Shotgun Bead Sights.....

[Finners]

More a resurrected shooter and new to taking clays seriously with a little experience with borrowed OUs. Grew up rough shooting with various family SxSs ranging from a lovely little 410 to an ancient single 8 bore which I'm the only idiot in living memory to have used, dad reckons it belonged to my GG grandfather, I reckon someone just stuck a butt and a fore-end on a captured cannon after Waterloo, its big ugly beast of a thing but has a charm of its own.

My early shotgun technique was purely instinctive, my years of competitive match shooting .22 at a high level got me interested and pretty well versed in the technical & psychological side of things so at the moment I'm learning everything I can about clay shooting, in time will use what works for me, file the rest. Next step is lots of lead down the range gaining confidence, honing technique and experimenting with chokes/carts. I know I could just follow advice but I've found I learn as much if not more from mistakes as I do from success, kind of 'suck it and see' . Once I've got this stage of the learning process out of the way and step onto the stand its a case of DO not THINK.

Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you were new to shooting :good:

 

[Les53]

I prefer end bead and a mid bead, not sure why because I can't see the bloody things without my reading glasses!!!! Not only that, I never even see them when I shoot, I mainly only use/see them when doing dry mounting practice these days, yes with my reading glasses on!  :biggrin:

 

[jwpzx9r]

I have eye dom issues and a fibre optic bead helped but maybe too much! It is great to let you know that the correct eye is looking down the rib but I removed it when I was confident that my adapted shooting glasses were correcting the problem. To answer the question if you have eye dom issues then use it in conjunction with a patch of opaque tape over the correct spot on you off eye shooting glasses lens... when you are confident the patch is working 100% remove the bead jobs a good un! If you do not have eye dom probs no need.

 

[Bryn12]

Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you were new to shooting :good:

nah its OK, mind you I feel like it trying to shoot DTL  :blink:  oh well a weekness is just something you need to work on to turn it into a strength

 

[Nick Selby]

Last time I went shooting, I hit my best score in ESP and I don't remember even seeing the beads...

 

[Mick Shaw]

I have lots of different  coloured beads !  They were threaded on a piece of cord and given to me by my grandaughter !! :nyam:   :nyam:   :nyam:

 

[ips]

I have lots of different coloured beads ! They were threaded on a piece of cord and given to me by my grandaughter !! :nyam: :nyam: :nyam:

that's lovely mate

i bet you keep them forever

 

[ips]

Last time I went shooting, I hit my best score in ESP and I don't remember even seeing the beads...

agree with that nick. Best scores i ever did i Defo didn't see it or had any idea what i did at all.

 

[Bryn12]

Lovely just as long as she didn't raid your shotguns to get them

Grandkids are so much more fun than kids, fill the little darlings up with E-numbers then hand them back...............payback :laugh:

 

[Pambs]

I find them very useful in trap shooting where us I was not using them in sporting/compaq. I even took my dt10 barrel to a gunsmith drill it and installed an ASE bead which I think is the best

Sent from my GT-I9295 using Tapatalk

 

[Harry1]

Now this may come across totally wrong but I had one and I say had! Until I went for a lesson with phillip Thorrold he has done an article on why they cannot work but no one will print it because they are collecting advertising revenue from vendors !

To try to explain the reason why they don't work this is what he showed me .

See those two oak trees over there look between them and at the same time can you see the branches ? of course not I said and here lies the lesson your brain can only look at one thing at a time so if you have this glowing bead at the end of your gun and you can see it your not looking at the clay target and before you go on about perifial vision if you can see the glow at all it's putting you of !

So he said I will get the pliers do you want to do it or me ? Another £ 30 down the drain

 

[ips]

A very interesting subject this and one i have discussed many times.

My take on it for trap.

Mid bead is handy for correct gun mount alignment, if your gun does not fit perfectly, if it does there is no need for one.

Bright orange or glow in the dark bead is useless as its too prominent imo

small brass or white one is best as you are conscious of it without it being to prominent.

Shooting without one at all is strange as you may think you never see it but you do. There are no trap shooters of note that i am aware of that have taken them off. I have spoken to some of the best, and i am talking world class all say the same "i don't look at it but i am aware that it is there"

You may not look at it but at the point of taking the shot everything is in alignment target eye and bead so you will see it at some stage.

When i shot AA class dtl i was most definitely using it as an aiming aid as imo this is one discipline that affords you the time to do so and in my experience is the way to achieve high consistent scores.

Manufacturers do not give you an option not to have one which means that they consider they are required.

All only my opinion of course and based on much trial and experience of many guns and all trap disciplines over 28 yrs

 

[Les53]

Just fitted a large red fibre optic front bead and a larger than normal bright yellow mid bead to my DT11. I never see the things when I shoot, but they are good to practice dry mounting and I can see the new beads without the use of reading glasses!! I do use them for linning up prior to calling for the target at times, just as a "make sure" type of thing.

 

[Hamster]

See those two oak trees over there look between them and at the same time can you see the branches ? of course not I said and here lies the lesson your brain can only look at one thing at a time so if you have this glowing bead at the end of your gun and you can see it your not looking at the clay target and before you go on about perifial vision if you can see the glow at all it's putting you of !

Few things are quite that simple, at the end of the day you need to have a relationship between the barrels and the clay and the bead is just a tiny thing that most people seem quite undistracted by. True some can shoot perfectly well without, (probably most of us could) but in the main nobody looks at them but they serve as a subconsious peripheral aid. 

Then there are those occasions when we pre mount for a bird and you can't deny they are a super fast way of checking you have things fixed centrally before you commit to calling pull. 

One of the best bead/rib set ups I have ever seen are these : 

http://www.keensights.com/crossfire-eliminator-rib.html

which I have to say I'm amazed aren't commercially available over here because they must be useful for those with master eye issues. The bead needn't be at all large, anything will do and probably the smaller the better but having it sunk in at the rib end will prevent the wrong eye seeing it at all.

 

[ips]

What hammy said which seems to be a succinct version of my rambling nonsense

 

[Gnasher]

I have an orange bead on the end of my gun and I've never paid any attention to it until the bloody thing fell off this weekend. Now the end of my gun looks odd and I can't stop staring at it. Not good for my shooting. Shot a terrible score.

 

[ips]

Just had a Thought

Ok one trap technique is to pick a specific spot a blade of grass flower etc and don't take your eyes off it until the target passes, from dw experience for best results this requires that you look through or past the bead so it is without doubt in view but its in soft focus.

Don't ever see the bead, not aware of the bead ? I beg to differ.

 

[garry2749]

Good for beginners but never used one myself.

 

[Les53]

Good for beginners but never used one myself.

OK OK.......it's lets have a go at " Old White Gloves" day!!!!! :laugh:

 

[Nimbusgb]

I think we are missing a trick with these beads, it's another option to bling up your gun. Might go for a Mercedes bonnet emblem or the spirit of ecstasy from a Rolls. I wont hit anything but I'll miss in style.. " thats when the fight started "

A nice retracting one that automatically folds into a recess when the gun is offered up to the slip!