To Bead Or Not Bead...

the spank

the spank

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 99.3%
147   1   1
Location
Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
That is the question? ;)

A few weeks back I headed out on my first of the season shooting since last September. I brought three guns with me. My singles/caps gun, my doubles gun and a new to me Maxus Sporting Clays gun to try out on the skeet field.
I started off on the skeet field as the two traps in operation were full fields and there was room on a skeet squad.
I pulled the Maxus from the soft case and discovered the bead at the muzzle was missing. Ok, no problem it's a Hi-Viz with spare pipes. Well I cannot locate my spares in my shooting bags so ok I'll shoot without the bead.
First round I broke a 22x25 which was ok in my books but it wasn't pretty as I chipped and cracked my way through getting used to shooting a new to me 12ga with a 30" bbl as opposed to the 28"bbl SX3 20ga I've used the past 4 seasons.
Well the second round I punched a 25x25 after getting a feel for the gun, clearing my head of the idea I needed the missing bead and figuring out the hold points to help me pick up and swing on the targets with the longer heavier gun.
Lsst evening I was out again and after shooting some trap I headed to the skeet field for a little fun with one of our regular skeet shooters.
I shot back to back 24's and was absolutely pulverizing the targets with 1oz lite 8's(Challengers @1200fps).
What I realized after missing targets on the trap field was that my vision was coming off the target and going to my bead(measuring or aiming?).
I shoot with white beads as I have always found the neons draw my vision off the target to the bead but now I am finding that with the white beads too.
I am seriously thinking of removing the beads at the muzzles of my trap guns and trying a few evenings outings to see if there is any merit to my "perception" of what I think is happening or if it's just in my mind and I'm just not focusing properly.
Here is a little video from the skeet field last evening using the Maxus and a new Shotkam Gen 4.
Next outing I'll put the Shotkam on the TMS and MT6 to see how a few trap videos turn out.

https://youtu.be/PcsNKq5waaM


 

Attachments

  • IMG_5958.jpg
    IMG_5958.jpg
    35.4 KB · Views: 442
I don't notice the beads on my own shotguns when wingshooting, but I do find the high viz beads on some shotguns annoying. I also noticed that the people with the high viz beads at our skeet range, are not the ones shooting clean rounds. A good friend had the bead fall out on his Citori about 10 years ago, and he never bothered replacing it, as it made no difference in his scores.
 
stubblejumper said:
I don't notice the beads on my own shotguns when wingshooting, but I do find the high viz beads on some shotguns annoying. I also noticed that the people with the high viz beads at our skeet range, are not the ones shooting clean rounds. A good friend had the bead fall out on his Citori about 10 years ago, and he never bothered replacing it, as it made no difference in his scores.
Click to expand...

I've always found the neons a distraction. They pull my focus to the barrel as they usually appear brighter than a target even with coloured shooting glasses. I removed the bead from my doubles trap gun to see how it goes next outing.
 
I’d use a sharpie to black them out if I wanted to try it mostly because with my luck I’d break the bead trying to get it out.

Pink can be a very hard color for men to see maybe a light pink nail polish painted on.

True ivory bead is nice rather than paper plate white.
 
I pulled the beads off one of my guns for skeet- and it was great UNTIL I tried shooting skeet under the lights. I found that the sight picture when it is daylight uses the barrel/rib/whatever , but when under lights the sight picture without a neon front bead is just missing. I'm sure others have different experience, but for me not having beads during daylight is preferred but once the sun is down having the beads to give a sight picture under the lights is something I need. Definitely though if you are looking at the beads you aren't looking at the target...
 
As a new trap shooter I find the beads 100% nessesary to confirm correct alignment before calling pull and a bit of an assistant when I hard focus on the target before pulling the trigger. I can understand that with the correct gun fit, head alignment, and practice it's see target shoot target but I am not there yet. Perhaps they are a crutch and they do attract my eyes focus when I start getting tired but I need them for now. Perhaps when I have more confidence I'll feel differently. The shotkam looks like an excellent training aid if budget allows.
 
All I know is that my best breaks ( centered pattern ) occur .when I have no recollection of the bead in the sight picture . When I catch my self looking at the bead I start doing the Gil Ash 3 bullet drill at home . Actually in my case it is 3 push pins stuck the the ceiling of the gun room at the wall line .
 
I too have found that the bright beads attract my eye so normally I shoot with white or brass beads and they don't seem to cause problems.
When I purchased a Huglu 202B in 410 several years ago I wasn't shooting it very well and found that I was often breaking the bottom off of the targets that I was hitting. The front sight is quite tall on these guns so I took it off altogether and found that my score instantly jumped 10 to 15 percent as the gun automatically shot higher when I wasn't looking over the top of that tall front sight. I don't miss that bead at all!
 
Falconflyer said:
I too have found that the bright beads attract my eye so normally I shoot with white or brass beads and they don't seem to cause problems.
When I purchased a Huglu 202B in 410 several years ago I wasn't shooting it very well and found that I was often breaking the bottom off of the targets that I was hitting. The front sight is quite tall on these guns so I took it off altogether and found that my score instantly jumped 10 to 15 percent as the gun automatically shot higher when I wasn't looking over the top of that tall front sight. I don't miss that bead at all!
Click to expand...

The white bead insert fell out of the holder on the 28 gauge barrels my K20 , and I found that the remaining black holder appeared to block my vision of the target. I made an insert out of a white plastic screw, and glued it in place, and have been using it for a couple of years. The small white bead doesn't seem to be a distraction, yet the black bead holder certainly was.
 
Falconflyer said:
One of the worst beads I've ever tried out were those light pipe things that were touted as the way to eliminate eye dominance problems, that bead was so bright you needed sunglasses to reduce the glare!
Click to expand...

A friend put two of them on his shotgun, one at the muzzle, another just in front of the receiver, and he tried to line them up like sights. He shot 5 and 6 at skeet, and after I convinced them to remove both, he shot 12.
 
Falconflyer said:
Instantly doubling his score and still only 50%, sounds like he's overthinking things...LOL
Click to expand...

He is one of very few people that I couldn't make much headway with. I tried to get him to keep both eyes open, and he says he will try it, but he immediately closes one eye and tries to aim again. Other people have tried to help him, and they also failed to make any real headway. He has been hunting birds for over 30 years, and his shooting hasn't really improved. He takes at least a full box pheasant hunting, and at least four boxes goose hunting, and he has run out.
 
I read an article on line where a group was trying to end the debate over beads and whether the best shooters even referenced the barrel.

They shot at night from the complete darkness onto a lighted clay field. None were able to consistently hit anything. Upon highlighting the barrel with white chalk everyone's shooting went back to normal. All agreed that they were not aiming, however without the ability to reference the barrel in their peripheral vision their shooting went south.

I have found as my vision has deteriorated that I shoot much better with a plastic type front bead and a mid bead. I can reference the barrel in my peripheral vision without loosing focus on the task at hand. With the tiny brass or no bead, I go looking for the barrel and loose focus. I can still shoot with no beads but not nearly as well and my shooting becomes mechanical rather than a natural movement.
 
MK2750 said:
I read an article on line where a group was trying to end the debate over beads and whether the best shooters even referenced the barrel.

They shot at night from the complete darkness onto a lighted clay field. None were able to consistently hit anything. Upon highlighting the barrel with white chalk everyone's shooting went back to normal. All agreed that they were not aiming, however without the ability to reference the barrel in their peripheral vision their shooting went south.

I have found as my vision has deteriorated that I shoot much better with a plastic type front bead and a mid bead. I can reference the barrel in my peripheral vision without loosing focus on the task at hand. With the tiny brass or no bead, I go looking for the barrel and loose focus. I can still shoot with no beads but not nearly as well and my shooting becomes mechanical rather than a natural movement.
Click to expand...

If you have become conditioned to use the beads as a reference, and then the beads are taken away, I can see you looking for the beads, and it affecting your shooting. I learned to use the barrels in my peripheral vision as a reference , so as long as the barrels are there, I don't miss the beads. And since I regularly shoot 5-6 different shotguns, it doesn't matter if they have similar beads, or any beads.
 
The issue I've had come about in the past few years has been a switched dominant eye. I always shot with white beads as they were less obtrusive in my peripheral vision. Having my focus switch to the beads while shooting was never an issue until my left eye became my dominant eye and since it focuses better at short distances it suddenly focuses on the beads while swinging a few times each round. I have taken to wearing a dot on my glasses over my left eye. Since my left eye requires only a slight correction for distance and reading I have had my shooting glasses made without a prescription on the left side at the advice of a fellow shooter optician whom I buy my glasses from. I have a new set of glasses on order from my latest prescription and am anxious to try them out. Skeet shooting is mostly unaffected by my vision issues due to the closer nature of the targets. It's the longer distances for trap that I am affected most, especially handicap and the second target for doubles. I just found it interesting the other day how I seemed to shoot better with the bead missing from the centre of the Hi-Viz Pro Comp sight. It was the first time I'd shot without a bead. I've lost or shot guns often without centre beads but this was the first without an end bead.
 
stubblejumper said:
If you have become conditioned to use the beads as a reference, and then the beads are taken away, I can see you looking for the beads, and it affecting your shooting. I learned to use the barrels in my peripheral vision as a reference , so as long as the barrels are there, I don't miss the beads. And since I regularly shoot 5-6 different shotguns, it doesn't matter if they have similar beads, or any beads.
Click to expand...

Under 3 feet everything is blurry without glasses. I can not shoot with corrective glasses on. Barrel or beads is just a blur and the end of the barrel is hardly visible in some lights. This problem is amplified by changing distance. If I am looking at something far away and then suddenly look at something near, the focus time is embarrassing. I use to be able to read my laptop and watch TV but now there is not a chance without a bit of adjustment time.

When I first bought my Maxus there was this bright green bead that actually glowed in the dark. I thought is was a joke but it has become a godsend on evening and early morning hunts. I never think about it, just look at the duck and shoot. Take away the the sight and I am generally only ruffling tail feathers.

To each their own. My go to grouse gun use to be a Cooey single with no front bead at all and my duck gun was a Mossberg pump with single bead and no vent rib. Those days are gone but if older people with poor vision are seeing their shooting deteriorate along with everything else, they should as least try something different.
 
MK2750 said:
Under 3 feet everything is blurry without glasses. I can not shoot with corrective glasses on. Barrel or beads is just a blur and the end of the barrel is hardly visible in some lights. This problem is amplified by changing distance. If I am looking at something far away and then suddenly look at something near, the focus time is embarrassing. I use to be able to read my laptop and watch TV but now there is not a chance without a bit of adjustment time.

When I first bought my Maxus there was this bright green bead that actually glowed in the dark. I thought is was a joke but it has become a godsend on evening and early morning hunts. I never think about it, just look at the duck and shoot. Take away the the sight and I am generally only ruffling tail feathers.

To each their own. My go to grouse gun use to be a Cooey single with no front bead at all and my duck gun was a Mossberg pump with single bead and no vent rib. Those days are gone but if older people with poor vision are seeing their shooting deteriorate along with everything else, they should as least try something different.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is no ONE way. We each have to do that which works best for us.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom