doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Get a grip

Stan,I carry a buckeye and have not died yet! Side by sides look so much better that stack barrels and on birds i shoot side by sides much better.Just my humble opinion. Bobby

Given the fact that OU's dominate in serious competitive shooting, while sxs are seldom seen--except in sxs shoots--there's undoubtedly something to what Mr. Batha suggests. At least for target shooting. Whether it pertains equally to game shooting, however, is (IMO) suspect.

Right.

Wordsmithing for money. It's all conjecture.

Q: What gun does almost everybody shoot the best?

A: A Remington 1100.

Where does this fit in the equation?

I just started shooting competition skeet again after a 20 year hiatus....and guess what, got my 35 year old Remington 1100 out, put all new springs in it and am happy to have it once again on the field. The gun is unquestionably my least valuable shotgun, but I shoot it very well. I think the 1100 is one of the best skeet guns made if they keep functioning. Dirty or well-worn 1100s have a tendency to jam and this is their main drawback IMO.

If there is an inherent advantage to target shooting with an over and under it could be dozens of things besides the palms being in the same plane. My best guess is that the eye over the barrel sees more sky to the lower left and the lower right with both an over and under and an automatic.

Stan apparently you and I hold a bat differently and I googled up "how to grip a bat". In the pictures I saw it looked like the plane of the palms were at about 90 degrees to each other, like I (used to) hold my bat. The driver not a full 90 but still at an angle.

The Remington 1100 with the forend over the magazaine tube is about the same as an over and under and could be shot with the palms in the same plane.

Don Zuts claims that the thumb being parallel to the SxS barrels give some pointing advantage.

Best,

Mike

If you point with your thumb, Mr. Zutz.

Ask a kid to point out a robin, will he use his thumb?

Lay that index finger along side a forend, now we have something 'pointing'.

Any you guys ever boxed?

Try to throw a jab with your palm UP. At a speed bag. Your left jab, assuming you are right handed, is your lead hand. Aren't we told to use our left hand in shotgunning?

Natural, hunh?

Now try it like any boxer would.

What's easier to connect with a moving target?

I was terrible at boxing: I'm white, got a big nose, from the 'burbs, and I'm slow. I don't shoot well, either.

But I wouldn't be so dismissive of someone like Chris who has walked the walk.

Now if they would only make cast washers for the 1100 like I have on my Beretta...but amazing how well one can shoot without it if necessary. I think for target sports against a sky, the sight picture on either side of the single barrel profile is a greater contributor to the success enjoyed by the o/u. Holland and Holland's "The Better Shot" goes so far as to suggest that persons with wide-set eyes tend to crossfire because in tilting the head just a bit to the stock, their left eye (for right handed shooter)is elevated and picks up the target an instant faster, thus being the faster to focus. (speed in focus being what causes dominance) They suggest keeping the head level and waiting a milisecond to make sure the right eye has the dominant take on a left to right shot. Perhaps the eye picks up the target a fraction sooner with the sight picture on either side of a single barrel. This should apply to all single barrels, not just O/Us, and this doesn't even deal with crossfiring due to the O/U's greater vertical profile attracting the off eye. Gets tricky, doesn't it? Of course, it explains to me why I DON'T shoot better with an O/U! Sure makes for good campfire fodder...Steve

BTW, Amarillo--you are dead right about the "Weather" channel.

I have a cross dominance tendency. I shoot splinter forend SxSs. With my left hand I grip the barrel with only one or two fingers over the forend. I grip it in such a way that the fat part of my (left) thumb just barely blocks out the end of the barrels to my left eye. It does block some sky from my right eye but I believe that what I give up in sky is more than made up for by completely eliminating my cross dominance tendency.

Best,

Mike