FOR Australian clay target shooter Adam Vella, the notion of getting it right on the day is all too familiar.

Vella, a Commonwealth Games double gold medallist and an Olympic bronze medallist, is fronting up for his third Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and is out for redemption.

The 39-year-old Keilor resident admits he's hoping to erase some of the demons stemming from his poor performance at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in his hometown Melbourne.

"I didn't have a very good run in Melbourne. I got caught up in the home-crowd stuff. It put me on a different level of expectation," he says.

"If I had it all over again I'd definitely do it differently. I'd try to shoot for myself and not for everyone else."

Vella has been shooting for 26 years. In Delhi, he'll compete in the pairs event with Michael Diamond and individually in the men's trap.

"We've won the gold in the past two Commonwealth Games so the pairs gold is what we're going for."

Vella's preparation for the Games will include competing at several international events before heading to India on October 3.

Ultimately, though, he says shooting is more mental than technical.

"It's a target sport. It's on the day. Anything can happen in shooting. You wake up in the morning and if you wake up on the right side you'll hit everything and if you don't you'll miss.

"The practice side of things is not the biggest element; for me it's the mental side. When you've been shooting as long as I have it comes as second nature."

Asked how long he will continue in the sport, Vella says professional shooters by nature live in "four-year blocks" in the hope of making major competitions.

His goal is to make the 2012 London Olympics squad. Then he will reassess.