Comb Adjustment

 

Short of having a gun fitter adjust my comb, how can I be sure that my adjustable comb is in the right place and adjusted properly?

 

Most senior instructors would be more than glad to take a quick look at your shotgun and help you adjust it without charge, but here are a few tips for the do-it-yourselfer.

Find a mirror inside your home or in the clubhouse and stand in front of it, facing the mirror, with the muzzle of your unloaded shotgun about six inches away from the mirror when you are fully mounted to the shotgun. Use a whiteboard marker to place a small dot on the mirror at the same height as your eye. This is the dot you will be mounting to and using as your target. Mount your shotgun to the dot on the mirror and observe the position of your eye on the rib when your mount is complete. Your objective is to adjust the comb up, down, left or right until the eye naturally comes to rest on top of the rib, and is centered on the rib, when the mount is complete.

The entire colored portion of the eye — the iris — should be visible, but you should not be able to see the lower lid of the eye or the white portion of the eye below the iris. Additionally, you should see the iris centered on the rib from left to right, aligned with the center of the rib. Keep mounting and adjusting the comb until you get it right. That’s it! Verify your fit on a patterning board. If your adjustments look perfect in front of the mirror but are a bit off on the patterning board, it could be that you are mounting differently on the patterning board than you are at the mirror. If that’s the case, you might want to invest in a trip to a nearby gun fitter or senior instructor.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter.  You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.