Post by brian on Oct 23, 2008 15:26:39 GMT -5
International Trap Shooting
High Gun Or Low Gun? That Is The Question.
by Bret Erickson
I’ve had a lot of questions asked of me lately about high gun versus low gun in International Trap due to the success of some of the Europeans shooting a high gun around the world. So what is the right way? In my coaching clinics I do not teach high gun. I think the proper method to shooting the game is; start the gun at the start point of the target and get on the flight path of the target, creating a much larger breaking zone utilizing the shot string fully. To explain, holding a high gun you are crossing the flight path of a lot of your targets, which reduces your breaking zone to four inches, basically the width of the target. When swinging on the target path your breaking zone is the width of the target plus several inches in front, due to the shot string. This could double or possibly triple your breaking zone. Needless to say, the shot string on the new 24 gram loads is very short, but there still is some shot string there. Also with the movement of the gun being on the flight path your second barrels are much more efficient. Along with this, starting the gun on the origination point of the target does not necessarily mean on the white mark. If you watch targets on most fields around the world your left angles come out left of the mark, your right angles come out right of the mark. In this situation the origination point is actually in the middle of the roof, not on the white mark.
Some people have seen and commented to me that they saw me shooting a high gun. I have been playing with the high gun, mainly because I have had several students ask about it so I have been trying to understand the mechanics of it better. I feel the high gun is one of many tools you can utilize in fine-tuning your trap game, but is a very advanced tool. It is very important to learn the proper techniques to breaking targets before you can fully utilize any “short-cuts”. The biggest downfall of a high gun is, unless you’re Superman and can see through steel, you have a blind spot. Because of this targets are going to beat you. Without solid fundamentals and years of experience when a target beats us we panic and throw the gun. The high gun can make this situation even worse because many more targets will beat you. On the other hand with the high gun there is less gun movement to get to all the targets. And with smaller gun movements you make fewer mistakes. The least attractive part of holding a high gun that I see is that most people with a high gun “spot shoot” targets because you are not swinging down the target line but ambushing them at a certain point.
So even though there are a handful of shooters around the world having some success with the high gun, there is a much larger percentage having success with the low gun because it is more fundamentally sound. Learn the fundamentals the right way before you try to take shortcuts. The International trap game is difficult enough that you must learn proper and solid basic fundamentals to have continued success at the highest level.
High Gun Or Low Gun? That Is The Question.
by Bret Erickson
I’ve had a lot of questions asked of me lately about high gun versus low gun in International Trap due to the success of some of the Europeans shooting a high gun around the world. So what is the right way? In my coaching clinics I do not teach high gun. I think the proper method to shooting the game is; start the gun at the start point of the target and get on the flight path of the target, creating a much larger breaking zone utilizing the shot string fully. To explain, holding a high gun you are crossing the flight path of a lot of your targets, which reduces your breaking zone to four inches, basically the width of the target. When swinging on the target path your breaking zone is the width of the target plus several inches in front, due to the shot string. This could double or possibly triple your breaking zone. Needless to say, the shot string on the new 24 gram loads is very short, but there still is some shot string there. Also with the movement of the gun being on the flight path your second barrels are much more efficient. Along with this, starting the gun on the origination point of the target does not necessarily mean on the white mark. If you watch targets on most fields around the world your left angles come out left of the mark, your right angles come out right of the mark. In this situation the origination point is actually in the middle of the roof, not on the white mark.
Some people have seen and commented to me that they saw me shooting a high gun. I have been playing with the high gun, mainly because I have had several students ask about it so I have been trying to understand the mechanics of it better. I feel the high gun is one of many tools you can utilize in fine-tuning your trap game, but is a very advanced tool. It is very important to learn the proper techniques to breaking targets before you can fully utilize any “short-cuts”. The biggest downfall of a high gun is, unless you’re Superman and can see through steel, you have a blind spot. Because of this targets are going to beat you. Without solid fundamentals and years of experience when a target beats us we panic and throw the gun. The high gun can make this situation even worse because many more targets will beat you. On the other hand with the high gun there is less gun movement to get to all the targets. And with smaller gun movements you make fewer mistakes. The least attractive part of holding a high gun that I see is that most people with a high gun “spot shoot” targets because you are not swinging down the target line but ambushing them at a certain point.
So even though there are a handful of shooters around the world having some success with the high gun, there is a much larger percentage having success with the low gun because it is more fundamentally sound. Learn the fundamentals the right way before you try to take shortcuts. The International trap game is difficult enough that you must learn proper and solid basic fundamentals to have continued success at the highest level.