doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Surprise gun fitting results

Since my fitting I have adjusted my current guns' length of pull with a strap-on pad. It makes their dimensions just about what the fitting measurements came to except for the drop at comb. Surprisingly I find that I shoot them quite well with an extra 5/8" LOP. My gun is now completed, and just needs to be shipped to the importer. I ordered the gun with two sets of screw chokes and 28" barrels that are steel shot proofed. The maker indicated that monoblocked barrels are stronger than the other ways of making barrels, so I chose that method. I also asked if possible to make the 12GA gun with 3" chambers. The chambers are 76mm and the gun weighs 6 lb, 5 oz. I'll get a whack when I shoot 3" shells, but that won't be often. I wanted 3" chambers and steel shot proofing for shooting pheasants in South Dakota, where steel shot is required and 3" steel shells are most common. Also, I ordered standard wood, a wooden buttplate, and all the free engraving they were willing to put on the gun. It is finished in French Gray, so I did splurge and added a french gray steel grip cap. The gun is a true left hand gun in all respects, with a left hand toplever and reversed double triggers and the stock dimensions, including left hand cast I mentioned earlier.

I should mention that I have had the 8X57JRS O/U double rifle for about 2 months and the long stock is just about perfect for me with irons. I have a little trouble getting enough eye relief with a scope, but a different scope will address that. The gun weighs 7 pounds scoped and will put two Hornady 180s within an inch and a half of each other at 100yd.

This gun was made by whom. I can't find where you mentioned the maker. It looks French to me, maybe P&V?

Good eye. It is French. Verney-Carron.

I'd take good eyesight over custom fitting any day of the week.

When I was a young'un I could shoot at and hit just about anything within reach of the gun, and it didn't matter what the gun's dimensions were. I am one of the humans who was born with arms that bend at both the elbow and shoulder and a neck that can move a few degrees. That always did, and still does, take care of the gun fit issues. What I don't have now are eyes that can put it all together.

Boy, you said a mouthful there. I wholeheartedly agree, and my experiences have mirrored yours. One exception for me is that I absolutely cannot shoot a shotgun well that doesn't have enough drop. I will not tolerate a gun that I have to cheek too hard to make it shoot flat. Fortunately, with vintage guns, that is seldom the case.

SRH

I have no interest in gunfitting. However, oddly, I can't stand to be forced to look at a lot of rib. I thought I was alone in this, until Stan posted. Fortunately, I have mostly guns with sufficient drop. Not to disparage the original poster, but, in my opinion, many shooters who seek gunfitting are poor shots who should learn to shoot before they seek an expensive gunfitting and a new gun. Experienced shooters who shoot well normally know what they need in gun fit better than the fitter does.

You can lump me with Stan and eightbore on this.....as I do like some drop as found in the older guns, especially if descending birds are in the mix.

A short story of one of the better clays shooters at our local club who always shoots high-combed guns. We had a vintage event coming up that he wanted to enter inspite of not owning a SxS. I offered him the trial loan of a Fox Sterlingworth with 3-1/4" drop at heel......which is a lot by most standards. I asked him to simply mount it up from a low-gun position and tell me what he saw. He did, and related that he could only see the thumb portion of the toplever and no portion of the barrels whatsoever. I then asked him to take five minutes out back of the grounds mounting that gun on tree tops, power line transformers, flag pole tops, etc. and giving complete concentration to what he was looking at on these objects.

Having done this, he said he could make that work, but only by keeping his cheekbone was well above the comb line. Told him not to fuss about that detail, but to place hard focus on the clay regardless of cheek position. With that he went forth to try a practice round of five-stand with a strange-to-him gun and broke a very respectable 21. He was probably the most incredulous one there that day, and couldn't understand himself having done it without having a hard cheek plant. Shows that we can be somewhat adaptable to what we have to shoot with at times. True story........

I used to use a Ruger Gold Label for everything. To give you an idea of my shooting skill, the fellows I hunted with complained that I shot too many of the birds we put up, and that I should only be allowed one shell in the gun. I pointed out that one shell was all I usually needed unless I was shooting at two birds! So the gun fitting wasn't because I can't shoot, but that I wanted a gun with true left hand configuration and my dimensions. I am tired of having to take some crippled right hand gun and modify it to the true left side. I also wanted to eliminate the problem of seeing the rib when shooting as I know that the physics of shooting builds in inherent over or under (mostly over shooting) when you can see the rib. I wanted the bead to be the only thing visible and the fitting does that for me.

You guys that don't believe in gun fit must not shoot competition clays, at least not at a high level. I guarantee you the National Champion of I don't care what, skeet, sporting, trap, or wtf ever, shoots a gun that fits them. Likely, if all you shoot is pen raised game, I would agree, gun fit probably does not matter all that much.

It's not that I don't "believe in gunfit". They shoot guns that fit them, buzz, absolutely. I have been fitted by a gunfitter that had me to shoot at a pattern plate many, many times, too. That is not the point. The point is that even though you might shoot your best in a round of 100 while using a gun the "fits" perfectly, many of us can shoot within three or four birds of that number with a gun that may differ greatly in dimensions.

I certainly do not shoot at the top in registered sporting, with the likes of Miles, Matarese, McGuire, Cherry, Fowler, etc. But, I punched into Master class at the U S Open in 2010 shooting an out of the box BSS with a leather lace-on pad to increase the LOP. It has nowhere near the dimensions of my MX8 comp gun, which fits me perfectly. I shot in M class for several years, then lost interest in it and almost quit shooting registered stuff and they bumped me back down to AA this year, which "tickled me pink". My goal is not to be the "National Champion". Again, the point is that there are many of us who can shoot within 3-4 birds, of our best with a fitted comp gun, while shooting any number of guns with differing dimensions. Also again, as long as they have enough drop to let me stack the beads without pushing my cheek down on the comb too hard. One inch difference in LOP, more drop .......... no big deal.

And, in reality, if I am having a really good day with the "stock" BSS I will shoot BETTER than I will shooting the fitted MX8 on a mediocre day. And, the MX8 is the one that supposedly fits me best, according to the gunfitter's recommended dimensions.

SRH