cimmaronkid
04-17-2007, 08:04 PM
There are some shotguns you can go out and just hit everything you point it at, and then there are some you can’t hit a bull’s butt with. Why? A lot is said and made of stock dimensions, but if you compare all of the stock dimensions together, you will see a trend in dimensions as most are or almost identical to each other. Oh sure, if you are heavy set (fat) you need more cast than your 6’3” 125 lb. buddy , but over all, the drop, pitch, cast and toe are almost identical. So what makes the difference? Balance! How the gun comes to the shoulder and tracks the bird or clay. With a little practice and a better balanced shotgun, your game and clay scores will rise dramatically.
So where do you start on balancing a shotgun? First, what is it going to be used for. If the gun is going to be an upland gun you are wanting something that mounts fast and swings quick. Same applies for a springing duck and teal gun even though the barrels are longer and the chokes are tighter. For these type of guns, most experts say the gun should balance at the hinge pin for SxS and O/U’s and approximately 4 ½” ahead of the trigger for semis and pumps. If you take even the cheapest imported double gun, you will see that it balances at or close to the hinge pin. Hopefully, the gun will be butt heavy if it doesn’t balance here so wood can be removed. For all you engineers out there, this gets into fulcrums and physics, but it is easier to balance a gun by drilling several holes a shorter distance than one long one. I use 1” and 1 1/8” Forstner bits to drill and then smaller sizes to finish it off. Just use a short piece of angle iron as a balance beam.
Competition guns are a different story and again, it comes to the game you are shooting. Skeet and Sporting Clays guns need to balance slightly muzzle heavy (ahead of the hinge pin or the 4 ½” mark from the face of the trigger) as sustained leads are the norm in these games and you are wanting the momentum of the barrel mass to help pull you through the swing. However, if balanced too muzzle heavy, you can’t get the gun started in time to catch the target, rush the shot, and get a big fat 0 for your effort. I balance my field guns slightly muzzle heavy as a lot of them are shot in these games and it works well in the field. Slower to come to the shoulder, but easier to maintain a sustained lead when you start the swing.
Probably more guns have been ruined over the game of American Trap than all other sports combined. I have seen guns with recoil reducers and lead weights so heavy in the butt that the guns are absolutely whippy and I just can’t make a smooth move on an angle target with this type of balance. I have also shot guns where the balance is so forward that it feels like you need a crane to help hold up the barrels. So where should you start for a trap gun? About the same place you would with a Sporting Clays gun, that is, slightly ahead of the magic hinge pin/4 ½” mark. When everyone was shooting Remington 1100’s and they were getting stuffed with lead and recoil reducers, Remington came out with the weighted forearm caps. These never caught on except with a few savvy shooters that understood static balance and realized that the weight of the 12 ga. forearm cap was almost the weight of a recoil reducer. Bore a few other holes in the butt and you get your balance back where you want it along with the benefit of the extra weight to soak up recoil. Gun might feel a little heavier at first (it is) but it swings just as well or better.
This isn’t a hard task and anyone that has a hand drill and a wedged shaped piece of wood or steel can balance his favorite shotgun and get a little more enjoyment out of it as well as higher scores and more game.
So where do you start on balancing a shotgun? First, what is it going to be used for. If the gun is going to be an upland gun you are wanting something that mounts fast and swings quick. Same applies for a springing duck and teal gun even though the barrels are longer and the chokes are tighter. For these type of guns, most experts say the gun should balance at the hinge pin for SxS and O/U’s and approximately 4 ½” ahead of the trigger for semis and pumps. If you take even the cheapest imported double gun, you will see that it balances at or close to the hinge pin. Hopefully, the gun will be butt heavy if it doesn’t balance here so wood can be removed. For all you engineers out there, this gets into fulcrums and physics, but it is easier to balance a gun by drilling several holes a shorter distance than one long one. I use 1” and 1 1/8” Forstner bits to drill and then smaller sizes to finish it off. Just use a short piece of angle iron as a balance beam.
Competition guns are a different story and again, it comes to the game you are shooting. Skeet and Sporting Clays guns need to balance slightly muzzle heavy (ahead of the hinge pin or the 4 ½” mark from the face of the trigger) as sustained leads are the norm in these games and you are wanting the momentum of the barrel mass to help pull you through the swing. However, if balanced too muzzle heavy, you can’t get the gun started in time to catch the target, rush the shot, and get a big fat 0 for your effort. I balance my field guns slightly muzzle heavy as a lot of them are shot in these games and it works well in the field. Slower to come to the shoulder, but easier to maintain a sustained lead when you start the swing.
Probably more guns have been ruined over the game of American Trap than all other sports combined. I have seen guns with recoil reducers and lead weights so heavy in the butt that the guns are absolutely whippy and I just can’t make a smooth move on an angle target with this type of balance. I have also shot guns where the balance is so forward that it feels like you need a crane to help hold up the barrels. So where should you start for a trap gun? About the same place you would with a Sporting Clays gun, that is, slightly ahead of the magic hinge pin/4 ½” mark. When everyone was shooting Remington 1100’s and they were getting stuffed with lead and recoil reducers, Remington came out with the weighted forearm caps. These never caught on except with a few savvy shooters that understood static balance and realized that the weight of the 12 ga. forearm cap was almost the weight of a recoil reducer. Bore a few other holes in the butt and you get your balance back where you want it along with the benefit of the extra weight to soak up recoil. Gun might feel a little heavier at first (it is) but it swings just as well or better.
This isn’t a hard task and anyone that has a hand drill and a wedged shaped piece of wood or steel can balance his favorite shotgun and get a little more enjoyment out of it as well as higher scores and more game.