Dan Schindler's Blog

May

2019

If I'd Only Known Back Then...

“It ain't what we don't know that gets us in trouble. It’s what we know for sure that just ain't so.”It was the early 1980’s. Hummelstown Field & Stream (HFS) was a small gun club in Hummelstown PA offering one Trap range ...

May

2019

What are you fighting in the Shooting Box?

Maybe it's time we take a slightly different look at what's affecting our performance in the shooting box? We're not talking about the gun, strategies, the shooting methods, or gun management. Here we're talking about what we think and feel in the ...

May

2019

Shooter: X Bully: 0

Humbled by the scores of teaching opportunities presented to me over the decades, I’ve come to realize how a few simple solutions answer so many student questions. By simple, I’m not implying the solutions are easy. I am saying, the ...

Apr

2019

The Story of Simon

The story goes like this…Simon’s been at the local tavern a little too long. It’s well after midnight and he’s definitely had a few too many. A storm is brewing and the walk home with his lantern will be a long one. Gloves ...

Apr

2019

X - The Miracle Medicine

"If we do not face our fears, they will rule us forever."~ Cheryl SchindlerA few years back, my wife Cheryl contacted a local organization that helped older foster children get adopted, about helping their youngsters overcome their fear of guns. You ...

Mar

2019

When The X is Fake News

X. We did good. Yes? A perfectly logical conclusion. And that conclusion might very well be leading us to missing targets. Understandably, a broken target leads us to assume that we did something right. I mean, there it is: X. That last swing had to ...

Mar

2019

You Don't Need Luck!

Did you know that each leaf of the four leaf clover has a meaning? Hope, Faith, Love and Luck. Our granddaughter, Samantha, has an incredible knack for finding them in our Flat Rock yard that sometimes is more clover than grass in spite of ...

Mar

2019

Drive-By Shooting

“Learning the art of the swing is the difference between X0X00XX0 and XXXXXXXX.”A drive-by shooting looks like this: X00XX0. And yet, many are still trying to break the target.Please consider: once the shot string leaves our ...

Feb

2019

Lightening Our Load

Too much thinking in the shooting box is like running on a treadmill; it gives you something to do but never takes you where you want to go. To add X’s, subtract thoughts.The woman appeared in the office door of the golf Coach. She was here ...

Feb

2019

Dirt, Steel & Clay

It’s a given, we all want to break targets and especially in competition with a scorekeeper behind us. That keeping score part very understandably introduces all kinds of distractions, stress and unwanted thoughts. I thought we might look at ...

Jan

2019

Dear Mr. Exo

As an Instructor, Coach and published writer, I’ve personally written maybe half a billion words on how I believe we can improve our shooting. I am deeply appreciative of the positive feedback I have received from my students and my readers ...

Jan

2019

Heart Just Ain't Enough

____________________________________________For those who are becoming more serious about moving their game up to the next level, please bear with me here as there’s a sound lesson offered in this analogy. This past Monday we got a ...

Dec

2018

Where Do You Place Your Trust?

If I may, here are a few words about my last post on where to put our attention when the trap machine fires. History has shown us that skill advancement is not an event. It is a time-consuming process, like learning how to assemble and ...

Dec

2018

Why You Are Not Breaking That Target

As I sit here, fingers on my keyboard typing this article, I can already hear the cries of disagreement. Schindler is nuts! So be it. If you want the “magic bean” to improve your shooting, here it is. I’m asking you to let go and ...

Dec

2018

Looking for X's in All the Wrong Places

Rated X – Reader discretion is advised.It’s called the Lead-O-Matic, or LOM. The LOM solves all those pesky “forward allowance” or lead formulas in shotgunning. Developed during a late pub dinner with Tom Fiumarello, ...

Nov

2018

How To Build A Trustworthy Swing

“Only trust what you can see.”First, the small print at the bottom of the page. The vast majority of us do have reasonably good hand-eye coordination, commonly referred to as our instincts. This instinctive move with our shotgun works ...

Nov

2018

Swing Speed – Why Slower Gets The X

Sports. It conjures up images of tremendous endurance, speed, and muscle. Players hit hard, play hard. With intensity and aggressiveness, the tempo is fast. Want to win? Get tough. It’s all about more—more speed, more torque. Bigger and ...

Oct

2018

Making the Impossible Possible

“It really isn’t that hard, once you see the light.”It is said, as the years accumulate and we get older, we get wiser. And, it is my experienced opinion, a good confirmation is equally valuable as a revelation. Which is why ...

Oct

2018

A Father's Words

This is the email exchange between Dan Schindler and Nicholas's father, Joseph Causey...before Daniel Schindler wrote, "Hey Mister, Will You Take Me Shooting?" Every youngster deserves to be enlightened. And sometimes...those memories ...