doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com stock modification

Gentlemen,

Is the length of pull ( as opposed to the drop, cast on cast off) the most critical varible as to whether or not you have a gun that fits you as an individual? I am 5' 9" with short arms. I have a new shotgun that has a 15 inch length of pull that I can't hit squat with. My local smith can fix the lenth of pull.

Should I have him do this and see what happens or should I wait until I find a real pro that can adjust for all factors?

Regards,

Max

Max,

I'm 6' with fairly long arms and a 15" LOP is about right for me. If I shoot the wrong length of pull, I can't hit anything. I think it's well worth hooking up with a real pro, who can measure what fits you best, all things considered - length of pull, drop and cast. Is Optimum Performance Shooting School anywhere near you? Good luck.

Rich

Max-

Just like you and Rich--I had a shotgun that had the wrong length of pull (LOP) and I was not hitting much with it. I followed the advice in the below quoted article and I adjusted my shotgun's LOP and pitch (pitch is also discussed in this short article) by adding a pitch spacer and recoil pad. I made a bit of an allowance for the fact that my shotgun had two triggers by making a bit of a compromise between the LOP being a tad long for the front trigger position and a tad short the rear trigger position of my right hand (but keeping my thumb off my nose). What the article points out is that not all people are built the same so the fact that someone your height but with a different build, might do just fine with your shotgun's current LOP. Anyway, following the advice in the article worked like magic for me, so I pass it along for what it may be worth.

Doug

“The critical dimension in judging the correct LOP for an individual is that there should be about one inch to an inch-and-a-quarter of space between the thumb and nose when the gun is mounted, cheeked and ready to fire. This is a measurement that you can't make on yourself, but is one easily made by someone else. This is the one constant -- in a sea of variables that will be the same if you are measuring your son, daughter, wife or shooting buddy. But circumstances alter cases.

The same guy suited up in a down hunting jacket for ptarmigan at North Pole, Alaska is going to have different LOP requirements than he is for shooting dove on the Mexican border in shirtsleeves. Tall guys with longer necks will probably need more than a 15" LOP. Guys who could play at tackle for the Chicago Bears, with no visible neck, might be perfectly happy with a 13-3/4" LOP. Reaching a decision with multi-variables to work with involves holding your Philosopher's Stone tightly and reaching the first of many compromises life will require of you.”

http://www.gundogsonline.com/Article/You-and-me-and-the-LOP-Length-of-Pull-Page1.htm

There's critical (primary) and then there's useful. You certainly have to reach the triggers so reducing the LOP would be cost-effective to that end. A stock that's of a length as to make it easy to place the butt in the pocket adjacent collarbone rather than out on your bicep somewhere makes lateral alignment of the eye feasible even with stocks neutral in terms of cast. You can only incline your neck so far laterally and no further so reducing LOP would be in some cases be cost-effective to the end of correct lateral alignment of eye. Given a sloping comb, a stock that's of a length to make the drop at face (where your cheek hits the comb) match the distance from pupillary center to botton of that cheekbone is also good as you can then see "over" the receiver or frame. You can only incline your neck so far forward and no further so reducing LOP would in some cases be cost-effective to the end of achieving correct vertical alignment of eye. A lot of shooting instructors will tell you that you need to "bring the gun to face" by which they mean it takes time to crawl your face all over the stock and not everyone is adept at doing this the same way twice. A "natural" eye-aligning fit is optimum; what's critical is your passion and budget to achieve it. A reduction in LOP might be an inexpensive expedient to start with but no bargain-basement panacea for all possible problems of gun fit. Don't cut it off so short you get "Garand nose".

jack

I asked a very similar question just the other day. Look down the list here for "Modify or Sell". I was given some very useful information.

I would say another thing you should do is pattern the gun. I took 5 shots at the same target from 16 years (a differant target for each barrel). The pattern was very dense and it showed where the gun was shooting for me. This will help my gunsmith when I ask him to modify the stock for me.

Good luck.

On the other hand, if the cast or drop is wrong for you, you likely won't hit anything either.