January 2009 Sporting Clays Tip Released : From the Paragon School of Sporting-00-1976

Last month we discussed the first of the 4 primary shooting methods: Maintained Lead. This month I thought we could talk about Swing Through. While more than a few good shooters favor swing-through as a base method, I personally see it as a specialized shooting method.

Let's look at its primary weakness. And it's strength. Ample gun speed. When gun speed picks up, it's exponentially harder to control. The higher the rate of speed, the higher the risk of compromising precision in the swing. Many who employ swing-through simply cannot control the gun, their sight picture or the shot. It's a dicey affair, with success hinging mightily on timing of the trigger pull. Get the timing right,...X. Get it wrong,...0. And the higher gun speed makes it increasingly difficult to time that trigger pull correctly, and consistently.

However, a controlled swing through can be very effective. Here the gun speed creates lead effortlessly. Follow through? No problem. I see 2 very good applications for swing-through. First, for those who have follow through problems, visually coming in slightly behind the bird encourages a pull through, past the bird. Second, provided you are controlling the gun, swing-through can move your break points back--aggressively. This is a huge advantage when you need to take that first bird down right now! By doing so, you just created the much needed advantage of an earlier (closer) breakpoint, or better hold point on the second bird.

Increased gun speed can be an asset or a liability, depending on how it is managed. Managed properly, swing-through is a must-have method to handle some of the more difficult report and true pair presentations. Generally speaking, swing-through favors the speedier targets out there. Executed properly it is a joy to have in your repertoire and delivers the X's when you really need it to.........

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