I have followed the thread about tips for a novice using a handgun, but have never seen one about rifles and shotguns. I have learned from personal experience rather than instruction. And at times it was painful. The first time I visited a clay pigeon shoot I came away with a shoulder of many colours. The bruising lasted maybe a couple of weeks.

Same with more powerful rifles such as my CZ 550 270 Win (compared with my CZ 452 and Winchester 9422 both in .22 LR), but I was not firing the same number of shots.

I can now get away without any major discomfort, except for my 444 Marlin Winchester 94 which starts to punish me after 3 or 4 shots. I found that some form of padding on my shoulder reduces the impact.

The problem with clays was that I was not shouldering the shotgun properly. Having to raise the gun, shoulder it and fire in a very short time was difficult for me as a novice. And when I did fire I was concentrating on the bird rather than the sight. That was down to inexperience. Maybe the same with rifles, but as I was firing at static targets I had more time to concentrate on holding the gun properly.

As I live in France there is no point in recommending an NRA approved course, but I would welcome any advice that might help me to improve.

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Kill it, cook it, eat it.

One thing I noticed with shooting clay games was the rubber butt pad would stick to my clothing preventing me from getting the gun in the proper position. I stopped wearing loose shirts but the gun was still hanging up. I wanted to get a good leather pad fitted, but being poor I ended up rounding over the top edge of my butt pad and then put a couple of thin coats of Tru Oil on the rubber to make it slick. The tru oil was pretty easy to remove and replace when it got cracked from use.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

With shotguns, a properly fitting gun and a correct recoil pad makes all the difference. The length of pull (distance between trigger and end of butt) needs to be correct for you and for the clothing you are wearing. (shorter in the winter with thick bulky clothing). The "drop" of the stock is also important. The best bet is to visit a gun store that has someone capable of "fitting" a gun. A soft sorbathane type butt pad really reduces the felt recoil. Make sure the gun butt is in solid contact with your shoulder, in the pocket formed between the end of the shoulder and the chest. Pull the gun in tight it will kick less.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I fully accept what you say. My shotgun was sold to me off the shelf with no fitting. It may be a good fit, it may not. Same with my rifles, several of which I bought unseen on the internet from online gun stores. There are not many Winchesters around in the stores in my area (I have 4). And my Ruger No 1 was an exchange for a Marlin 1894. I felt I was getting a better gun. And it came with a scope already fitted. Whilst changes to the stocks may improve my accuracy, I feel comfortable with all of them.

But the whole point of this thread is where do I get advice on how to shoot them. I know about shouldering the guns well. And concentrating on the front sight. I just thought that someone may have good tips on technique. I have an unsteady hand and will never be a champion. I hit targets OK but feel there is scope for improvement. Practice and experience will help me improve, but if I have faults in my technique they will not go away unless someone points them out to me. Most of the shooters at my club have handguns, so no point in asking them.

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Kill it, cook it, eat it.

When shooting shotgun at clay targets, you should be concentrating on the target,,and not on the bead sight on the barrel.

They used to remove the bead sight from the barrel altogether when teaching new shotgun shooters.
Probably don't do that anymore as they make alot of $$ selling fancy glowing front sight beads and sighting devises for shotguns.

If you're shooting a 12ga,,no need to use anything more than a 1oz load,,a 7/8 oz does fine. I think those are 28grm and 24grm loads in the international game but I might be wrong.

A recoil pad certainly helps. If you are having problems starting out with mounting the shotgun and shooting,,try starting out from the 'high gun' position,,the shotgun mounted at your shoulder when you call for the bird.
That way you start to develope a feel for the gun when it's correctly up to your shoulder as it's fired. It elliminates the extra movement and you can concentrate on the shot better. It builds confidence, your shoulder takes less of a beating from bad gun placement and gradually you can develop the entire sequence of shooting from 'low gun'.

Alot of clay target shooters I've seen shoot from the 'high gun' position but I don't think it's allowed in some official competitions.

It sounds like you don't pull the weapon firmly into your shoulder.
You do not want to place it loosely against your shoulder.
Think of putting your fist on someone and pushing, compared to swinging it and striking. It makes a difference.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

With shotguns, shooting at a clay target, you NEVER look at the bead. You lock your eyes on the clay target, preferably at the front or leading edge.

The three most common ways to miss a clay target are:

1. Not looking at the target, but looking at, or back to, the bead.

2. Raising your head off the comb even a little bit. The eye is the rear sight and if you raise the rear sight on any gun, it shoots higher, right?

3. Moving your gun when you say pull, sometimes called jumping at the target. You must keep your gun still till the target clears the house, lock your eyes on it and then (only then) move to the target and break it.

It is very hard for a rifle shooter or handgun shooter to break into the clays games as we learned to focus on the front sight. But, once we realize how to do it, it becomes as second nature as shooting the handguns and rifles.

There is a last way to miss the target and that is to stop your gun. What that means is that you do everything right, see the target, move your gun to it and then, seeing the perfect "sight picture" you stop the gun and shoot. Sadly, a trap target is moving at 42 mph and it is long gone by the time your shot gets to the place where the target was. This last way to miss usually goes away with experience.

The first three, however, will get even the best of shooters from time to time.

I shoot trap a lot. Some skeet, some sporting clays. You'd think, as much as I shoot, I'd rarely miss, but, again sadly, ....


Bob

There is some good advice here on shotguns and skeet/trap shooting. The same pricipals apply to rifles, this become more pronounced when you start hitting the heavy kickers; 375 and up, some will argue that a 375 isn't a thumper and I would have to agree.

As the ol' saying goes form follows function, learning to lean into the recoil will save the black and blue marks. I can shoot my 416 Weatherby all day without any discoloration if I do my part. Keep your weight on the front foot and let the gun transfer the weight to your rear foot during recoil.

Other mistakes I see with people shooting long guns are that they often don't rest their cheek on the rifle's comb. This will cause scope cuts on the thumpers if the rifle is so equiped.

Most new shooters try to counter the recoil by tensing up to stop the natural movement of the rifle/shotgun. None of us are large enough to stop this on a firearm that has some 90 ft lbs of recoil.

The only way to become proficent with this is practice, first with a lighter recoiling arm, then move up as you feel comfortable. You will be really surprised how little recoil bothers you once you work on how to dod this.

Cheers,
Sam

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Beware the man with one gun...

A long gun? What's that? You must be speaking of an 8-inch barrel revolver.

If you're shooting your rifle from a rest, you need a very steady rest. A very good, adjustable target rest can be very expensive. Proper breath control is a must, and a very, very good trigger. A shooting jacket with a sewn in pad can be a big help. I take a blood thinner, so I bruise from almost anything heavier than a .223.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Some useful tips. Thanks for your comments.

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Kill it, cook it, eat it.