Changing Bead & Cross-Dominance

Maritime Storm

Maritime Storm

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Here's an odd one for you, looking for your thoughts. About a month ago I'm roaming through Cabelas bargain cave here in Moncton, and spot 2 Truglo Starbrite Deluxe fiber-optic beads, one in the thread pitch for my Ithaca 37 and the other in the thread pitch for Benelli Nova. Price was near dirt cheap so I grabbed them both. The Raybar on my Ithaca was rough so I figured why not change both, no issue with the one on the Benelli. No issue with the one on the Ithaca despite being a smaller diameter than the Raybar, on the Benelli however I immediately drop 3-4 targets a round. Spent a month trying to figure it out, figured I was having a bad streak, Sunday I shoot my Model 12 for a quick round of doubles skeet, shoot 23, my usual average. Monday shoot 2 rounds of skeet with the Benelli 19 & 17. By the end of the second round I noticed the sight picture was wrong, swapped the bead back for the large factory Benelli fiber-optic bead. After all that here's the question.

Why would the size of a fiber-optic bead highlight a cross-dominance issue?
 
Gun up. That's part of why I'm scratching my head on this one, my trap singles average is 20/25 my skeet average is 21/25, a couple better on doubles. I'm yet to shoot a perfect round though I do regularly run a 24 at least a month. Could even be a psychological thing may'be. Oddly enough it's only an issue with my Benelli Nova, possible the larger bead causes the weaker right eye to stay focused over the rib better?
 
It sounds like the larger bead is a distraction, even if only subconsciously. I have helped a few people to improve their scores just by removing large hi viz beads that they had installed on their guns.
 
Have someone stand behind you and watch you shoot if just before the shot your barrel dips then you are bead checking.

You don’t have to lift your head that far off the stock to completely fall out of the gun either. So little you may not even know you are doing it.
 
Maritime Storm said:
Here's an odd one for you, looking for your thoughts. About a month ago I'm roaming through Cabelas bargain cave here in Moncton, and spot 2 Truglo Starbrite Deluxe fiber-optic beads, one in the thread pitch for my Ithaca 37 and the other in the thread pitch for Benelli Nova. Price was near dirt cheap so I grabbed them both. The Raybar on my Ithaca was rough so I figured why not change both, no issue with the one on the Benelli. No issue with the one on the Ithaca despite being a smaller diameter than the Raybar, on the Benelli however I immediately drop 3-4 targets a round. Spent a month trying to figure it out, figured I was having a bad streak, Sunday I shoot my Model 12 for a quick round of doubles skeet, shoot 23, my usual average. Monday shoot 2 rounds of skeet with the Benelli 19 & 17. By the end of the second round I noticed the sight picture was wrong, swapped the bead back for the large factory Benelli fiber-optic bead. After all that here's the question.

Why would the size of a fiber-optic bead highlight a cross-dominance issue?
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Do you have any idea where your missing . the only thing I can think of is with the smaller bead your bring the muzzle up more to get the same sight picture and shooting over top .
 
On the skeet field, low house missing out front, on the trap field I can't give you an accurate answer as I'm not sure. Stubble; the Benelli factory bead is larger and brighter than the replacement, not smaller.
 
check the height difference of the truglo bead and the factory when measured from the top of the rib where it is sitting on. If the truglo is higher, then you just lowered your point of impact.

Your shooting habit also plays a big part. Do you bring your focus back to the front bead just before you take the shot? Do you normally place the bead touching the bottom of the bird when you pull the trigger? Or do you cover the bird with the bead? Or is the bird completely above the bead with a gap in between? Lots of factors here that may be caused by the change in front bead. But it could also be psychological.

I recommend patterning your gun at 30 yards and see where you pattern is in relation to your point of aim.
 
marspball said:
check the height difference of the truglo bead and the factory when measured from the top of the rib where it is sitting on. If the truglo is higher, then you just lowered your point of impact.

Your shooting habit also plays a big part. Do you bring your focus back to the front bead just before you take the shot? Do you normally place the bead touching the bottom of the bird when you pull the trigger? Or do you cover the bird with the bead? Or is the bird completely above the bead with a gap in between? Lots of factors here that may be caused by the change in front bead. But it could also be psychological.

I recommend patterning your gun at 30 yards and see where you pattern is in relation to your point of aim.
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If you are doing any of the above, don't.
 
Marspball; My usual pre-shot is as follows. Step on the station and get foot/body position set. Shoulder the gun at the centre post, bring the gun back to the hold point. Close left eye(right handed) to verify sight picture, correct mount if necessary(rarely needed), open left eye & focus on background, call for target, focus entirely on the target, swing through and break target. To answer your question, the beads were the same height, the gun patterns slightly above the centerline. With the factory bead back on, last night I shot 3 rounds; 21, 22, 22 or about the same as I scored Saturday at the registered shoot at our club where I finished with an 87/100 shooting my Model 12. We won't discuss my trap scores from Saturday, it wasn't my finer work. Discussed this with a couple of the veteran shooters last night, only theory we could come up with was that the factory bead is brighter and holds the focus(subconciously) of the right eye better.
 
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If the bead is the same height, then it shouldn't change your POI. Try getting someone stand behind you when you shoot trap and see where the wad is in relation to the bird...especially the ones you miss. If there is a pattern, then you will need to adjust your POI by moving your comb around, if you have an adjustable comb. Moving your comb in one direction will adjust the POI in the same direction...so if you consistently shoot below the bird, move the comb up and the POI will move up as well. If you don't have an adjustable comb, you can purchase moleskin from any pharmacy and add layers.

What type of Model 12 do you have? If you have the trap model (high rib, monte carlo stock) the POI will be higher. if you have the sporting model (no rib or angled stock) then the POI is lower.
 
I think you missed the point, I know what was happening, being ahead on right to left targets consistently after I put the aftermarket bead on told me that I had switched eyes on those shots, the question was why did the bead make a difference. Switching back to the factory bead rectified the issue. My Model 12 is a 1950 Deluxe model, Polychoke rib & a Lyman adjustable choke. All four of my slide-actions print very similar points of impact, I do not have a fit issue with them. I ran 22 & 19(my fault missed high 3, both on 4, low 5 and both on #8, all of which was due to poor pre-shot planning) with my Remington 870 last night.
 
The bead shouldn't make any difference. It is possible that because the aftermarket bead is brighter and more visible to your eyes, you are bringing your focus back to it before you take your shot and thus, slowing down your gun swing. If you think your non-dominant eye is taking over, try placing a small piece of tape/sticker on the lens of your non-dominant side for a few rounds.
 
The bead shouldn't make any difference. It is possible that because the aftermarket bead is brighter and more visible to your eyes, you are bringing your focus back to it before you take your shot and thus, slowing down your gun swing. If you think your non-dominant eye is taking over, try placing a small piece of tape/sticker on the lens of your non-dominant side for a few rounds.
 
marspball said:
The bead shouldn't make any difference. It is possible that because the aftermarket bead is brighter and more visible to your eyes, you are bringing your focus back to it before you take your shot and thus, slowing down your gun swing. If you think your non-dominant eye is taking over, try placing a small piece of tape/sticker on the lens of your non-dominant side for a few rounds.
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Better yet, just get rid of the bead that is causing the issue.
 
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