Others tell me that I am stopping — How do I get myself to not stop the gun?
James Nagamine, California
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The only reason that you will stop the gun is that your eyes have gone to the barrel. If you are focused on the target, you will follow just the target’s flight. You will not have that “quartz watch” movement of looking at the barrel, then the target, being behind the target, having to hurry up to catch it, then look again at the barrel, then the target. There is too much thinking going on during the shot. It is impossible to make this work.
You must maintain complete focus on the target until you break it. The instant the focus goes from the target to the barrel, everything stops and then you must hurry to catch up. Then the barrel is always moving faster than the bird so your eyes are always on the barrel. The job of your eyes is to react to the fastest movement in the sight picture.
Here’s what needs to be done: the barrels must start making their move as you see the target. This initial move to where the target is going (the break zone) is perhaps the most important thing to get you started to breaking the target consistently. Your first move with the gun is to the break zone, not to your face. This move lets you feel the tempo of the target. It also starts the whole process of moving the barrels at the speed of the target. If you wait for the target to get too close to the barrels before you start your move, this will put you behind the target and in a rushed move to the break zone, and it usually gives you a poor mount.
Any movement made in the direction the target is going robs the target of speed and makes it slow down. That makes everything in the picture go at the same speed and enables you to keep a sharp focus on the target. The barrels and the target are going at the same speed so focus can be maintained throughout the swing.
Remember that the gun will follow the eyes. Trust your eyes and your point will be perfect.
