Range Report for 1-6-08

Hey Everyone,

I have a range report for you and need your help. I went out today and used the following load:

70gr Triple Seven FFG (also triied 75gr)
1 Overpowder Card
1/2 of a Fiber Wad(soaked in Olive Oil)
1 Shot Cup( Sam I with the plastic wad cut off)
80oz of #6 Zinc Plated Steel Shot
1 OverShot Card

I used Newspaper made into a 36x36 target. I shot several shot with both barrels. I noticed that I was hit about a foot or a foot and half lower then were I was aiming. They stayed tight with in an area 3ft x 3ft. This was with both 70 and 75gr. So I triied 80gr and got the same results. I thought it was the shotcup so I triied it wihtout the shot cup and got the same results. I am not sure what the problem is. I thought of two things that mit be but wanted your opions. 1 is that I thought I wasn't shouldering it right. 2 I was aiming it like a rifle. Could you guys offer some thoughts.

Nolan

Razorx said:

Hey Everyone,

I have a range report for you and need your help. I went out today and used the following load:

70gr Triple Seven FFG (also triied 75gr)
1 Overpowder Card
1/2 of a Fiber Wad(soaked in Olive Oil)
1 Shot Cup( Sam I with the plastic wad cut off)
80oz of #6 Zinc Plated Steel Shot
1 OverShot Card

I used Newspaper made into a 36x36 target. I shot several shot with both barrels. I noticed that I was hit about a foot or a foot and half lower then were I was aiming. They stayed tight with in an area 3ft x 3ft. This was with both 70 and 75gr. So I triied 80gr and got the same results. I thought it was the shotcup so I triied it wihtout the shot cup and got the same results. I am not sure what the problem is. I thought of two things that mit be but wanted your opions. 1 is that I thought I wasn't shouldering it right. 2 I was aiming it like a rifle. Could you guys offer some thoughts.

Nolan

Click to expand...

What kind of firearm is it that you're using?

It may be how you are shouldering and "cheeking" the gun. Some guns like a "high" head some like a "low" head. That is why some people get along with some guns better than others. It is their style of shooting. Now you know where it is impacting, see what type of sight picture, looking over the barrels, brings it to the POI you are looking for.

Hey Roundball, it is a 12ga David Pedersoli SXS.

Hey Dave, The reason for questioning the way I shoulder and aimed it is because all my life I have shot rifles. I have never shot a shotgun so the proper way to shoulder it and to aim it is foriegn. This is why I question the way I was doing it.

Nolan

Rayzorx,
A long time ago I had a CVA 12 gauge caplock doule barrel. I first started shooting it with my eye seeing just over the breach and got very low hits. The stock was also short, so I got one of those rubber buttpads with a sleeve that fit over the wood butt of gonne. Then I learned to keep my eye about an inch over top of the breach. The buttpad helped with this. And the gonne started putting the loads where I was aiming.
volatpluvia

Nolan, I think volatpluvia has you on the path I was trying to say. Remember, you aim a rifle and point a shotgun. It is so easy to get into the habit we are accustomed to. Sometimes I have to back up a relearn how to shoot a shotgun. Start with no gun. Send out a clay bird and point your arm and index finger at it and follow it to the ground. Then do the samething with your shotgun, but don't shoot! After you get the feel of how to follow the target. Then load, call for the target, follow and point at the target and shoot the target. For me, the quicker I get target recognition and the quicker I shoot it, the better I do. I find otherwise I have a tendancy to aim at the target and the target will then get further out of range and I am shooting like I shoot a rifle.

The difference in stance is that you turn your body so that your feet are at a 45 degree angle to the target. Your feet are under your shoulders, just like you were boxing, or dribbling a basket ball. You unlock your forward knee, and use your rear leg like a rudder to turn your whole body. Tuck the stock into the pocket created when you left your elbow out straight from your shoulder. Keep your head up, and your eye centered in the eye socket. With a shotgun you usually need more drop at comb, and drop at heel. Also more pitch is required to allow your head to be held high,. The LOP can be shorter if these other measurements fit you correctly. With shooting a shotgun at moving targets you rotate to the target on your ankle, knees, hips, and then shoulders. With a rifle, you stand with your feet spread wider than your shoulders to lock up your legs to your hips, to reduce movement from your hips down. You also pitch your toes outward at about an 80 degree angle to give a stable platform.

Point the target with your forward foot, shooting a shotgun, with your back leg at tht 45 degree angle to the target. In clay target shooting, you modify the stance a bit, by pointing your lead toe to where you expect to break the target, rather than straight ahead at the trap or skeet house. The 45 degree angle for your feet is then created off that point, so that you have to " wind Up " your body to move back to the house to call the clay target. In trap, you prepare your stance to take the hardest angle target that can be thrown from any station, and then move your point back towards the house. If you are right handed, keep the barrel to the right of the center of the traphouse, so you can see the target come out of the house. If you left handed, keep the barrel to the left, for the same reason. Since skeet target are thrown on a fixed path, all you need to do is set your feet to point where you expect to break the target, or the hardest target, when shooting doubles.

You may be canting the shotgun, which results in the low strike. To prevent canting, lift that elbow up to be even with your shoulder and straight out from it when you shoot. Then relax your grip on the wrist, so that the gun uses gravity to tell you that it is balanced right and left and on a vertical line. That should give you consistent hits.

Some barrels are going to hit off the POA. You either learn where the POI is going to be with that barrel and adjust your POA on each target, or you have to do some filing on the muzzle to bring the pattern back to your POA. I think you have a lot more load development work to do before you reach that point.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the great imput. I have been going over the whole day at the range in my head and with the gun in my hands. I still wasn't sure of the problem but thought I would throw this at you. I went back and read some of the articles that I was told I should read. I found one by Bob Spencer on the fit of a gun. I read threw it and found several things that mit also be the problem. He suggested the drop at comb be around 1.5 to 1.75. mine looks to be close to 1.5". Drop at heel is 2.5". LOP is 14.5 to front trigger and 13.5 to the back trigger. I also noticed that the pitch was 3.25 on a 28" barrel. He stated that to much pitch and the gun will tend to slide up and shoot low. I took a pair of socks :rotf: and put them at the bottom of the but plate(to move the bottom out a little) and shoulder it. I found a few things: 1 the gun felt tight to my shoulder. 2 I could see the bead on the front alot more clearly and able to focus on it more. 3 The gun looked alot more straight. 4 I didn't feel like I had to cant my head to see the front bead and felt more natural. Thought maybe I need to play with the pitch alittle to see if that was the case and make the gun fit me. Your thought are always welcomed.

Nolan

The 80 ounces of shot may be part of the problem. Five pounds of shot at a time causes a lot of recoil! :rotf: :v

Hey Trent,

It took me a minute or two to figure out what you meet. Then it hit me :rotf: . Man am I slow :bow: .

Nolan

Slow-maybe. But at least you're not sensitive to recoil!