Custom Eye to Rib Alignment Check Tool

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Dreaming100Straight

New member
Check out the custom alignment tool I put together for checking how well I was centered over the rib of my Browning XS Skeet.
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Given that the diameter of the straw is 1/4", and I am looking down its axis, I figure that my eye is looking down a line 1/8" above, parallel to, and centered on the mid-line of the rib. I figure it is centered since I am not looking at the interior walls of the straw.

I got this off a gun fitters video on the net and was surprised that with my comb jacked up that high I am still looking parallel to the rib.

I think it will leave that straw on the next time I go shoot some clays.;)
 
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Shotgun Slim

New member
Ok have some fun checking on things like that but be careful you don't get buried in minutae. If it helps your confidence then fine but remember a good shooter could hook a barrel on a yardstick for a stock and still break clays with it. Always remember,even as you stand on station 1 preparing to shoot off for the state championship that you got into clays because it was fun.
 
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BigJimP

New member
If I were you ( and I'm glad I'm not by the way ...!! )....I'd wrap it with camo tape...so the other guys don't laugh at you.../ to make it invisible....;)

Oh wait, does it work with the multi color bendy straws too.....??
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
Jim, I guess you missed the blue striping on the straw, but that is a multi color bendy straw (known to us professional gun fitters as a "flex-straw".:p)

As for the poi, that is just an estimate but I will check it on the patterning board.

If you think that is a laugh to look at, I may be adding some moleskin to raise the comb another 1/4". I was kidding about shooting with the staw on the rib, but now I think I will take it to the club like that (but pop it off just before shooting). I borrowed this from a Larry Potterfield video.

As near as I can tell, the purpose of the straw is only to see if the gun fits well enough to permit you to look over and parallel to the rib.
 
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A400 Fan

Moderator
Take the straw off, and the bead and focus on the TARGET and nothing else. If you do that, then success will follow, point the gun where it needs to be
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
Take the straw off, and the bead and focus on the TARGET and nothing else. If you do that, then success will follow, point the gun where it needs to be
Click to expand...

I hear you on that and the problem with bead checking. The latest thing the instructor has me working on as trying to miss the bird. When I try to miss I don't check the bead at the last moment and usually get a good hit.

I thought the straw thing was fun. It would be funner if the straw was sitting in a glass with a summer libation.
 
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zippy13

New member
To see a proper Figure-8, the straw can't be parallel to the rib. You need to elevate the rear portion (or, use a flex straw :) ).
 
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A400 Fan

Moderator
Or...............just FOCUS on the bird and not the bead...........this is not rocket science, you point the gun with your leading hand at where you want to break the bird - matters not if skeet, trap or sporting - and you look AT the bird after determining the break point. That determination might be a split second or something predetermined and predestined, but your FOCUS is on the damn bird, nothing else. You move your gun SMOOTHLY to the bird and pull the trigger as you reach the insertion point

"Pull", move the gun smoothly, pull the trigger as it hits the transition, and CRUSH the damn thing
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
To see a proper Figure-8, the straw can't be parallel to the rib. You need to elevate the rear portion (or, use a flex straw ).
Click to expand...

I should know better than to question Zippy, but what if the inner diameter of the straw's cross section is twice the height of the front bead. (Straw Diameter = 1/4". Rib to top of bead = 1/8".) Maybe I need to get some skinny straws.

Added by edit: This allows for some elevation above the surface of the rib while keeping the pupil within the ID of the straw and it is a flex straw with the flex cut off.

Did anyone look at the Larry Potterfield video?
 
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Shotgun Slim

New member
As long as your focus is on that straw and all 1/4 inch 1/8 items you are going to be easy to beat. This kind of crap is a long way from the good basics of wingshooting.
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
Anyone thinking I am really going to shoot with that straw has had too many sucking too many mai tais through straws.:D I wonder if two straws work better for a side by side?:eek:
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
What you say is basically what this guy is teaching, A400. The one possible major exception being I believe he may be teaching what is called sustained lead and not sure if that is what you are saying. The swing is smooth and slow and comes from having turning the upper body with the lower. Always focused on the bird and never looking at the barrels.

Coming soon to your local TGS (Tactical Gun Store): Tactical Straw!:rolleyes:
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
Browning called....( they want that gun back ).....that was the straw that broke the big Stag's back....
Click to expand...

Good one Jim.:):):)

Was it just the straw or did it find out about the bayonet (otherwise known as the special tactical barrel weight) I have been working on attaching to the XS Skeet?:D
 
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A400 Fan

Moderator
Sustained lead can work for skeet, as skeet is the same from Seattle to San Diego to Miami, to Boston. If your goal is simply to do well at skeet, then master that. If your goal is to master every clay target game, then master the art of looking at the target, determining the hold break point and crushing the target
 
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TomADC

New member
D100S, thanks that made my day, some of us are way to serious about this!
Once again thanks big chuckle!
 
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Dreaming100Straight

New member
I both checked where the gun is shooting with a steel plate as well as on the trap and skeet fields. As the straw test suggested, the gun shoots a little high. Perhaps 3" at 18 yards, but horizontally dead on, shooting off hand.

Okay. I didn't have the balls to leave the straw taped to the rib.:cool:
 
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