Wait Don, I poured the first healthy cupful on the pitiful blaze you started.
So, anyway, I've been told on an occasion or two, that I can take theory, and make it's practice useful to people. In fact, people on occasion pay me for it.
So, it's been no small revelation for me, when I started fiddling with old shotguns, to find out reading in a magazine, that there was a reproducible set of reasons I could shoot some shotguns pretty well, and others, well, not so much.
Did anyone hear me? Reproducible results. Again, Reproducible results.
I remember seeing some kind of gadget, sorta looked like an old record player, with a plumb bob, and a c-clamp attached, on a picnic table. That was the introduction of Don's gadget to the modern shotgunning world.
When I read that article, my hamster's wheels started turning.
I knew that I missed many birds consistently in certain circumstances with certain guns.
As is my nature, I wanted to know "Why?"
It turns out, that as Don's database grew, and I had a chance to sample shotguns with certain handling dynamics, I could easily find shotguns I shot better. Who'da thunk it? I could cut the crap, and focus on either buying guns ready to shoot, or, I could explore shooting in different styles, to improve my performance with what was in my hands.
The answer for me, is that shotguns with certain handling dynamics allow me to shoot pretty darn good, and those that are a great distance away from my "central tendency", I will struggle with. I guarantee that there are presentations that expose this fundamental weakness for every gunner with a central tendency.
It's all in the numbers.
And that's all Don has ever said.
So, to get away from numbers,
Picture this.
(I shot today, and it's all on my mind at the moment)
I took two shotguns to the club today.
A Remington 1894, and an Ithaca Flues Duck gun.
Same cartridges for each. Shot two rounds of clays.
With the Remington, and it's lithe, 30" barrels, I blew past several shallow angle quartering away presentations, because my normal swing through style over accelerated the dynamic Remington. My spotter said I shot 3' ahead into the snow a couple of times at 30 yards.
Then, on some curving incomers, my spotter said my gun stopped right when I shot.
So, there you can see a gun fast to start, and alas, fast to stop.
Now, you guessed it, the Ithaca was just the opposite. Heavy to start, steady on it's path, and hard to stop.
If you look at my scorecard, you'd see the difference in the gun dynamics spelled out in X's and O's.
The same guy, on the same course, a couple hrs apart.
Who cannot like the predictive nature of Don's measurement?
I know what's in store for me when I grab certain guns from the rack. And I thank Don's efforts for that.
