Question: My gun will occasionally get hung up on my shirt. Every so often, it causes me to miss a target in competition. What can I do?
Answer: If you tend to stand upright or lean back a bit when you mount your shotgun, try a stance that’s a little more “nose-over-toes.” You want 60% of your weight on the front foot with your nose out over your toes. If you are in the proper stance, the issue is likely your attire or your buttpad. A vest with a leather or imitation leather shoulder pad will often eliminate this issue. There are plenty of options for these types of shooting vests.
If you don’t like wearing a vest, I recommend wearing a synthetic, moisture-wicking shirt. Cotton shirts tend to get caught up on the heel of the pad when mounting.
If you have a proper stance and mount, and the right attire, the issue may be your buttpad. The most commonly used buttpads tend to be made of very sticky rubber. For well under $200, you can have your buttpad replaced with one that is less likely to snag when you mount. My personal favorite is the Pachmayr Decelerator sporting clays pad, which comes in two different thicknesses. This pad is a patented design, with a barely noticeable plastic insert molded into the heel of the pad.
If you are having snagging issues and don’t want to send your gun off until the off-season, there is a field-expedient solution I often use with my students. Cover the top third of the pad with four or five strips of electrical tape, placing them horizontally, making sure that the strips are long enough to extend onto the sides of the pad but not so long that they touch the wood. Then make two or three wraps around the outside of the pad with the tape to secure the ends of the horizontal strips to the sides of the pad. When you cut the tape, make sure the end is on the outside of the stock, away from your chest.