What Goes Into Fitting a Woman for a Shotgun

Why a Gun Built for a Woman Is Different

Here is the part most of us skip right past. A shotgun off the rack is built around the average man's frame, and the usual fix is to cut the stock down and call it a ladies' gun. Grace made the point that chopping a full-size gun leaves you with something nose-heavy, and when a gun is front-heavy, the recoil comes back and bites you in the cheek or the shoulder.

Syren went in a different direction and changed almost every dimension of the stock. The length of pull runs about 13 3/4 inches, while a typical off-the-shelf gun sits at 14 1/4 or longer. The grip circumference is smaller, the comb is a Monte Carlo, and there is more pitch and more toe to account for a woman's chest. They also kept weight out of the muzzle end with lighter barrels so the balance stays even between the hands. Courtney does not shoot a lot, so Grace put her on a Tempio Sporting with a 28-inch barrel for exactly that reason. If you want the full walkthrough of the lineup, we covered it in Shotguns Built for Women | The Complete Syren Lineup.

Where a Fitting Actually Starts

I assumed Grace would start with length of pull. She does not. She starts with the job, meaning what you actually want the gun to do, and then how often you plan to shoot it, because that is what decides weight. Weight before length of pull caught me off guard, but it makes sense. Put a new shooter behind too much gun, and they will build bad habits just trying to hold it up. Length of pull comes third.

Getting the Mount Right

The mount is where most of the work happens, and this is the part so many overlook. There is no point in worrying about gun fit if you don't have a fundamental mount.

Grace had her start natural, left foot slightly ahead, and close the gun at whatever angle her chest naturally sat. That angle is the one you keep as the gun goes into the shoulder pocket. From there, it is nose over the bead, bring the gun up to the face, and bow at the waist.

Courtney said it felt so awkward, and honestly, she was right. It did. That is what a correct mount feels like when your body has spent years finding the path of least resistance.

Why an Adjustable Comb Is Worth the Money

Even on a gun built for her, the comb was sitting a hair too low, and Grace made a small adjustment to bring it up. That is the whole argument for adjustable right there. Off the shelf is closer, but it is not automatically done. Grace says more often than not, women coming into the sport lean toward the adjustable comb, and I think she is right for a reason worth understanding. A newer shooter will crank it up and over while they are still figuring things out, then settle back toward flat and neutral as their technique comes around.

Her line that stuck with me was that nine-year-old Grace and almost thirty-two-year-old Grace look very different behind a gun, just from rounds downrange. If you are buying for somebody new to this, spend the money on adjustable.

The Thing We Never Caught

Courtney has not done a lot of shooting over the years, but she has shot clays and upland birds with me at different times. Despite her husband knowing a thing or two about shooting, she generally does not want me to coach her. That being said, I knew she was right eye dominant but we had never dug in deep to her shooting technique or eye dominance. 

When Courtney would mount the Syren, she kept canting the shotgun, and Grace caught on to why. Grace did an eye test, and the results were revealing. While Courtney is right eye dominant, she has a center shift. The fix was not complicated. We put a little Vaseline on the left lens of her glasses to blur her non-dominant eye and allow her right eye to be fully dominant.

Once we got rounds downrange (coming in another video), she was shooting with both eyes open without even thinking about it. She was honestly shocked at how much of a difference a firearm that was fit to her and blurring out her left eye made it so much easier to shoot comfortably.

Final Thoughts

A gun that fits you well makes shooting more enjoyable because you generally shoot better, which is more fun, and because it's physically more comfortable. Finding the right shotgun is certainly a big piece, but another big part is working with somebody who knows what they are looking at. You can walk into a shop and throw guns up to your shoulder all day, but it takes a trained eye to catch a stance/mount problem or an eye dominance issue hiding underneath it.

Grace put it about as plainly as it can be put. When it fits you back here, you are going to have a lot more success out there. I finally got Courtney a gun of her own, and the fitting turned out to be the more valuable half of the deal.

Have you had a shotgun fitted to you? Share your experience in the TFL COMMUNITY!

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