[mobirdhunter]

Kenny,

The gun is stocked with a DAH of 2 1/2 inches according to the letter. I, as apparently do you, like my guns stocked high and I shoot so that there is space between the barrel end and the bird...actually, quite a bit of space. I was fitted this was and was able to get several guns custom stocked to fit my way of shooting. Although I have no idea that Parker adjusted the chokes to shoot high, I have read that in the boring of chokes guns can be made to throw their patterns high (if they can be regulated to throw patterns to the same point at X distance, they could surely regulate to have the patterns thrown high). Since shooting over dogs generally produces rising birds, it makes perfect sense to have a gun shoot high like this. It's like magic when the birds get up, but I have to concentrate to, for example, take a bird that is below me, or even a bird that truly flies straight away, as shot actually presents a target that is slightly falling.

All of us who shoot old guns learn to adjust to their stock measurements, etc (otherwise our arsenal would be pretty small...and that's no fun!). I like GBE's account of how he was less able to do this as he aged, and what he did to mitigate the issue. Foster's diagrammatic drawings in his great book have helped me to visualize how different shot angles call for pointing high and/or low. It sounds like you've considered all this pretty deeply too, and also have an intuitive grasp. You are probably a good shot. I am only a passable one.

I shoot with both eyes open and unless I'm in the throes of a shooting slump (like the one described on this particular day), I never see the end of the barrel while shooting. When I start calculating on the shot, I generally miss.

It would be nice to have all of our guns fit us perfectly, but we'd miss out on a lot of guns that are a joy to carry if we only shot under those perfect conditions.

I have come to believe that there is an alchemy to shooting. I'm an expert on absolutely nothing, but "know" that when all elements are in sync, there is a magic to shooting.