Nomad, back when I had my store, I used to send folks all the time to a shop 100+ miles away from me, due to they carried over 1500+ over and under shotgun, from a couple hundred bucks to ten's of thousands
reasy being was NOTHING bat having a gun to pick up and hold and see how it fits
99% of the guys I sent there said the trip was well worth the drive, and 90% of the time, they had me order the gun for them, as I tened to be able to beat most folks on price, that shop had high prices to justify the inevetory they kept, plus it was actuallt in another state LOL
yes I sent customers out of state to a different gun store
and liek I said, most highly appreciated it, as when you buy a shotgun in the 5-10 k range, you kinda want to only do it once, or for sure make sure your getting one that fit you! HAHA
I stell recommend folks try guns, and in all honestly leanr what it means to have a fitted gun
its also about learning guns
and then how to pick what barrel length you want
you can get away on a semi (or a pump)with a shorter barrel than you would want on say a over under, as the reciver on a pump/semi, gives you a longer sight plane, where as with a side by side or over and under, you don't have that long reciever
a proper fitting gun will fit like a glove, every time you sholder it it will fall in the right spot
when you have to adjust to fit a gun, your always going thru a LOT more motions, and odds of getting one of them wrong, are a lot higher, the less it fits
same with bows too, you want things to work naturally as possible to get the most out of an item for said shooter, same with hand guns
a gun that fits , 99% of shooters will out shoot over a high dollar gun that doesn't fit
lots of little things can make or bear the fun you get out of things, or performance of them