  Precise calculation of the geometrical acceptance of a large solid angle
detector with an integrated stopping target relies on precise knowledge of the
beam geometry. We describe four alternative methods that we used to measure the
beam stopping distributions in the PIBETA detector active target: (i) light
response of segmented target elements to incident beam particles, (ii)
back-tracking of charged particles from pi+ and mu+ decays using multi-wire
proportional chambers, (iii) volume distribution of the Dalitz decay
(pi0->gamma e+e-) event vertices, and (iv) the opening angle distribution of
two pi0 photons originating from the beta decay of pi+ at rest. We demonstrate
consistent results obtained by these four independent approaches and show how
particular beam stopping distributions affect the detector's geometrical
acceptance.
