Dec 3, 2009

Argentina 2008



I was going thru my shooting diary and found my notes from our trip to Argentina last winter. What a great trip, the estancia and the shooting were awesome. I shot 5,575 20-gauge shells in 2-1/2 days. It couldn't have been any better.

Dad

Nov 30, 2009

Mental Preparation from PeakSports.com

Hall of Fame player Hank Aaron was one of the best hitters in the history of baseball and a model of consistency. When Hank Aaron struggled to get a hit against a particular pitcher, he would go back to the dugout to study that pitcher.

By reducing distractions from the crowd and the benches, he could concentrate on the pitcher, visualize getting a hit the next time at bat, and gain confidence.

As a matter of fact, Hank Aaron attributed much of his success in baseball to his mental preparation -both before and during the game. He was not a big advocate of the mechanics of baseball.

Instead, he believed that mental preparation and doing his "homework" was the key to becoming a great, consistent hitter year after year. He was a master at studying the pitcher before games.

"I think about how a guy mentally prepares himself to do battle, to go out and face the pitcher. I think so many hitters do not know how to get themselves prepared to play or hit against a pitcher. You have to mentally be prepared to hit against all pitchers," Aaron said in an interview with Tom Hanson.

Aaron treated each game differently because he had to face a different pitcher, and this required focus, concentration, preparation and visualization of the pitcher's stuff.

"You visualize [pitches]. You see it in your head; you think about it... I used to play every pitcher in my mind before I went to the ballpark. I started getting ready for every game the moment I woke up." (Aaron & Wheeler, 1991)

Nov 27, 2009

Skeet



Mom and Dad in town for Thanksgiving, along with their Flip HD. We shot a couple of rounds of skeet, I broke my second 25 straight ever. Felt pretty good about that, shot it gun down. Naturally we took the video on the easiest station, 7. Then we went over to the trap field and messed around, shooting each others targets etc... I did buckle down and shoot a 20 from 27 yards. Another nice day here, Cal pulled the targets for us on the trap field.

Nov 22, 2009

Wobble league over, take a look at this Model 12















Wobble trap ended today. I shot my best round of the 5 weeks, 48/50. In the ten shot shoot-off I missed my first one and then ran the next 9. My competitor ran all ten and went on to win the whole thing.

Super nice day today, almost 60 degrees. Shot a 23 at 24 yards. The owner of the Model 12 let me shoot it, real nice guy and he was a great shot. I broke the two targets I shot at it with it from 23 yards.

I think this is a spectacular gun, the picture doesn't do it justice. Silver inlays, you don't see much of that. Crows foot safety. Even if you don't like guns, you can appreciate the artistry and effort that went into this one. Everything you see today is roll stamped or laser engraved. This gun was built in the late 1950's when Model 12s ruled the trap fields. He bought it for $1,300 in 1988.

Also of note on the gun rack was a matched pair of 20 gauge Holland and Holland game guns. Gold #1 and #2 on the ribs. Never know what will turn up in a farm town 60 miles outside of Chicago. They had been shot a lot. $50K> to replace today?

Nov 21, 2009

Another nice Saturday.


Mid-50s today and very sunny. Cal and I went to the gun club, I shot a 19 and a 20 from 27 yards. Hit 9000th target with my Guerini. Cal did his homework. Dug up some worms, could see the fish in the pond but no bites.

Nov 20, 2009

Thursday night shooting

Cal and I went to the club last night, it was 45 degrees but no wind. Only ones there for awhile so I shot some 27-yard handicap, shot a 19 and a 20, average for me. Put in a full choke, instead of IM, and shot a round of 27-yard that was embarrassingly bad. Not sure if it was tight choke or just tired but we packed it in after that. Would just be wasting lead after that point. I think IM is plenty of choke in my gun from 27-yards.

Nov 19, 2009

How fast do you react

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/

Minimum target speed is 44mph or 61.6 feet per second. A singles target is usually broken in less than 2 seconds out of the house, a 27-yard handicap target in just over two seconds.

Nov 18, 2009

Some Stats

I shot 120 rounds of singles (16-yard) since April.

25/25 25% of the time
24/25 33%
23/25 24%
22/25 11%
21/25 4%
20/25 3%

Some 27-yard practice over the summer, Dad got a new HD Flip.

My Other Shooting Buddy

My Shooting Buddy