Blessed are they...

There is some kind of belief in shotgun sports that there is a standard shooter, someone for whom most standard shotguns would fit and work well. Notice the word, belief. It is not a fact and, at best, it may be a reasonable theory. Even if there is a semblance of truth, it certainly doesn't hold up over time. People in the 21st century are certainly larger than shooters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only are there more tall people, there are a heck of a lot more rotund people. The days of "one size fits all" have been replaced with "one size fits many", not most.

Why, then, do the gun makers insist on turning out shotguns with minimal available adjustments, especially in the comb and butt plate? Of course, the answer has to be focused on costs. An adjustable stock on a gun elevates its value for a shooter as well as its cost. People just starting out aren't interested in dropping a couple of thousand dollars for a shotgun that can be made to fit them best - if not perfectly. The market of simple field guns and basic trap gun with Monte Carlo stock remains viable and gun makers continue to push their products into the market - many of which end up in a closet, a safe, or turned in during a government gun grab someplace..

New shooters line up and practice, practice, practice - with their S/As or pump guns. They reach a plateau where improvement stalls. They might knock out a 25 here and there, but the overall rhythm of the sport is lost for them. A few hang in there and find a way to achieve a more adjustable gun. Some are fortunate enough to find an experienced shooter to really help fit their gun and coach them to shooting better and advancing in the sport. Is it fair to think that failure and stagnation might be two powerful reasons for dropping out of the sport? Could that be one reason club memberships decline and national organization lose members? Of course.

Anyone who seriously wants shotgun sports to succeed and grow must find ways to help new shooters. There are a rare few who excel using anything and everything. The one gun wonders are legendary too - "been shootin' my grampa's old 870 for 40 years and there's always a paycheck for me at the end of the event". No doubt, some people just have it. They're blessed. The rest of us need something more. Sometimes, just a little.

The ultimate fitting machine is the Precision Fit Stock. With it a shooter can make practically any shotgun fit perfectly. Who, though would jump at the opportunity to add a $1,300 stock to their $500 shotgun? In addition, who is there to help the shooter adjust that new stock? This is not a criticism of the PFS system. It is everything it is advertised to be. The fact remains that it is mostly out of bounds for all but a few new shooters.

Couldn't there be something less costly and sophisticated as the PFS, that could be switched from gun to gun and cost just a couple of hundred dollars - yet still offer enough adjustments to encourage the shooter to stick with it? I think so. How expensive would it be to make a plastic or pine stock that has just an adjustable comb, LOP, and butt plate - simple things that can help almost anyone get a better fit on any gun, be it grampa's old 870, a newer S/A, or even an entry level O/U or SBT? Couldn't it be made in such a manner that measurements can be taken from it and transferred to a better stock on an upgraded gun? Seems reasonable to me.

Allowing a shooter to succeed and progress should be encouraging. In the end we should see more shooters,  breaking more targets, buying/reloading more ammo, and buying more guns (because they want them).

I'm not an engineer, just a shooting consumer. I've struggled for years with this factory gun or that. Because I can, I continue my search, refusing to accept that I just can't do it - that I can't hit 25, then another 25, then another. I now have a shotgun with adjustable comb and butt plate - and I am getting professional help in making it all fit. Even before the professional help I am shooting more comfortably and breaking more clays. That's a good thing that will only get better.

Here's what shotgun sports needs; a reliable 12 gauge shotgun with extended chokes, a 30/32 inch barrel, and a simple stock that has adjustments on the comb, butt plate, and LOP. It should be a soft shooting S/A to prevent the bane of pain.

This is probably too much to ask - especially in a world where customer care is on a downward trend, and there are so few people who actually care whether shotgun sports flourish or not. Maybe that's too harsh. Maybe not.