The Spectacularly Impossible Question of Shotgun Fit
You've likely hear the advice redundantly, “Get The Shotgun That Fits You The Best!” That sounds like sage advice, until you realize that there is no way to really know how a shotgun fits or works until you use it under the conditions you plan on using it for. Not just the application, but the weather conditions, the clothing you are likely to wear, and your position whether walking, sitting in a blind, or standing on a flat skeet field. It isn't that buying the shotgun that fits is bad advice at all. The problem is that it is hardly possible to know how a shotgun fits until you actually use it. We can try shoes on in a store, but hiking all weekend with them makes our in-store evaluation often wrong or incomplete. We can sit in an automobile in a dealer's showroom, but that is hardly the same experience as taking it for a test drive. Shotguns are no different both in fit, comfort, and control.
The Dean of American gunwriters, Jack O'Connor, wrote of hunting in the U.K. Mr. O'Connor noted the plight of a friend who owned beautiful bespoke English doubles. Yet, the guns sat idle and O'Connor asked why? The answer was because “he couldn't hit anything with them.” Yet, these expensive guns had been made fitted to him, to his dimensions, with custom stocks of the “proper” dimensions according to a renowned expert. Though measurements can be made for so called “proper” length of the pull, drop, cast, and pitch it doesn't always work out well. The intellectual solace we have knowing that our stocks were made by an accomplished expert are of little help when that stock that is supposed to fit us perfectly smashes our face with every trigger pull.
Shotgunning great Rudy Etchen had this to say about stock length. “You should shoot the shortest stock you can shoot without getting your nose kicked, because the farther you are away from the gun, the more you have to steer it. The longer the gun is the harder it is to point. If you're tied in close, not getting your nose kicked by the thumb on your trigger hand, the better you'll shoot.” Not everyone agrees, but what is obvious it that measuring your length of pull from your forefinger to the crook of your elbow is a meaningless dimension. We don't shoot with stocks mounted on our elbows. We also don't do much of anything with our necks stretched out and our heads tilted to one side, but that is often how shotguns are used.
Shim-adjustable stocks and stocks adjustable for drop are generally a good thing, but there are limits to what you can accomplish with them. You can make a stock longer, but that has nothing to do with circumference of the stock where we hold onto it. It also doesn't change the location of the pistol grip in relation to the receiver, its size, or its angles. It also doesn't change the width or profile of the comb. Dimensions are published along with most every model of shotgun. Dimensions mean next to nothing, though, compared to actually using that shotgun under the conditions we want it for.
Here is an example of three factory twenty gauges that generally fit me fairly well in the field wearing hunting clothes. The three 20 gauges, same brand, are followed by a 12 gauge from another manufacturer. All have been recently reviewed. All have taken doves, pheasants, and broken their fair share of clays as well. Yet, from dimensions alone you might not think that this is remotely possible. Would you buy one gun or the other based on these nominal dimensions alone? What gun do you think is going to fit you the best?
OAL 45 in., LOP 14-1/4, DAC 1-1/2, DAH 2-3/8, 6 lbs 4 oz.
OAL 48-3/4, LOP 14-1/4, DAC 1-5/8, DAH 1-7/8, 7 lbs 1 oz.
OAL 46-1/4, LOP 14-1/4, DAC 1-3/4, DAH 2-1/4, 6 lbs. 5 oz.
OAL 47.75, LOP 14-3/8, DAC 1-3/8, DAH 2, 6 lbs. 14 oz.
The shotguns are, from first to last, a Browning Cynergy 20 ga. Field
28 in. barrels, Browning BPS 20 gauge 28 in. barrel, Browning Silver 20
gauge 26 in. barrel, and the Benelli Vinci 12 gauge, 26 inch barrel. They
are all dramatically different in handling qualities, action type, and
controls. Most anyone after shooting them all side by side would be able
to form a specific impression, but until you actually shoot them there
is no plausible way to know what you'll like best, for your type of use.
You personally may not like these specific models at all, I have no idea.
Or, you might fall in love with one or all of them.
Gun manufacturers naturally don't intentionally make shotguns that don't fit; the exact opposite is true. They all offer dimensions that they think will be usable to as many shooters as possible. They often come up with dramatically different answers to the same question. Getting a gun that fits well is good advice, as far it goes. It just doesn't go nearly far enough.
Holding a gun to the shoulder at the pro shop can be misleading. If we want an idea of how things are going to work out in actual use, then we need to try them as we plan to use them. If cold, gloved hands are foreseeable we should try them with gloves. Hunting coats and vests can quickly add a half inch or more in bulk. If we are going to hunt with the shotgun, it just makes sense to consider gun fit with what we are actually going to be wearing. How a gun comes up, how easy the loading and unloading is, how instinctive and accessible the safety is are all considerations.
Nothing beats a thorough test drive; there is nothing even close. We can make semi-educated guesses, of course, but all too often we guess wrong. I sure have. The Dr. Jekyll of the gun in the shop can quickly become Mr. Hyde in the field and sometimes vice-versa. Think that tang safety comes off okay, or did I pay attention? It isn't a good think to discover when a pair of cackling roosters have just broken through the snow, getting up in the wind and pumping their wings like crazy. Did we think that gun was way heavy? After walking through ten miles of ditches, our original version of weight tends to change. On the other hand, an extremely fast, nimble shotgun might take a lot of extra work to keep a smooth swing going on the clays course or when trying for triples on doves.
Often, one pull on the trigger will come with a pronouncement that recoil “isn't bad.” After a case or two of ammunition, original perceptions can change dramatically. Shotgun fit, how a shotgun comes up, how well we adapt to the controls, how its swings are all important, vitally important. In order to make an informed decision, dimensions and casual pro-shop evaluations don't remotely compare with field testing. It is well worth the extra effort to try before you buy. The more that shotgun costs, the more the effort to spend some quality time with one is indicated. If we all did that, there would be a lot less used but "like new" shotguns out there, to be sure.
Copyright 2010 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
