Listener Question Extravaganza - PART 1 - Trap Talk E70

Summary

Trap Talk From The Back Fence: Listener Question Extravaganza - Part 1 (E70)

Hosts: Zach Nannini & Ricky Marshall Jr. Release Date: April 19, 2024

In this special episode of "Trap Talk From The Back Fence," hosts Zach Nannini and Ricky Marshall Jr. engage in a comprehensive Q&A session, addressing a multitude of listener questions related to trapshooting. The episode delves deep into various technical aspects, personal preferences, and expert advice to help shooters of all levels enhance their performance.

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1. High Hold vs. Low Hold for One-Eyed Shooters

Question from Jim (New York)

Jim's Dilemma:
Jim, a 60-year-old one-eyed shooter using a Browning 725 trap over and under, seeks advice on whether he should hold his gun higher above the house or maintain a lower hold. He wonders if adjusting his hold can improve his shooting accuracy given his single-eye dominance.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Perspective:
  Ricky emphasizes personal comfort and visibility, stating, "If you're comfortable and you can see every target, one eye above the house, that's fine" ([05:37] Ricky). He highlights that holding height is subjective and varies from shooter to shooter.

• Zach's Insight:
  Zach concurs, mentioning, "Maybe not as low as me and Rick, but whatever is most comfortable for you is what you have to run with" ([06:22] Zach). He underscores the importance of defining what "high" means individually, as it can differ significantly among shooters.

• Practical Advice:
  Both hosts advocate for extensive practice to determine the optimal hold height. They suggest shooting hundreds of rounds at different heights and maintaining a journal to record performance variations based on hold height.

Conclusion:
There is no universal answer. Shooters should experiment with different hold heights to find what offers the best visibility and comfort, ensuring consistent performance.

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2. Understanding High Point of Impact (POI)

Question from Kurt (Casa Grande, Arizona)

Kurt's Query:
Kurt seeks clarification on the purpose of high POI in trapshooting. He wonders if high POI shooters stop the gun when pulling the trigger on a rising target and how it affects their shot placement.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Explanation:
  Ricky shares his POI preference, shooting around 75-80% high. He advises against setting POI to 100%, noting that "If you want to shoot 100%, that's all you. But I would never recommend jumping out and saying, oh, I need 100%" ([15:13] Ricky). He emphasizes maintaining a smooth follow-through rather than abruptly stopping the gun.

• Zach's Perspective:
  Zach adds that POI settings should complement natural gun movement, stating, "The longer barrels are going to swing a little faster but they're not going to have as much siding plane" ([24:13] Zach). He encourages shooters to adapt their POI based on their gun's momentum and movement patterns.

Conclusion:
High POI is a personal setting that should enhance a shooter's natural gun movement. Maintaining proper follow-through is crucial for consistent and accurate shots.

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3. Barrel Length and Single vs. Unsingle Options

Question from Michael Stake

Michael's Inquiry:
Michael asks about the optimal barrel length for shooting at 16 yards versus 27 yards. Additionally, he seeks advice on choosing between top single and unsingle barrel configurations.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Preferences:
  Ricky prefers unsingle barrels for better visibility and reduced felt recoil. He shares his experience with unsingles, stating, "I like an unsingle... from 1989 to today" ([20:18] Ricky).

• Zach's Insights:
  Zach highlights that longer barrels offer a smoother "runway" for the gun, enhancing control at longer distances, while shorter barrels swing faster: "The longer ribs are going to swing a little faster but they're not going to have as much siding plane" ([24:13] Zach).

• Practical Considerations:
  Both hosts emphasize that the choice between top single and unsingle barrels depends on personal preference and shooting style. They recommend trying out different configurations to determine which setup offers the best performance.

Conclusion:
Both barrel length and type (top single vs. unsingle) significantly impact shooting performance. Shooters should experiment with various setups to find what best suits their individual needs and shooting style.

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4. Transitioning from KX6 Special to K80

Question from Gary (Durham, Connecticut)

Gary's Concern:
Gary, a one-eyed shooter using a KX6 Special, wonders if switching to a K80 with a flatter rib would enhance his barrel awareness and improve his shooting scores.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Advice:
  Ricky advises Gary to first try out different rifle settings before making a switch: "There is no flatter barrel for the KX6 special... shoot it don't be flipping back and forth" ([27:44] Ricky).

• Zach's Suggestion:
  Zach recommends borrowing rifles from peers to test different setups: "Just see who's got a flat rib gun at the gun club... try it and kind of... get the feel of it" ([28:11] Zach).

Conclusion:
Before committing to a new rifle, Gary should experiment with different configurations to assess potential improvements in barrel awareness and overall performance.

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5. Eye Movement During Transition to Second Target

Question from Gino (Durham, Connecticut)

Gino's Question:
Gino asks whether, when transitioning to a second target with the dipping of the barrel, shooters should have their eyes follow the dip or maintain focus on the target.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Guidance:
  Ricky advises against following the dip of the barrel, stating, "Don't follow the dip. Don't dip it" ([30:54] Ricky). He emphasizes maintaining focus on the target rather than tracking the gun's movement.

• Zach's Input:
  Zach concurs, explaining that shooters should rotate their bodies to follow the target instead of pressing up with their arms, which can obstruct vision: "If you keep the target in sight the whole time, you'll do what you need to do" ([60:25] Zach).

Conclusion:
Shooter's eyes should remain focused on the target, allowing the gun to dip naturally without actively tracking its movement. This ensures a smoother and more accurate transition between targets.

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6. Benefits of Daily Gun Mounting and Preventing Target Prediction

Question from a Typical Trapshooter

Shooters' Concerns:
The question comprises two parts:

1. Does mounting the gun daily improve shooting performance, and how many times a day should one do it?
2. How can shooters prevent themselves from predicting the target's flight path?

Discussion:

• Ricky's Recommendations:
  Ricky confirms that daily gun mounting strengthens the muscles required to hold the gun steady. He suggests performing multiple sets, such as "do 25, rest for a minute, do another, do a hundred total in a day" ([37:03] Ricky). Regarding target prediction, he advises shooters to trust their instincts and react naturally: "You're trying to see the future... you've already beat yourself" ([41:05] Ricky).

• Zach's Perspective:
  Zach relates gun mounting to building muscular endurance, emphasizing its importance for handling long shooting sessions without fatigue: "The more muscles you have there, the longer you can hold the gun still" ([37:15] Zach).

Conclusion:
Regular gun mounting enhances muscular strength and endurance, improving a shooter's ability to maintain a steady hold during extensive shooting sessions. To avoid predicting targets, shooters should focus on reacting to the target's movement in real-time, fostering more accurate and instinctive responses.

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7. Identifying and Fixing Cross Firing

Question from John (Newman Swamp Rants Club, California)

John's Inquiry:
John seeks advice on identifying signs of cross firing and methods to correct it.

Discussion:

• Ricky's Insights:
  Ricky humorously suggests taking two weeks off but quickly provides practical advice. He recommends maintaining consistent mount pressure and recognizing barrel alignment issues: "Mount the gun the same way every time, same amount of pressure" ([55:10] Ricky). He also discusses using visual aids like tube sights to assist with eye dominance issues.

• Zach's Experience:
  Zach shares a personal anecdote about adjusting the gun mount to prevent his eye from being blocked by the rib, effectively eliminating cross firing: "I raised the comb and got the gun out of my eye and instantaneously, no more crossover" ([55:43] Zach).

Conclusion:
Cross firing can be mitigated by ensuring a consistent mount, adjusting mounting angles to accommodate eye dominance, and utilizing visual aids. Shooters should remain vigilant and make necessary adjustments to maintain proper alignment and accuracy.

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8. Proper Technique for Mounting and Eye Focus

Question from an Anonymous Listener

Listener's Query:
Should a shooter always look at the beads when mounting the gun as a check for alignment before shifting focus to the target?

Discussion:

• Zach's Explanation:
  Zach explains that while checking bead alignment can be part of mounting, the primary focus should remain on the target to ensure quick and accurate shots: "If you are going to look at the beads, you need an extra half a second or a second to actually transition the eyes out there" ([46:07] Zach).

• Ricky's Advice:
  Ricky emphasizes maintaining consistent pressure and mount alignment, suggesting that thorough checking can prevent misalignment issues: "Looking through the beads... make sure they're lined up" ([48:48] Ricky).

Conclusion:
While briefly checking bead alignment during mounting can be beneficial, shooters should prioritize maintaining focus on the target to facilitate swift and accurate shooting transitions.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ricky: "If you're comfortable and you can see every target, one eye above the house, that's fine." ([05:37] Ricky)
• Zach: "Maybe not as low as me and Rick, but whatever is most comfortable for you is what you have to run with." ([06:22] Zach)
• Ricky: "I like driving through a target that follow through." ([15:13] Ricky)
• Ricky: "Don't follow the dip. Don't dip it." ([30:54] Ricky)
• Ricky: "What you get out of this is what you put into it, bingo." ([37:03] Ricky)
• Zach: "The longer ribs are going to swing a little faster but they're not going to have as much siding plane." ([24:13] Zach)

Final Thoughts

This episode serves as an invaluable resource for trapshooting enthusiasts, addressing diverse concerns ranging from technical adjustments to improving shooting mechanics. Zach and Ricky's collaborative discussion offers a blend of personal experiences and expert advice, empowering shooters to refine their skills and enhance their performance on the field. Whether you're a seasoned shooter or a novice, the insights shared in this episode provide actionable strategies to elevate your trapshooting game.

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Stay Connected:
Interested listeners are encouraged to submit their questions for future episodes by emailing [e-mail]. Don't forget to subscribe to the Trap Talk podcast and show your support by liking and commenting on episodes you enjoy!

Transcript

[Host]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the listener question extravaganza. I think that's what we're calling it, right, guys? Works, right? So with that, we've been getting a ton of questions. Thank you everyone, for sending them in. If you want to send your question in, send it to ask us traptalkpodcast.com and we'll make sure that these guys are answering for you. So with that, we thought we would do a big episode of pull all the questions that we have together, get as many of them out as you can so you're not waiting too long to hear from these guys. So with that, are you guys ready to jump in?

[Zach Nannini]

I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

[Host]

Okay, great.

[Zach Nannini]

Well, Rick, before we get to the show, we got to take a minute and thank all of our sponsors because we wouldn't be here without them. This show is brought to you by Craig Off.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yes, Craig Off. I've shot one since about 2006. Best gun out there. Balance customer service, the people at Craig off. Top notch.

[Zach Nannini]

Everything you need to know about a good shotgun. That's for sure. We got to thank Winig Winwick stock works custom gun stocks in Lincoln, Missouri. Nice hat, Ricky.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, I. I love my Winig. I broke hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with my winning stock. But in all seriousness, get a hold of Bobby, Luke, Bill, get yourself a stock made. It'll change your shooting.

[Zach Nannini]

I want to say thank you to Remington. They've supported the show for since day one and they've supported me for a very long time. Made all American teams shoot Nitros & STS's for many years. And we also got to thank game masters. If you're looking for a gun, Ricky, you can help them out.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yep. Get a hold of me at Game Masters 2. Call me, text me, email me, send a smoke signal. I get you any gun out there. We carry about every brand available in the trapskeep sporting clays. Even carry some hunting guns, some hunting rifles, whatever you need.

[Zach Nannini]

I'm have to try that smoke signal. I haven't communicated with you that way yet, but that sounds like fun.

[Ricky Marshall]

You like that?

[Zach Nannini]

For the next sponsor, Shot tracker. We just seen them at Vegas at the shot show and they gave us some great insight on the product.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yep, it's. It's like having a coach on the end of your barrel. They got some new updates coming out that'll really change the game with the shot tracker, make it a little easier to set up. So get a hold of them, get yourself a shot tracker and it'll help you.

[Zach Nannini]

Want to thank you to Shotguns West Rank Astani for being our Pela sponsor. Where do you get your Pelas from? They're doing a great job. They've got the new frames out. They're sleek, they're modern, they look fantastic. Also really excited about this year's new sponsor, Outlaw Engineering.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, Outlaw Engineering owned by Randy Freston II R2. I've known him and his family for years. His dad's past president of the ata. He does a lot of engineering in the oil field business. So get a hold of him for all his engineering needs you got and he can hook you up.

[Zach Nannini]

Big thank you to White Flyer. Making a great target and a great product. We've been smoking those all over the country, right Ricky?

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah. They came out with the new Eco Flyer this year so hopefully we can get to shoot them at some shoots. I know we did a lot of testing on them and they are an awesome target. So little alternative to the pitch target.

[Zach Nannini]

Looking forward to trying that out. Another thing that I'm looking forward to seeing more of is SOS Clays.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, the SOS Clays software owned by Greg Pink. Doing an awesome job. He's taken over the trap shooting world with his software. It's top notch, you know, get a hold of him for any needs you have in the shopping world.

[Zach Nannini]

And last but not least, we got gun and trophy insurance. Rick, you got to tell me about that.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, you can get a hold of Cole or Larry Cushman family owned business and they take care of all my needs on on gun insurance. They also offer offer trophy insurance for all your wildlife trophies to insure them too. But top notch, get ahold of them and they can hook you up. Literally. It's seven simple get online gunandtrophy.com you can get a policy going I think less than about 10 minutes, very reasonably priced.

[Zach Nannini]

That's awesome. Thank you to all the sponsors. And with that being said, let's get on to the show. With that being said, Trap Talk listeners, if you love everything about Trap Talk, please subscribe to our page. Also throw some likes on the videos that you enjoy. It really means the world to us.

[Ricky Marshall]

That comment on each episode. We read them, we respond to them with that, let's get to the show.

[Zach Nannini]

Welcome to season two of Trap Talk.

[Ricky Marshall]

Brought to you by Craig Off.

[Host]

Okay, here we go. So first question in Jim is asking, he is saying I am a one eyed shooter. I shoot a Browning 725 trap over and under. I'm 60 years old. I started shooting about five years ago. After deciding to shoot singles and holding on the house, I've started to move my gun up and I've wondered if this is a better way for me to shoot or if I should stay down on the house. As a one eyed shooter. I'm hearing a lot of conflicting information. I guess that's a long way of me asking, can a one eyed shooter hold a higher gun above the house? I live in New York. I hope to find an RM shooting clinic not too far away this year. New Jersey idea, Jim. Good idea, Jim. So yeah, Jim's asking one eyed shooter like me, can he hold above the house? Does he need to be down in the house? So you guys take it away.

[Ricky Marshall]

I mean honestly, it's all preference to be totally honest. If, if you're comfortable and you can see every target, one eye above the house, that's fine. No one says that you have to be on the house. And you know, I'm on the house, I'm two wide shooter, Zach's on the house, just a tad above, but you know, I'm on the house. It's, everybody's different. So to, it's just a preference. I mean, whatever, you're comfortable as long as you can see every target. Now here's the thing. If you're holding, some people think, you know, 6 inches is a huge amount above the house. It's whatever your comfort zone allows you to be in, just run with it.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, I think, I think 100 agree with you on this one, Rick. It's one of those things where when people say, well, I'm holding a higher gun. Well in relative to what? Right, like are you holding Rich Bullard high Where you're in the skyline and the apex, you know, you're holding 20ft above the house, like, okay, that's a high gun. But some people are like, I'm holding a high gun. And I'm like, well how high? And they're like, well about a half a foot above the house. And I'm like, well, you know. Really, that's not a high gun. I mean that's, that's, you know, pretty relatively low. Maybe not as low as me and Rick, but whatever is most comfortable for you is, is what you have to run with. And I think as you get older and as eyes start to slow down, sometimes you get a little bit more uncomfortable seeing that flash out of the house. So I have seen some people move their gun up just, just a smidge so they could kind of get out of that zone of that Target flashing out of the house. And, you know, it's almost like they're making a new trap house line. You know, where the, the top of the lid would be is wherever their gun is, and they don't move until it breaks the top of their gun. I mean, if you're doing that anyway, I mean, yeah, your brakes are going to go out a little bit maybe, but if it works, it works.

[Ricky Marshall]

That's the thing. Yeah, if it works, don't, I mean, run with it. If, if you, if it's easier for you to pick up the target in a clear sight, if you have to move up, that's fine. You just got to run with it and not second guess yourself. It's when you second guess yourself, that's when you start having issues.

[Zach Nannini]

I would say another thing to add to that too is like, if he's really doing the practice that we talk about, test it, right? Like, like, you know, maybe shoot a couple hundred rounds one way and a couple hundred rounds the other way. And then maybe take a journal and say, well, I noticed that I am missing the quarter lefts on two with the high holder. Or I'm missing more, you know, hard rights on five. If I'm on the bottom of the house versus up. Like, like there's probably going to be some, some, some things that are going to be consistent, you know, things that work better on some certain targets and worse on other targets, depending on the, the post and, and how you see it. And then you've got to decide, okay, well, which, which one's going to give me the best overall movement. I, I mean, it's, it's hard to say without testing.

[Host]

So guys, let's, let's take this just one step further then, because we get a lot of questions that come in about height of hold, right? And I think it's because they hear, you know, Ricky saying, I'm down on the house, or they hear Zach, you saying, yeah, I'm sitting on the house, right? And you're right. There's. It's a little subjective on what that means. But what about the fact that I think we want to put everything into a nice, neat box? What about the difference between post 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5? Like, you know, is, is there different hold point or, or maybe height of hold since we're talking about high above the house, or are we on the same across the board?

[Ricky Marshall]

I'm on the same across the board. I know in the old way, old days, they always talk like a, like a half moon to be low on 1 and 5, up just a little bit on 2 and 4 and then up a little higher and 3. I, I think your, your mind's growing yourself that. So I would just, you know what, whatever you're comfortable with, try it. But Zach is correct when. And, and that's what I tell people a lot of times is shoot, don't shoot five, don't even shoot 25, shoot 50 to 100 in that uncomfortable state because it's different. And be like, man, that I kind of like that. You know, just like I said, everybody's different.

[Host]

Yeah. Yeah. Because you, you, you're gonna have to fight against maybe even some muscle memory of holding at a certain height, you know, in the move that you're making. And how do you really know if you don't put, you know, three or four boxes through it and see if.

[Zach Nannini]

You'Ve done anything more than a thousand rounds, anything you do is going to feel uncomfortable for at least a hundred rounds.

[Ricky Marshall]

Oh, absolutely. At least comfortable for two or 300 rounds. I mean, it's. Right, we're, everybody's makeup is different. Like we've talked about this before. Eyes, what you see through different colors. You know, everybody sees different things and feels different things. So I would just say, listen, Jim, if you like it being six inches a foot up and you don't have a target that squeaks under your barrel, that's the downside to if you're shooting. So I don't change in windy conditions. You know, you got a north. When the targets are going up, I don't raise the gun up. We got a south wind. I don't have to put the gun down because I'm already on the house.

[Zach Nannini]

You can't go lower than that.

[Ricky Marshall]

It's one dimension. That's where I'm at. I don't have. And what happens then? You, you get this into play a lot more. And that's bad.

[Host]

Yeah, for sure. And also the, the, everything around the gun club of like, well, the guys are saying I'm a one eyed shooter, I can't hold two or three inches above.

[Ricky Marshall]

Right.

[Host]

All that kind of stuff too. Right. What works for you? Right. That you have to find what works for you. You see it the way you see it. And yeah, Jim, Ricky's gonna be out in New Jersey, so check the Pine Valley.

[Ricky Marshall]

Gun Club. And that is the 18th and 19th of April, I'm pretty sure.

[Host]

Okay.

[Zach Nannini]

Coming in hot.

[Host]

Well, that, yeah, yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

You know, get a hold of me. Bud Feeney's the contact guy for that. I think we're getting pretty close to full on that. But then I'll be in Delaware County Sportsman's club right after that on the 21st through like the 25th, doing a lot of half day and full day private stuff.

[Host]

Awesome. All right, well listen, this is the Q and A extravaganza, so we're going to keep it moving forward here. Next question coming in from Kurt. Casa Grande, Arizona, right next door to me over here, one of your upcoming Q A videos. Could you please dive into the purpose of saying of say a hundred percent poi or for that matter the purpose of setting up different pois point of impact for everybody out there. I understand what poi is, but I'm not sure to say what. A hundred percent poi shooter sets the gun at this weight because they have the tendency of stopping the gun when they pull the trigger. Thus on a rising target, the shot leaves the gun above the target and has a built in lead question mark. Or do the good high POI shooters still keep the gun moving? So why are we using high pois and trap? Is it the built in lead theory around poi? So Kurt wants us to dive a little bit into poi and, and how that's affecting the, the trap shooting there?

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, I'm shooting about 80, 20, I'd say 75 to 80 high. Zach, that's about what you are, isn't it?

[Zach Nannini]

I might be just a scotch higher than you, Rick, but I mean right about 80, 20, 90, 10, the max.

[Ricky Marshall]

I'm not so. Okay, 100% high is 15 inches. Okay, so your, your center of Your pattern is 15 inches above the target now. Or, or you're, you're where you're holding point of aim. Point of aim for a patterning board. I'm not a big fan of 100% point impacts. Never have been, never will be. You start to float a target, you get lazy with moving to a target. I like driving through a target that follow through. I just, you know that that's me, you know, everybody's different, you know, so I don't think I would. If you want it a hundred percent, that's all you. But here's what I would recommend. Not putting it on a patterning board. Patterning board is for when you're, you're getting a stock made by our lovely sponsor, Winig Custom Gun Stocks, Lincoln, Missouri. Shameless plug for winning. Shameless plug. They we go down, we will shoot the pattern. Make sure it's straight, left to right poi. I want to shoot at a target so when I set my guns up, I go out and set it on straightaway, 16 yard line. I'll shoot maybe three or four, but I started the 27. Stand there and I'll shoot till I'm center punching a target. Whatever that point impact is, it is, honestly right now, if I did and measured it and bench pressed it, it's probably 75 to 80%. That's it. So I don't, I wouldn't recommend jumping out and saying, oh, I need 100%.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, you know, Yeah, I don't think there's ever like a, like a. Okay, I've got to set my gun to this point of impact to have success. Because I mean, as, as much as we're saying don't set it to 100 and start, I'm. I'm not even recommending setting it to 80 and 20 to start because just because Rick has it that way or I have it that way doesn't mean it's the right. But what I think it comes down to at the end of the day, the question that he had is do you, you know, do you jack your gun up so that you can like, come to the target, stop the gun and shoot? Like. No, I, you, you if you're going to shoot, solid fundamental trap, you want to move with the target and as you're squeezing the trigger, you want to have some follow through. Now that being said, Ricky Marshall is a strong man. You know, he's built. I'm maybe not as strong as Rick, but, you know, but I'm trying, right? So, so we all move the guns at different speeds. And, and so when you're, you know, and, and I've talked to a lot of the great shooters in the country and asked them, what do you see? And most of the best shooters are going to say, well, what I see is I'm pointing right at the target. Like, I'm pointing right at the target now pointing right at the target. For Zach Denini, the way I move the gun, the speed that I move it from the house all the way down there, creating all that muzzle energy all the way up to the bird by the time I get there, 80, 20 is going to do the job. Now with that follow through or whatever that is, maybe my pattern on that dimension of everything moving is actually higher than 80, 20 because, you know, how could you actually know what it's doing when you're using momentum of your gun into it? But you ask someone like Ray Stafford, for example, he says he sees the same thing as me. No floating right to the target and swears up and down his gun's 30 inches high. You know, so I think it has.

[Ricky Marshall]

To do with 27, I think is what he said before.

[Zach Nannini]

I apologize for being wrong again, Ricky. You know, my fault. I'm going to do better, but I'll try, I'll try to be more factual.

[Ricky Marshall]

Talking too much, but it's okay.

[Host]

Yeah, it's a new year. Come on.

[Zach Nannini]

It's new year, new me. But, but the same old me, same old me, same old bullshit. But that being said, you, you, you can't, you can't just say this is the point of impact for everyone. At the end of the day, it has to do with how you move the gun. And I would recommend solid fundamentals. Whatever. The one advice I would never give is don't set it so that you could go to it and stop and shoot and hit it. Like, if you're doing that, that's, that's, that's real. There's nobody teaching that style. Like, you know, there's a new stuff.

[Ricky Marshall]

Where you said you start, it's the.

[Zach Nannini]

Do it the wrong way style. But I mean, even guys that are holding up and, and, and waiting on that target and making smaller moves. Well, if you're making a smaller move, that's less gun speed. Less gun speed might create more need for point of impact. The more left, more left to right shooting, more point of impact, more up to, more up to down, less point of impact.

[Ricky Marshall]

Like, like how we move the gun. I move a little quicker. I'm matching the target speed with my barrel speed. Sean, Holly and I shoot pretty close to the same exact way. Same point impacts. He shoots a top single, I shoot an unsingal. I'm sure I could take his gun, he could take mine, and we could shoot and break targets. Okay? That's the one thing is you get that, that inertia moving and it's going to move, okay? And that's what I always say. Like shooting a gun with a lighter barrel, it moves quick, but it stops faster.

[Zach Nannini]

Correct.

[Ricky Marshall]

A heavier barrel gun, it moves slower, but once she's moving, that inertia is moving.

[Zach Nannini]

It's kind of like us. When we get moving, we're moving.

[Ricky Marshall]

That's right. I keep, If I get rolling, you better move out the way.

[Zach Nannini]

You get us to full speed and you better get out of the way. I mean, there ain't no stopping that.

[Ricky Marshall]

You see me running and you're standing there. I'm not stopping, folks. I can't. I'm sorry.

[Zach Nannini]

See that, that Is a little lesson in inertia, folks. Inertia. It carries.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

So, you know, listen.

[Host]

A lot to learn here on the trap Talk podcast.

[Ricky Marshall]

That's right. Hello, Trap Talk listeners. Today's episode is brought to you by winning custom gunstocks.

[Zach Nannini]

That being said, a custom gun stock is going to elevate your game to get the same fit every single time.

[Ricky Marshall]

And I can attest to that. I broke hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with my winning custom gun stock.

[Zach Nannini]

I haven't broke hundreds and hundreds and.

[Ricky Marshall]

Hundreds and hundreds, RIP.

[Zach Nannini]

But I did break a hundred from the 27 within seven days of getting my stock and broke two more that.

[Host]

Year and loved it.

[Zach Nannini]

Here, this is you take it or me.

[Ricky Marshall]

We'd like to thank win and custom gun stocks for supporting trap Talk.

[Zach Nannini]

That being said, everyone knows winners shoot winning. Are we doing the end work?

[Host]

Coming in from Michael Stake. Michael says, I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the length of barrel for 16 yard versus 27 yard. Also, which is better, a top single or an unsingle? I love to watch all the podcasts and I'm hoping to meet you guys at the grand this year. Michael. All right, so, Michael, I like Michael. Top single.

[Zach Nannini]

It's the oldest question in the book. You know, how long a barrel do you need to get the job done?

[Host]

Well, you know, let's figure it out.

[Zach Nannini]

You know what, what do you think, Rick? What do we need longer barrels, shorter barrels? Come on.

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, here's the deal.

[Host]

So talk about for single shot, you.

[Ricky Marshall]

Know, he said 16 yard line singles. Listen, you know, I've shot my over and under mess around at time or two. Heck, last year at Wisconsin state shoot, I had to shoot my sporting gun on a round of singles because I had an issue. And you know, I, I break targets. Now you take someone, Leo Harrison iii, you know, big L or our greatest, the goat of trap. Yeah, he always shot his over and under. He liked that because he shot it for singles and then he shot it in doubles. So same, you know, area. Okay. He shot a lot of two hundreds, folks. And I mean, I wish, I wish the big L was still around so everybody could watch him shoot. They never got a chance to watch him shoot. I mean, just how he would center punch a singles target with that hard. Now, I like my single barrel. I just, I like the way it moves. For me, it's all like going back to point impact, going back to gun height, hold height on the house, its preference. If you want to shoot your over and under, I would say shoot it don't be flipping back and forth. Okay. Now when you shoot your over and under, I would recommend shooting the bottom barrel first. Less felt recoil. Okay, that now takes us into this going for handicap. I think a longer barrel, longer sight plane is better for, for handicap versus an over and under. Okay. But then now let's go into top single versus unsingle. That's preference. You get less felt recoil with an unsingle than you do a top single as preference. Folks, I like an unsingle. I've shot an. I shot a MX3 Special Prozzi in 1988 and in 1989 I went to an unsingle. And from 1989 to what's today? The 8th of February on the 24th year. On the.

[Host]

Yeah, 24th year of our Lord to shoot an unsingle.

[Ricky Marshall]

I love an unsingle. I just, I, I, yeah, me so.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, I think, I mean it's all of these questions we're getting. You know it's surprising. You get a mouse state different ways but they're all just like it comes out to preference. Right? Like, like. So the shorter barrels are going to swing a little faster but they're not going to have as much siding plane. I feel like that longer rib, that longer sighting plane can feel smoother on the eyes because you've got something like nice, a nice Runway to look down. But then again it's also a little bit, you know, slower. Right. So, so I mean long distance shots, those 27 yard shots, I like the smoothness of that long barrel up close. You just got to make the decision do you want to shoot the over under or do you want to shoot the single barrel? I think when, when Rick said preference on unsingle versus top, I agree 100 but I also think that there's some things that come as a benefit from one to the other. The unsingle, you're going to see more visibility. So if you want more visibility or maybe you're potentially a one eyed shooter and you like to have all that visibility, well then there you go. If you like to have reference with the barrel I've shot, I've shot in my career. I've shot half of the years with the top single and half of the years with an unsingle. And I can tell you that I felt like I shot handicap, maybe just a scotch better with the top single because I was pointing the barrel on the tar on the target.

[Ricky Marshall]

You were on the 22 yard line then. So I mean.

[Zach Nannini]

Well that's true, that's true. That, yeah, it was short yardage shots, but, but, but I have a lot more vision with that unsingle, which I really like. But you don't have as much reference. So if you're, you know, if you're shooting off the end of the barrel at all like some shooters do, a top single is going to give you more representation of where you are in the sky.

[Ricky Marshall]

If you.

[Zach Nannini]

Versus an unsing.

[Ricky Marshall]

If you use space in between your beads, then a top single might work for you. An unsingal might work a little better. It's all. It all boils down to preference on everything.

[Zach Nannini]

Try it, folks. Try it. Try an unsingle. Try a top single. Buy lots of Craig offs. That's what we're, that's what we're saying.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah. Get all the bears barrels. Get all the barrels from Ricky. Yeah, I think this is a great theme. You know, you're shooting your eyes, your move to the bird. All these things they are going to come down to. You're going to have to try. We can, we. No one can sit here from a distance especially and say, this is the gun you should shoot. This is your poi. This is the lens you should be wearing. We can't do it.

[Zach Nannini]

So try now. Now there are some little rules that you could maybe feel like if you see someone that's, you know, maybe my size and moves the gun relatively like, well then, okay, maybe he's going to be that same way, you know. And if you see someone that's, you know, really, really, you know, maybe a younger person, a newer shooter, maybe they're not going to be shooting a 16 inch stock and a 34 inch UNS single Craig off. Like maybe they might need. Right? Like, like, like look at the size of the person I used to shoot.

[Ricky Marshall]

A 16 and a half length to pull.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, but you've always been big.

[Ricky Marshall]

You said you were a big old.

[Zach Nannini]

Kid that they thought was 30.

[Ricky Marshall]

So like you, you know, listen, if I, if I just die this black like Trey and I, when we walk around, they think we're brothers. He gets madder in hell.

[Host]

Tyler's about to be taller than you in about five minutes.

[Ricky Marshall]

I know.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, he's rolling. Hello, Trap Talk listeners. Zach, Nini here and I'd like to thank our show sponsor, Remington. And today I would like to go into what shells I use when I'm training and when I'm shooting tournaments. First of all, we start with the gun club. This is a great shell. I shoot an 1145 ounce and eighth eight. And this is when I shoot for singles and both shots of doubles. The only reason I don't shoot this in tournaments is because I like a little bit of a harder shot, a little bit of a harder break, but it works great. And it's the same speed as this STS shell. So this STS shell a little bit harder shot. Figure 8 wad column smokes the targets a little bit harder. Also, I shoot for singles and doubles, both shots. And then when I go to the back fence and I want to put the smoke on them, I bring out the Nitro 27 Alcinate 7 and a half. It's a 1235 shell. Blast the targets. Works really well. I hope these shells work for you. And I want to thank Remington for supporting trap talk.

[Host]

Okay, the extravaganza continues. Okay, here we go. Coming in from Gary. Gary asks. Here he goes. Oh. So guys talk. You guys talked about rib height and barrel awareness. I think this kind of goes with what you were saying, Zach. I shoot a KX6 special and I'm one shooter. Should I think about changing to a flatter rib to get a better barrel awareness and improve my scores? So a little, you know, he's shooting a KX6 Special, he's one eyed and he's wondering about changing to a flatter rib. And I guess he's maybe asking top single if he's thinking flatter rib. I'm not sure.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, top single would be just a little bit flatter. But then you're going to a K80. There is no flatter barrel for the KX6 special.

[Host]

Maybe. Maybe the question from Gary is should I change from a KX6 to a K80? Maybe that's the question.

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, I mean, give it a try, Gary. You could. Here's the thing. There's really no flat rib top singles. The old, old style. You could find one possibly, but I haven't seen any.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, maybe somewhere used you might find a top single who shoots one that she shoots one really well. I remember.

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, K shoots the unsingle traditional K80UN single. But there is no one that's shooting a top single that I know of. The old style top single. I mean you could go to a flat rib over and under if that would work. Something like that might help you.

[Host]

Yeah, I think, I think Gary. Gary's kind of in the line of what Zach was saying. If you want to try to have a little more barrel awareness, you think that that would help. Try something that, you know, has more of a top single setup.

[Ricky Marshall]

I would.

[Zach Nannini]

Before he goes and shells out all this money. Just see who's got a flat rib gun at the. At the gun club. And you got a buddy. I mean, Gary, we're, you know, just, hey, can I try your.

[Host]

Give it a try. Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

Like we used to do when I was new. We would have seven different guns on the rack with our buddies on Wednesday night at practice, and we'd be like, hey, can I try that thing? You know, in back and forth, forth. And, you know. Yeah, you're not letting people really adjust your guns if it's something you want it, but. But you know, just to try it and kind of. Okay. Get the feel of it. Like there's going to be someone with something set similarly that you could mount a couple times and feel, okay, I can see what that looks like.

[Ricky Marshall]

And maybe like that. Or, nah, that's not good, you know, but.

[Zach Nannini]

Or.

[Ricky Marshall]

Or the other thing is, come do, um, the Grand. The Grand Ohio State shoot at the Cardinal Center. All the vendors, anywhere where they have.

[Zach Nannini]

Used guns for sale, and then they have a shooting range. They'll usually let you try the used guns, you know, for a round. I know Ricky. He'll let you do it for a small fee, right, Rick?

[Ricky Marshall]

No, we got guns and. And game masters come to Tucson. We got a lot of used guns. I'll go out there with you, see how it works.

[Zach Nannini]

And that's.

[Host]

Yeah. Trying to come up with new revenue models.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, It's a record. Perpetual model. But. But yeah, I mean, try it. Try it out. Don't be scared. And, you know, and see what you see, what you think.

[Ricky Marshall]

Best thing to do.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

Gary, is. Is give me a call. I'll.

[Host]

Yeah, give Ricky a call.

[Ricky Marshall]

I can kind of walk you through and just say, hey, what. What. What's really going on, Gary?

[Host]

I'm gonna put. I'm gonna put Ricky's number right here in this part of the video. So just look down. There's his number.

[Zach Nannini]

It's gonna be really big.

[Host]

Yeah. Yeah. All right, moving on. Yeah. So we have a question coming in from Gino from Durham, Connecticut. Gino asks, when transitioning to the second target, with the dipping of the barrel and shooting that target, do your eyes follow the dip, or do you look out for the target during that dip move?

[Ricky Marshall]

Don't follow the dip. Don't follow the dip. Don't dip it.

[Zach Nannini]

You.

[Ricky Marshall]

Now you. What you do is your eyes. Your eyes will. I mean, they're in relation to the gun, but no, it's not like. It's not like that. It's not one of these.

[Zach Nannini]

You.

[Ricky Marshall]

You're gonna look your. Your gun's gonna move. Your eyes are gonna move a little bit like. But not down with it. It's. You're. Show me.

[Zach Nannini]

I transition left to right. Rick, look at the camera, make it.

[Host]

Go that way, pull the trigger and move those eyes.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah, it's. Yeah, it's. It's all. It's like, bang. And as soon as you shoot, your eyes go. And the gun will dip and go that way. You can always see it because if the gun's up here and you come across, you block out the target.

[Host]

Right?

[Zach Nannini]

Now, I'm going to say this. I shoot doubles very similarly to Ricky. I don't notice as much dip. And personally, like, where I'm breaking that first target and Ricky scalded me and said, you're breaking that target a little too close to the house. But, like, where I break that first target, holding low. It's down there so low that I don't need to dip to get over that other one. I'm just looking over, and I'm going over and up. As long as you're not going up to it, you're not going to cut that backside. Now, the higher you hold on that first shot of doubles, the more dip you're going to have in between, because obviously that target is going up and up and up, and you're, you know, you have to break it and go from there. But, you know, I don't see as much dip as Ricky does. I mean. I mean, he's really a nice, clean kind of a. What is that, like an L or a U? I mean, what do you describe that as?

[Ricky Marshall]

A J? It's just a slight down and. And kind of. It's almost like a check mark kind of.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, it's a check and it's like a J. It's like a. I've seen some people do this, and I want to caution against it because I think Ricky's against this, too. I've seen some people that take that. We got a dip thing, and they shoot that first one and they throw the gun down six inches and kind of do this deal. I mean, we're not talking about, you know, inches or feet of dip. We're talking about just enough to be able to catch that line. Right, Rick?

[Ricky Marshall]

Yes. So now. Yeah, since Zach's a little winded. So I'm going to give Zach a quick doubles lesson on post one, because that's missing. Doubles is. He goes. And he doesn't come down. He goes up and he'll do this reverse J and he's like. And he goes up and he'll short, you'll break. It's usually, it's usually your second or third pair on post one. You miss.

[Zach Nannini]

That's not the one you want to.

[Ricky Marshall]

Miss because you're, you're in speed mode.

[Zach Nannini]

You're going as you're going up more instead of over more, you're going to cut the back right hand side of that left hand target and you're going to stop the gun.

[Ricky Marshall]

You're blocking it and you stop. So yeah, I would always, I always recommend go up and then just come down a little bit and over and then up. So if you're, if you're going this way and then up to the target, you can see the move. Now that's a nice thing. Shameless plug shot tracker. You know if you got a shot tracker, shoot some doubles, you'll see that move on the graph and it's like, oh, okay. So it's just that slight. You shoot, your eyes go over, the gun drops a little bit over and up. It's just, I call it a little, little loop, you know, little you move. But.

[Zach Nannini]

They'Re more natural for you now.

[Host]

Hey, Shameless plugs are good. Shameless plugs are good. Yeah, yeah. You know, I've noticed that if you move your eyes on that trigger pull on the first bird, the dip of the gun is more natural. It's just because you're looking out at the bird, the gun is kind of just dipping naturally and it's not so much of a forced thing. But I've always found two on. I don't know for you guys but post one and two, those are my slowest pairs. I'm a right handed shooter. You know, for me it seems like that post one pair because I see the back of that left bird and then I got to make that extra little push over to the front of it. You know those are my slowest pairs but man, you get me on post four or five. Yeah, yeah, that's true too.

[Ricky Marshall]

I want to turn your feet a little bit more, John.

[Host]

Yeah, I've been working on that actually. I've always think about you when I look down at my feet when I get there I'm like, yep, let me just try a little bit more open.

[Zach Nannini]

Up on one and two. So you're not bound.

[Host]

Yeah, oh yeah, I'm trying to open up just generally, you know, trap shooting.

[Zach Nannini]

Hard like, I mean I've had a hard time. Ricky's helped me with my Opening up. But generally, I'm very shy.

[Host]

You are. You are. We need. We need to get you to get out of your. Your, you know, your. Your shell a little bit.

[Ricky Marshall]

Zach's bubble is freaking titanium.

[Host]

All right?

[Zach Nannini]

It's impenetrable.

[Host]

Yeah. Next. Next question coming in from at typical trapshooter, it says, I kind of have two questions here, but would. But would you mount your gun? Jesus. I'm gonna learn how to. You know what I'm do this year? I'm gonna learn how to read out loud. All right, here we go.

[Zach Nannini]

Hey, do we give two firsts in questions or do we have to skip him? Like.

[Host]

Like, I think now. How bad?

[Zach Nannini]

How bad?

[Host]

I've butchered his question. I think he can have a twofer here. Yeah, so this one's on me, bud. Okay, I kind of have two questions here. Would mount. Does mounting your gun daily really help? And if so, how many times of day do you think? For the second question, how do I stop myself from predicting where the target comes out and then where it goes somewhere else? Also love the videos. Keep up the good work. All right, so I'm going to summarize here. Does gun mounting help? How many times should I be doing it? And sounds like he's anticipating the direction of the target, maybe moving his gun on the call a little bit there. How do we stop doing that? Yeah, yeah. Discipline.

[Ricky Marshall]

He's trying to be like Zach. It's. You know, Zach, don't really.

[Zach Nannini]

You're trying to see the future moves on the call. Sometimes accidentally trying to see the future there.

[Ricky Marshall]

So gun mounts. Yes, I recommend it. You know, if I haven't shot for a while, I'll do gun mounts. And I haven't shot since November, so.

[Host]

It'S been a while.

[Ricky Marshall]

I'm actually going to shoot some five stand this weekend, and we'll see how that is, you know, But I recommend, you know, do 25, rest for a minute, do another, do a hundred total in a day, you know, and you can do it every day. I mean, that's. That's up to you. How much. Here's the thing, folks. You get out of this what you put in it, bingo. That's 100.

[Zach Nannini]

And. And if we just go back, and this is really hard for me and Ricky to talk about fitness, but. But if we just go back to muscles in the body and talk about, like, mounting the gun and the muscles it takes to hold the gun up, like, would it make sense that doing more gun mounts would make you stronger and better, or would it mean that if you do less, you're going to be like, it's kind of a, like I almost say, a no brainer for people. Like, you mount the gun, you're exercising those muscles. The more muscles you have there, the longer you can hold the gun still. The longer you can hold the gun still, the longer you can go. When you're doing 2, 3, 400 target days, shoot off to the ground, whatever it is. I mean I've seen Ricky shoot five or six hundred clays in a day with his long shoot and he's just like doing it like it's nothing. Well, he's been working those muscles for what, 30 years now, Rick?

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, that, but going back to like starting. Okay. I haven't shot since November. It's February. I'm leaving here next week to fly to California and, and teach and then I'll fly home, get my truck and drive out because I've been, if everybody can tell by my voice, I've been a little sick with a upper respiratory deal. So I'm just trying to rest because it's going to be a, a busy next couple months. But it's, it's one of those things is the beginning of the year. So like the spring grand, it, you know, at the end of each day I'll be like back will hurt a little bit and I'll go back to the camper and do gun lifts. I'll sit in game masters in the store and I'll just grab a gun off the wall and, and mount it 15 or 20 times and put it back. Try another one, two different people. You're, you're working. You know, it's like last year this time Zach and I were in Dubai.

[Zach Nannini]

Oh yeah, I remember that.

[Ricky Marshall]

You know, now we worked a lot, we shot a lot over there. A lot of practice at the end of the day, I mean we was, we was worn a little bit, a lot of walking.

[Zach Nannini]

I was eating some serious shawarma after we were done with those days.

[Ricky Marshall]

But it's one of those like I go back to, you get out of it what you put into it. So if you want to be able to. So say like come June, July, August, when we got the big state shoots, you know, the grand, I'm getting in those long shoot off days. If I'm, if I'm fortunate, I can stand out there and do that because I've built up those muscles all year long.

[Zach Nannini]

Correct.

[Ricky Marshall]

But really I'm working.

[Zach Nannini]

You know, I, I will, I will say this. I had a year. This was a long Time ago, I think I registered like 24, 25, 000 targets that year. It was like the most I ever shot in a year. And in that year, I didn't do too many gun mounts because I did 25, 000 registered targets. Right. So, you know, if anything in between shoots, I was almost letting my body rest and recover instead of doing mounts every single day. So, like if you're shooting all the time, Ricky's not doing gun mounts after 300 targets in his trailer. Right. Like he's doing them. He's doing them in the off season.

[Ricky Marshall]

Doing curls.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, we're doing 12 ounce curl.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

Two ounce.

[Host]

Two ounce.

[Zach Nannini]

Now, now we missed the other question. The whole anticipating the clay thing.

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, we haven't got to that yet. Zach.

[Zach Nannini]

I'm waiting on you, Rick. I'm waiting on you.

[Ricky Marshall]

The anticipation. If you're, are you looking at everybody's targets and. And trying to go, okay, that went left, that went right. Oh, I should get this. If you're doing that, you've already beat yourself.

[Host]

Yeah, that don't work.

[Zach Nannini]

Not the way to shoot the game.

[Ricky Marshall]

No. Mount your gun. Look out their call pole. Oh, there it goes. And go. That's it. That's very simple and straight to the point.

[Host]

Not easy.

[Ricky Marshall]

Nothing else.

[Host]

Very simple, but not easy.

[Ricky Marshall]

Done.

[Zach Nannini]

Still, I think that that's not as common as. What actually happens though is people get over to post one and they're scared of the left or they get over to post five and they're scared of the right. So they're not really reading the trap. They're just like, oh, that right's going to come out and I've got to. I've got to throw the gun at it. And they're scared. Right. And at the end of the day, you just have to understand that there's no target that can beat you. You've broke them all. You've broke every angle and every shot there is on the field. So just see the bird well and make a good reaction to that bird. If you trust yourself, trust yourself and, and go after it.

[Host]

See it? Yeah. See it, then go has been my new kind of blocking phrase that I've been using because I've been struggling with that. Just like you're saying, Zach, I'm. I'm holding on five. A bird doesn't come out. Ricky, you've seen me do this. You. You've busted me on this so many times. Bird doesn't come out and the gun.

[Zach Nannini]

Moves like feet off the left hand side of the house.

[Host]

Right.

[Zach Nannini]

And it's like, yeah, and it sucks because. Because here. Here's what ends up happening, too. If the pole is like, kind of on time but a little slow and you're coming out of the house making that move, you're like, yeah, well, I made the same move on that one as I did the one before. But you were, yeah, moving from a completely different hold point.

[Host]

Right.

[Zach Nannini]

By the time you actually got to that clay, I mean, you were three feet out in front of it before you even started. And that. That's going to cause your brain to go, oh, something happened wrong. And. And you missed. And you're like, I don't know what happened. It's because you. You. You didn't do it the same.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yep.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

And.

[Host]

And I don't know if you guys can feel this anymore just because of how long you've been doing it, but on the days where I'm dialed in, I can feel that heartbeat in between call, seeing the bird and moving like that little just split second heartbeat of not moving the gun. And you just. You will just decimate. No, that's not like.

[Ricky Marshall]

Okay, all right, all right, Zach. Zach's got no heart, so it's okay.

[Host]

Yeah, okay.

[Zach Nannini]

Feel that, folks.

[Host]

Heart. Heartbeat was the wrong term. Okay, moving on. Moving on. Hey, Rick, this is a quick question that came in. He didn't leave his name, but has Richard ever shot the Hartford Gun Club? I think this is probably coming in from some of your traveling with Ricky Marshall videos.

[Ricky Marshall]

Hartford, Connecticut.

[Host]

Hartford just says Hartford Gun Club. So, yeah, let's assume Hartford, Connecticut.

[Zach Nannini]

We don't know.

[Host]

All right, there's your answer.

[Ricky Marshall]

I know at Hartford. Maybe I'll. I'll venture up there. I'll be doing. I'm going to be traveling a lot this year. I'm gonna be driving to a lot of places. I was gonna haul my fifth wheel to some, but I might just drive instead. And if I haul it, whatever, I'm gonna try to stop it. Many different gun clubs along the way. Do a little quick video, throw it up there, Give a shout out to all these clubs and small clubs and just a little traveling.

[Host]

Traveling with Ricky Marshall fun videos.

[Zach Nannini]

He hasn't been to a gun club, and you would like him there. All you have to do do is arrange a Ricky Marshall Jr. Shooting clinic, and he will. He will come to a gun club near you and. And teach you how to hit some clays. So that's a shameless plug for my favorite.

[Host]

Shameless plug. Shameless, shameless plug me a shameless plug. And if you need to raise money and understand how money works, hit up our guy here, Zach Nannini. Shameless plug. Okay.

[Zach Nannini]

And every once in a while, there's. There's a couple client appreciation dinners as Ricky and.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

Might know. Maybe John too, but I don't know. We'll see.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah.

[Host]

Yeah. Never a bad thing. All right, moving on. Here we go.

[Ricky Marshall]

In 2023 here we have done 37 state shoots. Seven of the 11 satellite grants we now have. I think it's 241, 242 clubs across the country using our system.

[Zach Nannini]

If a club was wanting to use you, do you. You have like a base entry level pricing or packages that you advertise or is it based on the size of the shoots? Greg, our base level price is zero.

[Ricky Marshall]

Our complete package system, you know, the.

[Zach Nannini]

Whole enchilada is zero. Zero is a good price.

[Host]

Yeah. Good.

[Zach Nannini]

The premium members do not pay a.

[Ricky Marshall]

Pre squad fee ever. For all year. All year. Can I buy a lifetime membership?

[Host]

Abby, it first.

[Zach Nannini]

I want to be one number.

[Ricky Marshall]

Number one.

[Zach Nannini]

Zack, we want lifetime memberships for me and Ricky.

[Host]

Should a shooter always look at the beads when mounting the gun as a check for alignment and then look out beyond the barrel and call for the target.

[Ricky Marshall]

I mean it. You can't. I listen. I do at times if you know that you, you mount the gun, some days you're like, is this my gun?

[Host]

Don't fit, right?

[Zach Nannini]

Exactly.

[Host]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

So that might be those.

[Host]

But especially after the holidays, all the.

[Ricky Marshall]

Time it's all going back to the first couple questions. It's all preference. If you like that, here's what I'll say. It's probably not a bad idea to line, make sure everything's lined up and then look out. So it gives yourself a split second for your eye to adjust versus just mountain and calling. That's.

[Zach Nannini]

So I, I do mount the gun. My eyes are closer to the barrel and then I move my eyes out. And for me, if I have that process every time, it's the same every time. Now, I will say that there's been times in my shooting career where I'm shooting under light and I feel like I'm in this. I'm in my area and then I set my eyes where I want them and I just throw the gun up. And so yeah, you could do it both ways. There's some people like, like, like imagine like a Freddie Nagel, you know, Freddy's tossing that gun up and calling pull. Or Jimmy Heller tossing that gum up and come pull and like, their whole set, their whole definition of the game, even Benia's, towards the end of his game, was, I want to keep my eyes out there. And when I get that gun to my face, I'm calling pull. And I'm not even thinking about where the gun is. And I'm really intently keeping my eyes out there the whole time. I mean, there's. There's some shooters that have done that with some. Some great success. I find that if you are going to look at the beads, you're going to need an extra half a second or a second to actually transition the eyes out there.

[Host]

Yeah. I thought, Ricky, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Leo a bead checker every time? Or is. Am I not?

[Ricky Marshall]

I mean, Leo mounted the gun and, you know, his eyes were. He kind of looked around the barrel.

[Host]

Okay. Because I'm. I'm going off of the Sunrise production dvd where I remember him saying, I mount my gun, I check the beads, I look out, call for the.

[Ricky Marshall]

He did. He look. And then he looked around.

[Host]

Yeah, right.

[Zach Nannini]

Throw the gun up and call pull. Quickly, though. And it got. I mean, it was. Everything got ready. And then he called Paul. I mean, he had a good amount of time.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

And that's where I got a lot of mine was from. Frank Copy did the same thing. Leo.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

All that is I do, I look through the beats, so I see them all the time. I want to make sure they're lined up. I mean, I could throw up my gun with my winning stock and it's the same place every time. You know, that's the beauty of a off in a winning stock. It's just perfect. So all you need, baby.

[Host]

Shameless plug. So I think people would be surprised who haven't seen you shoot, Ricky, is how much time you do hold the gun before you call pull. Because I think a lot of shooters who haven't seen some of the greats shoot, they think like what Zach was saying, that they're just throwing the gun up, calling pull, smoking birds. I. I was a little surprised when I saw you bring it up, hold till you were ready and then shooting. So just a note out to everybody. There's no need to rush that shot. It's your shot. Get the gun up, get ready, then take it right, then call not.

[Zach Nannini]

But the best advice I ever got from anyone was your eyes will tell you when they're ready. And like, there's. I've seen. I've seen Rick, like, get the gun up and he's ready and it's more quick. And there's some days that maybe, you know, we had too many of those two ounce curls and you got an extra. You got an extra. An extra little bit to look before you call poor, if you know what I mean. Here's the thing, too.

[Ricky Marshall]

And I'm gonna give a shameless plug to my buddy, AKA Dave Kelly, from Dave Kelly Trucking. So Dave got on me one time. I was rushing towards the end, and this was. I mean, this is in the, God, early 2000s. I'd get down towards the end of a round and at the end of.

[Zach Nannini]

The silver dollar in like 08.

[Ricky Marshall]

Well, yeah, and I was. No, this was before that. This was about like 02 or three. And I shot and I was quick shooting and I'm like. And Dave goes, you are going way too fast. And I'm like, you're probably right. Okay, so now. And here's the thing, too, as we get older, eyes a little different. When I get back in handicap singles, I can get away with just mountain pole handicap, though. I really set and I let my eyes. I want to be able to see good. And Zach's right when. When your eyes are ready, you know, So I just. But I slowed down a little bit. So I will say, you know, I'll give a shameless plug to Dave that, you know, he. He did give me that little info, which my father had been telling me. Jody had been on me about it. But it's like. And then when your buddy stand there next to you, your competitor, and he's like, dude, you know, And I just pissed away a target for. I had a 99, missed the 98. Had a 98 now. And he's like, you and I, oh. So the next event, I'm like, slow down. I'm like, yeah, I broke that last five.

[Zach Nannini]

So, yeah, yeah, I mean, you got good advice. Give credit where credit's due to Dave Kelly. But that being said, if he ever sees that again and you're down, I'm gonna tell him not to say nothing because, I mean, you're too damn good to be giving tips. You just leave you alone.

[Ricky Marshall]

Twenty years ago, a lot. A lot of things have changed, you know. So.

[Host]

Yeah. All right, well, hey, thank you for that question. That was a great question. All right, we're moving on.

[Ricky Marshall]

Shoot the first one and then loop to the second one and drive through it just like that.

[Zach Nannini]

Great shot.

[Host]

Shot two.

[Zach Nannini]

Great shot.

[Ricky Marshall]

We're just trying to help every shooter out there, no matter if you're an expert or a beginner and this product will take your game to the next level.

[Host]

Works for any of the disciplines.

[Ricky Marshall]

As long as it can find a clay in the image, it will figure out how it's moving and how that.

[Host]

Shot pattern is going to hit.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

Now in that shot, I intentionally shot high, which is most person. People do. Yep. So outside the pattern now what's it say for the correction of that one foot? Yep, that'd be correct. Now in this one, I will smoke the target.

[Zach Nannini]

If people want to purchase this unit, what's the best way to do it? I mean, is it. Is it through your guys's website? Is there a phone number to call or what's. What's that situation? Go to the website.

[Ricky Marshall]

Taking Tech.com and an online store.

[Zach Nannini]

We have inventory will ship usually within 24 hours. Huge thank you to Jim and Bob at TK for supporting Trap Talk.

[Host]

Okay, this is coming in from John. He is from the Newman Swamp Rants Club in California. Yep. Zach knows it well. John is asking what are the signs and symptoms of cross firing and how does one go about fixing that?

[Ricky Marshall]

Take two weeks off, then quit.

[Zach Nannini]

Two weeks off. That is not a helpful answer.

[Ricky Marshall]

Don't post that.

[Host]

I think it's great. Good advice.

[Zach Nannini]

Oh, it's not.

[Ricky Marshall]

Honestly, you know, I don't see what. What you'll see a lot of times is you'll see two barrels your left eyes take. If your right hand, your left eye is taking over. Your right handed, you know, or your left handed, your right eyes taking over. So how to fix it? I mean if you just started shooting and you're left eye dominant, shooting right handed. Shoot left handed. That's what I would recommend one. That's why Tyler, even though he still puts tape on he. Because his mother, you know, whatever. That's. That's for another time. But I would just say is you can use. There's some tube sites out there. Dusty Klein uses one. Dusty's left eye dominant, shoots right. Right handed right eye two eyes open. And it's a long. It's a long tube that has the. It's a white side. I don't. Not a fan of the fluorescent. But a white site that's. This front part is a solid tube. So your left eye cannot see that. So that possibly would help. The blinder, I hear helps. I don't use them.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's just, you know, to identify it. I think it creeps in with some people when you know they're having some dominance dominancy issues, you know, because there's some people that have had it where everything looks clean for years. And I think his question was like, well, like, how do you notice it? And if you're going over there to the left and you see that barrel go cattywampus or you see, you know, something like two siding planes or the whole side of the barrel, well, then it's probably happening.

[Ricky Marshall]

Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

What I will say before you go like down the deep road, because this has happened to me before and it was a really simple fix and I didn't know it until I fixed it, but I was getting behind the gun and my right eye was getting blocked by the rib and I was actually behind the gun too far. So if you never get that, if you ever get that rib or all that stuff up into the pupil, your eye, well, what happens? Well, this little friend over here starts taking over. So I raised the comb and got the gun out of my eye and instantaneously, no more crossover. Completely fixed it. Brand new.

[Ricky Marshall]

So there's a few things there, Zach, with what you're just saying that I, I'll go a little deeper on. A lot of people, they mount the gun when they're, when they're practicing or just mounting it. They're mounting here, they're mounting here, they're mounting here. Now what happens when they get into a competition? They mount here. Correct. They're covering. They barely see that. So what happens? Both eyes open when they move, they're pressing in even harder. So I always say, number one, mount that gun the same way every time, same amount of pressure, so you're locked in and then you won't have that problem. Now number two, how to identify what Zach said, like it's going to the left. If you're shooting right handed, most likely, if that left eye is taken over, you're going to be behind the target. Okay. Going to a right angle, you're going to be in front of the target. So if you can tell where you shot by chance, then you're going to know something's going on. And that tracker raise the, raise that comb up just a little bit more maybe and be like, oh man, that's not that good. But then shoot and you'll be able to tell.

[Zach Nannini]

Now here's another little quick tip that you could use. If you're getting beat on the left side and it's only on the left side, which I have before, and sometimes just bad light early in the season, whatever. And I think Rick does the same thing. I'll shift off to the left Hand side of the house. I mean, I'll just, I'll slide over there a little bit so that that target's coming to my right eye instead of being on the inside of the house and chasing it with my left eye. Because if you come in too much with that gun on the inside of the house, well, the first thing it's going to see, it's your left eye. If you bring that gun over. Well, now you're catching it from the right hand side. Right. So a little, a little uncomfortable, but could help with that cross dominancy issue.

[Ricky Marshall]

If there's no other choice if it's the left angle. So I hold if this is the, the corner of the front of the house I'm holding outside and I see a gap of about that much two feet. Why? No, it's, it's maybe a foot.

[Zach Nannini]

Foot.

[Ricky Marshall]

Reason why is before I knew I needed prescription glasses, my left eye was taken over and when that left, I would take over. When I was on the corner, I'd get beaten. I'm like, what the heck? So I'm like, you know what? I moved out. Well, then my ride I saw first. Then you were good. So, yeah, it's just quick little things that you can try in practice. Don't do them in the event. Yeah.

[Zach Nannini]

Don't try something the first time in the tournament after, you know, and then say, oh, well, it didn't work. Well, yeah, like you don't have confidence in it. If you don't have confidence in it's not going to work.

[Ricky Marshall]

That is correct.

[Host]

Ricky, is that still your hold point on post 1 a little outside the house?

[Ricky Marshall]

Absolutely. I, you know, I did it for so long and then it's just so comfortable. Even today for me, I can still move back to the straightaway and it's not so straight away. If I'm holding off, the straightaway comes here. I don't go, you know, at this angle. I go over and then right up it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Ricky Marshall]

I can always.

[Host]

You come across secret is the over.

[Zach Nannini]

Because a lot of people short that every single time up you block it, you miss it.

[Host]

I mean that. And you know, to that point, this is a question I'm surprised we haven't seen actually on the show yet is people talking about the initial move to a bird being flat versus up. Like because if you stand behind and watch, I feel like a lot of the first moves that you guys are making are coming across and then up to it. Right. And I think when you years ago.

[Ricky Marshall]

And I tell everybody if you move across the house. And. And it is a different move. People. Some people look, you know, and I don't work well, trust me, because you.

[Host]

See the bird going up, you think you're supposed to go up.

[Ricky Marshall]

And that's. And here's the thing. He could be having this issue with this cross dominancy on how he's moving to the target. Could be some of that.

[Zach Nannini]

Yeah. I mean, so if the angles are going out and you're going up, you're intersecting it at a spot where it's still moving either left or right, like, it's still going that other direction. So I think it's, you know, trap shooting. Everyone thinks up, but I feel like it's way more important to move left to right than it is to move up. And that's why I feel like doubles, for me, helped my singles and handicap game that much more because it taught me how to pivot left to right instead of up, down.

[Host]

Yeah. Zach, initially, how did you. How did you train that left, right move? Because the instinctual move is up. Was it a conscious thing? You. You said, okay, I have to move left and right, like horizontally, or I would just. Did you ever work on that?

[Zach Nannini]

Sure. I kept. I would just make sure I kept the target in vision and I didn't block it out. And when I move with my body and I rotated, I would try rotating with my body instead of pressing up with my arms. I mean, you start pressing up with your arms, you're going to cover it up. But if you keep the target in sight the whole time, you'll do what you need to do.

[Host]

Yeah, it's just. It's just such a better move to the bird. When you start off with that left or right move versus.

[Zach Nannini]

Ricky knows. He's taught me all this stuff. He's pretty.

[Host]

He knows. Yeah, I know. I was just throwing it to you so that Ricky could take his medicine. Hey, you take your cough drops? We're just happy that you're here.

[Ricky Marshall]

We.

[Host]

We're happy that you're feeling better.

[Ricky Marshall]

I am.

[Zach Nannini]

Okay, guys. Very.

[Host]

Yeah, very good. Moving on. These are. These are great questions coming in. Again, we appreciate everybody. If you want to send us questions, ask [e-mail] and we'll keep getting these guys to answer them for you. And we really appreciate everyone who is watching the show sending in your questions. As always, if you have questions, send them to ask us traptalkpodcast.com and we'll get these two guys to answer them for you. Thanks, everybody.