A Little Medicine
(As
Rick Smith says, “It tastes bad but it’s good for you”)
October
2007
Shooting
Tip
by: Dan Schindler
Because I see this
counterproductive habit everywhere, I feel it deserves our
attention. How many times have you seen a shooter get upset over a
miss? There are two reasons for getting upset, one valid, one not.
Let’s first talk about the one that’s valid.
Our shooter has practiced this difficult shot many, many times.
Diligently. Through a long series of misses over an extended period
of time, this shot has been practiced and worked out to a high
degree of confidence. A confidence, and skill, that has been earned
the hard way. It’s fair to say this person can now break this target
presentation 90% of the time or better—consistently. Here, getting
upset over the miss (very briefly), is justified.
Contrast this to the shooter who can not break this same
presentation more than 3 or 4 times out of 10. Sometimes less. Here,
the frustration, or anger over a miss is not justified. It is
idealistic to assume that every target will break because we expect
it to. A target doesn’t, and won’t break, simply because we will it
to, or because we are determined to break it. The laws of physics do
apply, so anything less than precise gun movement usually results in
a lost bird—clay or feather. Skill development does have a learning
curve and there’s no going around it.
If you can put your expectations aside—as you should—and give
yourself a little room to grow by forgiving your natural mistakes
and blunders, you will progress faster and enjoy the shooting
experience so much more.
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