doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Recent gunfitting

Getting yourself properly fitted and finding a proper LOP, among other things, is absolutely critical to shooting your best. Most gun stocks fall somewhere around the 14 to 14 1/2 inch LOP. I went to Grayco in Gravette, Arkansas, a company that makes and fits recoil stocks most often for trap and skeet shooters. They did a custom fitting for me and found that my normal LOP is 15 1/2 inches. A pretty long pull considering that I'm 5'11". But it sure did improve my shooting!

You should have saved your money. Unless you look like an orangutan, a 16 1/8" l.o.p. is beyond ridiculous for someone your size, I don't care what Mr. Bilinski told you. That's a full one inch beyond reasonable. Wow.
JR

I always heard the three fingers rule. Basically mount the gun and you should have three fingers in front of your face to the comb.
There are several good vidios on YOUTUBE about gunfitting. One especially is the one with Ian Coley.

I'm no fitting expert. But I'm leaning towards what John said, at least for a hunting gun. I don't shoot much trap or American skeet. So I don't know the latest trends in those games. But I have the most successful hunting shooting with guns that are surprisingly short. I'm 5' 9" and normally shoot a 14" single trigger LOP or 14 1/2" double trigger. But some of the best shooting I've done was with 14" double trigger guns. Sure I can shoot longer guns. Just not as quickly.

I recently tried a number of sxs double trigger guns and I am most comfortable with surprisingly short LOP. I'm a razor blade under 6 feet with avarage proportions and my best and quickest shooting (low gun) is with 13 1/2" to 14" L0P. My gunsmith, who used to be a stocker with Johann Fanzoj, measured me the traditional Ferlach way and said 13 3/4" (35 cm).

With kind regards,
Jani

I would recommend patience before ordering a custom gun with those proportions, particularly if you were measured with the gun pre-mounted and you are ordering a field gun. If that LOP is +/-1" too long, cutting it down later will also change the drops at heel and face. Use a slip on pad on one of your current guns to set up that LOP and shoot it for awhile low gun - a custom stock is a big investment so don't rush into it.

Seems a bit long to me, but as some others have said here, it depends on the gun. For a double triggered gun with straight grip, I'm fitted perfected at 15 1/4", and 15 1/2" feels almost as good. 15 3/4" is clumsy for me.

I find a pistol gripped single trigger gun measures "just right" in LOP at 14 1/2" to 14 3/4" (depending on the length of the grip - tighter grip = shorter LOP).

I'm 5'9", built somewhat like an ape with a short neck, broad shoulders, 34" sleeve on my dress shirts. I can't imagine someone close to my size with a 16 1/8" LOP, but if it feels OK and you shoot it well, it is OK.

Before ordering a new gun with those "new" dimensions, I'd take an inexpensive gun and modify it to the "newly fitted" dimensions and shoot the heck out of it and hunt with it. My understanding of a fitting was that it included extensive shooting to verify the dimensions.

Just out of curiosity, when you were being fitted, were you wearing the clothing you would be typically hunting in?

Just to pitch in, I agree with Mike Proctor on the 3 fingers rule - which the clarification that I understood that the 3 fingers gap was between your nose tip and the nearest point on your trigger hand along the comb (i.e. part of the thumb)

I also agree that in my limited experience the UK fits tend to slightly longer LOP, slightly less bend (down) and more cast compared to American. There is interesting discussion of the differences in style and how they came about particularly in "Shotgun Shooting, Techniques and Technology" by John Brindle (no connections!)

I'm 6'2", long arms, thin face, average neck. I had a gun fitting done long before I became a smith and was fit at 15&3/4" lop. I had a gun built to those dimensions and is was great for clays, terrible in the field. Extremely hard to shoulder consistently, especially when it was cold or I was in hot pursuit behind my Springers. My field gun now is 14&3/4" and it fits me really well. My backup field gun is just over 15" in length, but it was that way when I got it and I shoot it well.