[pigkiller]

I attended a Harlan Campbell clinic recently. During the class, he stressed the importance of lining up the beads to check for alignment. I found this noteworthy, since I never do this and thought of it as a distraction.

Last week I went to my first shoot after the clinic. I shot consistently poor scores. Later that day, I brought my gun to my coach for an adjustment. As he pulled it out of the case, he asked "What's this?" I looked down and my comb was crooked and at an angle. The comb was pointing one way; the barrel another.

Did I notice this during the shoot. No, because I failed to check my beads for alignment (forget if they're stacked). If I had done this, I would have caught the problem.

Do I check the beads now FOR ALIGNMENT? Yes, and although I find it a bit difficult to get into this habit, I now see its value. Take note.

 

[southjblue]

I thought beads didn't matter----Some say to remove them or black them out.
What would Harlen Campbell say if you went with no beads or blacked out--Let's see---Harlen Campbell AAA27AAA -Just wondering.
[email protected]

 

[Stl Flyn]

Does Harlan look at his beads every time he puts the gun up? That would be the question I would ask. Curious what that answer would be, along with the other "Pros".

 

[racer]

Line up, look up, pull! Everytime. Unless the beads are not "right" - take down, put up, line up, look up, pull. Dan

 

[Mac55555mn]

harlan helped me to keep track of my beads with a hivis , that was about 8 yrs ago,he was using hivis at the time and he filed the green bead as small as possible,he told me he knows where the bead is on every shot. took his advise and shot well until an injury a few yrs ago. even outlasted harlan in iowa 16 yrd shoot off. Brad

 

[dead on 4]

US Marine, If you removed the front bead and you smoked targets, your poi was to low with the bead attached. Your point of reference moved from the bead to the barrel when you removed it. Without the bead you are pointing the end of the barrel higher in relation to the target. By removing the bead you raised your poi.

By the way, Leo checks his beads, it's part of his pre shot routine.

Surfer

 

[Dr.Longshot]

I would say Harlan looks at the beads every time he mounts his gun.

I know I do.

What say Harlan?

Gary Bryant
Dr.longshot

 

[Big Az Al]

I bead check,

sometimes I bead check again after I call pull (but that is my fault)

A few years back I was watching Bill ....... Shooting, After seeing him not raise his head after checking his beads twice in his first 25, I started calling his lost targets before he shot. Billy sitting beside me said "why are you wishing those lost targets on poor Bill!"

So I showed him how when Bill mounted his gun, watch the bill of his cap, when it comes up beofre he calls he smokes those targets, when he doesn't he is still locked into the beads and aims to miss.

 

[Tom Strunk]

U.S. Marine-- dead on 4 is exactly right.

I have always gave my beads a quick check. Once I took off my center bead but that only worked for a short time before I started mounting the gun further out on my shoulder than I realized and started missing more than I was used to. Installed the mid-bead again and problem went away. I still to this day check my beads, but it's just for a split second.

Tom Strunk

 

[Unknown1]

Problem is that some shooters believe that bead alignment is more important than HOW that alignment is obtained. They will, and do, try to compensate for an irregular gun mount by moving their head or neck on the stock instead of remounting the gun to get things right. Their mounts are inconsistent andthey can'
t figure why they still miss targets even when their beads are in line.

I know... I was one of those shooters until both Phil Kiner and Nora Ross convinced me to adjust my gun fit by mounting eyes closed and adjusting until everything came out exactly right, every time, without looking. It took many, many gun mounts to get it right.

Keller

 

[Mac55555mn]

good call Keller if your head doesnt set in the right spot dont bother looking at the beads Brad

 

[dead on 4]

It seems many top shooters check their beads as part of their, mount, look, shoot routine even if its a fraction of a second. You can mis-mount your gun even with a well fitted stock and the only way to confirm this is to have a reference point, this where the beads come into play, they don't need to be stacked, your view of them has to be the same every time you mount.

You can not put the barrel on target unless you have some reference point which seems the be the end of the barrel for many shooters. I yet to see a shooter who has removed their beads or blacked them out hit a target from a unlighted corner that is common in when shooting long shots at games at night. Once you move into low light or cover of darkness your reference point (barrel) is lost and your hands don't know where to put the barrel in relation to the target because they don't know where the barrel is.

Gun mount is critical to consistent scores, this is why top shooters like Hawley mount their guns upwards of a 100 times daily when not competing to maintain a precision mount, the question is what does he use as a reference point to confirm his mount is spot on, the beads??

US Marine, assuming your gun fits you and your mount is solid as confirmed by some reference point and you are not bead checking after your pre shot routine, then I stand by my original remark that you gun was shooting to low for your point of aim verses your point of impact. If you have and adjustable comb, try reinstalling your bead and raising your comb and see what results from this change.

Shooting your gun at 13 yards doesn't yeild a whole lot of information but it does give something to reference to when making changes.

The two best thing you can do is have your gun fitted and or take a seminar from one of the top shooters, Kiner, Campbell, Ross, or others, any of these can be a great help to your game. I know one thing, Kiner will tell you to get an adjustable comb if you don't have one.

Surfer

 

[JES]

I do black the front bead, when I mount I look and do check for alignment, you can still check the beads for line-up, most times it is but once in a while a correction before I call for the bird!! It does help

 

[davidjayuden]

I prefer to take a gun to the patterning board and adjust the comb so that my head position, aligned with the front bead, aligned with the target, prints the pattern where I want it. Center bead be damned.
Cheek weld, front bead, target. Repeat.
dju

 

[Texas Yankee]

Years ago I took Nora's clinic and being a one eyed shooter she said to aline the beads so that the gun is not canted then move to your soft focus above the house and call for the bird. When I do this routine my scores are better. If I get in a hurry and do not check the beads it will be lost bird.

 

[dhip]

Tried it today,seemed to work.LOL,,except when I'd stare down the barrel to make sure,swear it was making me go cross eyed.So,I started to just glance to make sure,look out and call for bird.Going to try and improve on it.

Doug H.(pa)

 

[JACK]

I do not check beads unless (UNLESS) I begin to miss when I thought it all looked right. then I begin to chck beads and the birds usaully begin to break as I expect them to do. Hawley does 100 gun mounts a day? Sounds like a plan Stan.