Clay Target Nation, April 2019

ASK THE INSTRUCTOR BY DON CURRIE Point Of Aim Sights My shotgun shoots to the point of aim However this doesnt build the skill of proper gun mount and the resulting desire of the firearm shooting where I look What procedure would you suggest for practice that promotes hitting where you are looking specifically when using a patterning board F irst of all lets define something The term point of aim is a misnomer but is commonly used in the shotgun world to mean the point at which the shooter is applying visual focus We dont aim a shotgun unless we are shooting in a tactical setting or at turkeys When we say that a particular shotgun shoots to the point of aim it means that the point of impact is on the point of visual focus So a shotgun that shoots to the point of aim means that the shotgun shoots where the shooter is looking not aiming Aiming implies a conscious visual alignment of the sights and this is no way to check a shotguns fit When evaluating the fit of a particular shotgun and its fit to an individual shooter a patterning board can be a useful tool When the gun fits perfectly the point of impact or center of the shot pattern is on or slightly above the point of aim aka point of look In other words the center of the two dimen Recently I noticed I have a tendency to look at my sights when shooting sporting clays A friend told me that many shooters have started taking the sights off of their guns I havent heard of this and am hesitant to make alterations on my gun Your opinion P erhaps the most important phrase in your question was recently I noticed I have a tendency to look at my sights Clearly something has happened to make you more barrel conscious than you were before and the possible causes are numerous 1 Have you changed shotguns or your setup If you changed your shotgun to one that has more drop at comb or significantly less cast this change could certainly explain your increased 24 WWW NSSA NSCA ORG APRIL 2019 sional shot pattern on the patterning board should be right on top of or slightly above the point on which the shooter is focused visually When evaluating proper gun fit using a patterning board it is important that the shooter focus on a particular spot on the patterning board the point of aim as the shot is executed In so doing the shooter replicates the way he engages moving targets by focusing exclusively on the target with no conscious tion Lasik surgery or the onset of cataracts that force a shooter to question his visual acuity and therefore induce a check or measure as you execute the shot 4 Depending on your age it is possible that your eye dominance has flattened out or softened Computer screen time reading and the loss of elasticity in our eye muscles can all contribute to cumulative changes in our eyes In which of these areas does your problem lie It is difficult to tell without seeawareness of the barrel target relationship Having a shooter aim a shotgun at the point of aim is incorrect should never be used to evaluate gun fit on a patterning board and will always make the guns fit look better than reality A shotguns fit must be evaluated based on a natural move and mount of the shotgun to the target Aiming a shotgun at a patterning board is only useful when examining pattern density and choke performance ing you As for the front site of your shotgun it is of no practical use to the shotgun aficionado so removing it or replacing it with a white insert will make the front site disappear against the background and prevent you from being visually distracted as the muzzle moves in front of your eye barrel awareness 2 Have you lost weight recently say 10 15 pounds Weight loss of this magnitude can easily affect the height at which your eye comes to rest over the rib of the shotgun when properly mounted In many cases weight loss translates to a need for greater comb height less drop at comb and less cast 3 Another common issue I see particularly in men over 55 is a general loss of visual confidence It could be a new glasses prescripu Don Currie is NSCA Chief Instructor and one of the countrys leading shotgun coaches and gun fitters www doncurrie com