November 2024 Free Clinic is back! Fourth Saturday of the Month
Volume 14 Issue 11
November 23rd
See page 16 for details.
Trail Glades
Trapshoot November 16th
Skeet Shoot November 30th
Markham Park Gun Club
Youth Program Mondays 6-9
NSSA Skeet Saturday, December 7th
ATA Trap Sunday, November 24th
NSCA Sporting Clays December 3rd
We have received 17 new trap, skeet, and sporting clays machine recently. These will allow the sporting clays course to throw a wider variety of targets on some fields. Really looking forward to the new variety of targets.
The Free Clinic has returned and will be every 4th Saturday of the month. Price is $22.63 for a practice round ticket and a box of shells. Price is reduced if you bring your own shells.
The last Sporting Clays Tournament saw 56 shooters in attendance.
Trap did well again last month with 18 shooters attending and 3,300 targets thrown. The skeet shoot was attended by two shooters who shot 200 targets.
Attendance on Mondays have been well attended by 12-15 students. We are still
getting 5-8 on the advanced field and 5-8 on the beginner field. If you are interested in Youth coaching or just getting experience as a coach, come and see us on a Monday night and get the paperwork started.
See you at the club.
Loitz
Correct shotgunning stance eliminates more problems than most shooters want to believe. The greatest of those is shooting off your heels. IanDarrochweighs in this month with his beliefs on stance and gets most of the points correct. He starts with the feet. Correct foot positioning allows you to swing the gun freely over the expected targets’ range of flight. Shoulder width apart has been the standard measure from most experts and Ian agrees. This also agrees with the standard set forth for the Modern Stance. Modern Stance suggests the front foot be pointing at 12:00 to 1:30 on the clockface and the trailing foot be 2:00 to 3:30. Comfort dictates their placement.
As to weight distribution, 60-70% of your weight should be on the leading leg and again Ian agrees. Ian advocates locking the training leg and keeping your back straight. He is where we meet our first divergence. Many shooters dolock the trailing leg and for some this is a comfort issue. I suggest a relaxed knee on the trailing leg is more athletic than a locked knee. Also, Ian suggests keeping your back straight, I prefer a more relaxed forward lean over the leading leg. Again, I believe this is more athletic and brings your face forward and into the gun. Ian also believes that too much lean forward will cause a shooter to dip the gun downward as they start to move the gun. I’ve stood directly behind over 2,000 beginning shooters and observed them swing a shotgun at a target. This isn’t a thing.
Ian likes a tight grip on the gun. While I’ll agree the trigger hand needs a tight grip, pulling the gun into your shoulder and face, the forearm hand should be relaxed. Both golf and tennis experts will tell you to hold the club or racket like you are holding eggs or a bird. Only on contact with the ball
should you tighten your grip. Tension is the enemy of freeflowing athletic movement. Stiffening your back leg and back or tightening your grip on the forearm are counterproductive.
Delta Waterfowl – Fall 2024
It’s that time of year and many shooters are dusting off their waders and preparing for duck hunting. BradFitzpatrick has some suggestions to improve your chances during the rapidly approaching season. If you shoot out of a blind where you’re seated, practice rising from the chair and shooting.
Practice rising and find a rhythm that works when combined with your gun mount. It should be one continuous process. As you rise you bring the gun to your face and shoulder, swinging in the direction the duck is coming from.
The more I think about this the more I think it’s something you do at home with an unloaded gun. Trying is on a skeet or trap field may be problematic at most clubs for perceived safety reasons.
Sit down on a stool or chair and mount your gun as you rise and you’ll understand what I mean. If you shoot from a stool or chair without rising, I would still practice this at home before you take it to the range. Clubs will probably let you do this but practice at home first. Can’t have you tipping over on the stool once you’re at the club. This would immediately suspend any other shooting from the stool!
If you’re standing and see a duck coming, move your feet before you do anything else. Get them set correctly based on the direction of the bird’s flight. Waiting till the bird is in the kill zone before you shuffle your feet will ruin any rhythm you thought you were going to have with your gun mount. Shuffling your feet as you mount a gun isn’t conducive to good shooting.
If you’re shooting from a layout boat, practice your rise to the target. Brad has done some layout shooting and suggests spreading your feet as far apart as possible
inside the layout to stabilize your side-to-side rotation as you swing.
Finally, practice your low-gun shooting. I see people practice this on trap fields all the time. Go to a skeet or sporting clays field. Also, start with the gun just off your shoulder with the stock near your armpit. This isn’t International Skeet or FITASC. Bring the gun up with the end of the barrel level with your eye. Practice mounting as you follow the target with your eye and barrel moving in sync. Bring the gun to your face not your face to the gun is the mantra of low-gun shooting. The mount to the shoulder will take care of itself.
– November 2024
The big shoots of February are quickly approaching shooters here in Florida. Anthony Matarese gives his take on preparing for major shoots in this month’s issue. Controlling everything you can control is the primary focus of his preparation. First is practice. Work on the more difficult targets you will expect to see at these events, especially distant
crossing targets. Have everything you need for the shoot prepared and ready to go. Most of the mental training gurus will tell you to have everything prepared and ready to go and get to your first station 20-30 minutes early to prepare mentally.
Sleep and diet are basic for any athletic performance. Pay heed to your usual routine in that regard. Interestingly, Anthony is little concerned about who he shoots with, but he does have one caution.
the main event. When the Grand American was in Vandalia I would squad in a later squad during the Preliminary and Grand American Handicap days. Usually around squad
Once his squad is set, he doesn’t like adding additional squad members at the last minute. He does suggest warm-up targets and if they’re not available at least stretch and physically warmed up for the event.
He advises using Preliminary events to warm-up and prepare for
650. This allowed me to shoot the non-registered shoot in Tipp City before the events in Vandalia. Those were ugly targets, but they were true competition targets and I always shot better during the events in Vandalia when I did this.
located at 1059 NW 31st Avenue, BLDG H, Pompano Beach, FL 33069. We are open year round to serve you at our FL Location.
Here at Royal Sporting Arms we are excited to help you with your next gun purchase.
We carry new and used Beretta, Perazzi, Rizzini, Krieghoff, Blaser, Syren, Fabarm, Caesar Guerini.
We are a full service shop, offering Fine guns, Ammo, stocks, over and under Barrels, gunsmithing, Gunstock work, recoil pads etc
We'll Pay TOP DOLLAR for your used guns and also take firearms on trade / consignment! We are excited to see and work with you! Please contact our team to make an appointment or to stop in!
Saturday,December7th
Signupstarts8:00 ShootingStartsat9:00
50targets12gauge
50targets20gauge
50targets28gauge
50targets.410gauge
50targetsDoubles
$22each50targets
Miramar National Guard Armory November 23-24th
Markham Decmber 7th
Trail Glades November 30th
Tuesday9-4:00 Thursday10-3:00 Thurs.Night6-9:00 Saturday9-4:00 Sunday9-4:00
Trail Glades November 16th
Markham November 24th
Gulf Coast December 1st
Palm Beach December 7th
South Florida November 16th
Quail Creek November 23rd
Gulf Coast December 1st
Vero Beach December 2nd
Markham December 22nd
Sporting Clay Tournaments
Date Tournament
Saturday Jan. 27th Snow Bird Open
February No Shoot in February
Saturday Mar. 30th St. Patrick’s Day Open
Sunday April 14th Gerry Stumm Memorial
Sunday May 19th Memorial Day Open
Saturday June 22nd 23rd Annual Sunshine State Classic
Saturday July 13th Super Sizzle Open
Saturday Aug. 10th Summers End Open
Saturday Sept. 14th Markham Fall Fest Open
Sunday Oct. 20th Pumpkin Blast
Sunday Nov. 3rd Richard Merritt Memorial
Sunday - Dec 22nd Bud Wolfe Classic
Registration: Opens 8:30 a.m. and will close at 10:00 a.m.
All scorecards must be turned in by 1:00 p.m. in order to be posted.
EntryFee: $80
No Scorers or Trappers will be provided.
Shooters will be asked to squad themselves into groups of at least 3 and designate a field judge to verify scores for the squad. Tiebreaker station rankings will be posted during registration.
Lunch will be served. COURSE
Price per 50 targets includes $5/100 NSSA/FSA Fee
.410 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
28 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
20 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
12 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
Doubles 50 Targets $22.00
Shoots usually held the first Saturday of every month. Gauges may be shot out of sequence with the permission of management. More than one 50 target program may be shot in the same gauge as a preliminary event.
Break a 50, 75, or 100 Straight and get one of these guaranteed awards!
50 Straight Kennedy Half Dollar
75 Straight Eisenhower Dollar
100 Straight Morgan Silver Dollar
50 Straight Doubles Liberty Silver Half
When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens - and when it happens, it lasts.
John Wooden
Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.
SCHEDULE 2024-25
October27th
November24th
December22nd
January26th
February23rd
March9th
April27th
May25th
June22nd
July27th
August24th SPECIALNOTICE
100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events.
First 100 targets.
$44.00
(Includes ATA and FTA daily fees)
Additional 100 target events. $36.00
See Joe Loitz for details: 954-857-5278
WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IS STILL POPULAR WITH THE SHOOTERS. SIGN UP WITH THE REST OF THE REGULARS AND TRY YOUR SKILL AND LUCK AT ALL THE GAMES.
Come out and join the fun!
OCTOBERRESULTS
HANDICAP YDG
ORLANDOPADRON 20 91
ALEXRIERA 20 87
FEDERICORAMIREZ 24 86
JAKEHOOPER 20 85
ADOLFOMILIANI 25 84
MARLONLOPEZ 20 79
VICTORFLUXA 20 73
OCTOBERRESULTS
DOUBLES
FEDERICORAMIREZ 94 JAKEHOOPER 87 ADOLFOMILIANI 86
85
85
81
76
65
