Camanche Hills and Our Custom Stocks

Seeing the Bird Behind the Barrel at Camanche Hills

Another great clinic at Camanche Hills in Ione, California, with four days of great weather and great shooters of all abilities. An incredible blue sky dominated the weather. While it was a little cooler than normal for that time of year, all in all, it was a great time.

The greatest relief was that Larry Skinner got through his heart procedure on Friday and all is okay and he is back to himself again. We had several shooters for three days this time. They played out early on the last day but progressed dramatically during the weekend. Their ages ranged from 22 to 83, both men and women.

I stand convinced again after 40 plus hours of instruction that seeing the bird behind the barrels is something we are just now scratching the surface of. It will eventually become second nature to all shooters who study with us.

It’s as if the gun can be in the picture and it is okay. Whether I shoot right or left-handed, if I program the right picture in the preload and shoot only when the picture is stable, I hit the target at any distance. The toughest part of the transition is that you have to go through some muzzle awareness as the brain becomes accustomed to the new picture and establishes the new focus ratio.

For example, when I shot the 100-yard shot, it took several shots to get the stable picture. Then to hit the target, I had to look harder at it. So, is it the chicken or the egg? I don’t know, but I do know this: there is something to seeing the bird behind the muzzle. I’m noticing that my preload is easier and more specific when I demo a shot or shoot on my own.

Our Beautiful Custom Stocks

We are about to send our Parcours back to Neal Bauder to have our stocks finished. If you want to have a perfect stock made, check out his website. I got tired of modifying the stocks on our new guns each year, so we decided to have two custom stocks made. Vicki’s wood is from the Republic of Georgia across the big pond, and man, is it beautiful. We can’t wait to see the finished product.

We each had Neal make us a pattern stock for us and I modified them until they were perfect. I had to take a little more off the inside face of the stock on Vicki’s gun because it kept hitting her in the face. It’s something she didn’t like and had never experienced. Neal was able to install our ISIS pads on the pattern stock which made them exactly like our finished stocks – a great advantage.

You’ll see more about this journey in upcoming blogs and in an article we will be doing in the magazines.

This has been a real journey as it was the first time we have ever had a custom stock made. It’s a journey and a process that I’m glad we went through. It will definitely make me a better gun fitter in the future and will always in the future recommend a pattern stock as the beginning step in the process of having a gun that really fits.

Give Neal a call if you have a question. I have Krieghoff and Beretta stocks with the OSP dimension on them if you would like to try a stock that is really low enough and thin enough for you to really shoot well.

Replacement Combs

We and Neal are coming out with a series of replacement combs to fit Guerini, Blaser, and Krieghoff in the beginning. These combs will fit the factory hardware and will come with shorter posts that simply screw right in place. The comb with be 30 percent more narrow and 3/8ths of an inch lower. When installed, it will allow the shooter to use full adjustment to achieve a perfect fit.

We’re finding that most of the stocks on the target guns are too high and wide when they are in their lowest position. With our new comb kit and for $300 (including shipping), you can have a comb that will fit the factory hardware and enable you to get full adjustment in your factory stock – in less than five minutes.

The bugs are just about all worked out and we’ll be offering them for shipping soon. The combs will fit the factory cutouts, but will not be made to match the grain in your stock. They are replacement combs, so you will be able to shoot your gun well without having to have a custom stock made. We are also looking at pricing on combs sent in to Neal and he will take your hardware out of your comb and install it in an OSP comb.

Let me know what you think about this. We will be back to you on the pricing on this and a few other new products we are working on.