Beads? We don't need no stinking beads...

J

jfruser

New member
It seems I don't need a bead on the end of my shotgun to knock clay targets out of the air. Huh.

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My father has offered to pay for my son and me to visit and hunt pheasant this fall. Trouble being, I had not done any wingshooting for 25+ yearss and my son had never fired a shotgun.

So, son and I get to it on a simple clay target slinger, going straight out. I get back in the saddle, and son gets to the point he can hit 2/3 targets flung straight out.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I knocked clay targets apart as a younger fellow, skeet was what I did best and what got me hunt-ready. So, I sign up son & self for 1.5 hours of skeet instruction at a local big-dog shooting complex-thingy. Best $170 I ever spent on shotgunny stuff ($85/each).

I used my Rem 1100 12ga and my son used the Franken-70, a Remington 870 12gaWingmaster receiver that has served as a LEO non-lethal projectile slinger, a lethal social shotgun, and now as a wingshooter with a used 28" bbl and Choate furniture (12.5" LOP). It has a slick action, sure enough.

Anyways, we were in the middle of instruction when my barrel bead fell off into the grass. I mention it and the instructor says, "Keep shooting. You might not miss it." I did. And I didn't.

I saw no drop in performance and I am in no hurry to replace the bead.

As for my performance, it as if I got back on to a bicycle, had a wobbly start, but got back up to 75% of my performance from 25 years ago. My son now hits straight-out targets nearly 100% of the time and is getting the hang of cross-wise targets.

I must admit, though, that it did feel like cheating. Back in the day, neither my dad nor I knew that skeet low & high houses had to sling the target to relatively the same spot at mid-field. We were not what you would call sophisticated shotgunners. Knowing that and thinking a bit about where best to engage the target increased my performance, so I suspect that the score card might indicate I am at 75% of my old performance, but that is somewhat inflated.

Looking forward to more skeet. I had forgotten how fun it was.
 
If you look at the some of the best shotguns made, they have a very tiny bead which most do not see. When shooting, IF your gun FITS, your eyes guide the hands and the gun to the target. Beads, especially large glow-worms or similar, do nothing but take your focus from the target to the barrel.
 
FITASC: I completely agree! Recently bought a used SKB 85TSS (Japanese mfg.) which has an fiber optic front "bead". The gun is a big upgrade from the Stoeger Competition I had been shooting BUT, the old gun had only very small front and middle beads. That's what I'm accustomed to shooting, all focus on the target. Now, I have trouble keeping focus on the "bird" because of the distraction of that glowing front sight. Next time out I'll try covering the front with a piece of black tape or see if the glowing plastic piece is removable, to see if it helps. The SKB fits, thanks to a couple of highly rated local shooters who helped me adjust the comb and butt plate plus a couple of trips to the pattern board.
 
Most of those light pipes can be easily removed from their holder. OR, borrow some of your wife's nail polish in a dark color and paint the front face. What I have seen a lot of sporting pros do is remove the front sight completely. Some have moved the very tiny middle bead to the front, most just leave it off and don't worry about it.
 
I am far from a Pro and just getting to where I don't embarrass myself on a skeet field too much, but my game is improving rapidly and as it does I pay less and less attention to the beads, except to check my mount and if they are close to where they should be that is good enough.
 
But beads is purty...................................................................... especially the Ivory ones.
 
Shotguns are never to be "aimed", they are to be pointed. A bead only serves as an index point for the brain to analyze and quantify subconscious interception vectors of the projectile mass and target.
 
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well said, i hold a 93 percent aveg at trap and i like the so called ugly glow worm( a small dia. one). just last week i shot a 96-100, i,m a fun shooter and don,t shoot for money or metals and only try to beat my self. to each his own. eastbank.
 
A bead only serves as an index point for the brain to analyze and quantify subconscious interception vectors of the projectile mass and target.
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If you're looking at the bead, then you're not looking at the target - it is impossible for the brain to focus on both near and far simultaneously. Focus on the target......
 
you need a bead to determine bbl alignment to your eye.
with time, you learn muscle memory as to what is natural.
its at that point, you no longer need a bead.
w/o a bead, youll need to shoot a lot to see where your shotgun aims and breaks your target. then, your brain takes over.
purpose of a bead is to give you a beginning point. and in todays world where utube is the great instructor god, you cant really learn whats right unless you give your gun trigger time.
the bead helps you get the basics and you branch off from there.
I can shoot any of my shotguns w/o beads. ive shot them for so many decades, I know a proper fit. I can feel it. the result is I don't need to align a bead.
do I still align beads? sure. like on the 50yd trap shot match. where details prevail.
id rather have a bead for when I need it, than to wish I had one for specialty shots.
I share this from 45 years of shotgunning. im not a utube pro as many are.
 
If a shotgun bead sight serves a purpose, it may be only to tell you if your shotgun fits you well or not.
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That's all it does, and if you have your gun fitted, it becomes an unnecessary distraction.
 
Fortunately, the entire front sight assembly is easily removable, just one screw. Since the gun is now fitted to me, I tried a few rounds without it. Did better. Still have some bad habits to overcome but at least I am focusing on the target all the way.
 
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