One target at a time

League shoot last night. Shot a 24/25 at singles. Was cruising thru the handicap, down just one target into last post. Broke three there, thinking to myself what a great score I had and then dropped the last two. Still happy with overall score, but for me, the difference between placing in the money or not has regularly been determined by one or two targets. Have to keep my head in the game.

It was a really nice night. Cal sat on the woodpile by the club's pond and carved a spear. Obviously not interested in having his picture taken.

Cursed Gun Buying Bug

I am well aware of the pitfalls of changing guns and how it can negatively affect your scores. I intend to continue shooting my Guerini but I wanted a backup gun to travel to shoots with and was curious on how I would shoot a low rib top single versus shooting the bottom barrel in my high rib Guerini.

So here it is. Perazzi MX3, completely redone by Giacomo and a custom MX-15 style stock. 34 inch barrel, fixed full choke.

Some Success

Second ATA shoot of the year today, at McHenry Sportman's Club. I shot a 97 (23, 25,24,25) in singles, which won B-class. With the 97, I will be back in A class now on my way to AA class. To win A class or higher, you pretty much have to break 100 and a shoot-off is likely.

In the handicap, I shot 23, 24, 21 and 23 for a 91. The high score for handicap that day was 92, I missed runner up on tie due to reverse score. Overall, won enough to pay back my entry fees.

I made up my trap league targets Saturday and broke 25 singles and 24 handicaps for a 49. Best league round I've shot.

Mike Westjohn (see below) said to celebrate in some way when you do well. Here we are at favorite Mexican restaurant.

Blinders

Kiner recommended wearing an eye patch over left eye for an hour a day and before shooting to help settle down eye dominance problems.



He also recommended a barrel blinder so the left eye can't see the bead. Trying that too.

Phil Kiner Clinic

Spent the day at a Phil Kiner clinic in Morris, Illinois. The whole day, 8AM to 6:30PM. It was the best money I have spent so far in trap shooting. There were ten of us but he answered every question, was a super nice guy and we all got personal attention.

Class handicap shoot ends the session. I got the Kiner dollar. Great day.

Doubles

Doubles league started Tuesday. Haven't shot them in a year. They are fun, I shot an 81/100. Need some practice and to learn some technique.

Mike Westjohn

I was introduced to Mike Westjohn by a friend at the Weikum shoot. He talked to us in the parking lot, after the shooting, for 30 minutes. He couldn't have been nicer. To paraphrase from Trap & Field magazine, Mike had always been an excellent shooter but has recently spent a lot of time on the mental aspects of the game. He shot 9 200 straights last year, won all three Illinois zone singles championships and then the state championship, ran 100 straight from 27 yards at the Autumn Grand and made the All-American team for the first time.

He is a student of Lanny Bassham who wrote With Winning in Mind. I read that book over the winter and have been using some of the techniques but not nearly as rigorously as Mike. He had his shooting diary with him and his daily affirmation written on a 3X5 card which he was more than willing to show us.

Really nice guy and it was good to see proof that mental training pays off.