Need help shooting with SxS :(

ninepointer

ninepointer

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I shoot skeet from a low gun position and I'm having trouble acquiring the target with my new-to-me 20 ga SxS. (Note: this is not a skeet gun to begin with; too short, light and whippy. Its intended to be my upland and bunny gun, so I'd like to get proficient with it). The fit is good, so I don't think that's the problem.

I'm used to shooting a Rem 870 with a vent rib and mid-rib bead, which give me a narrow, easy to acquire visual reference. When I bring up the SxS I feel lost. The bead seems to get swallowed up in the wide sighting plane. I'm thinking a bright orange bead might help me. Any thoughts/suggestions?
 
Quit looking at the gun and look at the bird!

I'm probably a poor one to give advice, as I've never had any trouble with sxs's, but I've heard that same remark before, and the only thing I can think of is that I don't look at the gun, I look at the bird, so it doesn't really matter how wide the sighting plane is.

Thats the best advice I can give, look at the bird and let the rest happen.
 
Grouse Man said:
Is it an English-style gun?

Shoot the gun at a pattern board to determine your point of impact compared to your point of aim.
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact it is. Yes I did pattern it. The POI matches the POA (for both barrels) and the gun comes up right where it should.

I think part of my problem is how light and short the gun is (20 ga. w/ 24" bbls). There's no weight to smooth out the swing. I have the same model in a 12 ga. and 26" barrels and I don't feel as "lost" when swinging on a target.
 
Tape some lead strips to the fore-end of your shotgun with some heavy duty double sided tape; it will assist you in smoothing out your swing.
 
ninepointer said:
Thanks for all the tips folks! Good stuff there! I'm going to leave the existing bead alone and focus on better shooting.
Click to expand...

I shoot a SXS 28 almost exclusively for everything from birds to clays, and shoot low gunn doubles only when shooting skeet.
I have found with my light little 28 that if i do not come back as far to the house with the gun but turn my head to the house, I'm onto the bird and the gun is swinging easier .
Try it , it may not work for you, but then again, it may!
I also find that I am concentrating on the leading edge of the bird better than as well.....
Cat
 
Years ago, a buddy cut the barrel down on his Stevens Mod. 311 - 20 gauge, to 20", precisely for what you describe ... a bird and bunny gun. Short, light and easy to carry, and lightning fast getting it into action, whether on flushing grouse or cottontails busting out of a brush pile. He soldered the open gap at the end of barrels closed, but never did get around to re-installing a bead ... just something else to catch on the brush he said.

We shot several rounds of Skeet with it at a now defunct gun club, even tried it on
a "Crazy Quail" layout and a couple of rounds of Trap ... all back in the day when gas was 32 cents a gallon, target loads were $ 40 a case (of 500) and a round of Trap or Skeet was a buck.

As I recall, the symptoms you describe were much the same. Even for a Stevens, the gun was very muzzle light and "whippy", tough to sustain any kind of a smooth swing at all. One can compensate quite a bit by holding out a little longer than usual on the forend ( or even on the barrels with a glove if there's a splinter forend ) and concentrate on swinging from the waist rather than using the arms. Takes a bit of practice getting used to after swinging an eight or nine pound long-barrelled target gun, but keep at it. Hard focus on the target ... if the gun "fits", hands and eyes will work to bring everything else into play to make the hit. ;)
 
The precieved lead is longer the shorter the barrels are. Take your time swing smoothly focus on only the target but get the barrels out further infront of the bird. If it should be a foot n half lead try what would look like a 2-2 1/2 foot lead instead. In reality there's no real change in poi or poa just looks that way. Another tip I use to teach newer shooters low gun is to put a pop can up at 20 yards and have them pull up and blast it as soon as the gun touches their shoulder. Then once they can do that use 2 spaced out. It seems to really help my buddies when I taught them
 
Fit is mist important in low gun clays games or for hunting. A test is to take your usual stance, close both eyes and mount the gun -- now open your eye/eyes and see your sight picture if you have to make any adjustment to obtain a sight picture then the gun may not fit -- if you look along the barrel in this test, you should only be looking at the bead if you can not see the bead and only the action top -- the gun is stocked too low. Conversely, if you seem to be seeing the whole barrel and the bead then the gun is stocked too high for you. The options are: Practice a quick mount so that you obtain the proper sight picture -- practice until the stock butt falls to the shoulder in exactly the same spot each time. Option # 2: If the stock is too high, take it to a competent smith to have some wood removed and finished. If the stock is too low, then you can add a shim device sold by Brownells/Cabellas and others.
Cheers/luck!
 
All good advice & tips.

If you feel you'd like to delve into things a little further, you might try to find a
copy of the re-print of "Game Shooting" by Robert Churchill CountrySport Press,Travewrse City, MI.

Churchill was a gunmaker and indeed a pretty fair shot, who had a penchance for
short-barrelled guns (i.e. The Churchill XXV) ... he thought 25" inches was
just the bee's knees for a game gun. His book has a lot of good information on stance, mount, swing, and balance, and not the least of which, "fit", a critical element. Definitely worth a read. Churchill's methods of instinctive shooting are still taught by many of today's contempoaries.
 
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