Cheek Pressure in the Showroom vs. Cheek Pressure While Shooting

One of the first things we learned is that when shooters mount a shotgun in the showroom, they always put more cheek pressure on the comb than they do when they’re actually shooting the gun.

When we mention this to shooters, there is always one or two who aren’t convinced. So we have them mount their gun indoors and take a photo of their cheek pressure. Then we immediately go out and do a video of their cheek when shooting their gun. And wow, what a difference.

When pondering this conundrum, we have discovered why this is always the case.  When shooters mount the gun in the showroom, they are always looking down the barrel. The brain instinctively puts enough cheek pressure on the comb so that their shooting eye lines up and is looking flat down the rib.

Since almost all shotguns are stocked too high for the average American, if shooters used as much cheek pressure when they shot as they did when they were dry-mounting the gun, they would quickly realize just how much recoil their gun really has.