Don’t look at the gun once it is at your cheek and shoulder. All of your attention must be on the target as you pull the trigger. Mount the shotgun to your cheek and eye, not to your shoulder. If you are standing correctly with a well-practised gun mount and the…
Instruction
How to mount your gun
The mount is a crucial part of your shooting technique and knowing how to mount your gun correctly can quite easily be the difference between hitting or missing a target. Where to start When you begin shooting it is quite normal to start in the shoulder, but as soon as…
Tips on roost shooting pigeon
Snap shooting is often the key when roost shooting pigeon, says coach Mark Russell.
How to nail shooting doubles
SHOOTING TIPS: Left & rights: Mark from Grimsthorpe Shooting Ground shows you how to tackle those elusive left and rights.
How to hit simultaneous pairs when clayshooting
Mark looks at some of the trickiest simultaneous pairs you're likely to encounter.
Shooting lessons: How to shoot a right and left!
In game shooting terms a right and left is where you successfully kill a bird with each barrel, in quick succession.
Grouse shooting lessons – practise on clays
Coach Mark Russell of Grimsthorpe Shooting Ground gives us a guide to shooting grouse targets.
I want to become a loader. Should I do a course?
I have loaded for some years, and although competent, I decided it was time to get a qualification in the subject. Why is a loading course a good idea? One of the significant reasons for picking up a loading qualification is for health and safety purposes. Shoots and estates have…
How to deal with clays when they’re different sizes
Clay shooting: The size of clays being thrown can influence your shooting style and hit rate immensely.
Swinging the gun – how to improve your technique
This month I’d like to look at all things swing related - and how getting it right can increase the number of targets you hit.
Are your eye dominance issues really the problem with your shooting?
Most people have a dominant eye, meaning that their brain has a neurological preference for the visual input from a particular eye. For right-handers it is usually the right eye and for left-handers the left, though not always. In some cases the brain has no preference — this is cross-dominance.…
Shooting lesson – going back to basics
Based on readers’ recent enquiries, this month top shooting coach, Mark Russell, goes back to basics.
Why you should try to keep both eyes open when shooting
I recently wrote about how an average Shot can improve out of season. We established that Patrick, the pupil, mounts his gun reasonably well and can kill birds consistently when he closes his left eye. However, he had been experimenting with shooting with both eyes open and is “now in…
A shooting lesson in ground game
Shooting ground game can be a tricky business, says coach Mark Russell. Here’s how to hit rabbit-type targets!
Gun fit terms you need to know
Do you know this gun fit terminology? Cast Cast off: This is the degree to which the shotgun’s stock is offset from its centre point and to the right. The aim is to allow the right-handed user’s line of sight to be directly down the centre of the rib from the breech to the bead…
How to read a clay target successfully
Last month we looked at a few 'firsts' in the shooting world, safety first, first gun, first targets and the like. Carrying on from this I'd like to reconsider how we actually hit our targets.
How to deal with midis, minis and battues
Here the shooting coach explains how to tackle those clay ground favourites: sneaky little midis, minis and battues.
How to shoot crossers
The clay that's crossing in front of the stand is probably one of the most common targets you’re ever likely to encounter on an English sporting layout
Should shotgun training be compulsory?
Compulsory shotgun training by Ben Samuelson Many of my happiest childhood memories are of the times I was taken shooting by my father – I didn’t even pick up a gun, let alone draw a peg for the first 10 years or so. When all I wanted to do was…
A lesson on driven grouse targets
Although the RBSS is a clayground, gameshooting tuition is very high on its agenda. The school has an excellent grouse butt and 25-bird sequence, which ends in a four-clay “covey”. Among several of the school’s old- timer instructors is Gordon Robinson, who had volunteered to offer his advice on how…