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Gun Speed by: Ken Branham
The key to a successful shot often is caused by speed. Either the lack of or too much. The speed I’m referring to is bird-speed and gun-speed, which should both be the same. In essence, your gun, after mount is complete should match the speed of the target, unless you are shooting swing-through. It’s actually very simple even though it may not sound easy at first.
What we need to achieve as we practice and shoot is matching the speed of the bird and the gun every time, which will result in learning through repetition. How do we begin? In order to successfully match the target and gun speed, we will need to start our gun in the direction of the bird’s flight path as soon as we focus on the target. We want to lead the muzzle to the target with our left hand ( assuming a right handed shooter ) moving the gun in a gentle arc so as to intercept the target in flight. We don’t want to get the gun up completely before we get the muzzle on the target nor do we want the muzzle ahead of the bird before we are completely mounted. If we can teach ourselves to complete our mount at the instant the muzzle is aligned with the target, we are on bird-speed! Now regardless how fast or how slow the target is, we are moving with it, on speed and need only to slightly accelerate ahead until we see the correct sight picture and then deliver the shot.
Using this method, we will never have to chase a target nor will we have to wait on one to come to us. When we chase one, we seldom actually catch it and get the shot out front. When we mount ahead, we find ourselves waiting and then usually end up trying to get a dead gun started and ahead of the target. It very seldom works out and we shoot behind. The bottom line is actually, start wrong---finish wrong! Once we teach ourselves to achieve a proper gun mount as the muzzle intercepts the bird on it’s flight path, gun- speed and bird-speed are matched. Now there is no struggle or panic required to get ahead of the target. It’s also very easy to gauge the amount of forward allowance as we started with the actual target as a reference instead of being somewhere in outer space with our muzzle. This is probably the most important key to successful wing or target shooting. It requires constant visual contact with the target and coordination with the lead hand driving the gun. It may at first sound difficult but it will pay just rewards if you will put forth the effort to match the bird and gun speeds. Remember : Fast target, fast gun & Slow target, means slow gun!
Good Shooting, Ken Branham
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