So after having two somewhat frustrating years on the pigs, not hitting as many as I think I should do, I decided that before we head off to Germany again next week I would go for a lesson on the running Boar. The Corinium Range is my closest so I booked myself in for a 90 minute session with Paul.
Call me cocky, but my logic up to now has been that I'm pretty handy with a rifle and a shotgun so putting the two together on a running pig shouldn't be that hard. I shoot 50 deer a year, can whack gongs at 1000m pretty comfortably, I know my ballistics, understand lead, what can be so hard? Well 2 years has proven that logic wrong so it was time to do something about it. I had a specific issue in that I invariably shot too low, missing below the beast. I had put it down to when I pull the trigger the barrel dips causing the issue.
On arrival at the range Paul wanted to do 20 minutes theory. I wanted to get stuck into solving the problem but politely listened. He has a great way about him - he knows how to teach and puts his points across in a very understandable, fun and pleasant way. It wasn't long before I worked out that the theory was exactly what I needed and my problem was not about pulling the trigger at all, it was about how to structure the shot and what to focus on when.
Onto the range to put this new found theory to the test, piecing together the building blocks of the shot structure, it works. No missing below, out of 34 shots fired I missed 3 times, all of them in front. Over 50% were kill shots. Not great yet, but having some experience of shooting running boar now good enough for the moment and better than a lot I know.
Shooting a 338 WinMag I was getting a bit tired towards the end of the session. Paul had told me at the start of the lesson that I would get better and better for the first 45 minutes and then accuracy would tail off towards the end of the session as I got tired. He was absolutely right. However, if I fire 10 shots a day on live quarry it would be one hell of a session so I was not too worried about the fatigue element after 25 shots.
He's a great teacher and the facility is excellent. If anyone out there thinks they might benefit from a lesson or two before they go on the pigs I can thoroughly recommend a lesson with Paul. He will improve your shooting. I'm certainly going back there and I'm going to Germany next week much better prepared than I have in the past.
Call me cocky, but my logic up to now has been that I'm pretty handy with a rifle and a shotgun so putting the two together on a running pig shouldn't be that hard. I shoot 50 deer a year, can whack gongs at 1000m pretty comfortably, I know my ballistics, understand lead, what can be so hard? Well 2 years has proven that logic wrong so it was time to do something about it. I had a specific issue in that I invariably shot too low, missing below the beast. I had put it down to when I pull the trigger the barrel dips causing the issue.
On arrival at the range Paul wanted to do 20 minutes theory. I wanted to get stuck into solving the problem but politely listened. He has a great way about him - he knows how to teach and puts his points across in a very understandable, fun and pleasant way. It wasn't long before I worked out that the theory was exactly what I needed and my problem was not about pulling the trigger at all, it was about how to structure the shot and what to focus on when.
Onto the range to put this new found theory to the test, piecing together the building blocks of the shot structure, it works. No missing below, out of 34 shots fired I missed 3 times, all of them in front. Over 50% were kill shots. Not great yet, but having some experience of shooting running boar now good enough for the moment and better than a lot I know.
Shooting a 338 WinMag I was getting a bit tired towards the end of the session. Paul had told me at the start of the lesson that I would get better and better for the first 45 minutes and then accuracy would tail off towards the end of the session as I got tired. He was absolutely right. However, if I fire 10 shots a day on live quarry it would be one hell of a session so I was not too worried about the fatigue element after 25 shots.
He's a great teacher and the facility is excellent. If anyone out there thinks they might benefit from a lesson or two before they go on the pigs I can thoroughly recommend a lesson with Paul. He will improve your shooting. I'm certainly going back there and I'm going to Germany next week much better prepared than I have in the past.
