Shotgun patterning left

Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
2,478
Bought my dad a shotgun years ago that patterned 2' left at 30 yards. Sent it back to the factory and they sent a new gun to him.

A shotgun should hit exactly center while looking down the barrel. If it doesn't, it is of absolutely no use to me.

Some trap guns may have split patterns. 60/40 or more. I had a Winchester 101 that I sold because of its 60/40 design. I made a bunch of money on it so it didn't hurt my feeling any.
 

dla

WKR
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
302
Location
Oregon & Idaho
I used a rest
A shotgun is something that is fitted to a person and it is not aimed like a rifle.
Your patterning work showed how well your load and choke were working together to keep the shot impacting in a prescribed area.
A good read is "The Stock Fitters bible" - Rowland Oswald.
Find a trap club and ask the geezers to help you - they'll fall all over themselves getting you set up.

Have fun!
 

Macintosh

WKR
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
2,549
A shotgun is something that is fitted to a person and it is not aimed like a rifle.
Your patterning work showed how well your load and choke were working together to keep the shot impacting in a prescribed area.
A good read is "The Stock Fitters bible" - Rowland Oswald.
Find a trap club and ask the geezers to help you - they'll fall all over themselves getting you set up.

Have fun!
Unless you’re turkey hunting. OP was sighting like a rifle for a turkey gun. Recent poster, that isnt clear. Without knowing for certain its hard to help.
 

Truenorth

FNG
Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
3
Location
Ontario, Canada
Unless you’re turkey hunting. OP was sighting like a rifle for a turkey gun. Recent poster, that isnt clear. Without knowing for certain its hard to help.
Thanks for the input guys. New to this forum so trying to figure it all out..

I’m pretty familiar with wing shooting and gun fit which is not an issue (actually one of the best fitting guns I’ve ever shouldered for me). I’ll be using this as an all around gun for trap, waterfowl, Turkey and deer (as much as people hate to hear it) so shooting poa is very important for me. Not interesting in putting a red dot on this beauty either.

For what it’s worth it is a wood stocked gun.

Finally splurged a little bit on a browning so little disappointed for $2k..

@ShortMountain91 any feedback on your resolution?
 

Macintosh

WKR
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
2,549
If youre sighting it like a rifle the stock doesnt matter. It could be one bad choke tube, but If it is off similarly with multiple choke tubes then the tubes were installed out of line with the barrel. If the amount its off isn't acceptable to you, and you arent willing to use a red dot or some sort of rear sight, you can deal with a warranty claim or you can find a good smith to install new tubes, which would probably mean shortening the barrel. If the gun fits for wingshooting such that you can verify poi on a clays range* and you want to keep it, Id maybe look into a rear sight that would clamp onto the rib with allen screws.

*just because you had a fitting doesnt mean it fits perfect—most people need to adjust final fit on moving targets and very few fitters do this. if the gun is printing to one side from a wingshooting fit perspective the easiest way to test this is to shoot easy straightaway clays. You’ll see consistent hits to one side or the other (chipped targets where you hit only the left side, etc). Use straitaways to test wingshooting poi left/right, and crossers to test high/low in order to eliminate the most common shooter-induced error of being behind or in front of the target.
 
OP
ShortMountain91
Joined
Jun 7, 2018
Messages
716
Location
Tennessee
@Truenorth

I ended up just shimming the gun to where my poi was centered up while wing shooting. What this looks like when I shoulder the gun for a wingshot is the rear bead will be slightly left of the front bead. Basically compensating for the fact that the gun shoots slightly left. When I use the gun for turkeys or squirrels I'm using the full choke where POI matches POA so on those I line up the beads before pulling the trigger. I'm actually aiming the gun on those animals where I'm pointing it on birds.

Really I should send the gun in to Browning to correct it then switch to a more neutral shim (and take that dang duratouch coating off) but I use it pretty much all year for something or other and what I'm doing works so well in the field, I'm a little hesitant to change it if not needed
 

Truenorth

FNG
Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
3
Location
Ontario, Canada
@Truenorth

I ended up just shimming the gun to where my poi was centered up while wing shooting. What this looks like when I shoulder the gun for a wingshot is the rear bead will be slightly left of the front bead. Basically compensating for the fact that the gun shoots slightly left. When I use the gun for turkeys or squirrels I'm using the full choke where POI matches POA so on those I line up the beads before pulling the trigger. I'm actually aiming the gun on those animals where I'm pointing it on birds.

Really I should send the gun in to Browning to correct it then switch to a more neutral shim (and take that dang duratouch coating off) but I use it pretty much all year for something or other and what I'm doing works so well in the field, I'm a little hesitant to change it if not needed

Thanks for the info! I had almost conceded to do the same since I hate dealing with warranty claims but I find it hard to resort to that on a brand new gun that can’t hit the side of a barn at 20 yards. I reached out to browning about the issue today so I’ll see what they say and post the outcome. Glad to hear it’s working for you though if nothing comes of it..

Ps.. no duratouch here ;)

Cheers,
TN
 

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OP
ShortMountain91
Joined
Jun 7, 2018
Messages
716
Location
Tennessee
Thanks for the info! I had almost conceded to do the same since I hate dealing with warranty claims but I find it hard to resort to that on a brand new gun that can’t hit the side of a barn at 20 yards. I reached out to browning about the issue today so I’ll see what they say and post the outcome. Glad to hear it’s working for you though if nothing comes of it..

Ps.. no duratouch here ;)

Cheers,
TN
Smart move and yes it is a pain to have to deal with warranty on a brand new gun especially one that costs that much. I will say that when I was having the issue I also reached out to Browning and they were more than willing to take the gun and look into the issue but they said they would have it for several weeks. Don't remember how many but it was going to run over another hunting season and while I have other guns I really prefer the A5 so just never bothered with it once I found a workable solution.
 
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