doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Bending Stock to increase DAH

My 16 ga WJ Jeffery with 27 in barrels has stock dimensions of LOP 14.5; DAC 1.5 ; and DAH 1 & 15/16ths. If stock was bent down at heel by 3/16ths (increase DAH) how much would it affect (increase) the DAC? Also has 1/8 in cast off.
I shoot best with DAC of 1.5 in, but the DAH is just not enough
Would like to hear some suggestions on whom would be best to do this and some of your experiences with stock bending to increase drop.

bending is risky...why no just sand wood down 3/16?

Assuming the stock has good grain flow, that sounds like it should be no problem to bend. The drop at comb will be increased by approximately 1/3 the amount of increase at heel.
Steve

Although we normally refer to the drop as drop at heel, the truly important factor is where the butt fits the shoulder. Simply sanding wood off the top of the stock does not change this point so would be simply an exercise of futility & would devalue the gun. Use a bit of common sense..

2-, the stated goal here is to reduce the drop at heel and not to change the fit of the butt to the shoulder...common sense would suggest that reducing the drop to 2 1/4" only, might actually make the gun more attractive to others, and hence, increase its value...

Sanding or filing the top line of the stock is a last resort method. Much more work involved than a simple stock bend and it will require the stock being refinished as well. It will also reduce the size of the butt which is likely already on the small side do to this being a small bore British gun.

How much dah are you looking for? SKB gave you a good approximation of how much a dah change will make to the dac. If you dac is too low after bend for dah removing the cast off will help. I had a stock that was bent down and had cast off bent but the cast off ended up being too much. Had to have it rebent to reduce the cast off. Good wood is amazing to see how much it will bend in the hands of a good stock man.

Another thing to look at is where the pitch will be after bending. As I get older I notice pitch more than I use to notice it. Wrong pitch gives me a little face slap at the dac. The best way to know is to use a pattern plate after bending to see if your poi is correct as well as the stock fitting you properly.

I had a Scottish boxlock bent from 1 7/8" to 2 1/2" and it did wonders for my shooting. It is now one of my favorite skeet guns. Go for it!

After bending the stock how is the pitch angle preserved to its original setting? The apparent and easy way would be wedges under the pad or plate. Is there another way?

Attach a 1/4" spacer, cut the pitch, replace the pad with a thinner one.

Obviously, when you start playing with stock lines in permanent, or semi permanent ways, you are moving away from "average" dimensions and fit.

The next guy may well want it back to the original shape, and any chopping and filing makes that impossible.