Still having problems

St Charles had their shoot yesterday, I shot a 94 at singles which wasn't great but the conditions were poor. Still, there was a 100 straight and my friend and squadmate Randy won A class with a 99.

The handicap was a trainwreck for me. I shot 20, 15, 22, 20 for a 77, low for the year. Really not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe I underestimated how long it takes to get used to a new gun, I have 1000 rounds thru the MX2005 versus 29,000 thru the Guerini. I might switch back to the Guerini for the balance of this year and then commit to the MX2005 next year.

Frustrating way to go into the end of the year but I created my own problems changing the way I shoot in August and then changing guns two weeks ago, a double whammy.

Better Shooting and a New Gun

I drove down to Indiana Friday night and picked up a used Perazzi MX2005 combo. I have been looking for one and one came up at the right price and right features. I shot it at the patterning board Saturday and raised the comb/adjusted the rib to get it to shoot where my current gun is. I shot it a little on Saturday and like the way it feels. I broke a 22 from 27 yards with it which is good for me from that yardage.

Sunday, McHenry Sportsman's Club had their ATA shoot. I decided to shoot the new gun. I muddled my way thru the singles for a below average score. In the handicap, I shot 21, 24, 24, 23 for a 92. That is much better than I have been shooting and it was with an unfamiliar gun so I was happy. There was another 92 at my yardage so there was a shoot-off which I lost, I dropped three, he ran them. Thats a tough competitor. Runner-up felt good after not placing since the Grand.

Regardless, getting my confidence back. The targets I missed I had a hard time seeing as the all orange targets transitioned from the tree line to sky. In the past month, I have been missing targets that I could see clearly so going back to the high hold point is working.

The trigger in the MX had a release in it that I took out and the pull is way, way too heavy. So that has to be adjusted. Overall, I really like the new gun, the recoil seems less, it opens and closes like a bank vault, and I was only 1 or 2 handicap targets away from shooting an above average (for me) score. It was fun again to shoot after a disappointing run.

Still struggling, but.....

Shot at Downer's Grove today at the Northern Illinois Zone shoot. It was a really nice day but fairly windy. I only shot the handicap event. I lost two targets on the first post and ended the first 25 with a 19. Obviously a disappointment. I went on to shoot 21 and 21 in the next 50. Now its a train wreck. So I figured I would experiment and held high above the house (like I used to) and look down for the target. Ran the final 25.

So I have been holding low on the house for ATA targets since the beginning of August. That is pretty much exactly when my handicap (and singles) average began to fall apart. See the chart above, the vertical axis is my average over the last 100 caps, the horizontal line is the number of handicap rounds.

I shot a lot of great handicap scores holding high, I shot my 98 at Darien holding high. I shot a mess of 95s holding high. Experiment over, I am going back to what worked in the past. I stopped at St. Charles on the way home and shot some good handicap practice scores, it just feels better and the targets broke harder.

I've shot at 18,525 targets this calendar year, I should not be breaking short-yardage handicap scores below 90.

Taking a break

I shot a little on Saturday but am planning on not shooting until later in the week. I'm hoping that a little time off will break the slump I'm in.

Darien

In the spirit of keeping a positive attitude, I didn't shoot as good at Darien Saturday as I did the last time there. I did get some good practice in on Sunday and left after running a round from my handicap yardage.

Quiet Eye

A friend of mine suggested that missing the first target too many times is usually because, "your eyes were not ready for you to call pull. You have to take your time and reset your focus at the start of every move." I tend to rush (everything) and I bet that I call for the target within a second or so of mounting the gun.

My friend told me about watching Harlan Campbell shoot at the Illinois State Shoot a few years ago and how he counted 3 seconds between Harlan shouldering the gun and calling for the target.

I remember working on this in the spring but somewhere along the way it got lost and forgotten. Probably after I shot a good score and figured I had trap shooting all figured out.

Here is a good article on the quiet eye and how it relates to trap shooting. I appreciate someone taking the time to help me, maybe this can help some other shooters as well.

Butt Kicked

Shot at Downer's Grove today, it was a nice day, humidity broke. They got a big turnout. I shot a 95 at singles, which is a target below this year's average. So not too bad but not great. I missed the first target out of the house. My friend Harv shot 100 straight as did another shooter on our squad. There were 7 100 straights today, so I was on a great squad.

I felt ready for handicap but missed the first target out of the house, again. Things went steadily down hill after that. I missed the first target out in the second 25 as well plus 13 other targets to end with an 85, my second worst round of handicap this year. I could see the targets clearly, I just couldn't seem to hit them. I shot better scores in practice the day before from the 25 and 27 yard lines. Maybe practicing that far past my handicap is a mistake. So a disappointing day, I was shooting good all week but my game just fell apart.