A number of years ago I went to Michael Murphys in Kansas and had a fitting done. My experience for what ever it’s worth it was money well spent.
I took along a RBL 20 gauge that I did not shoot very well. The fitter spent a little over an hour at the grease plate having me mount the shotgun quickly and fire at a small center hole in the plate. After several shots it was very clear that I was shooting a pattern about 6” low and 6” to the right at 17 or 18 yards.
Using small cardboard shims and tape he made adjustments until we got the pattern where we needed it. The fitter then transferred numbers to a form showing proper LOP, pitch, cast, Drop, etc.
I left the RBL with them and in about 6 weeks received it back.
I am not a clay bird shooter but I had gone to the range and shot skeet prior to the fitting with disappointing results averaging 15 to 16 out of 25. Upon getting my RBL back I once again went and shot some skeet and shot 21 to 22 out of 25. A huge improvement.
I have since had a number of shotguns sent out to be adjusted. LOP and pitch changed by cutting or adding pads. Stocks bent for drop and cast. I’m all cases I have been very happy with the results and they all just feel right when I mount them.
I still rarely shoot clay targets but I generally shoot very well on wild birds. Quail, dove, and pigeons with the guns that have been fitted, and less so with the shotguns I have kept original and unaltered.
I want to be able to track the bird with my eyes and instinctively pull the gun up from my carrying position, fire having it shoot where I am looking.
In a nut shell I think having my shotguns fitted has made me a better shot.

In the mid 1970's I worked in London. The West London Shooting Grounds was on the way home just off the A-40 near Northolt. I did a fitting there and the procedure was just like what Phil Carr had done with only two exception. I was shooting a try-gun and the target was a round steel plate set about 10 ' off the ground. It was white washed after each shot. Then we went out for a lesson. It was my first experience with what I would call the for runner to modern Sporting Clays. You didn't know what was coming and out of nowhere there would be a rabbit or driven birds one behind the other from very high towers or a low going away clay. I never saw the traps. The short and long of it was I did not represent the United States very well that day. The try-gun fitted to me was very comfortable to shoot though.

Phillip,

Coincidentally, I had my fitting with Michael M. It was eye opening, and certainly worth it.

Harold some where in your guns is that go to gun that when the bird flushes it comes up and finds the bird and the lead and goes off at the right instant. Seem as though you were not even involved. That is the one,the one that makes you say '' how did that happen''. I hope all of us have that gun, I have 2, A grade Fox 16 and my repro 20. For a hunter those are the one's that are fit to us. The Repro is the one in my avatar after such a day. My sons rarely shoot clay and they hold their own with me in the woods.

I had a fitting with Keith Lupton at the Pawling Mountain Club years ago, just to see what the ideal stock measurements were for me. I pasted it in my hunting log book that I use to record my experiences and daily take in Saskatchewan during my annual trips. I haven't done anything else with it and never intended to modify existing stocks or build a new stock to my measurements.

Years ago, I did have one stock bent by a gunsmith in Easton, Md. It cracked. I won't try this again. It was a very early DH that had a setter engraved on the floor plate. The gun was rare in that it was a 70% gun and had never been touched in all the years of its existance. I fixed the crack and lightly checkered over the break area and brushed some patina into the checkering. It's hard to see the fix but I'll never have a stock bent again. In my opinion, its not worth the risk.

Yup, not worth the risk.

Some years back, i went up to Covey and Nye in vermont and had Lars fit me. I subsequently had Brad Bachelder restock a 12 ga vhe with 28 inch barrels to my dimensions. The fitting cost $325 and the restock cost $3,500. Can't say my shooting measurably improved. Live and learn.

I haven’t had a Parker in my hands that I couldn’t fit myself to it.





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