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Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

I’m trying to tune up my skeet game with various fixes and aids, and looking at ShotKam. Question: Does ShotKam display the shot cloud or is it simply aligned to the barrel? In other words, does it show POA or POI?

TIA
B.

I do not have one, but one guy on my skeet team does. There are also plenty of YouTube videos. It occasionally catches the shot cloud in the videos, seems to depend greatly on lighting and background. Most of the videos also show POA with a dot, some with a crosshair, though some show nothing at all. Not sure how the editing software is to work with. My teammate told me they usually have a sale around Thanksgiving.

I am very tempted to buy one, but I've resorted to two practices to help out my skeet game:
1. I had put a stack of clays 2 feet on either side of the stake, that is the apparent lead (sustained) at each station other than 1-high & 7-low at the stake. After a few weeks of that, the lead was imprinted in my mind and I just shoot, no stacks required. I now judge where I am in the pattern by the breakage of the clay.
2. During the summer, I had gradually increased the choke on each barrel, not changing again until I was consistently in the mid-20's. Unfortunately, once I got up to modified I did not have another choke besides full so dialing in after that was difficult. It was very satisfying to vaporize the clays from 3,4 & 5 with the tighter chokes.

I'll return to those again this summer to help tune up again.

This worked well enough that I shot in my first local .410 tournament on this New Years Day with a borrowed Tri-Star, shot a 23 my first round, then the safety had issues and my 2nd round was less than stellar, but I still took 3rd with a handicap (raw score 39).

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

Citori16, thank you, all very helpful suggestions especially #2 which I was commencing myself, great idea. I have two problems:

1. My actual POI with Citiori is very uncertain. On the pattern board with careful solid aim it shows a standard 60/40 but I suspect its more like 70/30 in the skeet field due to gun fit, my swing and picture.

2. Gun fit is not ideal, needs a little cast and possibly some drop. I suspect it is shooting high and not flat but need a way to confirm. I can shoot occasional 25s but I consider it blind luck, as 3 or 4 hi will typically give me trouble.

I am also penalizing myself because I prefer swing through or pull through instead of sustained lead. Our experts frown, but the latter is not feasible for me in most of my hunting conditions which is my top priority. I look for about 4 ft (depending on wind) of lead on 4 hi which allows the shot string to chew up the target.

My next outing to the range will use the IM to see how much daylight I need under the bead.

Thanks
B.

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 1114

I have the ShotKam and it was very helpful for me in two ways when I was struggling with the crossers on the middle of the field.
First, it showed me slightly raising the barrels as I broke the shot.
Second, it showed the shot cloud going just over the top of the clay, verifying that the slight gun movement was the issue.

Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 127 Location: Alabama

its only helpful if you know where you are missing Embarassed

I have one and its quite humbling...but it tells you where you miss. Why you miss is a whole other thing. But you can't manage anything till you measure it!

HL

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

Riflemeister I harbor suspicions that I’m doing the same. What was your fix?

Thanks
B.

B.

I too am interested in Riflemeister's fix, and whether it was a gradual raising or more of a flinch.

Kudos to you for using the pull-away method, apparently the Brits call it "The Method". That is supposedly the best way for a hunter to practice skeet without impacting either shooting area. We have an older gentleman (80+) in our club who I am told is in the skeet hall of fame (have not verified), that is the method he uses, and last time I shot with him he ran it. I tried that method this past summer after doing the research but I opted to wait to implement as it will totally disrupt my current shooting style. Wish I had understood that before working sustained lead, as I too am more concerned with hunting than skeet scores, hopefully work it in starting in April. But joining a team has been fun and makes me practice more...much more.

Shooting matches and lots of practice has allowed me to pick up on some finer details which may help you:
1. Limiting coffee to one 14 oz mug keeps the jitters away and improves scores, allowing me to fine tune easier. I can sleep after drinking a pot (no joke), but as much as a half-cup more seems to upset my game, as does sugar.
2. 3/4 oz loads for practice is economical, allowing me to practice more & reduces flinching. For a while I was using 5/8 oz loads, but the amount of filler required is time consuming and a tiny bit more expensive.
3. I shoot low gun: the gun is held as if I were working through brush...nearly vertical, safety on. When the clay comes out, safety comes off and my goal is to mount & break the clay before the stake, as that's about all the time a grouse will give you on a good day. To smooth out my mount & swing, during my morning exercises I would put a small mag-lite in the upper barrel, line up the beam in an upper corner of the room with gun down, then mount and swing along the seam of the ceiling slowly, taking care to keep the beam in the corner/seam at all times. This strengthens the hand-eye coordination and practices a good mount. It diminishes flinching as well by squeezing the trigger with snap caps in the chamber. I did 100 daily reps on weekdays, essentially 1 round more than a normal match with a warm-up round.
4. Patterning your loads not only tells you how effective they are, a good one will boost confidence, allow you to relax a bit more, and I believe subconsciously will imprint itself into your mind for more instinctual shooting, similar to shooting with a tighter choke.

Good luck, and let us know what solutions or techniques you come up with, successful or not.

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 1114

I shoot with a W-H-O-F skeet shooter often enough and his posse . One bad tendency is to lift your head just a little ( recoil or good view of target- same result) . 1st of all , all our good shooters have Monte Carlo stocks and get used to them . Head is up . 2nd , what Craig does is when he gets into prep position , he lifts his head slightly to get the view , but his head ALWAYS comes down for the shot .... all their guns are HEAVY , so follow thru almost has to happen . May be difficult to weigh up a 16ga !guys that have the shot cam say they can see the shot cloud .

I was given a lesson by our local high school trap coach using the shotkam. I was in a bad stretch missing many targets. She hooked up the device to my gun and I shot several sequences. I found I was slightly jerking the gun once on the target. That info really helped me try to be much smoother getting on target.