shooters – when shooting gun up – it’s important that we not forget to raise our head and relax the shoulders. Head up allows us to see – and shoulders down keeps much needed body movement in the swing. Gun up works in sporting clays.

However, the modified gun up position proposed above does not entirely compensate for the advantages of gun down. The gun down position offers advantages gun up can’t. First, gun down – partially or all the way to the F.I.T.A.S.C. line – does a better job of clearing the gun out of your vision. You might not think it would, but it does. Secondly, gun down in all ways creates a more natural, instinctive swing. Underestimating the importance of that is to handicap yourself on the sporting clays range as targets dive and dodge on irregular lines of flight. It is here when gun down really earns its keep.

Don’t forget, gun up or gun down, reducing RGM in your swing is always a high priority. With all the advantages of gun down, it also opens the door for more RGM. Taking your for-end hand To The Target (move first,…then mount and shoot) will greatly reduce RGM in your swing.

Both gun up and gun down have advantages. Learning which one to use on various target presentations will definitely put the odds in your favor.

Now is this the question to be asked!!! They just exist because they are shooting games! And they are just shooting games!!! Feel like paid in same coins? Well, there is an interesting story that lies behind the curtains.

The shooting games were originally had in mind for the hunters who wanted to develop their hunting the target skills. Such games got found international recognition hundreds of the years back when ancestors thought that this is not only an art, but it is something that to be appreciated. Finally shooting games were highly encouraged by different sport associations. There is no doubt that the game requires great deal of coordination and discipline with perfect eye that can judge the distance and the object. Speed is another criterion that comes every now and then when you are at shooting.

Turning the table again, shooting game was again thought to have more fun than actually it was been proclaimed. The virtual shooting sport improved the confidence of the physically deprived individuals and such games tested a player’s ability in marksmanship and strategies. But then, what about the people who do not want to go to the field where they are given heavy rifles with only few functions!!! Kicking off this old tradition, the manufacturers of computer or video games came up with ultra modern shooting games that not only changed all the definition of excitement but they also proved that shooting games online or on computer or TV is more popular than carrying real rifles, wearing goggles and earplugs on the field!!!

Here, rifles are never to be serviced though they are million times more powerful than the original ones! This made children crazy and adolescents mad!!! Shooting games then brought revolution in online gaming zones wherein millions of players started playing such games online – free of cost. Target shooting, skeet shooting, trap shooting, short/long distance shooting were now very old fashioned since the ultra modern hi-tech arms supplied in shooting games were highly empowered with zoom (crosshair) and the bullets that were more deadly than what we have at real gun-store! You can launch missile, have night-vision camera fitted on the gun and most importantly, you get bullets free of cost, somewhere in the box or behind the doors!!!

Shooting games have redefined the entire genre of the action games in video/computer games. Psychiatrists do believe that such shooting games or action games do sharpen hand-to-mind connection and the player, if playing positively, can improve their adroitness and judging skills. More often, players playing such games also have many dimensional thinking since they always think about how to accomplish the mission without losing any energy or the main character. The shooting games that are played with a squad (two players or more) improve the communication skills and teach the teamwork, as admitted by some of the game experts.

Overall, shooting games were introduced as just games to win points but over the times, they have become passion that millions of players across the world play and remain hale and hearty!

While most people would think that hunting is only for serious sportsmen, recreational shooting should change their minds. Recreational shooting includes the sport of trap and skeet shooting as well as the popular paint ball and air gun variations. Sling shot shooting is also part of this category along with soft air gun shooting.

Trap and skeet shooting is the sport of shooting clay targets by using a shotgun. These clay targets are called clay pigeons and are released into the air at high speeds. Originally using live pigeons, this sport changed the targets to clay discs for a more reliable and humane target. Trap and skeet shooting equipment, include, aside from a high quality shotgun, target throwers, clay targets or discs and of course, shotgun ammunition.

Paintball shooting or simply known as paintball is a recreational shooting sport where competitors try to eliminate each other from the playing field by shooting each other with paint filled gelatin capsules. Using a compressed gas-powered gun or known to paintball enthusiasts as a marker, these paint-filled balls are shot at opponents at an estimated velocity of 300 feet per second, as per safety standards. Paintball hits are painful at any velocity or distance, hence the implementation of safety rules and gear. One safety precaution is in the mandated use of a paintball mask and goggle system. These safety accessories are usually sold as a set and may go for $24.99 to $69.99. Other equipment required for this sport include the marker and the paintballs. Markers sell for somewhere between $99.99 to $299.99, depending on the brand. Paintballs are sold at prices that range from $11.99 to 34.99, depending on the number of balls in the package.

Air guns are pneumatic guns which use compressed air to propel a projectile through the air. Air guns, more popularly known as BB guns, come in rifle configurations. These air rifles come in calibers that include .177 inch or 4.5mm, .20 inch or 5.0 mm, .22 inch or 5.5mm and .25 inch or 6.35 mm. Rifles for this sport usually come in the price brackets of $29.99 for the least expensive model to the top of the line cost of $479.99. Accessories for air guns or air rifles are gun scopes, shooting glasses and of course, ammunition pellets available according to the gun’s caliber designation.

Soft air guns are a tamer and softer shooting version of the air rifles. Airsoft, as it is more popularly called, is usually used in war simulation tactical games or war games. As with paintball, airsoft games require a certain amount of protective gear to minimize injury. Impact-rated goggles are a must for this sport and the goggles usually used for paintball is often used here as well. Soft air guns can also be used alone with stationary targets.

Slingshots have come a long way from the old wooden prong and rubber band attachment used to launch stones and other projectiles. The modern slingshot is now composed of a steel prong with a molded plastic handle. While still using the basic principle of the old slingshot, modern sling shots offer a more accurate and controlled shot. These are also sold with their own glass ammo.