What is POI? It's Point of Impact and there are multiple ways to look at POI. The first is the nature of your barrels to shoot straight and a second refers to proper gun fit.
Do
your barrels actually send the shotstring on a straight line to the target?
From a bench rest, as you would a rifle, does your shotstring hit the
bulls-eye dead on, with 50% distribution on the top, bottom, left and right?
Or is it slightly high, low or off center? If score is a priority in your
game, this is an important piece of information. You barrels should be
shooting dead on.
Once that is established, the next question is, where do you personally want your POI to be?
50/50 (top and bottom) POI seems to be a favorite among sporting clays shooters. For good reasons, some skeet shooters favor a slightly higher POI and trap shooters higher still.
Assuming your barrels do shoot straight, stock dimensions, rib configurations and gun fit can all move or affect POI. Depending on your stock dimensions—rib configuration—and how a stock fits you—all move your shooting eye up or down behind the receiver. The final configuration of all this can directly affect your final X count—and the number of birds in your game pouch.
Checking you POI is a good idea. Remember too, a good gun fitter and stocker can move that POI to precisely where you want it.
