Float And Fit

 

“I’ve noticed that some top shooters mount firmly to the comb of the stock and others are very loose on the comb. It doesn’t even look like their cheek ever touches the stock. How can these shooters hit targets without their heads on the gun?”

 

If you mount your shot- gun naturally, then peek at the rib, you should see a slight bit of rib. How much rib should you see? That depends. The classic sight picture, assuming you have both a mid-rib bead and a muzzle bead on your shot- gun, is the “snowman” — the muzzle bead will be stacked immediately atop the mid-rib bead and, as a result, you will see some rib. However, some shooters subconsciously float targets above the rib more than other shooters.

To illustrate this point, let’s say we have two shooters with identical physical features and stock measurements. Shooter A has a very soft mount such that his cheek is barely in contact with the comb. Shooter B has the classic sight picture mentioned above, with beads stacked and more pressure between the comb and the cheek. On a patterning board, both shooters shoot in the same place — let’s say 60/40. If you were to observe both shooters from the muzzle end of the gun as they execute their respective shots (don’t try this!), you would see that the eye of Shooter A is significantly higher over the rib than the eye of Shooter B.

How can both shooters have the same shot distribution when Shooter A doesn’t have his head on the gun? The answer is float. Why doesn’t Shooter A shoot high? Shouldn’t Shooter A take some wood off the top of his comb? No! Shooter A sees a different subconscious sight picture than Shooter B. They have the same point of impact because Shooter A’s brain is programmed to see his targets floated a bit more above the rib.

Herein lies the problem with having a gun fitted in a showroom, without the benefit of a trained eye observing your point of impact on actual targets. The float, or subconscious sight pic- ture, for one shooter may be very different from that of another shooter. Neither is wrong. Both are correct for the particular shooter.

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.