Skychief
69 Cal.
I shot my flintlock fowling piece today with one intention in mind. Knuckle down and shoot some decent offhand groups.
I've found that the gun nails my cheekbone when I lean my head forward as I prefer shooting about any gun. Today was no different. So, I shot the gun with head more erect (it felt as though my neck was stretched back to the buttplate :shocked2: ), as foreign as it felt, my cheekbone appreciated change of position. :haha:
I am happy to report that I nearly shot an inch and a half sized group at 25 yards, standing on my feet and shooting offhand. The last shot of the group hit outside the others opened it up to about 4 inches.
I shot quite a bit with similar results. I shot standing and kneeling(as though I were bush whacking a November buck) at 35 yards and each shot would have done the deed.
If I'm honest with myself, I think I had developed a bit of a flinch when trying to shoot this smoothbore like a rifle. Making the change described above took every bit of the bite out of the French styled stock.
I'm pleased with the progress and hope the new "hold" might one day feel close to natural to me. It may take awhile.
Another option may be to find a gun with a straighter stock. I've not ruled this out. I'll see how we get along from here. Glad for the improvement for sure. :thumbsup:
I should say that I didn't try any shots farther than 35 yards as I wanted to come away with some confidence from how well I did at the shorter ranges. Lot of psychology involved in burning this black stuff, no? :hmm:
Just a report. Thanks for listening.
Best regards, Skychief
I've found that the gun nails my cheekbone when I lean my head forward as I prefer shooting about any gun. Today was no different. So, I shot the gun with head more erect (it felt as though my neck was stretched back to the buttplate :shocked2: ), as foreign as it felt, my cheekbone appreciated change of position. :haha:
I am happy to report that I nearly shot an inch and a half sized group at 25 yards, standing on my feet and shooting offhand. The last shot of the group hit outside the others opened it up to about 4 inches.
I shot quite a bit with similar results. I shot standing and kneeling(as though I were bush whacking a November buck) at 35 yards and each shot would have done the deed.
If I'm honest with myself, I think I had developed a bit of a flinch when trying to shoot this smoothbore like a rifle. Making the change described above took every bit of the bite out of the French styled stock.
I'm pleased with the progress and hope the new "hold" might one day feel close to natural to me. It may take awhile.
Another option may be to find a gun with a straighter stock. I've not ruled this out. I'll see how we get along from here. Glad for the improvement for sure. :thumbsup:
I should say that I didn't try any shots farther than 35 yards as I wanted to come away with some confidence from how well I did at the shorter ranges. Lot of psychology involved in burning this black stuff, no? :hmm:
Just a report. Thanks for listening.
Best regards, Skychief