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Front Sight Options?


Jnw
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Hello, 

I’ve just got my SGC this year and have bought a Winchester SX4. I absolutely love the gun but my only gripe is the front sight. It’s really small.

 

Does anyone know how the front sight removes off a Winchester (apparently you just twist it, but I’m too afraid 😂) and where I could get a longer one?

Thanks

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My sxp was exactly that just unscrew it. However having had some clay lessons which have improved my shooting from appalling to reasonable the main thing I have learned is both eyes open and look at the target (in fact it's tip)  ignore the gun and shoot. The sight has now become an irrelevance. Bit like driving a car or bike through a narrow gap. If you look where you want to go 👍 if you look at what you don't want to hit, crunch. It's been a revelation for me. 

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There are almost as many front bead options as there are guns; have a google and pick one which you think may be suitable. 
I find any will do. 
Sight picture is a personal thing, from not being aware of one, to picking it up before,  or as you call for the bird. The above only apply to trap shooting, none apply to live quarry shooting. 

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Scully,  I understand the sight picture is personal thing. However I don't understand the doesn't apply to live quarry bit. Could you explain?  I'm genuinely interested as I'm only learning to shoot clays in the hopes of applying it to pigeon shooting later this year. Last season with a gun that didn't fit and coming from a rifle background I had 'barn door issues' on clays and pigeons. Gun now fits and I can hit clays acceptably. Any tips about pigeons would be appreciated. 

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Shooting was poor, so put on one of those high-viz thingys which seemed to help....well in my head it did anyway.  After I'd had a couple of months getting used to the gun, my scores were still poor..ish. Took the advice from someone even older than me, and removed the front bead altogether. Two shoots later and my scores started to improve.

I think the problem was, I needed to get used to the gun and the high-viz was drawing my eyes away from the target and making me aim, which stopped the gun. The result being, "LOSS!"

Now, I have no idea when and why I pull the trigger....I just do, and my scores are still going up.

Caveat: we are not all the same though.

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Robden. My experience /revelation exactly, my scores doubled. Confidence leads to confidence. Thanks to mark Hill at barbury shooting. Half price lessons till end of march.  ive had two and plan one more.  Then I think I can practice on clays with a friend and improve. Gun fit changed everything, not custom just fair to good.

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The bead is there really only so that you know that your barrels are aligned with your eye. In other words that you are aligned on what you are looking at. On a shotgun your eye is your backsight. And the bead acts as your frontsight ONLY in so much as to help you see that you are sighting your bird or clay straight down the barrel with eye, shotgun rib, muzzle and bird all aligned. If you can "see" the side of the bead as it were it means that you are shooting to the left or right of what you are looking at.

Edited by enfieldspares
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The only time ever you'd consciously use a bead is maybe a pigeon sat on a branch in a "sitty tree" and aim the gun at the point where the bird's feet meet the branch as shotguns pattern high. Or for blowing out a drey or crow's nest from a tree. Even for shooting against a pattern board you should not really "sight" the gun. One of the old writers even said shoot at a stationary object as if you were using a rifle and bayonet (but being aware that 60% of the pattern is above the bead and only 40% below the bead) to imagine you were trying bayonet the thing you were shooting at. 

Edited by enfieldspares
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On 29/02/2020 at 01:03, bishopp1 said:

Scully,  I understand the sight picture is personal thing. However I don't understand the doesn't apply to live quarry bit. Could you explain?  I'm genuinely interested as I'm only learning to shoot clays in the hopes of applying it to pigeon shooting later this year. Last season with a gun that didn't fit and coming from a rifle background I had 'barn door issues' on clays and pigeons. Gun now fits and I can hit clays acceptably. Any tips about pigeons would be appreciated. 

Sorry for the delay, have been distracted. 

This is how I see it, and only my opinion. Shotgun beads are there to aid mount and nothing more in my opinion. I practise my mount constantly with the aid of a mirror, to ensure that the gun comes up exactly where I want it each and every time, with my eye sitting atop that rib and front bead. I have a spasmodic dominant eye issue and bought a rail...not so I could look at it but to prevent my left eye becoming the dominant one at the point of mount. It works to an extent but it's only fitted to one gun and I have many which I like to shoot. 

Dedicated clay shots can and some do, acquire the sight picture they want by mounting the gun prior to calling for the bird, or as they call for the bird. They know exactly where that bird will appear from and they know exactly where it's going. The only time I premount my gun at clays is on trap like targets, and therefore always start with gun down, which is how I shoot live quarry. It just isn't practical to premount your gun whilst shooting live quarry, which is why that mount needs to be consistently correct each and every time, and hence the practise. 

Whether you premount  or not, no one looks at the bead whilst in the act of actual shooting, as that will guarantee a miss, but we're all aware of the muzzles as a peripheral blur, whether we're aware of it or not, otherwise we couldn't judge lead. And that is why your mount is crucial. 

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I was going to drop you a note on the original thread Scully to see how you had got on with the rail.

Setting aside the hype that seems to surround any discussion of the rail, which you will, how have you found it in in real practical use?  Do you think it is a significant change for you in improving your reliability on certain targets when using that gun?

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7 hours ago, grrclark said:

I was going to drop you a note on the original thread Scully to see how you had got on with the rail.

Setting aside the hype that seems to surround any discussion of the rail, which you will, how have you found it in in real practical use?  Do you think it is a significant change for you in improving your reliability on certain targets when using that gun?

Can't really say for certain grrclark, as I've only ventured out once with it and scored more or less where I usually end up! I didn't fix it to my game gun and wasn't keen on swapping about during the season, but used my preferred game gun throughout the season and wasn't disappointed with my performance on beaters day, nor on a day out to Westlands last week with a very tightly choked trap gun, and of the 100 targets we each launched, I missed 17, so go figure!  Perhaps I'm overthinking things! I intended to use it on the next round but we were rained off.

Intend to give it a go on the skeet layout next time we're up, so will report back. 

 

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I have been practicing my mount 2 x 20 mount sessions 10 from left 10 from right  every day more if the insomnia is playing up! imagining the clay and tracking it along the ceiling line  with the gun and sigt out of focus it is beginning to becoming instinctive another lesson on Friday quite exited if I can shoot as well as the last one I will be estatic. However I suspect my weaknesses will addressed. I.will continue with the drills as I have toned up little which is a bonus. Hull superfast 28 and improved cylinder. Seems to work so no changes. The improvement from useless to reasonable is very satisfying. Have clear pigeon 32x6 for when I go out for the real ones. 

Lots more to learn. 

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I’m not really sure what money has to do with it; it’s just shooters attempting to become better shots. The rails, beads whatever aren’t that expensive in comparison, and the shooting world is full of ‘stuff’ to help part us from our money. 
Shooters are fickle creatures; we’re always on the lookout to find something which makes us shoot better, and quick fixes often aren’t the way. It only takes one bad season to make us start thinking we’d shoot better if we changed our gun/cartridges, when in fact we probably just need to slow down and get the basics right, like we used to. 🙂

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3 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

My pal is forever changing his gun to try and get better. He is a good shot but changing does no help. If he had just spent the money on instruction instead of depreciation he would be a great shot. 

You need a steady hand at the tiller. 

And possibly a fitting!

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32 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

My pal is forever changing his gun to try and get better. He is a good shot but changing does no help. If he had just spent the money on instruction instead of depreciation he would be a great shot. 

That Sir is very good advice, and surprisingly scarcely taken.

I think golfers suffer from a similar trait …. new clubs will fix things … they rarely do!!

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3 hours ago, Scully said:

I’m not really sure what money has to do with it; it’s just shooters attempting to become better shots. The rails, beads whatever aren’t that expensive in comparison, and the shooting world is full of ‘stuff’ to help part us from our money. 
Shooters are fickle creatures; we’re always on the lookout to find something which makes us shoot better, and quick fixes often aren’t the way. It only takes one bad season to make us start thinking we’d shoot better if we changed our gun/cartridges, when in fact we probably just need to slow down and get the basics right, like we used to. 🙂

Never a truer word said, we all want that bit of ‘magic’ that will transform us and there are lots of people who spend lots of money chasing that elusive bit of magic

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