Front Sight bead.

[sappyg]

im working my way into a sporting clays gun. Looks like it's going to be an a300. After 200 rounds I knew this was the one. There are modifications I'm looking to make but the one I hadn't planned on was the bead. When I got home from the range I decided to clean it. Low and behold the front bead was gone. I have no idea when it left the gun. I'm not sure that i need a bead but a shotgun without a bead just doesn't look right.
I installed a dual color Truglo Fat-Bead in place of the factory bead and now it looks like there is a 10 lb. two tone fluorescent pumpkin on the end of the barrel. Not sure I like it but haven't tried it In the field yet but I'm thinking I dont want a giant pumpkin on the end of my barrel. Plus, it seems too tall.
My question is what are you guys using for a bead if anything? Is anyone using a giant 10 lb pumpkin for a bead and if so how do you like it? Is there a good source for the 2.6mm bead that looks like a 2 lb pumpkin or am I just being too picky?

 

[AJumbo]

Like Dad always told me, if you can see the bead, you're not looking at the bird. It follows, then, that your shiny new technicolor bead may prove distracting.

 

[Virginian]

I put a small light pipe front sight on - magnetic - and realized I couldn't remember seeing it at all in use so took it back off. Back to plain bead. It helps shooting cripples anyway.

 

[desidog]

I removed the bead from my clays gun entirely and my scores improved.

It is also very important that the stock fits you properly.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Like Dad always told me, if you can see the bead, you're not looking at the bird. It follows, then, that your shiny new technicolor bead may prove distracting.

Funny, my dad always said if I'm looking at the bird, I'm gonna miss it.



Todd.

 

[eastbank]

enough said. eastbank.

 

[Virginian]

Well it does beat the eternal quest for the best cheap O/U, and the absolute cheapest pump on earth.

 

[eastbank]

why do the makers of clay games shotguns put the beads on them, and for that matter why put ribs on them. i have never seen a dedecated clay games shotgun with a plain round barrel, it would be cheaper to make them without a rib and beads. maybe several hunderd dollars cheaper, so some body must want them. eastbank.

 

[sappyg]

IDK eastbank. I guess ribs and beads are in vogue ATM.

To be fair, the gun I chose is more of a field/ hunting gun so i can't blame Beretta though the 400 excel has a rib and bead also. I'm thinking to just remove the two tone 10 lb looking pumpkin and just go beadless. It's quite an abomination.

The only thread I searched before asking was Dave mccrackin's thread on shotgun sights. I was hoping for more dedicated insight from seasoned veterans and average shooters alike.

Frankly I thought the Truglo seemed like a good idea at the time but now, not so much. Might be good for a turkey gun IDK.

 

[kudu]

I always put a Bradley White front bead on most of my shotguns, very unobtrusive, but still there as a reference point. I have lost several beads, when you don't notice that it is gone, you are doing it right.

 

[Saw-Bones]

Ajumbo - Your dad told you right, but you don't focus on the bird either.

Your eye is the rear sight and the bead allows you to make the proper sight alignment. With the “sights” aligned, which requires you not to move your head on the stock, you can place the barrel and the bird/clay in their positions relative the movement of the target while no longer focusing on the bead.

The ventilated rib dissipates heat reducing or eliminating mirage effect of the rising heat from the barrel. For me personally, I prefer the broader, flat sighting plane of the rib. YMMV

 

[Virginian]

Whatever you use, your eye does need the consistent sight picture including peripheral vision of that to allow your brain to calculate a hit. Changing from a bead, to a bigger bead, to no bead or vice versa will have an effect. When I asked Tom Knapp how he hit shots shooting behind his back, he said all it takes is practice and learning the correct sight picture. I'm not sure that's ALL it takes to do that.

 

[AJumbo]

Everybody has their own technique, 'Bones. My shooting buddies learned long ago not to ask me what lead I was pulling on a given bird, because I swing through the bird and fire when as the barrel clears the target. I find it easier to do that than to "do the math" while the bird gets away. And I never, ever see the bead when the target breaks.

 

[Saw-Bones]

Ajumbo - I’m only aware of 3 shot gunning techniques at moving targets and they all require a precise lead adjusted to varying conditions like wind, angle to the target and distance, etc.

I’ve found that NSSA skeet champions mostly use the sustained lead technique, but the most common technique was the swing through like you use. Then there are the spot shooters who put their barrel where they think the bird/clay is going to be and do not swing the barrel through the target after pulling the trigger like the other two techniques require.

I’ve competed in International Skeet (low gun, 0-3 second delay after calling for the bird, 24 grams of shot, faster, harder targets, etc.) and I use the swing through technique myself. I probably could have won more competitions if I had used sustained lead, but old habits die hard. I took one State competition and that was probably the luckiest competition day ever for me… swing through lead notwithstanding.

 

[sappyg]

Today I started with the tru glo bead installed. Missed more than my share of targets. Within 2 boxes the bead had come loose so I took it off and proceeded to break 58 clays in a row. It turns out the bead was more a distraction than anything. The clay actually looks bigger without the bead and I could see more of the trajectory in flight.

I shoulda listened to eastbank from the get go

 

[WardenWolf]

Don't know, but I find I shoot better with the rifle-style sights on my Saiga 12. With my old 20 gauge pump, I actually looked down the side of the barrel instead of using the bead.