Lining-up with targets before you shoot

I went to a small shoot at a village fete with a friend the other day and when he was being shown the pair of birds, he was closing his gun and following the targets with it. I thought this was against the rules?

DON BRUNT replies: If the shoot is being run to full CPSA rules then yes, it is. However most small shoots aren’t, otherwise they would have to insist that everyone wears eye protection, which at the kind of shoot you went to would mean that half of the people there wouldn’t shoot. At least now, according to CPSA rules, you can stand in the cage when viewing a pair, though you would normally only be allowed to see one pair unless it was a simultaneous pair, in which case you are allowed to see it twice in order to work out which clay you will shoot first. Don’t always expect to be shown a pair though; if other people are shooting the stand when you get there, the chances are you will go straight in and shoot. However, on the other side of the Atlantic you are always allowed to see two pairs and yes, you can track the targets on the show pairs with an empty gun.