The NSCA US Open is one of my favorite weeks of the year because the country’s best sporting clays shooters are all in one place. I’ve known Grace Callahan for a few years, and this time I finally talked her into a little sporting clays challenge. The real question was simple: can a guy who has made his living doing trick shots and gun reviews actually keep up with a pro?
In this article
A Sporting Clays Challenge at the US Open
This year’s NSCA US Open was held at Game Unlimited outside Hudson, Wisconsin, and it was a beautiful week to be on a clays course. Grace is a pro shooter, and if you caught our shotgun fit video for women, you already know she’s the one who helped courtney with gun fit which led to her getting a new Syren shotgun. More on that in the future. As for me, I couldn’t even tell you what class I’m in without looking it up.
Deep down, I knew there was no way I should beat her. But in a short sporting clays challenge , anything could happen, or atleast that’s what I was telling myself. After shooting 3 singles, report pairs, and true pairs, it came down to a tiebreaker, and I’ll let the video tell you how it ended.
Honestly, the score was never the point. It was just a fun excuse for the two of us to spend some time shooting together.
What Grace Taught Me About Finishing the Shot
The part I was really looking forward to came after the shooting. Anytime I get a chance to talk with a pro, I love to pick their brain, and Grace spotted something in my shooting right away.
Her read was that I needed more fluidity in the completion of the shot. In other words, less worry about the result and more focus on finishing the move. I have a habit of letting the gun drop the instant the shot goes off, especially in trap, and she caught it almost immediately.
The Second-Click Drill
Her fix is about as simple as a drill gets. Load one shell, call for a single, and after the shot, pull the trigger a second time on the empty chamber. You aren’t done with the target until you feel that second click.
The idea is to pull the trigger like the gun is unloaded every time, so there’s no result attached to it. The difference showed up right away, and my follow-through went from stopping short to carrying all the way to where the target landed. I had never heard this one before, and it’s going straight into my practice.
Flipping the Script: Trick Shots From the Hip and Over the Head
I knew Grace had an itch to try some basic trick shots, so we moved to a new stand and swapped roles. That was a ton of fun for me, because I don’t often get the chance to teach high level shooters how to pull off a trick shot like shooting from the hip.
It’s always fun to watch a highly accomplished shooter try these for the first time, because none of it is intuitive. From the hip, you have to stay connected to the gun and move with your body instead of swinging the barrel on its own, so the relationship between your eye and the muzzle stays the same. You also need to have a decent amount of barrel awareness to let your brain know you have the right relationship.
Now, to be fair, the techniques I use in an exhibition hurt me on a sporting course, and I told Grace as much. It took her a few tries to build that barrel awareness, but she got there and smoked a target from the hip and then also with the gun over her head. What I loved most was the pure excitement she had when she completed these shots. Whether you are 9 or 79, there’s something special about getting your first successful shot. Grace has shot 100’s of thousands of targets, but accomplishing a new first brings so much joy.
The Guns We Shot
- My shotgun: Caesar Guerini Invictus I M-Spec with 34″ barrels
- Grace’s shotgun: Caesar Guerini Syren Grayce with 32″ barrels and lightweight titanium chokes
Top Shooters Are Experts at Learning
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the top shooters are experts at learning. They know how to listen and apply information because they’ve been doing it their whole careers, and that makes them very coachable. Grace proved it from the hip in just a few tries.
I’m so appreciative of the time I get to spend with people like Grace at these events. She’s a bundle of energy and an absolute joy to be around, and this sporting clays challenge was a good reminder that you can have a blast and still walk away a better shooter.
