doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 1878 gun mount for Olympic Trap

"Crawling the stock" seems to work

Captain Adam H. Bogardus June, 1878 breaking 1000/1037 glass balls in London



c. 1880



Vitaly Fokeev - Russia 2008 Men's Trap



Jessica Rossi - Italy London 2012 Olympic Gold, Women's Trap with record 99x100



Elena Tkach - Russia 2012



More here, with images of Kim Rhode and Vincent Hancock shooting International Skeet
https://docs.google.com/document/preview?id=1c7UkkNyMTZ9NAztILpzjSLKvgIneAw5i7eqkZ3d3Eno

Advance about 10 'older' images here for a good image of Peter Wilson's winning mount at doubles trap
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikekingphoto/7084640871/lightbox/

Great pics, Drew. Interesting that the "accepted" upright, head back mount is not necessarily the result of (or reason for?) the 3 in.+ drop on so many of the old guns.

Here is how I mounted BoWhoop when I had the opportunity to handle it in '09. Didn't know the pic was being taken at the time, I was too infatuated with the gun.



As you can see, I have a natural tendency to crawl the stock a bit myself. It is something that has developed by itself, or maybe I should say, without my conscious effort, over the years. It is very comfortable for me, and for some strange reason gives me more confidence.

SRH

Drew,
It is coincidental that I am researching this issue for discussion in a future Lefever newsletter. Do you know of demostrations where the point of impact relative to the bead at the end of the barrel is with the various mounts shown here? I have a limited opportunity here in Hawaii to experiment with this myself. I have guns with drops as severe as 3" and could compare with a multi-adjustable Beretta that is fitted perfectly to me. I can shoot some of my old side by sides as well(that is to say slightly better than mediocre) as the Beretta after I dertemine where the point of impact is. I don't consciously know how I do it.

Bob: Dave Noreen's 1909 National Sportsman article might be helpful, and he could probably provide better images than are on the link. As you well know, head position = eye position relative to the rib/barrels. I am of the opinion that the 'head up' position is mostly mythology and the old boys 'crawled the stock' in order to consistently place the comb under the zygomatic arch with the eye looking straight down the rib, some standing upright (British style) and others with a moderate (weight on the front leg) or exagerated forward lean

Thanks, thats helpful. I need to take various stocked guns out and fire at a still target seeing where the POI is when using some of these mounts.

I'd suggest skipping this one Bob Sitting on a stool position with the comb on the jaw from Harper's Weekly July 1886 But he IS looking down the rib!

My old mentor Mr Con Blount shot about 3 million rabbits with a style not dissimilar to the one above.

The yeomen farmers of which he was a glowing example were nearly all first class rabbit shots, and crouched into a bent leg posture.

In the hungry 30's when times were really bad Mr Blount and his brother kept the farm going by sending literally thousands of rabbits per annum to Birmingham market stashed in big wicker type laundry baskets. They'd go on the early morning train from Arley and come back the same evening with the cheque in the bottom of the basket.

So a few things other than shooting styles have changed; notably the efficiency of the railways, and farming cash flow!

Smashing topic Drew.

Eug

I think the pic of Bogardus shows a stock with a lot of drop at heel
Elena Katch has the stock with the longest length of pull I ever saw a top shooter use.

Eugene: Dan Carlisle won the bronze in Trap at the 1984 LA Olympics, and was 4th in Skeet in 1988. He popularized the crouch position, which Vincent Hancock has used to be the first man to win two Olympic Gold medals. Interestingly, in this image the comb appears to just be touching his jaw