doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun mounting

I have a friend who grew up next to a UMC manufacturing plant and bought .22 seconds for 50 cents a shoebox. He and his buddy would take bottlecaps emptied from coke machines to a safe place and try their hand at hitting them on the fly with their .22 rifles. They got to a consistent level of 6 out of 10, which is good given the knuckleball flight of a bottlecap! But what he really took home was a really good gun mount.
Much as an archer finds an anchor point behind his ear and goes to it every time, Mr. McNeill's method was to make the anchor point his cheekbone. In raising the gun, he had it come up perfectly level--not with the muzzle slightly pointed up at the target, but dead level. He never put his cheek down to the gun, but rather raised the comb up to his cheek without moving his head at all. When it hit his cheekbone, he was absolutely lined up with the sights and able to shoot mighty quick. He then moved from the hips like a turret, and anything he looked at was pretty much in trouble! The first thing that touched his body was the stock comb, not the butt. Quick and smooth, although his practice with a rifle led to point shooting, and not leading the target. He could shoot anything that had the right comb height, other measurements being fairly superfluous.
Given that my problem is usually a ragged transition from beginning to follow the line of flight with the end of the muzzle to getting cheeked without extra corrective movements, I am considering retraining myself with a totally level gun approach, cheek first, with the shoulder THEN snugging into the butt. What think ye?

I confess hitting often is a surprise to me. I'm still not disciplined to keep head down to look straight along the barrels. I'd like to hear of your results if you go for it.

I guess you could say old McNeill didn't keep his head down, he kept the stock up! (that and a stiff neck make the older "lots of drop" stocks comfortable for me) Old habits will be hard to break, but I am going to try...

If you can find a copy on the VHS tapes- the former H&H shooting school instructor- Mr. Ken Davies- has two excellent videos- about 12-14 years ago when they were made. To our limey pals, a perfect gun fit and a "grooved gun mount"- much as top-flite golfer has a consistent swing, time after time- from repetition and practice-- I literally "went to school" on Ken's instructions, and he was no "gun snob" either, IMO--

Case in point- yes he had his own fine H&H side-by 12 bore, but he often used the "client's personal side-by" in his "hands on' demos-- And on the SC side- he shot a American Ruger 12 O/U (garish SS steel shiny metal receiver and all included) and smashed targets like downtown--

I prefer 28" to 30" barrels on my 12 gauge side-by game guns- ain't even close to a H&H, but a dead bird "Well Killed" won't know the difference-and no trick front glow-worm sights or mid-bead sights or other gadgets and gizmos either- and lotsa practice on banr pigeons and pest birds in the off season- BUT first with a gun with which you are comfortable shooting.

What was it the late Gene Hill said, when asked what it took to make a man a first class shot with a shotgun? "About 5 cases of shells"!!

Try International skeet to perfect the gun mount. I shot the game for year and there is nothing like it.
Gun down, fast targets, a fluffed mount is a miss.
Mike

If you read the really good English gun instructor books they say pretty much the same thing. The gun comes up level, you don't go to the gun, and then snug it up in one fluid motion. In the field that would be a walk up on quail with a flat gun, not a barrel high,and raise the barrel in a parrel plane up to the target much like hitting a going away trap target; from underneath.

shooting ping pong balls on the fly with a daisy bb gun is wonderful training/practice.

When I was a teenager, my buddy and I shot thousands of thrown targets with my godawful heavy Model 5 Savage .22. We got the hang of it pretty quick. When I went to Fort Bragg a bit later on, we were put through the Quick Kill program with sightless Daisys. I thought I would be right at home, and was. However, other soldiers were as good or better at it than I was and I suspect some of them had never shot a gun before the Army. Most of us never had a bit of trouble until we graduated to dime sized targets. As Lucky McDaniel said, it's pretty easy to teach and pretty easy to learn. My friend spent 13 or 14 months in the field with a 75th Infantry LRRP company and came home alive. If nothing else, the thrown targets gave him some confidence.

Ken Davies' book "The Better Shot" is very good also. The H&H shooting school in London is top-drawer. I take lessons there whenever possible and they teach the classic English style. It's not only very elegant but it works.

Of course it requires that your gun fit you. Too many guys put up with ill-fitting guns so as not to ruin the "investment value" of an "original" gun.

Pure tosh.

I was at a school alumni association meeting in the last Century and was speaking with a woman who was Lucky McDaniel's daughter. It was amazing how the connection came up between her and Lucky. It was a great moment for me. I went through Quick Kill at Ft. Polk in 1969.