hitting target

[paulvallandigham]

I agree with Mike Brooks' suggestion to return to shooting a .22 rifle until you have gotten past that flinch. In fact beginning any shooting session by first shooting a .22 is always a good idea.

The sight picture has to be your choice, but you have to be consistent to get any accuracy. I have a rear sight on my 20 gauge fowler, because I wanted a rear sight to help me shoot better groups with a round ball load. I don't have any problems using that rear sight to shoot shot loads at flying birds. I simply look over it and past it. the same with the front sight. Both sights are in my lower peripheral vision, but I don't use them as I would my modern shotguns to put the bead on the bird, or swing ahead of it. I found that my patterns will hit the birds just fine if I look over the top of the front sight, and simply use it as an indexing tool for my eye and shooting stance.

Now, my rear sight has a very wide notch, compared to many, and very shallow. The wings don't stick up very much at all. I do have a scribed line on the center of the notch to give me a windage indicator to allow me to quickly align the front and rear sights, but I let my eye center the front site in the rear one, and establish how much sight is held up on the target.( Kentucky Windage.)

 

[Mike Brooks]

The sight picture has to be your choice, but you have to be consistent to get any accuracy. I have a rear sight on my 20 gauge fowler, because I wanted a rear sight to help me shoot better groups with a round ball load. I don't have any problems using that rear sight to shoot shot loads at flying birds. I simply look over it and past it. the same with the front sight. Both sights are in my lower peripheral vision, but I don't use them as I would my modern shotguns to put the bead on the bird, or swing ahead of it. I found that my patterns will hit the birds just fine if I look over the top of the front sight, and simply use it as an indexing tool for my eye and shooting stance.

Getting off subject here, but, on my dedicated bird guns I use no sights at all, niether front or rear.
I will say, I have tried to shoot fowlers with rear sights at flying game , and it messes me up considerable. It's all what your used to I guess, and we're all different. :thumbsup:

 

[BRUN]

fishindoc did you buy your gun directly from Jackie Brown?

 

[fishindoc]

yes

 

[Wes/Tex]

Didn't see this reading down but I like to follow Bob Spencer's advise about bore and ball sizes. You'll need to mike the bore since .62/20 bore can mean bore sizes from .610 to .625, etc. A ball about .020" under bore diameter with .017" lubed ticking for patching. Seems to be a good combo.

Most whitetail deer measure roughly 18 inches from back to brisket or belly. A dinner plate of 10" diameter should be the absolute minimum for shot grouping...7" salad plate sizes is even better and should be your minimum goal.

Check out Bob Spencer's site for a lot of good info on shooting a Jackie Brown fowler:
[url] http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen[/url]

 

[fishindoc]

Bob Spencer's guidelines is where I began.
joe

 

[paulvallandigham]

Well, also read the V.M. Starr article on Bob's Site. Bob and old V.M. don't necessarily agree on everything. My nod has been to V.M. when there is a conflict. He was the " Dean " of shotgunners in the NMLRA for many years.

 

[fishindoc]

alright i started from scratch-first problem was i wasn't using consistent charges- i started with 60 grains and kept firing groups of three with a patched ball only. the gun consistently shot at the eight oclock postion and a good 15 inches from center. I increased the charge to 65 with the same results. I read BE Sanders notebook papers and followed his advice. I moved the fixed front post sight to the left. after several tries i slowly brought the shots of three into the midline and about 12 inches low. i then slowly filed the front site and would check with groups of three. i have it now that at 25 yards i can shoot 2 to 3 inch groups with about an 1-2 inch drop of center. I'm gonna try and take the target out to 50 yards and see what happens
again thanks to all of you who gave constructive advice and helped me solve my problem
joe