The PH Gun Cabinet - Shooting Matters

[oddman]

LivingTheDream said:

The Moose said:

Looks good! What’s the idea behind mounting the gun broken?

Slightly deceiving picture that - with OT you have 12 seconds to mount and hold before calling for the clay.
Everyone has a different process and my boy holds the stock close in to the shoulder as he closes it - then mounts it properly and moves to the hold point.

He still very early on in this discipline and will no doubt refine this going forward

Finger inside the trigger guard when closing the gun then?

That picture gives me the heebie jeebies.

[aeropilot]

oddman said:

LivingTheDream said:

The Moose said:

Looks good! What’s the idea behind mounting the gun broken?

Slightly deceiving picture that - with OT you have 12 seconds to mount and hold before calling for the clay.
Everyone has a different process and my boy holds the stock close in to the shoulder as he closes it - then mounts it properly and moves to the hold point.

He still very early on in this discipline and will no doubt refine this going forward

Finger inside the trigger guard when closing the gun then?

That picture gives me the heebie jeebies.

That's what made me have a moment when I saw that photo, but, I've never shot trap either, so didn't know if that was standard or not.

[LivingTheDream]

oddman said:

Finger inside the trigger guard when closing the gun then?

That picture gives me the heebie jeebies.

He doesn’t normally do that no!

Bad picture all round - sorry!

[beagrizzly]

Vixpy1 said:

Just had the bills from the 2 game syndicates i'm in, costs for this year have absolutely rocketed

Up 20% for mine. Stings a bit.

Cost of buying days is rocketing as well; not sure I'll be doing much of that.

And to add insult to injury, the best shoot I regularly get invited to is closing down for the 23/24 season for various reasons, including rising costs and bird flu.

Pretty dismal all round

[Old Fart]

oddman said:

Finger inside the trigger guard when closing the gun then?

That picture gives me the heebie jeebies.

The shooter is doing nothing wrong with his finger in the trigger guard.

He's at a clay ground at the muzzle is pointed in the direction where a target is going to appear, nothing wrong at all at any clay ground it's muzzle awareness what's important.

I've always had my finger on the trigger when shooting clays, because your gun is pointing downrange, not at people.

[oddman]

Old Fart said:

I've always had my finger on the trigger when shooting clays, because your gun is pointing downrange, not at people.

Finger on trigger when ready and calling for a bird maybe. Finger inside the trigger guard before gun is closed? - I bet you don't do it - you're not going to change my mind that this is wrong.

LivingTheDream I appreciate clay shooting is set up for safety and there appears to be an instructor present, but if your lad gets into a habit where his finger is inside the guard and he closes the gun by bringing the barrels up he'll scare the bejesus (or worse) out of people if he ever goes game shooting.

[Old Fart]

oddman said:

Finger on trigger when ready and calling for a bird maybe. Finger inside the trigger guard before gun is closed? - I bet you don't do it - you're not going to change my mind that this is wrong.

LivingTheDream I appreciate clay shooting is set up for safety and there appears to be an instructor present, but if your lad gets into a habit where his finger is inside the guard and he closes the gun by bringing the barrels up he'll scare the bejesus (or worse) out of people if he ever goes game shooting.

Clayshooting is NOTHING at all like game shooting, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Go to a clay ground and just see how safe it is compared to a bunch of shooters in a field.

[oddman]

Old Fart said:

Clayshooting is NOTHING at all like game shooting, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Go to a clay ground and just see how safe it is compared to a bunch of shooters in a field.

Like good manners, as far as I'm concerned, the rules of gun safety are universal and the responsibilty of the person with the gun in their hand.

You are welcome to your point of view

[Old Fart]

oddman said:

Like good manners, as far as I'm concerned, the rules of gun safety are universal and the responsibilty of the person with the gun in their hand.

You are welcome to your point of view

Like I said go to a clay ground and see how it's done. Clay guns don't have an automatic safety catch either.

You can have your opinion but I know that the young trap shooter was NOT unsafe.

I would advise him to practise with an empty gun at home though, to learn how to mount with a closed gun instead of an open one, it will make life easier for him.

Then he will have a better routine as it's all about repeatability.

[LivingTheDream]

I have already said once - he doesn’t normally do that, I was taught gun safety by the military - very strictly!

It’s a bad picture clearly - the gun isn’t mounted, he has it high when he closes it then mounts it.

With all due respect to you guys, he has a coach who is literally the best in the world - I’m sure he will see him right.

I simply wanted to share a young man’s journey into a sport which many of us love, but can get a bad rep at times - I won’t bother any more.

It’s a shame no one fancied the PH clay shoot which I tried to sort before Xmas as we could have shot together and maybe seen a bit more of the varied nature of the sport and people in it.

[Old Fart]

LivingTheDream said:

I have already said once - he doesn’t normally do that, I was taught gun safety by the military - very strictly!

It’s a bad picture clearly - the gun isn’t mounted, he has it high when he closes it then mounts it.

With all due respect to you guys, he has a coach who is literally the best in the world - I’m sure he will see him right.

I simply wanted to share a young man’s journey into a sport which many of us love, but can get a bad rep at times - I won’t bother any more.

It’s a shame no one fancied the PH clay shoot which I tried to sort before Xmas as we could have shot together and maybe seen a bit more of the varied nature of the sport and people in it.

People have an opinion sometimes their right but then they prove they have no idea of what clayshooting is all about by commenting on an image which I much say looks a bit "odd" to me but as you point out, he's a novice.

I would have had him start on an easier trap discipline rather than O.T. as it's so hard to shoot and if his gun does not shoot where he look's he'll struggle.

Best of luck in his quest and ignore those on here who have never shot clays at a competitive level.

[MB140]

oddman said:

Old Fart said:

I've always had my finger on the trigger when shooting clays, because your gun is pointing downrange, not at people.

Finger on trigger when ready and calling for a bird maybe. Finger inside the trigger guard before gun is closed? - I bet you don't do it - you're not going to change my mind that this is wrong.

LivingTheDream I appreciate clay shooting is set up for safety and there appears to be an instructor present, but if your lad gets into a habit where his finger is inside the guard and he closes the gun by bringing the barrels up he'll scare the bejesus (or worse) out of people if he ever goes game shooting.

I agree, my finger stays down the side of the gun, effectively pointing the direction of the barrel. It never goes inside the trigger guard until just before I call pull.

Depending on how sensitive your trigger is but I managed to accidentally fire cy Caesar Guerini by accident once.

I walked in to the stand, finger down the side, gun broke.

Dropped in two cartridges and closed the gun.

Up into the mount and just before calling pull I moved my finger in to the trigger. The bloody thing went off. No fault of the gun. It was -4°c my fingers were cold and partially numb and I just didn’t realise I had started to squeeze the trigger. Oh and I got some serious rubbing for the rest of the round about invisible targets and premature shooting your load.

Now this might come from the fact I fire the SA 80 assault rifle quite a bit and they tend to have quite a bit of play (2mm maybe) in the trigger and I’ve got used to just taking up the slack before pulling the trigger.

I figure with cold hands, firing multiple types of gun I just got it wrong. Now thankfully I was at the stand the gun was up in the mount but boy was it a wake up call. I now use gloves in the cold. It’s so easy.

No amount of discussion is ever going to make me believe that closing the gun with your finger in the trigger guard is a good idea.

[The Moose]

LivingTheDream said:

I have already said once - he doesn’t normally do that, I was taught gun safety by the military - very strictly!

It’s a bad picture clearly - the gun isn’t mounted, he has it high when he closes it then mounts it.

With all due respect to you guys, he has a coach who is literally the best in the world - I’m sure he will see him right.

I simply wanted to share a young man’s journey into a sport which many of us love, but can get a bad rep at times - I won’t bother any more.

It’s a shame no one fancied the PH clay shoot which I tried to sort before Xmas as we could have shot together and maybe seen a bit more of the varied nature of the sport and people in it.

I don't see there's any need to flounce! I simply asked the question about the mount because I hadn't seen it before. To me, it looked like it was mounted in the same position as the next photo, just with his head up rather than looking down. I didn't realize it actually wasn't mounted and As someone who hasn't shot Olympic Trap, I was curious. Also it could have been a good opportunity for me to learn a trick!

In terms of the trigger finger, I was initially a little uncomfortable seeing it. This discussion actually prompted me to research Olympic Trap a little more and I found this video - interesting to watch it at 4:46 +/- a few seconds...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgVNnZLLcXY

I would have come for a PH clay shoot...but a circa 10k mile round trip to shoot some clays seems a little excessive!!!

[MB140]

LivingTheDream said:

I have already said once - he doesn’t normally do that, I was taught gun safety by the military - very strictly!

It’s a bad picture clearly - the gun isn’t mounted, he has it high when he closes it then mounts it.

With all due respect to you guys, he has a coach who is literally the best in the world - I’m sure he will see him right.

I simply wanted to share a young man’s journey into a sport which many of us love, but can get a bad rep at times - I won’t bother any more.

It’s a shame no one fancied the PH clay shoot which I tried to sort before Xmas as we could have shot together and maybe seen a bit more of the varied nature of the sport and people in it.

My wife is organising one for the Simply Mustang group Probably late April-early may Kind of a have a go day. With dedicated car parking space. Food etc.

If there are spaces when dates are confirmed I will post up here. All will be welcome. If you have a license and just want to bring you pride and joy car and have a round now worries. If your not a l shotgun certificate holder than you will still be able to shoot.

[Old Fart]

The Moose said:

I don't see there's any need to flounce! I simply asked the question about the mount because I hadn't seen it before. To me, it looked like it was mounted in the same position as the next photo, just with his head up rather than looking down. I didn't realize it actually wasn't mounted and As someone who hasn't shot Olympic Trap, I was curious. Also it could have been a good opportunity for me to learn a trick!

In terms of the trigger finger, I was initially a little uncomfortable seeing it. This discussion actually prompted me to research Olympic Trap a little more and I found this video - interesting to watch it at 4:46 +/- a few seconds...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgVNnZLLcXY

I would have come for a PH clay shoot...but a circa 10k mile round trip to shoot some clays seems a little excessive!!!

Yes finger on the trigger, it's clayshooting.

[oddman]

Old Fart said:

Yes finger on the trigger, it's clayshooting.

There's only one in this discussion who's had their finger on the trigger. The way you've been going off, you maybe need to heed the advice about keeping your finger outside the guard

@LivingTheDream Thanks for your replies and best wishes to you and your son. Hoping he has a safe, enjoyable and successful shooting journey

[smithyithy]

Don't be put off sharing more updates mate, I think it's just different opinions about the trigger thing.

I'd definitely be up for a PH clay shoot some time this year, I got my license in January so a Christmas shoot would've been off the cards anyway... Hopefully we can arrange something.

[Thin White Duke]

I took note since this debate where my finger is when I mount the gun. Gun broken, shells go in with finger either on the side of the trigger guard (or since I have big hands) my finger will often be on the front of the trigger guard.

I then close the gun, mount to shoulder and then move my finger to the trigger and call pull. If I'm shooting gun down, I call pull, mount and then onto the trigger.

My personal opinion is that having a finger on the trigger when loading and closing the gun is not best practice.

Please continue with the updates.

[smithyithy]

How's everyone's shooting going??

I feel like I'm improving at my weekly practices, at my local ground at least where I know the targets so I can work on things to improve each time..

There's a few really nice going-away crossing targets, a few are quite fast so you have to get on them quick, and I hit 4 or 5 in row today, as well as a few rabbits (finally!) and 8 high pheasant targets in a row using swing-through - could shoot those with maintained lead I supposed as they're in the air for a while, but I seem to do better by letting them get ahead, following their path then accelerating in front of them.

A couple of targets I really struggle with though, there's a high over-head from behind that I just can't catch, I've tried getting on it really early but it moves over you so fast it's hard to catch, and then it's quite far ahead and moving away at speed.

They've moved one of the targets and changed it to a looper which is quite low and quick - I hit a couple, then missed a bunch in a row, so I've got some practicing to do on those..

Annoyingly my glasses broke mid-shoot, they were only some cheapish Jack Pyke ones, but because you have to flex the frame to change the lenses, this resulted in the frame cracking and eventually breaking in two, so I was shooting with wonky glasses where the lense was holding the frame together

I've ordered a set of Evolution frames with 4 different lenses, seems like a good set for ~£90 delivered.. There seems to be a huge gulf between cheap affordable glasses, and really high-end stuff like Pilla (which cost more than I paid for my gun, so are definitely not in my sights at this stage)

[MKnight702]

smithyithy said:

How's everyone's shooting going??

Shotgun shooting is going OK, I have found out what is causing my O/U not to reset for the second barrel so I can work around it. It was becoming a right pain when trying to shoot pigeons. (To the extent that I took the muzzle loader instead!). My problem is that I shoot so rarely that I just need more practice.

Other shooting is going well, I am trying to improve my offhand shooting as I usually shoot off the bench. Saturday we had a longer range day so I took a .22 and my .44 lever action, I did manage to ring steel at 200 yards with both shooting off hand. The biggest problem I had was the lever action ran out of vertical adjustment on the rear sight so I had to hold over the target. Still, I didn't miss with every shot! (I even managed to ring the 8" plate!)