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Any place to get a sample pack of various shotgun shells? Not wanting to buy 25 shells of each brand, maybe a pack that has 5 shells of 5 different companies? Maybe DS 'pattern your gun get together' where you can sign up and bring shells to trade and all pattern together? I could always use some advice from some seasoned hunters......thoughts?

Some people are more anal than I am about pattern on a shotgun but Ill give you my 2 cents. I shoot NSSA competition skeet and will shoot anything from Winchester AA, Remington GC or Premier, Federal target or gold metal to my reloads. I really don't care about the differences in the actual shot pattern. The reason I shoot my gun at the pattern board is to assess fit of the gun more than performance of the shell.

How do you determine fit of a shotgun?

Country Gentleman is awesome at what he does but I heard he has been sick and is not doing much work. He usually comes to Capitol Gun Club a few times a year and brings his mobile shop with him. He has done alot of work for me in the past.

One way you can do it yourself is put a dot on a large piece of cardboard and shoot the dot (25-30 yards). Look for the center of the pattern and see if it is where you were aiming. Personally I like the center to be a little above my aim point because I can "float my target". If the center is high then the stock needs to come down ( hard to do on a gun without an adjustable comb) or if it is low then it needs to come up (put some mole skin or foam on the stock is an easy fix). Left and right can be fixed with shims that come with most autoloaders these days.

There are much more expensive ways to fit a gun that work better but for a hunting gun I just do what is above. On my skeet gun everything is adjustable. I can raise, lower, slant and move the comb left or right. The butt plate is adjustable so that I can get it to shoulder as I like without having to put myself into the gun it is just there every time.

One way to practice your gun mount is to use a mini mag light. Make sure gun is unloaded and safe, you insert a mini mag light into the barrel (12 ga), (you may have to tape or shim to make it tight), focus on the farthest corner where wall and ceiling meet. As you focus on this spot, bring you gun up to touch your check and set it into shoulder in one smooth motion. We all have had the tendency to touch shoulder first and lower head to the stock, this is not correct. When you do that it distorts your true line of sight. Now where is the light pointed? That is your point of aim. This is just a training exercise that will help you get proficient in the correct mounting technique. It will help tremendously just to train your muscle groups to do this without thinking. The more you practice the smoother it will become. Focus on the target not the barrel or the front bead. Now, the pattern board tells you where you shot will actually hit, and some adjustments may be needed. ALso check you eye dominance, arm straight out in front with fist clenched and thumb pointed up, find a target, in your line of sight place thumb on that target. Close left eye then the right, which one doesn't move off target? That is your dominant eye, sporting clay range time is a big help to practice before duck season. Hope this helps,

Cheek to shoulder .
No wonder I miss so many ;;

I've always gone about it bassackwRds

Thx ol wise 1

Rob Roberts Custom Gun Works in Batesville, AR has some of the best tubes Ive ever shot. They have a patterning screen too. You shoot at a dot on the screen then the computer shows you where your gun shot in referance to the dot. Computer also tells you how many pellets in a 10" circle 20" circle and so on. Rob or Jonathan can tell you over the phone what shells they have seen shoot better out of your model gun. Great chokes, Awesome Guys!

http://www.robrobertsgunworks.com