doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock cheek piece

What exactly is the function (and virtues) of a stock cheek piece that is found on many European guns, but never (never?) on American or British stocks? I have a German .16 Sauer Hawk grade, manufactured in the 40's that has this cheek piece. I find it very comfortable to mount, and indeed, shoot it best of all my guns. I don't recall ever reading anything addressing this. I would appreciate explanations -- and personal experience using this type of stock. Regards, Will

This design allows the wrist of the stock to be thinner and the butt to still fit well.
You will find that a small percentage of Continental guns that were built for the American market had them. It appears that Americans were not smitten with them.
Best,
John

Hi Will. Some Ithaca Flues SBTs have them. Given Flues lineage, that doesn't seem surprising. Who preferred them or spec'd them? Presumably buyers with the heritage to accept them out of hand as conventional or right. Walt will know or perhaps RH. Mine seemed awfully full on the comb for a guy whose eyeballs are far inboard of his cheeks. I bought an original Flues SBT stock w/o the cheekpiece as a replacement but given the drop of tangs I felt it would present insurmountable fitting problems for me and resold it. For some reason, in one summer of trap, I discovered that a really high right elbow shifted the butt inboard just enuf that I can get the sight picture aligned without too much head canting. For a long-barreled gun (34") it is very effective snap-shooting the straitaways.

jack