As our client base continues to expand worldwide, we find ourselves running into the same old problems. It is the misconceptions and preconceived notions that continue to get people into the most trouble.
The funny (but sad) thing is that the person with the problem continues to do it to themselves. That’s right. They continue in their mode of self-correcting determination to keep trying to put a round peg into a square hole. They do not understand that a bad habit, no matter how good it feels, is still a bad habit.
This phenomenon is most often misdiagnosed as a perceived problem with a particular target or target trajectory. Our findings indicate that rarely, if ever, is the problem the target or the trajectory. And it’s almost never the lead, but that’s where everyone goes when trying to self-correct. It is, however, a breakdown in the fundamentals for more advanced shooters. Or the problem target is pointing out the need to train a better fundamental for not-so-advanced shooters.
We continue to be amazed at how many people still think they can look down the barrel, keep their eyes on the target and have the gun ahead of the target. We see shooters who think they can keep one eye on the target and the other eye on the barrel. And these people have college degrees and are quite successful in business!
These are the same people who want to know what the “sight picture” is. A sight picture, by the time it is recognized, is in the past tense. That’s why we don’t teach them. Think about it: if you see the sight picture, you have taken your eyes off the target to focus on the gap. To think that you can see something sharply in the peripheral circle is (according to our understanding of the science) impossible.
But we’ll talk about visual anomalies and perceptions and misconceptions another day. Let’s get back to talking about fundamental breakdowns and how they masquerade as problems with certain targets.
Let’s take four different target presentations, and we will show you what we mean about perception and reality. We’ll look at the rabbit target, the quartering shot, long incomers, and long crossers.
The rabbit target has several tendencies that make it unique. The speed of the rabbit is deceptive because the rabbit is so close to the background that it looks as if it is going faster than it really is. Couple this with the fact that the rabbit slows down quicker than any other target because it is rolling on the ground. Regardless of what it looks like, the contact with the ground makes it slow down more quickly than a target that is in the air.
Some of you will disagree and talk about a thrown target in the last ten percent of its flight path floating to the ground. We would agree that that target is slowing down, but it is much farther from the trap and the background. The distance the target is from the trap when the greatest deceleration occurs, makes the slowing down of the floating target logical.
Throw a rabbit on the ground and see when the greatest amount of deceleration occurs. It will be much closer to the trap than the bird catching the shooter off-guard. This is why most problems with rabbits come from gun speed being too fast.
What is the problem when all of a sudden you “can’t even buy a rabbit?” Our findings are that it will be one of three things. 1) Your muzzles are too high when calling for the target, 2) You are moving before you actually focus on the target, or 3) your gun speed is faster than the target’s speed. Start your muzzles well below the line of the rabbit. Keep your eyes still when calling for the target and focus on the center circle before you move, and slow down and get in sync with the target.
So, see what we mean about a breakdown in fundamentals?
The quartering shot will have the same three fundamental breakdowns, plus one. And for that matter, just about all misses share one fundamental breakdown: Excessive gun movement or excessive gun speed.
Back to the quartering shot. This target is a diminishing speed and diminishing lead bird. The farther it goes away from you, the slower it gets and the more narrow the angle gets, requiring less lead. When you call for the target and see it off the trap, it appears to be really fast which causes almost everyone to make a fast initial move to break the target.
This move is so fast that they have to dramatically slow the gun down as it merges with the target and they have no control of the muzzles as they insert them. This is usually because their hold point is too close to the trap (or too high) which allows the target to jam the gun. And nothing pretty happens after that.
If shooters would just move their hold point to 2/3 or 3/4ths of the way out to the breakpoint and look back to the trap to pick up the target, the target will have slowed down by the time it even gets close to the barrel. This takes the panicked, quick initial move out of the shot and the muzzles can be inserted into the breakpoint ahead of the target and the shot taken successfully.
With your hold point out closer to the breakpoint and low, you will have much more time to focus on the front edge of the target before you move. The initial move will be much slower and softer, allowing for you to precisely insert the muzzles in the breakpoint before the bird gets there and kill the target – consistently.
Those long incomers give people fits because they are focused on them too long. That’s right, we said focused too long.
Research shows that the longest anyone (who is young and has been trained) can keep dynamic vision (both eyes sharply focused) on a moving object is three seconds. For us mere mortals, or those of us nearing the age of 50+ years, our findings are that the length of time has shrunk to about 3/4ths of a second.
If you don’t believe us, go out and try it. Call for a target and focus on the front edge and see how long you can maintain that sharp focus on the front edge. At some point in the flight path of the target, your eyes will want to go to the top or the back of the target. Our findings indicate that when your eyes begin to wander, the target has been in the air for 3/4ths of a second.
So, if the target you are going to shoot is in the air for less than 3/4ths of a second when it arrives at the break, then everything is okay. Focus on that sucker and smash it in the breakpoint.
“On the other hand,” as the song goes, if you are planning to break the target after it has been in the air for 3/4ths of a second, then you need to change the point that you focus sharply on the front edge. If you don’t, the visual data to the brain will be getting less precise and less clear as the target merges into the breakpoint, because your eyes will begin wandering away from the front edge of the target. We call this sliding your eyes.
You should look at the target when it comes off the trap but when it gets about 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the way to the breakpoint, slide your eyes to the front and you will see the target get larger and appear to slow down and float.
Hard to believe isn’t it? Go out and try it. Go on and prove the research wrong.
Remember one thing when you go to try this. You must let your eyes slide slowly to the front, so start moving your eyes when the target is about halfway to the breakpoint so they can settle in on the front before the target gets to the breakpoint. If you slide your eyes too quickly they will have a tendency to bounce to the front and then to the back. This has a tendency to make your hands jerk the gun as it merges with the bird. It might not work for you, but you’ll never know until you try it.
One more thing on long incomers: excessive gun speed will cause your eyes to come off the bird and onto the gun as they merge together if your gun speed is greater than the target’s speed. Most all incomers, especially the long ones, are not moving very fast when you shoot them, so keep that gun moving softly and slowly as you merge with the target.
Based on the science and our findings what do you think the solution is to consistently break long incomers? See them off the trap, begin your slow mount and move. Remember: consistency comes from gun speed equals bird speed. As the target(s) begin to merge into the breakpoint, slide your eyes to the front of the target and slowly and smoothly insert the gun and shoot. Trust your computer with the lead. You will be more consistent.
Speaking of trusting your computer, the long crossers are where most people lose all trust and go conscious and look for lead.
Contrary to what many people might say about us and the way we teach, there is lead and long crossers. Take lead and we would tell you to get well in front of the target. What is it they say? “The devil is in the details.” We could not agree more.
You can only focus on one thing at a time – or our friend Steve Brown says, “You can’t catch two frogs with only one hand.” Our findings indicate that the more you focus on the front of the target as it merges into the breakpoint and keep the gun under the line and well in front of the target as the shot comes together, the better chance you will have to hit the target. Remember to slide your eyes to the front if the target is in the air for longer than 3/4ths of a second, and most long crossers are!
If we could tell you something that you could do to make the lead the most forgiving part of the equation, would you be interested? Interested enough to actually go out and try it? Well, here goes. Our research shows, time and time again, that the reason people miss longer targets is that their gun speed is not the same as the target speed, and they are playing on line and too close to the target before it gets to the breakpoint.
The first thing that we do when someone comes to us with a problem with long crossers is to take them to a 20-yard crosser and watch. Most shooters have such a sloppy move that they can’t shoot a 20-yard crosser consistently, and therefore can’t even hope to hit longer targets. There are some who can hit a 20-yard crosser consistently enough that we instantly take them to a 50-yard crosser to see what they do.
Our experience shows that when you take a shooter completely out of their comfort zone, the deepest problem in their subconscious computer will show itself instantly. Almost without exception, the smooth move we saw on the 20-yard crosser has been replaced with a two-part move that starts with a quick mount and then a chasing of the target with the muzzles.
The focus on the target has been compromised by the barrel waving around the sky like a paper bag in a tornado and because focus is so fragile on a 4-inch target at 50 yards, the eyes are easily distracted by the gun. If we can get the shooter to get their smooth back and economize the movement of the gun so the muzzles are moving less and well in front of the target, then we can get the person to begin to be successful on longer targets.
The trick if there is one is staying off the line and well in front of the target until the gun merges into the breakpoint ahead of the target and the shot is taken. This is something not many people have considered. In order to break the target in the breakpoint, the gun must be in the breakpoint before the target gets there.
We find that the reason people have trouble with long targets is that they are not used to playing farther away in front of a target. They are comfortable about two to three feet in front of the target, but when the gun has to be inserted two to three times that distance in front, the shooter becomes very uncomfortable and wants to know where the barrel is. That’s when it all comes undone.
So, as you can see, inconsistencies in your score are rarely tied to your inability to hit a particular target or trajectory. They are, however, tied to one of two things. Either you have a basic fundamental that has come undone, or you have not trained a fundamental well enough to be able to count on it being consistent.
In either case, the problem will not be overcome without the right kind of training and the right attitude toward the problem. Until you attempt to master something beyond what you already know, you will never grow.
