Game shooting: I have trouble shooting game with my second barrel!

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I have trouble shooting game with my second barrel!

Swinging off line, and all because he hasn't moved his feet!

By Game shooting

Tuesday, 01 November 2011

I can kill birds reasonably well in front but find it very difficult when game shooting, to consistently take pheasants with the second barrel.

This normally happens once they’ve just crossed behind the gun line, particularly to my right. Is there a knack to it?

GAME SHOOTING
John Bidwell
Realistically there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do an equal job on this bird as you did on one of its brothers or sisters before it got overhead.

Without having seen you shoot, I bet you a box of cartridges the reason you don’t is because you aren’t moving your feet sufficiently far after firing the first shot.

Failure to re-position yourself for the second bird means you will run short of swing, dragging the muzzles off the line of the bird.

And as a right-hander, not turning well into the shot means that when the gun does start to slow the stock will also come away from your face, compounding the problem in no uncertain way.

The correct procedure is to take the stock from your shoulder after the first shot, keep the muzzles pointing skyward and then, with your eyes glued to the bird, take a full step or a step and a half round with the front foot, then move your back foot to complete the shift.

You can now take the shot at a high quartering-away angle.

Personally I prefer to see birds taken slightly in front, or directly overhead, rather than people shooting at them once they’ve passed.

It’s a shot that, really, should be confined to finishing off a bird that’s been hit, but not killed, by the first.