What model of shotgun? Stock advice needed

[mikeakc]

Yes I have bought a Beartooth neoprene comb riser kit as a short-term solution. Over the next few months I will hopefully be able to spend some time finding something that really fits. In the meantime if anybody has a gun with a high comb and a relatively long length of pull for sale down in Cornwall I would be very interested. Many thanks for your thoughts. Mike

 

[Skinny Pete]

It will. Friends who have done that on quality competition guns have started missing for unexplained reasons after about 3-4 years, checked the stock dimensions and it has moved.

So bend it again!

 

[Stalker-of-the-deer]

Get a gun with an adjustable comb, that would sort you out.

I had the same issue, gun was beating me black and blue untill I got the stock lengthened. Luckily I have a fat face so I could just adjust my mount to suit the comb height.

Also I shoot both browning and beretta shotguns. You can feel the difference in the comb height with a browing, they tend to be higher so maybe have a looks at whats about. You may not need an adjustable comb on one.

 

[mikeakc]

He’s a little update on this one. You can see in the first photo how much the comb was raised to get the gun to fit. The other photo is the Beartooth neoprene kit which has worked an absolute treat. I haven’t shot the gun yet but just mounting it now feels infinitely better. It was a bit of a wrestling match to set up. A bit like putting Mick Jagger‘s jeans on a rhinoceros, but launching some swear words at it seemed to do the trick and now it is on it feels great.

 

[Stalker-of-the-deer]

Would like to also point out that beretta stocks come in two comb heights. Not many people know that!

 

[CookM]

Have a surf on Guntrader for a few hours?
Better gunsmiths may put length of pull drop etc on individual guns adverts.

 

[jsmithglass]

I'm 6'6" and have just reserved a Beretta SV10 with 30" barrels. I initially wanted a Silver Pigeon but as soon as I picked this one up everything felt perfect in my hands and the gun fits well overall. We'll see how well I shoot in my next coaching session, I suspect my wife will probably wipe the floor with me with her perfectly fitted/trimmed ATA 20 gauge.

 

[paul o']

put the butt in the crock of your arm if you can over reach the trigger its to long and the other way around aswell Iam 5.11" I like a 14.5" no cast .

 

[enfieldspares]

I've decided to part ways with the Silver Pigeon and get a gun that fits, but I can't find one. I don't want to butcher the stock and get an adjustable comb, I don't like the look of them and the stock has already been tampered with.

A trap gun, Sir, with a Silver's pad is your prescription!

If and it is a big if, if your cheek is in the right position with a longer stock. Personally I'd NOT think that a 5' 11" person needs 15 1/4"" length of pull. I think that maybe 15" would do? I am 6' 5" broad shoulders (a 46" chest) and my LOP to centre is 15 5/8" for a single trigger gun. Albeit a single trigger side-by-side Boss.

As others say length of pull you can get away with (after all it varies in Summer pigeons or partridge in shirtsleeves and Winter pigeons and pheasant in vest, shirt, jumper and coat) but the drop aka bend is critical.

Like the arms of a clock the lower the arm on the left the lower the arm on the right. That is the more the gun stock is bent down the lower the gun will shoot. The more the stock is bent up (thus the Monte Carlo comb on trap guns) the higher the gun will shoot.

So if you can try a long as possible stock you can find trap gun with (if possible with removable chokes) stick 1/4 and 1/4 in and try it on a sensible distance English Sporting layout. In fact just as BBRC said in his post.

 

[Heym SR20]

Check your gunfit in a mirror. Look at yourself from 10 ft away from the mirror. Look at your aiming eye and mount the gun. Your barrels should be in line with your eye with the bottom of your eye on the rib.

Do it several times and keep both eyes open.

Once you have messed about with a stock adding bits / taking off bits you should have a pretty good idea of what does and doesn’t work for you.

There are lots of options and you can spend a lot of money on changing guns and having them fitted. But if you have gun you like and that is sound, probably the best solution is to have yourself properly measured and then have stock adapted to your dimensions or to have one made specifically for your.

There are now custom stock makers who use CNC technologies to dramatically reduce the cost of a fitted stock. Have a look at Home - Manuel Ricardo they were reviewed by the TGS YouTube channel during lockdown. Now I would probably fly down and have a bespoke fitting.

But also don’t forget shotgun shooting is a skill that deteriorates if you don’t use it. And you get into bad habits. Its worth going back to basics from time to time. Indeed worth borrowing another gun and having to concentrate on making it hit clays. Then going back to your usual.

 

[Ade8mm]

Fwiw I had a similar issue. A gun I have had for nearly 45 years I got progressively worse with. I compared it to my old hammergun (which I shoot v well with) . It was clear there was not enough drop at the comb. Our physique changes over time methinks- after all the gun hasn't changed so it must be me.
Fixed it with a slip on leather recoil pad that extended the lop by an inch or so, this put my head further back down the stock and lower in relation to the line of the barrels. YMMV but it worked for me.
Ade

 

[El Majorero]

You may not want to hear this but this is what you need to understand. I am not trying to be rude here.

You have now discovered that your gun does not fit and you need to find one that does. However, your requirements are not in fact very specific that are very very vague. Your description is not a fitting specification. A small change at the stock makes a big difference downrange.

Now that means 2 things.

1. A properly fitted stock is very personal.
2. Any variance in the mount (either gun up or gun down) can/will negate the benefit of the fitting as the rear sight (the eye) keeps changing.

Despite what the 'smiths would like to tell you it is very difficult to actually create a perfect fit for a variety of reasons which I will not go into here but is mainly to do with the act of fitting not really being representative of taking a shot. There is always an element of getting used to a stock. There are many elite shooters who I could name who have had their stock fitted by their sponsoring manufacturer who end up taking a file to it when they finally get the gun . So it is not an exact science.

What you don't want to hear is that to minimise the pain, you should definitely buy a stock with an adjustable comb in the first instance. Get a coach to set it up with you on targets. Your mount is likely to improve with a better fitting gun and you will begin to get a feel for further adjustments that you need as your shooting improves. Having said that don't keep fiddling with it. Get it about right then learn to live with it. If you are always a bit high for a few months then that may be a reason to tweak, but not on the basis of a couple of outings.

Fit it on a real target, a teal at the top for example. Not on a pattern plate. 'Smiths want to use a plate, Elite shooters think they are the devil incarnate.

Do not get a stock bent, it will move back.

There is a reason that most new shotguns are designed and marketed with an adjustable stock.

I would also suggest that fit is not actually the most important characteristic of a gun. You can change the fit. However you need to get a gun with dynamics that suit you. If you are 6'7 and built like a tank a short, light, fast gun is going to be completely overpowered, equally if you are 5'2" a 32" gun that swings like a concrete fence post (not all do) is not for you. Get this wrong and you are stuffed (barrel weights are a waste of time, they are fitted at the wrong end)

Good luck!

If I thought for 1 minute that all that was just so that I could hit the target... Id take up fishing... Personally I shoot with a gun with a short stock and short barrel... Im 6ft 5in 18stone av. and 76years old. Never been fitted with a gun and still clean up not missing many. I put it down to keeping at it and grow to fit the gun if it takes a bit of time so what the gun wont change it is what it is.. So lonh as the but plate doesnt catch your clothes and you can reach the forend keep head down and blend in with the gun like an extention of your arms and hands...an old timer thousands of miles away from here n many many years ago told me and showed me this and it worked but not straight away.. Patience is all it takes can save lots of money and messing about with adjustable bits n bobs different coloured glasses. blinkers etc etc.?? Just thought Id say thats all its what suits...
M. E.

 

[Pedro]

The thing with shotguns is that you either hit what you shoot at and everything is fine, or you don't and you need a good excuse. Having a really nice fitting gun that's cost a bomb to have fitted gets rid of a jolly good excuse.

But seriously, it's very hard for anyone on a forum to be able to recommend a gun to you because you'll get widely varying ideas and all of them might not work. Even if one does, how would you know? There really is only two things to be done. Either get a gun properly fitted for you, or trawl around your local RFDs making a bit of a nuisance of yourself picking up and mounting guns until you get one that feels right. Ideally at a place where either you can try it out, or where maybe a demo gun can be borrowed to do that. The first choice can be expensive but is more likely to work, but the second can be fun.

Remember, it's all muscle memory anyway. Once you start to hit a particular target and can remember where you aimed, you get to repeat it, um repeatedly and it matters much less how well that gun fits.

That's how often when game shooting we are better at hitting targets presented with hardly any warning as opposed to birds coming from a long way off, where we mount too early, have time to aim, over-think things and make a nice old hash of it.

 

[El Majorero]

The thing with shotguns is that you either hit what you shoot at and everything is fine, or you don't and you need a good excuse. Having a really nice fitting gun that's cost a bomb to have fitted gets rid of a jolly good excuse.

But seriously, it's very hard for anyone on a forum to be able to recommend a gun to you because you'll get widely varying ideas and all of them might not work. Even if one does, how would you know? There really is only two things to be done. Either get a gun properly fitted for you, or trawl around your local RFDs making a bit of a nuisance of yourself picking up and mounting guns until you get one that feels right. Ideally at a place where either you can try it out, or where maybe a demo gun can be borrowed to do that. The first choice can be expensive but is more likely to work, but the second can be fun.

Remember, it's all muscle memory anyway. Once you start to hit a particular target and can remember where you aimed, you get to repeat it, um repeatedly and it matters much less how well that gun fits.

That's how often when game shooting we are better at hitting targets presented with hardly any warning as opposed to birds coming from a long way off, where we mount too early, have time to aim, over-think things and make a nice old hash of it.

Exactly what Im saying its muscle memory curl yer body around the gun.. Still not expecting an agreement from yous but these gizmos are just something else for someone else to sell for some like yous or yous to buy...all bandwagons need wheels n they all need oiling... But just my opinion...not a fact because we are all different.. Thankyous in anticipation...
M. E.