I will be doing some shooting over the next couple months if all goes well at skeet and trap ranges. I shoot low gun as I prefer shooting international skeet over American skeet though I will be practicing on an American skeet field. Anyways my question is how do you make practice the most beneficial since I have limited money and shooting time. I am extremely competitive so I always want to be doing better and hopefully in the future when I have the money and skill I would like to compete.
Most Benefical Practice
- Thread starter MentalTunnel
- Start date
Don't forget to get in some dry fire practice daily. Just simulating your swing on imaginary targets will build muscle memory for shouldering properly as well as strengthen the specialized muscles used. After 20 minutes of practicing "trap" I get a sweat going and my arms are tired this time of year. By spring the muscles we be ready.
Practice the same way you compete.
You can't just go and shoot at 100 (or how ever many) targets. You have to bring your whole game. You have to concentrate on each and every target, and keep with it mentally the whole time.
It's a lot easier said than done. In some clubs, it is hard to shoot 4 consecutive rounds. I find it very hard to concentrate the same way I do in competition.
You can't just go and shoot at 100 (or how ever many) targets. You have to bring your whole game. You have to concentrate on each and every target, and keep with it mentally the whole time.
It's a lot easier said than done. In some clubs, it is hard to shoot 4 consecutive rounds. I find it very hard to concentrate the same way I do in competition.
At competitions they make you shoot all your rounds consecutively for the day? I am still new to the shooting experience so I haven't been able to watch any competitions in person but only the international ones on the web. So any advice is appreciated.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
Practice diligently on your "weaknesses" ( tough stations, shots you usually miss) to overcome that weakness, turning those stations/shots into a strength.
For golfers, hitting a bucket of 300 balls is, I suppose a form of practice that might build some muscle memory for swing. However, a golfer having trouble with his 8 iron and his "short game" hitting the same number of 8 iron shots from 70 yards to the flag, with a goal of being within 5 yards of the flag 90 percent of the time ... now that's focussed practice - and probably more beneficial than playing 3 or 4 consecutive rounds of golf.
You may need to focus your practice the same way ... maybe not on "rounds" but on specific problems.
For golfers, hitting a bucket of 300 balls is, I suppose a form of practice that might build some muscle memory for swing. However, a golfer having trouble with his 8 iron and his "short game" hitting the same number of 8 iron shots from 70 yards to the flag, with a goal of being within 5 yards of the flag 90 percent of the time ... now that's focussed practice - and probably more beneficial than playing 3 or 4 consecutive rounds of golf.
You may need to focus your practice the same way ... maybe not on "rounds" but on specific problems.
beretta boy is right! I am just getting back into sporting clays after a long absence, and the only times I have shot them this year is in registered competition. Where I shoot, most are into trap and American style skeet. I usually don’t get a whole bunch of meaningful practice! I just shoot whatever the others are doing at the time. Although it is fun and I get a little better, I basically repeat what is easy and do not get enough of the shots I have problems with. I also find that perfect 25s and 50s do not translate into good sporting scores, although I recognize many trap and skeet type presentations at sporting shoots. Good practice for me means getting alone on a trap and/or skeet field with just one other shooter and working on difficult shots or different target presentations. It really helps if the other shooter is serious and also wants to practice and not just shoot a couple rounds. Sometimes my wife volunteers to pull for me and then I do not take another shooter. These are usually my best sessions and my goal is not always to score targets, but work on my mechanics. Before leaving home for these sessions, I try to have a plan or goal in mind and try not to make it a random target breaking burn lots of powder session. Like PE90SHOOTER I also think that empty gun practice is good. Come spring I will add outdoor gun handling to my routine. Because I live in the country, I will take my o/u for walks around my imaginary sporting course. I will probably not shoot too many 200 target imaginary events but 50 should be reasonable since I am the only shooter.
I can only comment on American skeet, where you (usually) shoot 100 targets at a time.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
As a different means of practice, another shooter & I have often shot "100 Skeet" in one round .... Instead of 4 shots at Station 1 ( H,L & D) take 16 ... 4 "sets" of them. Take your 1 "optional" per round after the miss in the set in which it happens. After buddy takes his turn, move to Station 2 for another 16, 8 from 3, 8 from 4 and so on.
For another approach, at one point I was having trouble with 5 Low. Took 50 shells one day and sorted it out by moving foot position, keeping shoulders level and adjusting hold point/break point. Pretty tough to do when you only get to 5 Low once a round ... or even 4 times in a hundred ... but by sorting it out with a couple of boxes of shells shooting nothing but 5 Lows ... well, let's just say I haven't missed a lot of those since ... and when I do, it's back to the drawing board.
For another approach, at one point I was having trouble with 5 Low. Took 50 shells one day and sorted it out by moving foot position, keeping shoulders level and adjusting hold point/break point. Pretty tough to do when you only get to 5 Low once a round ... or even 4 times in a hundred ... but by sorting it out with a couple of boxes of shells shooting nothing but 5 Lows ... well, let's just say I haven't missed a lot of those since ... and when I do, it's back to the drawing board.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
No matter what your game, meaningful, focussed practice is just one of the important contributors to shooting good scores in competition !
MentalTunnel.....
I have no idea at this point what your skill level is however, in answer to your question about "beneficial practice"...I personally feel that the best way to ensure it's "beneficial" is to be practicing the right things. By that I mean...if you've not yet done so.....learn the very important basic fundamentals...get them deeply implanted into your mind...and practice them.
You may think you have a good practice regimen...but you may very well be practicing doing the wrong things.
I see it all the time at my Club. I'm talking about American Skeet here by the way, but it doesn't really matter what game you're playing....the fundamentals have to be learned first.
Guys step on station time and time again....round after round. They set up wrong...foot position is wrong...they mount the gun poorly...they "hold" in the wrong place.....they "look" in the wrong place...they put a horrible move on the target....they try to break the targets in the wrong place....they lift their head...they roll their shoulders....and on and on. Get my drift????
Now don't get me wrong....there's no one way to stand...one place to hold the gun...one place to look when calling for the target...that works for everyone. But my point is..they haven't learned what's right FOR THEM.
Then they shake their heads and mumble while stepping off the station when they keep missing so many.....with no idea why. Next round they come right back and do all the same things again....often with the same results.
Is their "practice" meaningful....or "beneficial"? Not in the least.
Often times people have no idea why they missed a target. Many have no idea if they shot in front of a target....behind a target...above or below. And they have no idea why. Learn to "read" your misses...and "read" your hits. A miss in front can tell you something. A chip off the tail can tell you something else. And figure out how to turn those misses...or near misses...into solid hits.
Hooking up with an accomplished shooter at your Club (if there is one) can help make your practice "beneficial". They can watch you and often see what you're doing wrong. He may not be Todd Bender...but if he's an AA or AAA shooter...there's probably a pretty fair chance he's got a pretty good idea of how things should be done. Listen to him.
Learn the right things to do first...and practice them if you want your practice to be truly "beneficial". After learning the fundamentals, and working on them enough...they'll become second nature and you'll rarely have to consciously think about them.
Something else I don't find terribly useful...or "beneficial" when trying to do some serious practicing is simply going out with a squad and shooting a normal, "standard" round of skeet. Especially if you're still fairly new to it.
Missing a target like High 2 or High 3 or Low 5 or low 6 and simply walking away from it because the squad is moving on isn't going to do you much good. You're not going to see that target again for a while. There's a fair chance you don't know why you missed it...what you did wrong..and you don't get another shot at correcting your mistake...until your next round.
There was a pretty good practice routine published in the Skeet Review magazine a couple years ago. If you miss a target...you get more chances at it to correct your mistake. If you hit a target...you get more chances at it to reinforce what you did right. Just taking one shot at it and walking away...hit or miss...doesn't necessarily constitute good or "beneficial" practice in my mind. The hit may have been a fluke. The miss may have been a break down in fundamentals.
If you're interested in this practice routine, I'd be happy to provide it.
Good luck.
I have no idea at this point what your skill level is however, in answer to your question about "beneficial practice"...I personally feel that the best way to ensure it's "beneficial" is to be practicing the right things. By that I mean...if you've not yet done so.....learn the very important basic fundamentals...get them deeply implanted into your mind...and practice them.
You may think you have a good practice regimen...but you may very well be practicing doing the wrong things.
I see it all the time at my Club. I'm talking about American Skeet here by the way, but it doesn't really matter what game you're playing....the fundamentals have to be learned first.
Guys step on station time and time again....round after round. They set up wrong...foot position is wrong...they mount the gun poorly...they "hold" in the wrong place.....they "look" in the wrong place...they put a horrible move on the target....they try to break the targets in the wrong place....they lift their head...they roll their shoulders....and on and on. Get my drift????
Now don't get me wrong....there's no one way to stand...one place to hold the gun...one place to look when calling for the target...that works for everyone. But my point is..they haven't learned what's right FOR THEM.
Then they shake their heads and mumble while stepping off the station when they keep missing so many.....with no idea why. Next round they come right back and do all the same things again....often with the same results.
Is their "practice" meaningful....or "beneficial"? Not in the least.
Often times people have no idea why they missed a target. Many have no idea if they shot in front of a target....behind a target...above or below. And they have no idea why. Learn to "read" your misses...and "read" your hits. A miss in front can tell you something. A chip off the tail can tell you something else. And figure out how to turn those misses...or near misses...into solid hits.
Hooking up with an accomplished shooter at your Club (if there is one) can help make your practice "beneficial". They can watch you and often see what you're doing wrong. He may not be Todd Bender...but if he's an AA or AAA shooter...there's probably a pretty fair chance he's got a pretty good idea of how things should be done. Listen to him.
Learn the right things to do first...and practice them if you want your practice to be truly "beneficial". After learning the fundamentals, and working on them enough...they'll become second nature and you'll rarely have to consciously think about them.
Something else I don't find terribly useful...or "beneficial" when trying to do some serious practicing is simply going out with a squad and shooting a normal, "standard" round of skeet. Especially if you're still fairly new to it.
Missing a target like High 2 or High 3 or Low 5 or low 6 and simply walking away from it because the squad is moving on isn't going to do you much good. You're not going to see that target again for a while. There's a fair chance you don't know why you missed it...what you did wrong..and you don't get another shot at correcting your mistake...until your next round.
There was a pretty good practice routine published in the Skeet Review magazine a couple years ago. If you miss a target...you get more chances at it to correct your mistake. If you hit a target...you get more chances at it to reinforce what you did right. Just taking one shot at it and walking away...hit or miss...doesn't necessarily constitute good or "beneficial" practice in my mind. The hit may have been a fluke. The miss may have been a break down in fundamentals.
If you're interested in this practice routine, I'd be happy to provide it.
Good luck.
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beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
Neera : nailed it !
Insanity : Doing the same (wrong) thing the same (wrong) way and expecting a different result.
Sound fundamentals are pre-requisite - and you often can't see or notice something you are doing (or not doing) while other experianced shooters can.
Don't be afraid to change if it isn't working ... not change for the sake of change, but a mentored or coached change to bring a different result. There may be a short-term cost, but in the long run, you will need a focussed change to gain a beneficial result. ( Conversely, if "it ain't broke, don't try to fix it it ! )
And certainly, 1 or 2 shots ( or even 8 or 10 ) in a day of shooting "rounds" won't be effective or help in curing any kind of recurring basic problem. "muscle" and "mental" memory is built up over repetition after repetition after repetition ... etc, until the action becomes unconscious second nature.
Insanity : Doing the same (wrong) thing the same (wrong) way and expecting a different result.
Sound fundamentals are pre-requisite - and you often can't see or notice something you are doing (or not doing) while other experianced shooters can.
Don't be afraid to change if it isn't working ... not change for the sake of change, but a mentored or coached change to bring a different result. There may be a short-term cost, but in the long run, you will need a focussed change to gain a beneficial result. ( Conversely, if "it ain't broke, don't try to fix it it ! )
And certainly, 1 or 2 shots ( or even 8 or 10 ) in a day of shooting "rounds" won't be effective or help in curing any kind of recurring basic problem. "muscle" and "mental" memory is built up over repetition after repetition after repetition ... etc, until the action becomes unconscious second nature.
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