Sporting clay - dropping target presentations

[bigbearbear]

Wife and I normally shoot trap on weekends, unfortunately for us, the trap machine was out of order on Sunday morning so we ended up shooting sporting clay instead.

Interestingly, I've found that targets that are on a rising angle or targets that are flying left-to-right or right-to-left are not much problems for me. They aren't very different from trap shooting at Coyote Valley where wife and I shoot. Actually, most seems easier than trap because their trajectory is fixed.

The targets that gave me the most problems are the ones that are dropping. I find having to track the target that is on a downward angle rather difficult and I can't quite get the lead right. Any tips on shooting these types of targets? Do you have to lead it a lot, eg. shoot way below it? Thanks.

[Thefeeder]

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Are we talking targets that are presented straight up as the springing teal at station 1 or targets that are thrown in an arcing line and shooting it on the downward flight ?

[Tom-ADC]

I found that the ones going straight up, if I didn't break it on the raise or when it stopped, forget it, I just could not get a lead when it dropped, hard to shoot under the bird.

[ysr_racer]

All targets regardless of what direction they're going need some amount of lead (leed, not led) in front of them, to break them.

The difference with droppers is they actually pick up speed as they fall, and need more lead as they get closer to the ground.

If you're going to shoot sporting clays, you're going to need to be able to break droppers. Target setters will force you to shoot a target out of your comfort zone by throwing it as a true pair.

You need to be able to break a teal on the way up, at the top, and on the way down. Practice all three.

[bigbearbear]

Are we talking targets that are presented straight up as the springing teal at station 1 or targets that are thrown in an arcing line and shooting it on the downward flight ?

Not the ones at station 1, which are pretty easy for me. The ones I'm having difficulties with are those that by the time you see them, they are already falling and you have to shoot them on the downward flight.

[bigbearbear]

The difference with droppers is they actually pick up speed as they fall, and need more lead as they get closer to the ground.

I think this might be the main problem I'm having, I'm too used to decelerating targets while falling ones are picking up speed as they fall further. I'll have to keep this in mind next time, thanks.

[Thefeeder]

Not the ones at station 1, which are pretty easy for me. The ones I'm having difficulties with are those that by the time you see them, they are already falling and you have to shoot them on the downward flight.

You need to really understand the path of the clay....its travels down AND left or right......shots need to be placed below and ahead of the clay. If we use a clock for referance and the clay is the center of the clock.....the shot is below and ahead of the clay at 7:30 for right to left drifting target for instance. How far below and how much ahead depend on where the shooter wants to break the target and its path and speed.