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Apr 29th, 2024
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 969 Likes: 38
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 969 Likes: 38 |
Fitting helps you hit, ie the shot going where you point, but there is also the part of recoil attenuation and elimination of painful situations, like upper arm bruises etc.
Last edited by Shotgunlover; 07/30/15 05:50 AM.
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,008 Likes: 65
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,008 Likes: 65 |
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 had a parallel experience only in reverse. I always have shot best with a flat sight picture and detest high-combed guns. Picked up a SxS a couple years ago with a very high comb with the thought of rasping it down to fit. As I worked through it I began to realize that I could hit quite well when I just looked at the clay and shot without any regard to the sight picture (which was clearly out of my comfort zone). The gun must fit, but it doesn't fit like the other SxS's I have that "fit."
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,935
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,935 |
Pen raised game? Huh? I've never shot any pen raised game. I've shot plenty of natural game and lots of clay targets.
I never said gun fit doesn't matter. It just matters much less than a lot of other things, eyesight in particular.
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 931
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 931 |
Teasedale-Buckell tells an anecdote of a gent who once had a try gun session. When he had a gun made to the dimension, he couldn't hit anything with it. The gent complained, and the gunmaker began to explain that their records indicate that the gent was left-eye dominant, and... "But it's impossible that I should be left-eye dominant" - said the gent. "Why not?" - asked the maker. "Because my left eye is made of glass!"
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 982 Likes: 51
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 982 Likes: 51 |
That's a funny and great anecdote. Also a great point. Your gun fit may only be as good as the person doing the fitting for you. Parker as well as others had try guns back in the heyday of SXS shotguns. Many of the Parker shotguns I have received records on, have the DAH DAC, AND LOP recorded. Some of these guns have almost 4" of drop while another only has 2 1/4". The reason I guess is many of us are built differently, and also have different shooting styles. A good fitter that understands the business of fitting can customize the dimensions of your gun to match your physical dimensions as well as your shooting style. I was fortunate enough about 10 years ago to spend an hour or more doing a fit at Michael Murphys in Kansas. It was money well spent.
It's not that I can't make things work, heck I grew up in family of 4 boys on a very small budget. Just ask me how many different size shoes I could make work.
Nothing beats a hunting boot, running shoe, or dress shoe that fits properly. I feel the same way about my shotguns.
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