Gun fit is important! I wish I could just leave it at
that. But I suppose you want to know why John Woolley believes that it is one
of the top five most important steps to breaking targets. (Otherwise you
wouldn’t be reading this article.) In order of significance the five steps are;
(1) hold your head still, (2) use a proper gun mount, (3) focus on the bird,
(4) never let the bird past your gun, and (5) proper gun fit.
You should have seen the look of confusion and slight
panic on my face when John began explaining what this article needed to
entail. He was using words and phrases
like pitch, cast on, cast off, toe, comb, length of pull, stance, etc. Sure I’ve heard them all before but I have
always rested in the comfort of knowing that he understands all of that so I
don’t have to. Kind of like how I can
sew a button on his shirt so he doesn’t need to know how. Nonetheless, I have now been assigned the
task of relating to you what he said, so here goes.
First, why is gun fit important? Basically it is essential in order to
achieve steps one and two listed earlier. If the gun doesn’t fit your body
correctly, you will be unable to keep your head still and have it be in the
right place. Therefore you will be unable to have a proper gun mount.
So, what do we mean by “gun fit”? As you know, we all
come in different shapes and sizes. The
average guns on the shelves in stores are made for a right-handed man who is
between 5’8” and 5’10” and weighs between 170-190 pounds. Most of us do not fall into that category
and therefore need some adjustments made to our guns. For example, if you are
left-handed then you will need a different cast to your stock than a
right-handed shooter. The cast is the
bend in the stock from the face to the heel.
“Cast on” is for the left-handed shooter, “cast off” is for
right-handed. Cast is necessary to enable your dominant eye to see straight
down the barrel without bending your head over the stock.
Now if you are large in the chest (man or woman) then
your gun may need some adjustment to the pitch. Pitch is the angle of the butt plate from the heel (top) to the
toe (bottom). For example, a large
chested man and most women need less toe.
Stock length or length of pull is another important
detail that needs to be addressed.
Obviously if the gun is too long you will have trouble mounting, holding
and moving it. Too short is very
awkward for the same reasons. When you
mount the gun properly, you should be able to put the width of two fingers
between your nose and your thumb where it comes over the pistol grip.
We can all MAKE any gun fit us well enough to break a
target. However, if you shoot a lot, you will notice some signs if your gun
doesn’t fit you. For example, if you
can see down one side of the barrel with the gun mounted, and you are holding
your head correctly (eye’s level and nose angled towards gun), then the gun
needs the cast adjusted for you.
Another common problem that you’ve probably seen out on the range is a
bruised, sometimes even bleeding, cheek. Usually that is a sign of cross
dominance, for example a right-handed shooter with a dominant left eye. Sometimes it may indicate that you are
pushing your head down too hard on the gun or rolling your head over the gun,
which also shows the need for an adjustment to the cast of the stock.
I realize that this may sound like a lot of mumbo jumbo
to the occasional hunter or novice clay target shooter but it really comes down
to your future goals in shotgun shooting.
If you want to shoot to the best of your ability, you need to have a gun
that fits you specifically. Once you
have the measurements taken then you can either have a stock made to your
specifications, or you can have a gunsmith make the necessary adjustments to
your current stock. A typical gun fit session takes about an hour and costs
around $150. Some clubs have an instructor who also does gun fitting or they
occasionally bring someone like John in for a few days. The most common tool used is a try-gun,
which is fully adjustable as well as functional.
Here is how a typical gun fit
session goes with John. First he takes the shooter out and watches them shoot a
few times with their own gun. From that
he can tell if they need help with the way they hold the gun, the way they stand,
or if the gun needs adjusting, or maybe all three. After watching for a few
minutes, John can usually adjust the try-gun to fit them near perfectly. The shooter then practices mounting and John
tweaks the measurements until it is perfect.
Then the shooter takes the try-gun out and shoots some targets with
it. When everything is done, John
writes the measurements down on a form like the one shown here and you take it
with you to have forever. Provided your weight stays close to the same, your
measurements should not change. This
paperwork acts like a recipe for any fully qualified gun stock maker or
gunsmith to make or adjust for you exactly what you need.
Well we’ve come to the end of our 5 step series on John’s
way to shoot your best. We hope it has
been helpful to you. In summary, if you keep your head still using a proper gun
mount with a gun that fits you, all you have to do is focus on the bird, never
letting it get past the gun, and your brain, your instinct, your reflex will
take care of the rest. Good luck to all!
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