Gun Fitting

[James L. Martin]

As many have said, big difference between target gun and say grouse gun. Target gun longer lop and less drop. Bird gun shorter lop and more drop for those snap shots. At least for me.

[C.O.B.]

Pre mounted guns in skeet and trap are the rule of thumb in those games. I shoot low gun and one reason I like sporting clays is it's more like hunting than the other two. I use the same guns to shoot sporting with as I do in the field.

[mobirdhunter]

For what it's worth (not much, I dare say), I had a fitting some years back and had three guns made with those dimensions. I shot (and still do when I use them) those guns much better and had confidence in them. When I really started acquiring old guns I tried to get the high dimensions that the fitting session prescribed -- that's not an easy goal as I know my collecting colleagues fully understand. I don't shoot clays at all. There's no place around me to do so, and I'm not into the competition (and I compete against myself as my worst competitor). When I was shooting poorly while hunting, I would always go back to the fitted guns and "cured" myself.

If I was going to shoot clays, I'd get one gun that fit and use it...and correct my flaws when they came up. For hunting, I use different guns and have some that I consistently shoot well. I use different guns with different dimensions for different types of hunting. I can get by with lower drops on dove and waterfowl hunting where I have more time to "correct" for the ill fitting dimensions. For rising birds over my dogs, I need a gun to shoot high.

I think we can adjust to the length of pull better than we can the drops, especially for quick shooting. I have a 16 gauge 0 frame Parker that has a 13 1/2' LOP, but has very high dimensions (my fitted LOP prescription is 15"). I can hit most anything I really "see" with that gun in those cases where the shooting is quick.

In the end, we give up something in our shooting if we collect and shoot lots of guns. I don't keep score, but I know if I have confidence in a gun, I hit with it...until I loose that confidence.

Shoot clays to compete -- get a gun that fits. For hunting, decide what's important to you and act accordingly.

That's my two cents (adjusted for inflation it equals zilch).