I need to bring the comb down on a gun I just got 1/2". What is a good procedure for removing that much stock? I have done some inletting, reshaping and finishing before so I am not totally clueless, I just don't want to re-invent the wheel.
Thanks,
CHAZ

Bend it.

Having met you, my gut is that you are mistaken.
Very possibly a longer length of pull would accomplish the same thing for you.

But barring all that. Bend it.

you won't get 1/2" at the comb.....no matter how good the grain is. How high does it measure?

It is 2 1/16" at the heel, and I need 2 5/8" according to the fitting I had (the gun I have at those measurements I shoot well). I shot the gun today and it beat the crap out of my face, and it is actually still a bit long for me at 15" LOP.

I don't know how much I actually need at the comb, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it probably isn't as much as the 1/2" I need at the heel. I guess I meant I have to drop the comb to get 1/2" at the heel.

CHAZ

If the stock has enough wood in it, just start shaving the comb with a small plane, then a rasp, then 100 grit wet or dry sandpaper. Start at the back of the comb and work forward. Do it with the gun fully assembled and check the sight picture often. When you get it where you want it, do the final finish.

What kind of gun?
JR

to bend a stock 1/2" at heel is usually no problem with good grain flow.

This one;

Trojan at VD

restocked, a lower and thinner comb will do it good. A rasp is a very good option if you are capable.

Don't wait too long to buy that gun. The stock is worth more than the asking price. Leave the heel as is and angle the comb drop into the heel. Many would kill for those stock dimensions and chokes.

I bought it already, now I just want to make it so I can shoot it.
CHAZ

Non original stock with an unusually high comb. Have at it with the rasp--ought to work out well and have nicer lines than at present. Looks like a good gun. As mentioned above leave the butt alone and just taper the comb.

Wow. Somebody lost their behind on that one.
16" LOP
I'd take the pad off it and see where I was shooting. Then have it bent. Usually people complain about 3" drop Parkers.

That forward comb point is very high. It could stand to have it shaved down like SKB and Eightbore mentioned. But it may look funny if you have to lower the comb so much it looks like the line of the comb is level with the barrels or you shave the heel down too much and the thing looks like a narrow stock. I think it may take a combination of bending and shaving to get what you may want. I think I'd consult a stock man if I were you. That stock has good grain direction in the wrist and should bend safely.

That is exactly what I did, and I am looking at most of the rib, and getting smacked in the face like I goosed its behind. I didn't realize bending the stock was an option because the guys with those 3" drop guns complain they can't bend them up to get better dimensions, I assumed you can't bend them down either.
CHAZ

Wouldn't the right order be:

1. Get LOP correct
2. Confirm pitch is correct (wrong pitch can contribute to face slap)
3. Bend
4. Shave if/as needed.

I wouldn't dispute anything SKB says, but in my conversations with stockers about bending, I have been told that 1/2" at the heel is optimistic. The PG is not going to help any, either.

Have you shot it at a pattern plate? I bought a gun recently that had different dimensions from what I had been fit to, but when I shot it at a pattern plate, it was on the money. Who knows why?

Just my thoughts but you might tweek a bit less pitch out of the stock (a bit at a time) as you shorten it. This should help with the cheek bite. But beware of to little pitch as it will let the butt slide down on firing. Do the test firings with a smooth bare butt so any tendency to slide down off the shoulder will show.

This is a tricky subject with a lot of factors that may contribute to you getting smacked. Lots of good suggestions here for ways to fix it. I would also consider the following-
Perhaps the comb shape is odd. Is it thick or thin or in between? Thick combs can lead to rolling your head and contribute to cheek slap.
The stock does look to have an odd shape with the nose of the comb being quite high. The comb is quite steep with 1" difference between the nose and heel. I would reduce the comb height towards the nose and leave the drop at heel the same as it is now but heed Chuck's comments above.
The pitch looks strange also as the LOP to heel looks greater than the LOP to toe and the reverse should be the norm with a slightly more prominent LOP to toe.
I'm guessing that the combination of the comb angle and pitch angle are causing the gun to rotate excessively on recoil.
Remember that reducing the LOP will also reduce the drop at face as your head will move forward on the stock.

Bending will have very little effect on the comb. Shave it and leave the heel as is.

The gun has some mechanical problems as well. I got a good deal so I don't feel bad spending a little to make it "right." I talked to the gunsmith today and he is going to shave the stock for me both at the comb, and probably thin the sides to fit a butt plate. The stock is really thick.

I looked at the dimensions of the gun versus my fitting and the difference is 11/16" at the comb, and 9/16 at the heel. I will tell him that if it will take too much "height" out of the butt of the stock to leave the butt higher if needed. I don't think it is going to be a problem because the butt is a good 5" tall at the plate.

Thanks,
CHAZ

I'd use either 5" or 5 1/8" as a minimum butt height. Less than that starts looking hacked. I believe 5 1/8" is the height of a #1 frame 12ga butt. If, after you shave the comb, you need the heel lower than what you can get while keeping the butt 5 1/8", get it bent.

What's with this fixation on DAH? You need 2 points to draw a straight line. The forward point is the drop at the nose and is the more important, being much closer to the eye. Drop at the eye, or "drop at face" is the only drop that really matters, unless the drop at heel is so much that the heel digs into the shoulder. But 1/4-3/8" too little drop at the heel means little in and of itself. Do you really think 3/8" of recoil pad sticking above the shoulder will affect shootability?

Read this again...

First thing will be correct length of pull and pitch.

I am not going to be able to drop the heel by removing wood as it is only 5" tall right now. I want to bring the stock down at the front as I think the stock looks odd and unusually high at that point anyway. It seems to have a very deep "saddle," for lack of a better word, behind the pistol grip.

I have been comparing the gun to another SxS that I shoot well, and while not bringing it to the dimensions that my fitting says are "ideal," I think I am going to have the front of the comb taken down 1/2" and then tapered back to the heel to leave it (the heel) full height.

This will leave me with a little over 1 1/2" of drop at the comb, a little over 2" at the heel, and almost 15" length of pull. Plenty of wood left that if I decide to sell in the future there is still plenty of stock left for someone else to fit it to them.

CHAZ

How do you plan to alter the pitch?

You should be seeing all of the top rib....this isn't a rifle.

That's a weird looking stock....guess that's why the gun sold so cheap.

From what I'm seeing you don't need to touch the drop at the butt plate most likely just behind the pistol grip.

Unless you want it to shoot high, seeing all of the rib is NOT what you want. Just the bead is all you should see for a flat-shooting gun.
JR

Rule of thumb I was taught was to stack two quarters on the rib at the receiver and you should just barely see the bead over them. I could lay a roll of quarters on the rib now and still see over.

As far as the pitch of the stock is concerned it needs to be shortened just a little, so I should be able to adjust the pitch of the butt when doing so.

CHAZ

Like most "rule of thumb" advice, pretty worthless. Never heard that one before.

If you want a flat-shooting gun, you just want to see the bead, no rib. For 60/40, maybe a little rib.
JR

My only comment, which you probably know from previous work is to not use the rasp to your final dimension, if that is what you decide to do.

When you get close to the final dimension, switch to a fine cutting file.

I only use rasps for gross removal of wood at the beginning of a project, as they tear the wood fibers and a PITA to clean up if you go too far with one.

There's another route to take for 'comb lowering"-- put a rooster's head on the old chopping block, swing the old Plumb or Marbles axe correctly, and the head and comb fall to the ground, while the wings beat like the rotor blades on a UH-1 "Huey" with a worn "Jesus Nut"--

Hoof,
In regards to the comb on that Trojan. You have a ton of wood to work with there. And if you do it right, in the end you can most likely get it looking correct for a Parker.

Take that gun to a competent stock man and have him remove 3/8" off the comb and a 1/4" or less off the heel, reduce the LOP and shoot it for a month. Then finish the adjustment as needed. With the cast off you may find that you do not need or shoot it well with your normal drop at comb. Comb is much more important to me than heel drop. I find that I can alter my mounting for a drop of heel issue but my cheek bone just refuses to shrink to get past a too high comb. Since that is a restock no one will cry when you alter it to a more functional gun for your needs.

Bend it first, then remove what little you need to complete the drop at comb. Drop at heel can be accomplished with a Morgan adjustable pad, maybe? Good luck.

Just what you want on a classic American double, a Morgan adjustable pad.
JR

Truly the best advice given...so far.

Considering that the comb as it is, is not at all correct for a Parker (too high and too fat). There is no real need to bend to alter the comb. It can all be done by just working it down. And in the process, a Parker correct comb can be made.

How does this look? This is 1/2" off the "face" and only 1/4" off the butt. That puts me pretty much right on for the face, and a little closer on the butt. That will give me just under 5" of height on the butt, but if I don't take some off there the angle of the comb looks odd.



CHAZ

Does it shoot where you are looking? If so all is well.

If you are contemplating taking any off of the heel, consider what you are going to do about the buttplate. Factory type (or repro) buttplates come in only a few sizes. If you are putting a pad on it, any height from about 5" up will look fine.

This is just a photoshop "mock-up" to see what it would look like with that much material taken off. That change in the stock brings it pretty close to the measurements my fitting dictated.

I am going to fit a plate to the butt, and it will be shortened, possibly to the point of losing the border at the bottom. I checked the sizes for all the plates CSMC had, and got the closest one I could. The stock is a really odd size, short and fat.

CHAZ

Trimming the heel does not change your shoulder position on the gun. Leave it alone. A big butt is a positive thing on a gun that will be shot a lot.

I didn't want to trim anything at the butt, I just wanted to take 1/2" at the comb and taper it to nothing. The problem is when I do that the comb angles down toward the receiver and looked very "odd" to me. I will do a mock up with the comb trimmed as such and post it as well.

I should probably just bite the bullet and get it bent first, and then shave what needs to be removed afterwards. I have to see what it costs to get the mechanicals back in order before I can figure how much I want to sink into stock alterations.

CHAZ

Your mock up is lying to you. If you bring the comb down to 1 9/16", the stock will not slope toward the breech from the 2 1/16" drop at heel. It will be a great gun.

You will get very little bend out of this stock, Chaz. Save your money. Don't make this so difficult. I've shaved combs like this one numerous times and it works just fine. Like I mentioned in a previous post, start with a mini plane and then coarse sandpaper. A rasp can be used, but it can leave deep gouges that are difficult to sand out.

Just start about two inches in front of the butt pad and shave forward, working toward reducing the forward part of the comb all the way to the nose of the comb. Mount the gun often and check the sight picture. Stop planing well before you get it near where you want it, and finish with progressively finer w.o.d. sandpaper, like 100, 240, 320, 400, then 600 and 800 for final polish.

You can do this.
JR

True.
JR

Here it is with the 1/2" at the comb, and full height at the butt. You are right (obviously) it still has a little rake back to front. It sure didn't look like it when I had it taped off earlier, must have been a perspective issue.

CHAZ

Looks like the way to go.

I got a small plane and started taking it down this afternoon. I feel like I am drawing a crayon mustache on the Mona Lisa. I sure hope I can get it finished and blended in to match without refinishing the whole stock, but I guess if it needs refinish so be it. I did do a small area with Tru-oil earlier to test for color, and it seemed to match OK, I just hadn't done enough coats to match the sheen. If the comb comes out OK I will probably take a little out of the thickness of the butt and fit a factory repro plate.
CHAZ

Nice work, Chaz.
JR

Good to hear you got going. When you get it to the dimension you want, put a few coats of finish on it and go shoot it a lot before you put the work into finishing it.

I figured I would "creep" up to the dimensions I think I want and pattern it as I go so I don't take too much off.
CHAZ