Shooting fundamentals

Every good shot is the same five things. A balanced stance. A firm grip and a consistent mount. Aiming, with your eye looking along the rib and the bead on the target. A smooth trigger press. And follow-through: staying with the shot after it has gone. The unit standard calls these the fundamentals, and asks you to show them.

Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, your weight slightly on your front foot and your front knee slightly bent. Lean a little into the gun. A shotgun recoils firmly, and a stance that leans back lets it push you off balance and spoils the next shot.

The mount is what makes a shotgun shoot where you look. Bring the stock firmly into the pocket of your shoulder, just inside the shoulder joint, not on the arm. Bring your cheek down onto the stock, in the same place every time, so your eye sits behind the rib. Your front hand holds the forend firmly to steer the gun; your rear hand holds the grip, with your finger off the trigger. A loose mount hurts and misses.

A shotgun is pointed more than aimed. With both eyes open if you can, your eye looks along the rib to the bead. Your focus is on the target. For a moving clay you swing with it. For a still target, like the one in the practical test, you simply place the bead on it and keep your cheek down. Lifting your head to see the shot is the most common reason for a miss.

Press the trigger smoothly, without snatching it or flinching in expectation of the noise. Then follow through: keep your cheek on the stock and stay on the line for a moment after the shot. Follow-through is what makes the shot go where you intended, rather than where your head went.

Two checks before you fire, both from the unit standard. The cartridge must match your shotgun's gauge and chamber length. Use shot for clays and birds; a slug carries far further and needs a proper backstop. And you know where the shot will come to rest. On the range that is the safety zone; in the field, it is open ground you can see.

As the shot leaves the muzzle it is a tight column. By the time it reaches the target it has spread into a pattern, and the choke decides how tight that pattern is. Beyond the target it keeps spreading and slowing, but small shot can still injure someone a long way off. That is why the safety zone on a clay range is so large.

Even experienced shooters drift. On the range Johan misses two easy clays. Anel watches, and sees his head lift off the stock to look for the break just as he fires. She tells him: cheek down, follow through. The next three clays break. It is usually a fundamental, not the gun.

Before you move on, do the exercise, Which fundamental?, and answer four quick questions on this lesson. Then, in your own time: write down the gauge and chamber length stamped on your shotgun. Next: what to do when it doesn't fire, feed or extract.