Clay Target Nation, February 2019

TRAINING TIPS SKEET BY PAUL GIAMBRONE III Gun Fit Art vs Science Youve heard that gun fitting is an art Thats true but theres a lot of science that goes into proper fitting as well O ne of the hottest topics in the shooting sports is proper gun fit and just like anything else everyone has their own opinion on what they think is right The thing that bothers me the most is when someone tells a newer shooter the gun has to shoot 50 50 or 60 40 or 70 30 or whatever number they come up with I admit I was guilty of this myself at one point in my career I did not truly understand the art of gun fit at the time but I do now The most important part about gun fit is that the gun shoots where the shooter is looking Its that plain and simple For some shooters that might be 50 50 this means that 50 percent of the shot pellets impact the target above your line of sight and 50 percent impact below it Most skeet shooters in my experience shoot around 60 40 where 60 percent of the shot impacts the target above your line of sight but that doesnt mean that is correct for every shooter I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the term figure 8 where you stack the end bead on top of the middle bead to make a snowman or a figure 8 as your sight picture Quite frankly I rarely have a student that has this alignment Most of the time the shooters eye is above both beads leaving a slight gap vertically between the beads so the shooter has better vision downrange Gun fit isnt all art Theres a lot of science to it as well things like the cast on or off the proper comb height proper drop at the heel the correct pitch correct length of pull and all that good stuff Its rare that all of these aspects on a standard off the shelf stock fit a person properly This BONUS TIP FROM PAUL 16 WWW NSSA NSCA ORG FEBRUARY 2019 is why we have adjustable combs and buttplates to get these standard stocks to fit the shooter as best we can Serious competitors should consider getting a custom fit stock Keep in mind that just because someone is labeled a stock fitter that doesnt necessarily mean they know whats best for you Please proceed with caution A stock that fits properly allows the shooter to have a great chance at achieving a good stance and a good gun mount which leads to good gun fit If you have to modify yourself to fit the gun chances are you are going to compromise your body mechanics This will hinder your ability to stay consistent When I work with students I have them mount the gun from station 4 and have right handed shooters set up like they are going to shoot a high house while left handed shooters will set up for a low house target I look at their stance first then how they mount and then I check how the gun is fitting them If there are any adjustments I feel we should make I do it at that time The final step in gun fit is having them shoot targets to make sure the gun is shooting where they are looking I start them off on station 7 where we shoot a handful of low house targets In order to make sure the gun is shooting where they are looking we need to first be sure they have their cheek firmly secured to the stock and their eyes are out in the distance looking for the target When the low 7 target comes out there should be a direct move to the target followed by a hard focus on the target followed by black smoke If this does not happen theres no need to panic on the first shot especially if we adjusted something However if after a handful of shots the person still has not gotten consistent middle breaks the gun is not shooting where they are looking If they are breaking the bottoms off the low 7 we need to raise the comb to get their eyes up higher to see the target better If they are breaking the left side of the target there isnt enough cast off right handed shooter and we need to move the comb away from their face more to the right to get them centered Once we get the gun shooting where they are looking then we proceed to incomers then the quicker crossing and outgoing shots p Paul Giambrone III u Paul Giambrone III is the youngest inductee in the NSSA Hall of Fame and is a many time World Champion Find him online at www breakmoretargets com S tart by checking your gun fit looking into a mirror and see if you are compromising your physical form to make yourself fit the gun If so it is time to get adjustable equipment or have a trained professional help you make the proper adjustments if you already have adjustable equipment If your form looks good and you feel you have proper alignment over the barrel then start with some outgoing shots on 1 and 7 followed by incomers around the field With proper technique and gun fit we should be destroying these targets If not it very well could be the art form of the gun fit that is causing the poor or inconsistent hits