Not enough drop?

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by Jay Gardner

I am trying to get my head around this and am having a hard time.

Jay, it's very simple: From a low gun position can you throw up the gun and hit the target..... if you can I don't care how much rib you can or cannot see, if the gun fits and you can break targets that's is all that counts...

[Setter Man]

Originally Posted by Eric Eis

Jay, it's very simple: From a low gun position can you throw up the gun and hit the target..... if you can I don't care how much rib you can or cannot see, if the gun fits and you can break targets that's is all that counts...

That's what I am trying to achieve. All my shooting, even on clay birds, is from low gun. Ultimately the question is how to adjust the gun if I am missing. This is why I struggle with the concept of "aiming" at a patterning board or the concept of how much rib to see.

My thought is to focus on a point, mount the gun and fire at a patterning board as soon as the gun hits my shoulder in order to determine where I am shooting and repeat several times. Then repeat the exercise with another double that I shoot fairly well and compare. That should get me pretty close in terms of measurements.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Jay Gardner

My thought is to focus on a point, mount the gun and fire at a patterning board as soon as the gun hits my shoulder in order to determine where I am shooting.

Which is exactly what you should do with the 16 yard POI test

[AmarilloMike]

Put another way, if you made a cube about 3/8" per side and set it on top of the breech end of the rib and mounted the gun you should see the bead just above the cube. The last joint of your ring finger would be that joint with the fingernail. In my case I estimate the third joint to be about 3/8" thickness when I place it over the rib.

In my first post I typed "see the bead just able it." I corrected it to "see the bead just above it."

[James L. Martin]

I find that most people can shoot a gun that's a little too high, but not a gun that's too low. First shoot at a plate at least 4 or 5 times and see how high you are hitting , if your close to the aiming point then shoot a going away trap target , but get close to the trap house ,if your hitting that clay try shooting it low gun, if your still hitting it leave the gun alone and go hunting. I like to get a good number of shots and time spent with the gun before I mess with the chokes or change the stock in any way. I have stopped opening up any chokes or installing choke tubes.

[Bill Murphy]

Double barrel guns have different chokes in different barrels? How about that.

[J.B. Books]

I don't believe drop at heel is the critical dimension. I find that drop at face (where one's face comes in contact with the stock) is the critical measurement. That will be along the line between drop at comb and drop at heel and this is affected by the length of pull measurement.

For me there is a simple test, close my eyes, mount the gun in a normal fashion and then see where I am looking when open my eyes. If I am looking straight down the rib and only see the bead it is about perfect for a game gun. If I see some rib before the bead the gun will have a high POI for me. A little is OK for trap. If all I see is the lever then the gun has too much drop for me and will be hard to shoot.

I have found with my hunting clothes on that a straight grip VH I have been using with 1 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 13 7/8 is near a magic wand as a gun gets for me.