dogdoc Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 I've never been a great shot with a shotgun and I really believe it has to do with an inconsistent form. I now have a gun that fits me well so I've been trying to do exercises so that when I pull the gun up to shoot it becomes an automatic response. Trying to concentrate on the target and never looking at the barrel. Just one smooth flow to the target--keeping eyes on target and just "automatically" bringing shotgun up in one smooth fluid motion. SO.....I've been doing a couple exercises to try to accomplish this. I inserted a small flashlight in the top barrel of my O/U and doing the following exercises (copied from OSP Shooting School Website: [ QUOTE ] How to practice your gun mount to make it perfect and subconscious? The easiest way is to get a small flashlight, like a mag light, wrap it with tape so it wont scratch the barrel. Insert it into the barrel (top barrel of an over/under). Put the light to its smallest circle. Focus on something small in the room, a light switch or corner of a picture. Put the light on what you focused on and bring the gun up smoothly and be sure the light is still shinning on what you are looking at, at all times through the mount. If not, do it again becoming very aware that the front hand is pointing the gun to where you are looking. The front and back hands should work together, keeping the light where you are looking, as you mount the gun to your face. The second thing you can do is to focus the flashlight on the seam between the wall and ceiling of a room. Follow the light with your eyes while making the gun go from one corner to the other and mounting the gun at the 4 corners. You will notice that as the gun is mounted to your face that the light will probably go over or under the seam--not staying straight on the seam. The mount to the face must be smooth for the gun to go where you are looking and therefore your point to be perfect. Do this 7 days in a row, 50 times each night and gun mount wont be a problem. [/ QUOTE ] I had no idea how weak my muscles are for this exercise--I did the seam on the wall and ceiling exercise and after about 15 times my muscles were starting to shiver--and this from a lightweight shotgun. If anyone else has other exercises to help proper gun mount I would appreciate it--I will continue to do this as I really think this is my biggest problem when shooting. I have this bad habit of taking my eyes off the target and looking down the barrel---once I get out of this habit I hope my shooting will improve. todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... The one you're doing is the one I've heard of the very most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... That is a good start to learn wingshooting. I bought a shooting simulator about 4 years ago. You can calibrate the shot pattern (sight it in) so it shoots exactly like your gun and then you can shoot many different types of clay target games. It even has microphones for calling for the targes. When you say "pull" the target appears. It will shot you where the shot pattern is relative to the target. Its a little on the pricey side but its cheaper than shooting thousands of clays. When I bought mine, there were no USA dealers. I had to pay in Brittish Pounds and it doubled the price. DryFire Shooting Simlations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... That's a great exercise Todd. Might have to try it sometime. Wonder if my little mag lite will fit in a 20 gauge. One exercise I remember reading about is to pick a spot on the wall, close your eyes, mount the gun, open your eyes and see how far off you were. I've never had a problemwith looking at the barrel, I've always had a problem with cross eye dominance. A bird going right to left gives me fits. I'm always behind the bird/clay. Seems I never build in enough lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted April 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... AJ--that is one pricey program/simulator, I don't shoot competition but would sure like to improve my wingshooting--do you think this also helps with wingshooting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... Yes it will. Some other cool trainers are to shoot doubles in skeet. This is shooting positions 3, 4, 5, only and shooting simutaneous doubles from each station. You will learn to swing and lead by doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... Another thing is once you have the gun mount down pat hopefully the gun shoots where you look. Just because your are looking down the top of the barrel at the bead, does not mean that's where the pattern is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Xen Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... another good exercise is one that requires a center bead on your gun. mount the gun with your eyes closed and then open your one eye and see if the beads make a figure 8. you could probably do it without a center bead and just see if you get the sight picture you are looking for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coles Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... my parents both took a class to be 4-H shotgun instructors and then they did an exercise with us that they learned there. get a cheap bb-gun, a cardboard box, string, and pingpong balls. tape the pingpong balls on teh end of the string and then tape the string where it will hand down when the box is on its side. take the sight off the bbgun, and just bring the gun up and shoot without looking down the barrel. just pull up and shoot. we got really good and they couldnt hardly keep pingpong balls on the strings. it was fun too cuz you actually got to shoot something and you could even do it indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramie Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: gun mounting exercise--wow... That is a great exercise Todd! I had never thought about that! Im going to have to try it tomorrow just to see how I do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.