doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Pitch - just what does it accomplish?

I shoot my guns with a pitch down of about 1" and can get by with up to 2 1/2 inches. When I purchase a new gun the first thing I have fixed is the length of pull and pitch. I do this with a properly fitted recoil pad. This pitch fits my shoulder the way I normally stand. It keeps the butt square to my shoulder to distribute the recoil forces more evenly.

This is something I learned a long time ago when I happened to purchase a gun with a 1" pitch down. Frankly, I don't think pitch affects the POI very much if at all, but it sure does affect the comfort factor.

Johnpe

I thought it was supposed to "pitch" the shot slightly upward so rising birds seen just above the barrels would be in the pattern.
An old wives tale?

I like pitch measured by angulation to line extended from rib or barrels. Strait edge and layout protractor or large home made T-bevel of lath or yardstick and protractor tell all. Glenn Baker (Woodcock Hill) claims that "most people" are accomodated by 5 to 7 degrees acute included angle (I never can remember which one is negative/positive, down/up), no matter tw's pectoral "buildout". How much or how little rib I see with a quick mount appears to correlate with elevation changes in POI for all purposes and DAF tells that story. Roland "the gunfitter" troubled me for years with his vagaries about pitch; I've stopped being troubled but conclude that pitch probably has some slight effect on recoil vector.

jack

ok... all that seems sound enough.

Pitch is mostly a means of dealing with recoil and mounting speed.

Why the difference in the skeet disciplines?

Any thought?

Regards

GKT

A gunfitter worked with me once and he loosened the butplate screws on an LC Smith with just about 0 pitch and put cardboard shims under the upper part at the heel until it was out about a quarter of an inch, then tightened the screws until snug and had me mount the gun. Big difference in the way the gun felt on my shoulder and the way it lined up the rib on the target. I like negative pitch, it seems. Since then, I've found that on a 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 comb line, I like the angle of the buttplate to be square, i.e. appx. 90 degrees to the comb line. Its fun to play around with different pitch angles using the cardboard shim technique and doesn't hurt or alter anything. Best. Mike P.

Not positive about the reasoning, but skeet are falling targets and in the international game you are not or were not allowed to move the gun away from your hip until after the bird was visible. Not sure about present rules, there have probably been some rule changes since I shot any of it in a registered shoot. The relationship between pitch and POI are almost nuance, sorta, but they do interplay when mounting a gun quickly from a low gun position .. at least I have proven to myself that it does, for me. Pre-mounted ? all POI statements are negated, but you could still get smacked in the cheek if you cheek the gun hard and it has too much down pitch. I've been there, several times.

I have an old NRA Fact Book, it claims that changing the pitch effects the Point of Impact. My personal experience is that it make the "gun fit" more comfortable.

I once measured the pitch on about a dozen guns with the "butt on the floor, action against the wall" method. I was not able to find any consistant value. They ranged from more than 3" to a negative 1".

The effects of pitch must be very subtle or it would be more thouroughly documented.

Tnx
RPr

Greg,
It looks like you've got your answers. Based on a recommendation here from Chuck H and others I bought Michael Yardley's book Gunfitting, and it is excellent. He does a deep dive on every variable of gunfitting including pitch.

Shooter's style could effect what angle keeps the butt in full contact with the shoulder pocket. Bunker shooters of any experience all seem to lean well forward, probably so a 'grass cutter' does not come out under the barrel. I would think they could do with less pitch than a field shooter who is not so likely to lean into the gun. Some shooters may not be strong enough to lean, and want almost to bend back to get some leverage to hold up the gun. They would get whacked w/o down pitch - it kills them because they lean back, and they lean back because it kills them.

High angle shots - straight up, etc. might be easier with near zero, or up pitch. Depends on flexibility and style. People who can bend the upper body well back could use the same pitch as for lower targets. People who do not bend back much would get better shoulder contact from higher pitch when the gun is pointed high. Depending on the layout, a gun dedicated for driven shooting might work out better with less pitch.

A belated thanks to Greg for posting this topic and the rest of you for your comments as well. Last fall I started coming home from the trap range after a couple of rounds looking like I smacked the door on the way out of the bar with my right cheek. Luckily, my wife only smelled gunpowder, no alcohol. For the first time in over 40 years of shooting, I was getting beat up by a newer 20 guage O/U. I'd done some dove hunting and even a few rounds of skeet with it a few times before with no problems. After reading your posts, I laid it out next to one of my regulars-pitch and drop at heel markedly different! Again, thanks.

John