Shooting, pointing or aiming

D

duppy

New member
I have found that removing the beads from my shotguns has improved my shooting by a significant percentage. I haven't had a bead on a gun for more than 30yrs. I did it because I bought a new gun that had a large blaze orange bead on it and I couldn't hit a thing with it. I assumed that the bead was so bright it caught my eye too much, taking my focus from the bird. When I removed it I had no replacement so I just hunted without it, and began to shoot better than with any other gun I owned. I have since removed all my beads causing an improvement in every case. In my case I think I was aiming too much, and not letting the natural shooting skill take place. Has anyone else done anything like this.
 
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Very interesting post. I have two beads, white in color, but I don't seem to see them when I am shooting at a bird.
 
Interesting is correct. I have never thought about it. I do think I tend to use the sights more on doves than upland birds. I guess it is because I see them coming a long time before they get there and can "set up" on them. With upland birds it is more quickly point and shoot. I know a man who has been deadly on grouse for many years, and he says he focuses on the bird when it flushes and the second the gun butt hits his shoulder he pulls the trigger. I guess the gun fits him, but it doesn't look like it should to me. He is a small of stature man and he shoots a large looking Browning automatic. Most grouse flushes I have seen wait until I'm falling backwards off a log before they flush! LOL
 
If you are distracted by a bead than you did the right thing. Most people even if it doesn't bother them will see it in their peripheral vision, but if they are focused on the target and not the end of the barrel like they should, it's a non-issue.

I have a Brand new O/U that came with a HiViz fiber optic sight and it doesn't bother me one bit, so it's purely a personal preference.
 
From good marketing and swell product pimping by "professional" shooters, you will find just as many folks who swear by any sight shooting aid.

I have never found any advantage in sightless or the glow-type stuff...hard to generalize as most of us , I reckon, use a front bead more than we think but use it in the proper unfocused manner where it works a treat.

Have trouble shooting tho and we all can search for something physical to blame for the missing when the answer is almost always mental.

I did have Beretta's plastic bar-thing on one O/U and kept breaking it in heavy cover...I simply replaced it with a bead for looks(I hate orange anywhere) and for that unfocused advantage that a bead has delivered for well over a hundred years.

Bead, no-bead?...much ado about nada.
 
OldDublin said:
From good marketing and swell product pimping by "professional" shooters, you will find just as many folks who swear by any sight shooting aid.

I have never found any advantage in sightless or the glow-type stuff...hard to generalize as most of us , I reckon, use a front bead more than we think but use it in the proper unfocused manner where it works a treat.

Have trouble shooting tho and we all can search for something physical to blame for the missing when the answer is almost always mental.

I did have Beretta's plastic bar-thing on one O/U and kept breaking it in heavy cover...I simply replaced it with a bead for looks(I hate orange anywhere) and for that unfocused advantage that a bead has delivered for well over a hundred years.

Bead, no-bead?...much ado about nada.
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That's what I say. The great shooting instructor Churchill, left off beads, and shortend barrels to 25", because you "point a shotgun, not aim with it" bead or no bead, if you need it and see it, it does no good. See the target, point like it's your arm. Beads fall off, I just shoot with out it. I laugh at the guys who use the electronic scope-lights. More fishing lures intended to catch fishermen!
 
oldandnew said:
That's what I say. The great shooting instructor Churchill, left off beads, and shortend barrels to 25", because you "point a shotgun, not aim with it" bead or no bead, if you need it and see it, it does no good. See the target, point like it's your arm. Beads fall off, I just shoot with out it. I laugh at the guys who use the electronic scope-lights. More fishing lures intended to catch fishermen!
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+2 I don't use the bead, however the beads are on all my shotguns. A few years ago while hunting with my father, he lost the bead off of his browning silver. He wanted to quit hunting, for the day, I told him to use my benelli as I don't use the bead anyway. I had no problems hitting birds without the bead. I know one shure fired way for me to miss is for me to start concentrating on the bead.
 
SetterNut said:
If I am shooting well I do not "see" any of the gun All I see is the bird.
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And thats the point. Look at the bird and swing though it. It is really that simple. I use the rib on my guns. Its all about the mount, cheek weld, footing and follow through. Some times its harder than you think.:D
 
oldandnew said:
I laugh at the guys who use the electronic scope-lights. /QUOTE]
Like more hunters than are willing to admit it, I've had shooting slumps that usually begin as a bad habit of mounting the gun incorrectly and then losing confidence and becoming adrift. I bought a laser sight for my duck gun. The benefit it provided was that it projected a red target in mid air that looked like it was suspended about 30 feet in front of the gun at the point of impact. There was no parallax so no matter where the gun was on your shoulder or even if it wasn't close to your shoulder, if you could see the red target you knew where the shot string was going to go and you could just put it where you wanted it to be and in the correct line of the bird's flight. That removed one variable and allowed me to deal with mounting the gun while getting positive feedback from shooting birds. I'd take it off when it was no longer needed. Plus the experience of shooting it was fun. Like a video game.These sights are used by competitive military sport shooters.
If it helps and results in an improvement and fewer cripples, there's nothing really funny about it.
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