How to properly fit a shotgun

xeon

xeon

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I know there are entire books written about it, but what would be the best course of action to get a shotgun fitted to me. I have a SX3 and I can shoot alright with it, but before I dedicate more money shooting rounds of clays I would like to have it fitted first. No sense spending money getting used to shooting it one way and then having to get used to shooting with it the right way later. The gun did come with a pack of comb and riser adjusters and also shims to lengthen it, its just hard to know what to adjust when you aren't positive you're doing the right thing.

Does anyone know a good person to go to around Southern On that would be able to help?
 
Find someone with a patterning board and determine your current point of impact. Adjust your cast and height to move the poi. Length of pull is a bit more of a comfort issue, but get that adjusted first as it effects where your face sits on the comb.
 
Pattern board might help a bit. The best way is probably to go to your local club and have someone stand behind you. They should be able to tell where your shots are going. On a bright sunny day, you can sometimes SEE the shot string in the air.

That's what I did. I was constantly shooting about a foot and a half underneath the clays but didn't know it. Tried adjusting my hold as in, putting the stock down lower on my shoulder and raising my face up a bit, which helped a bit, but I found it hard to be consistent. Finally, i put a piece of pipe insulation on the top of the stock so I could still get a good cheek weld, and my average went from 50% to 80%.

I'm looking now for someone in Canada that can do an adjustable comb for less than the cost of a kidney and less than 3 months turn around time.

One of the guys at the club who's semi professional/sponsored was telling me not to get sucked in to an adjustable butt plate. The adustable comb can and will fox 95% of your problems. The adjustable butt will help correct the other 5% of really severe problems, but for the price, you might be better off finding another gun that fits better in the first place than spending $500-$1000 on the adjustable comb and buttplate.
 
The one way I was taught about checking the fit of a shotgun, was to close your eyes and mount the gun and open your eyes to see what your sight picture is like, most people would be amazed that they are compensating one way or another, when they have their eyes open. By far, the easiest and cheapist thing to try first is an adjustable recoil pad, like a Mogan or a Brisley. They allow alot of heigth and canter adjustment and it might fix all your issues without seeking a gunfit expert. Give it a try, it's fast, it's easy, it's cheap !!
 
Work on your gun mount, then work on the fit. I am a believer in adjustable combs, but not so much adjustable butt plates, other than for easy LOP adjustments. I have seen some radical adjustments on butt plates, and I think this causes more issues than it solves.

Also, trying to determine poi without a patterning board by attempting to "see" the shot string is as dubious as it sounds. Unfortunately I'm my opinion, most field guns and a lot of sporting guns without adjustable combs are way too low, forcing most shooters to lift their head to see the target. The SX3 has a reasonably parallel comb, but is a bit low.
 
HIGHRPM is on the right track.

First lets check your eye dominance. I will assume here you shoot right handed. With your right forefinger and thumb make a circle. Now with both eye's open pick a small object across the room, piece of your wifes china, or the smoke detector on the ceiling. Point the circle at it. Now close your left eye. The object should be in the middle of the circle. If it is your right eye dominant, which is good since your shooting right handed. If the object is outside the circle your left eye dominant, not good if your shooting right handed, as your dominant eye and gunbarrel are not pointing anywhere near the same place.

Okay lets assume here you are right eye dominant. Next pick up the shotgun in question. Hold it down by your side. Close both eye's and keep them closed. Mount the gun up to your shoulder quickly like your going to shoot something. Now open your eyes. DO NOT MOVE to make any sight picture adjustments. Now what do you see?? Are you looking down the left side of the barrel? Are you looking down on the barrel? Are you only seeing the back of the receiver and not even looking down the barrel? Are you looking straight down the barrel and just slightly seeing the top of it?

The sight picture you see when doing this exercise is telling you how the stock naturally is fitting you. If your on a skeet field you can start with a monted gun and compensate by moving a bit to get the proper sight picture, but when your shooting from a low gun position, hunting, or sporting clays you do not have this luxury. You will there for shoot where the gun is pointed not where your eye is pointing.

Of course there is more to consistantly hitting targets than stated above but these above exercises will at least tell you some of the basics of determining the guns fit to your body.
 
I think a patterning board or equivalent is the only way to know where the current fit is shooting. Once you know where the gun is shooting you can start to move your right eye around relative to the barrel and the front sight.

To raise the point of aim you need to raise the comb. Ie to get the shot pattern on or higher than your point of aim.

If the shot pattern is left of point of aim, common for right handed shooters the comb has to be moved away from your cheek if you are a right handed shooter. This will allow your eye to move further to the right relative to the front sight. The opposite is true to go the other way.

Low and left is common for right handers requiring comb raise and movement to the right.
 
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nemesisincanada said:
I think a patterning board or equivalent is the only way to know where the current fit is shooting. Once you know where the gun is shooting you can start to move you eye around relative to the barrel and the front sight.

To raise the point of aim you need to raise the comb. Ie to get the shot pattern on or higher then your point of aim.

If the shot pattern is left of point of impact, common for right handed shooters the comb has to be moved away from your cheek if you are a right handed shooter. This will allow your eye to move further to the right relative to the front sight. The opposite is true to go the other way.

Low and left is common for right handers requiring comb raise and movement to the right.
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Agreed. Every shotgun I have patterned has been low left prior to adjustment.
 
Depending what kind of game you are shooting you may need a different setup for each one of them. For trap you will need a gun that shoots higher. For skeet and sporting you will need a gun that shoots fairly flat, say 50/50. If you shoot sporting clays gun down you will have to perfect your mount first before having the gun fitted because you may not put consistently the shotgun always at the same place on the shoulder. Most people have to work on their fundamentals first and then have the gun fitted perfectly. A way to have a good idea how the gun fits you is finding someone knowledgeable about gun fit and without a loading gun mount the gun to the person's eye. The person looking down the rib can see where your bead is in relation to your eye. Hope it helps
 
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