Ever wonder why when you are shooting clay targets, the targets seem to be so slow when your buddy is shooting them? Then when you get in the cage to shoot, they seem to speed up?
This was a question we asked at each of our two seminars in Reno this year. Reluctantly, just about everyone in the room raised their hand and said that they had seen this but didn’t know how or why it happened. Some even admitted that they were afraid to say anything about it because they didn’t know what others might say or think.
Well, this visual phenomenon is called relative velocity, or in other words, how fast something appears to move. Speed is a relationship between two objects, such as the car and the ground in miles per hour. But in this instance, the car is moving but the ground is still. When two objects are moving in one visual field, then how fast they appear to move is relative to each of their speeds. The more closely their speeds are, the slower they appear to move, and the more their speeds are different, the faster they appear to move.
Let us explain. Let’s say we are standing on the side of the freeway and the cars are all going 70 miles per hour. Relative to us, they will appear to be moving fast. We then get into our car and begin to merge with the traffic. As we accelerate to the speed of the traffic, the traffic begins to slow down. Then as we merge into the traffic, since we are going the same speed as all the cars around us, everything appears to be still or at least in slow motion.
Now, let’s go back to the targets being slow when looking at them out of the cage and speeding up when you got into the cage.
When you were watching your friend shoot the targets there was only one thing moving in your visual field: the target. When you stepped into the cage to shoot the targets there are now two things moving in your visual field: the target and the gun. The reason the targets seemed to speed up is that you are moving your gun two to three times the speed of the target as you mount the gun quickly and chase the target trying to aim down the barrel and get the barrel ahead of the target. This makes the targets seem to speed up.
Why do they seem to be moving faster? When two objects in one visual field are moving at different speeds the eyes see the SUM of all the movement in the scene. If the bird is going 25 miles per hour and the gun is going 50 miles per hour, then the eyes see EVERYTHING moving at 75 miles per hour.
When two objects in the same visual field are moving in the same direction and at the same speed, the objects will seem to be slow because there is no difference in their speeds and the eyes see only that one speed. When the bird (feathered or painted) and the gun are moving in the same direction and speed, the bird will appear to slow down, just like the freeway traffic as you accelerate and merge into the traffic.
How does this help you become a better more consistent shotgunner? We have said in this column and have been quoted worldwide that you will never shoot better than your ability to move and mount your shotgun. The better your mount, the more precisely you can point the gun ahead of the bird.
You will find as we have, however, that the more the muzzle of the shotgun mirrors the speed and direction of the bird, the more CONSISTENT you will become. It is the muzzle speed and the bird’s speed being equal that makes the right lead correct.
Think about it: if the right lead is applied but the gun is moving faster than the bird when the trigger is pulled, you will miss in front. And if the gun is moving slower than the bird, you will miss behind, but the lead was correct in both instances. This is one of the biggest “wonderments” that baffle shooters of all experience levels. When you pulled the trigger, everything looked right but the target didn’t break or the bird didn’t go down.
Our research indicates that excessive gun speed is the number two reason that people not only miss with a shotgun but are not consistent in their results – or you could say they are consistently inconsistent. The consistency of your successes will not rise until you get control of your muzzle speed and stop trying to look down the rib and aim ahead of the bird, which incidentally is the number one reason that shooters miss with a shotgun. This was another big “aha” in our seminars at Reno this year.
Everyone agreed that you must keep your eyes on the target and that the gun had to be in front of the target to hit it, but they hadn’t thought about the fact that if you are looking at the target and the gun is pointed in front of the target, you can’t be looking down the rib trying to aim. If you tried to look down the rib and tried to aim you would be aiming at nothing because there’s nothing in front of the target to aim at.
Try this at home with an empty gun. Line up three empty shotgun shells on a bookshelf about 12” apart and back up about 10 to 15 feet away. Focus on the middle empty shell and mount the gun on the right empty without looking at the gun. You will see that, when focused on the target (the middle shell) with the gun in front of the target (one the shell to the right) you are actually looking off to the side of the gun, not down the rib.
Now, again focus on the middle shell and mount the gun on the left one without looking at the gun. It will be at this point you will become amazed that you can actually look at the empty in the middle and consistently mount the gun on either empty, whether it is to the right or left without looking at or down the gun. Well, welcome to what shotgunning is supposed to look like.
This little exercise is not only a great learning tool but a great way to practice keeping your eye on the target as you mount the gun ahead of the target without looking at the gun. Remember, you can only focus on one thing at a time.
A great exercise for this is what we call the light switch drill. With an empty gun, back away from a light switch and focus on the toggle part that you actually move to turn the lights off and on. If you have one of those fancy dimmer switches or one of those big rocker switches, focus on the screw that holds the cover plate on.
Focus sharply on the object and slowly mount your gun six inches under the object and keep it there for a count of ten. If at any time your eyes focus on the front bead, start the exercise over again. When you can do this three times in a row without looking at the gun, then mount the gun three inches below the object and do the same drill. When you have mastered that, mount one inch below the object and then half an inch below the object.
The purpose of the drill is to train your visual circle to maintain an intense focus on a small object and at the same time accept the image of the muzzle in the periphery without wanting to look at it. You aim a rifle, and sight alignment is critical and your target is still. When the target is moving, you must focus on the target, mount the gun to your shoulder and face, and at the same time point the gun ahead of the bird. Don’t be as concerned about how far in front.
Remember that consistency comes from how well your barrel speed matches the bird’s speed. Concentrate on being smooth, moving with the bird, maintaining a laser focus on the target throughout the shot, and the rest will take care of itself.
