Be nice, it was a brand new gun to me, and I've gotten better since then.
Didn't mean YOU!
It's fairly common with new shooters (or new to the shotgun game) that the most basic criterion - fit - is often a by-chance thing.
First, look at a pistol - all it has to do is fit your hand. It's only, generally, at the higher levels of pistol competition that a custom-moulded or adjustable grip will make its appearance.
How many rifles do you see with hyper-adjustable stocks, where length of pull, cast-on/-off, comb height and angle, etc. can be changed?
Unless the gun is completely wrong for you, you'll most likely be able to get the sights lined up on the target, and be good to go.
This is where a shotgun is a different beast!
With a shotgun, your eye is the rear sight - you are part of the gun, in a sense. This is why fit is so important.
I'm a generally off-the-rack guy, and most production shotguns fit me pretty well, but here's a true story to illustrate the importance of trying on for size:
A while back Dick's was having a sale on Stoeger Condor O/U sets - one reciever, two barrels, 12 and 20. Cheap. COOL! Good deal! I asked to see one, and did my initial "fit" test: Close eyes, mount normally to where it "feels" right, open eyes. I was staring at the back of the breech, and could not see the bead. I asked for another, "identical" one to try, and repeated. Excellent view. I placed them together on the counter, and noticed that the two guns had markedly diffferent dimensions WRT the rib on the barrel, and walked away. This lack of uniformity in production bothered me. This is not to say that a Condor is a bad gun - i have no personal experience wit them - but, just as a pair of size 11 Herman Survivor boots should be the same as another pair of the same make and model, so should "identical" new guns.
You would likely not buy a pair of boots on the suggestion of a friend - or salesman - without trying them on, even though the "size" is the same as yours. So, too, with a shotgun.
In all honesty, a shotgun that costs $1000 and is a poor fit is worse than a $300 shotgun that fits well. The additional $700 would be better put to ammo for practice, especially somewhere that better shooters gather, so you can pick their brains.
I'm not the best shooter at my club, but one thing that I know is that once the body mechanics are settled, it's almost completely a mental game. A miss will breed a miss if you think about it; thinking about your score will make it go down. My gun is not an "ideal" Trap gun, but, a freak gust of wind notwithstanding, my misses are a "wetware" problem, because it fits me, and throws the shot where I'm looking.
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
