How Close Together Should Your Feet Be?

“When shooting below your feet, how much closer should your feet actually be? Should foot closeness vary with downward angle? Should my feet touch every time? Is there an optimal distance between your feet? I’ve been trying to vary on what felt right and I get mixed results. I think I am getting jammed somehow.”

 

Any time you’re shooting below your feet or above your head, such as a tower shot, our mantra is always “hands together, feet together” with more weight out over your toes on the downward angle, meaning the heel of the front hand comes back to touch the metal part of the action so that you can mount the gun cleanly every time. Your feet get a lot closer together, and your weight is on your front foot.

If it’s a downward angle, you’re going to mount the gun a little bit more in on your shoulder as opposed to a horizontal shot. If it’s an upward angle, you’re going to mount the gun a little higher in your shoulder because your head is going to be up above or down below. This means if the gun comes to your face, it’s going to come to a slightly different part of your shoulder each time.

If you’re built like a trap shooter with some forward ballast, then your feet may need to be a little further apart to maintain balance.

You will benefit from anything over your head off the tower or below your feet, or anything you can do to take the body out of the shot and move the gun in your hands and arms. If you’re trying to move the gun with too much body on a high tower shot on a real low shot, you won’t be able to stay on the line. Bring the heel of your front hand back, touch the receiver, and keep the gun in mostly your hands and arms.

Here’s the other thing about tower shots: getting the swing arc of the gun on the target line. And that takes way too long to show people, even in person.

The key, especially to tower shots, is getting the swing arc of the muzzle on the target line, especially on high quartering away birds and it requires a much tighter stance or a much tighter grip. The hands need to be really close together so you can move the muzzle on the swing or get the swing arc on the target line.

This is an excerpt from the July 2021 Coaching Hour podcast. You can listen to it and read a written transcript, along with more than 20 years of archived episodes with your Knowledge Vault membership.