new member with many questions

[Silvers]

Ed, I'm trying to be helpful and it's just my opinion but it seems to me after reading your posts here and also on the Parker forum that you're overthinking this, wanting to buy the one perfect gun out of the gate. If you have the financial means why not just buy a 12-gauge/28 or 30-inch Sterlingworth "learner gun" and try it out for clays and for your preserve pheasants or whatever? After some time on the course and shooting with other gents in a squad you'll learn all about stock drops, length of pull, chokes, shells, point of impact, shooting techniques, etc. and what works for you. Let's say you buy a decent Sterly for < $750. or so and after shooting it a while you don't like it, you can flip it and not loose a whole lot of money, if any. Regarding your stock fitting I suggest you wait until after shooting for a while; all too often we hear you can't shoot well with anything but a personally fitted stock but in reality many gents use different guns with different stock dimensions/barrel length/chokes/etc for various clays events as well as hunting and they do well with all of them. Ready for the World Sporting Clays Championship alongside King George and Faulds? No, but still pretty darn good. Personally I wouldn't spend another nickel on a stock fitting - been there done that. But that's just me. Better to put the same money into shooting lessons by a Level 3 NSCA instructor. Again, all this is JMO.

frank

[SPE33]

That is really good advice.

[jolly bill]

Really good stuff that Frank/Silver's is suggesting. It just plain makes good sense.

Jolly

[glassman48]

Frank,
thank you for your input, after talking with so many people in both forums I am hoping to find a 12 gauge, 28 or 30 inch and use it like you suggested. Trying to use a friends winchester side by side 12 gauge, before I go to a gun show, but its so cold, don't think thats going to happen. I think what triggered this sudden urge was reading all these posts and seeing these nice guns. Winter is when we are slowest, so this is my time to find something. I am happy for everyones input in here. Thanks again, Ed

[vaturkey]

Frank,
thank you for your input, after talking with so many people in both forums I am hoping to find a 12 gauge, 28 or 30 inch and use it like you suggested. Trying to use a friends winchester side by side 12 gauge, before I go to a gun show, but its so cold, don't think thats going to happen. I think what triggered this sudden urge was reading all these posts and seeing these nice guns. Winter is when we are slowest, so this is my time to find something. I am happy for everyones input in here. Thanks again, Ed

I think with that Brit rescue you have that a 28" Sterlingworth 12 gauge would be a good way to start. Can shoot a few informal clays with it and it probably would be pretty nice in a grouse/woodcock woods. There are a pile of those out there for short money. If you get a later Savage gun, you might be able to find one with less drop. Lots of folks use the Beretta Get-Tek Cheep Protector. Won't hurt the gun at all.
https://www.berettausa.com/en-us/berett ... 4-/e00489/

[glassman48]

va turkey,
I went to gun shop today, glad I did, found several sxs with 28 and 30 inch barrels, one fox with 30" went up real fast, but my arms or so short, I feel like it was to front heavy. The 28" felt better than my 26" over under, it wasn't as "whippy" feeling. I have had a few people in here being helpful, so at least i have narrowed down barrel length to 28". If I don't like double triggers after a season, I will just sell the gun. Thanks a lot for everyone's continued input.

[Fin2Feather]

Learn to shoot your gun(s) well and the rest won't matter.

Mike, you sound a lot like my dear old dad; he had a saying he'd use when gun talk got a bit too technical for his taste: "Get a gun and learn to shoot it." I suppose we all like to romance the memories of our dads, but I can tell you he was a pretty darned good shot with a gun that I guarantee never had a measuring device of any kind applied to it .

[Mike of the Mountain]

THX Fin, always good to remember times with our Dad's. Everything else aside, stock dimensions, chokes, shot sizes, etc, given that the gun is a quality shooter, everyone just needs trigger time to "learn the gun". For me, I find that once I feel comfortable with any SxS the rest is gravy. Doesn't take me more than a couple rounds on the course to know whether I'll be keeping or selling the gun. Lets just say that I keep more than I sell!!

[glassman48]

vaturkey,
When you talk about newer guns with less drop, I have a large head, it always feels like the stock should be lowered or moved away from my body so I can sight down the gun barrel better. If I put the beretta stock piece on the stock, that would make my head even further away from the barrel, or is that for the drop in stock? Sorry for these questions. Mike, are most of your guns fairly close to the same l.o.p. etc. I think I went to you tube and they were showing guys getting fitted and they would take a shot and it would be 6" high and right as an example. I was planning on doing that and see what kind of pattern the gun I purchase shoots and where it hits. Mike can you adjust your shots from gun to gun if the measurements are that far off while shooting clays, or birds?

[vaturkey]

Sounds like a 2 3/4" DAH stock may work for you if you indeed have a Mellon head. Would suggest you borrow a factory Sterlingworth and shoot a round of clays and see how you do and take it from there. PS. I'd let it warm up a bit first.

[glassman48]

vaturkey,
Its a balmy -3 degrees right now at 10:30 a.m. When I shoot my beretta over under, it seems like I see about the last 6" of barrel, which makes me think I am shooting high? That was the other reason I would look for more drop. So if its to much drop, then the beretta pad would split the difference? Is that the idea? Thanks again for everyone's input.

[Wmatthaei]

Sorry for the slow response.
I see you live in MI. I've had Bryan Bilinski at Fieldsport in Traverse City, MI answer the questions and do a lot of the kind of work your asking about - fitting, bending, regulation, chokes, etc. Nice guy and I've been extremely happy.

I do most of my hunting with a CSMC 20 ga. Fox DE and love it. I switched from a single trigger auto loader several years ago. I can't explain why, but I hardly missed a beat switching. Now I really don't notice the shift from the front trigger to the rear at all. It just happens. I do have to think about it when I shoot the left barrel first.

I shoot left handed and need 7/16" of Cast On at the face (5"). You can't find it. So I've had a lot of guns bent. Some, especially with some cast on or neutral at the start, I've been able to get all the way there; others only part way. I've not had any breakage. The only older gun (100 years) I've had bent, the bender was afraid to bend too much. It was neutral when, it was sent to him and was bent only 1/16". My conclusion: the less bending required, the better. LOP is easy to adjust. It's just amazing what a properly fitted gun has done for my shooting!

I hunt pheasants in ND in January - not below 0 degrees; and find that as long as I'm walking, I don't need real heavy gloves. And I tend to to get cold hands. I've never had trouble finding the triggers with the medium weight gloves I normally wear. Weather depending, I'm surprised how often I don't need any gloves that time of year. For example, the temp was in the 40's the first week of January 2019.

Have fun with your search,
Bill

[Jeff S]

Sorry for the slow response.
I see you live in MI. I've had Bryan Bilinski at Fieldsport in Traverse City, MI answer the questions and do a lot of the kind of work your asking about - fitting, bending, regulation, chokes, etc. Nice guy and I've been extremely happy.

I do most of my hunting with a CSMC 20 ga. Fox DE and love it. I switched from a single trigger auto loader several years ago. I can't explain why, but I hardly missed a beat switching. Now I really don't notice the shift from the front trigger to the rear at all. It just happens. I do have to think about it when I shoot the left barrel first.

I shoot left handed and need 7/16" of Cast On at the face (5"). You can't find it. So I've had a lot of guns bent. Some, especially with some cast on or neutral at the start, I've been able to get all the way there; others only part way. I've not had any breakage. The only older gun (100 years) I've had bent, the bender was afraid to bend too much. It was neutral when, it was sent to him and was bent only 1/16". My conclusion: the less bending required, the better. LOP is easy to adjust. It's just amazing what a properly fitted gun has done for my shooting!

I hunt pheasants in ND in January - not below 0 degrees; and find that as long as I'm walking, I don't need real heavy gloves. And I tend to to get cold hands. I've never had trouble finding the triggers with the medium weight gloves I normally wear. Weather depending, I'm surprised how often I don't need any gloves that time of year. For example, the temp was in the 40's the first week of January 2019.

Have fun with your search,
Bill

Are you in Michigan also?

[glassman48]

Wmatthaei,
Do you also live in Michigan? I have been talking to Bryan a couple of times now about getting a gun fitting. Yesterday I purchased a used fox A grade 12 gauge from a member in here that lives in Michigan too. As soon as weather warms up a bit, I will be shooting at clay pigeons, then some sporting clays. I will probably end up with 2 guns (everybody tells me its addicting). The breeder that has been helping me with my brittany gave his brother a nice fox that he had all redone. He shoots left handed so that gun never fit him very well. If I had the means to afford it, I would gladly get him another 20 gauge like he had and get stock bent to see if he can shoot that gun any better. He is in his early 70's and loves to hunt, and he really like that fox 20 gauge that he had. Thank you for your comments, they are very helpful. If your ever up in Kalkaska area, please stop and say hello. I own Kalkaska glass company about 1.5 miles north of the main light on u.s. 131 east side of road. I will try to post a picture of my new shotgun.

[Jim Cloninger]

Looks like a nice gun, G-man! Jim