How Many of You Shorten Your Stock to Customize LOP?

There's nothing worse than a stock that is too long. Many people do not realize just how much better they could shoot a rifle or shotgun if their length of pull was correct. I am 6 ft 1 in with a 35 inch sleeve length and I like a rifle length of pull of 13 3/8 inch. And yes, I have cut every stock I own to get the correct length and in the process to install a Pachmayr recoil pad. Almost every aspect of a rifle can be improved to fit the individual from length of pull, trigger weight, height of scope mounts, eye relief, sling swivels, etc. Shooters who mainly use the prone position with a rifle may like a longer length of pull because of their body position but this may hamper the use of a rifle for shooting upright, shooting moving targets or wearing heavy winter clothing. I've taken hundreds of quail and ducks with a Remington 870 shotgun and for wing shooting I like a short length of pull and if the butt of your shotgun drags on your clothing your stock is too long.
 
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....or you're mounting it wrong. See my last post. The man who taught me how to mount a shotgun was 5'4" and had the standard 14" pull on his Model 12.
 
AMEN to Sage5907................all of my shotguns carry RIFLE length stocks. Just why anybody would prefer an overlength one is beyond me, it snags ones clothing on quick shouldering, totally screws any semblence of proper target acquisition and creates a carryover effect for other guns. My classic old Browning A/5 "round" knob is exactly the same length as my BAR lightweight in '06.............and both are great snapshooters!
 
Did this exactly once on a .22 LR rifle for my 4'11" wife. I'm fairly long-armed (6'2") and stocks are more likely to be a little short for me, especially on milsurps like my Japanese Type 99 and French MAS 36. I've become accustomed to working around this.

Now if I shot flying targets with a shotgun, this would be different story.
 
Wasangeles said:
I'm pretty average height so I'm guessing most people would want a shorter LOP, but I don't hear of people cutting their stocks that often.
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I figure I'm about average height (5'11") for a male, and most long guns (shotguns and rifles) fit me about right. However, as I've mentioned before on THR, except for the "youth model" 20ga pump shotgun my 5'1" wife has, she's had to have the butt stock shortened on almost every long gun she's ever bought over the years. And that's been a lot - my petite wife has been into guns, shooting and hunting since she married me nearly 54 years ago.
Other than her "youth model" 20ga, the only other exception to the, "Get a new rifle or shotgun, have the butt stock shortened." rule for my wife was the Ruger American Rimfire I bought for her for her birthday a couple of years ago. She specifically told me she wanted the Ruger American Rimfire with the component stock so that she could change out the components herself to make the rifle fit. And she did - that little rifle fits my wife perfectly now.
Wasangeles said:
Does the resale value take a big hit if you do?
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I reckon the resale values of my 5'1" wife's long guns do take a big hit when she has their butt stocks shortened. I know I wouldn't pay as much for a gun that I knew I was going to need a new stock installed on (or figure out a way to lengthen its current butt stock) before I could use it.
On the other hand, even though both my wife and I have bought, sold and traded off a lot of guns over the years, I don't think either one of us has ever acquired a gun we didn't intend to use. And modifying a gun (no matter what kind of gun it is) in order to make it fit is just part of the cost - both the "up-front" cost of doing the modification(s), and the "hit" to the resale or trade-in value of the gun.

BTW, I've shortened the stocks on a couple of my wife's long guns myself. I don't like doing it. Woodworking is another one of my hobbies, but I'd much rather leave that kind of "woodworking" (shortening rifle and shotgun stocks) to someone who does it for a living. ;)
 
I would look for a second stock set for something classic. Back when you could buy single shot 410's and 20's for $30 I bought many and cut them down for kids wanting to shoot
 
I shorten most of mine. I'm a towering 5'5". LOP on most factory rifles and shotguns is too long for me. I have a few No. 1's I haven't because the wood is so nice.
 
I am of average height but with slightly longer arms than average. I am fine with 13 1/2-3/4' rifle stocks. I have whacked some off on unpleasant recoiling rifles to install recoil pads. My Ruger Number 1 has a stock made for well above 6' shooters but I am not about to cut it and lose any of the pretty wood. Instead I have managed to set it to where it's usable. It is in 22-250 and is a mild kicker.

I add a slip on recoil pad to shotguns to get them to 14" or a little more. It took me a while to figure out that I could get better cheek placement with the longer stock and it made a great improvement in my hit ratio. Reduces recoil too which I appreciate.
 
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Nothing worse than finding a gun I really like and then realizing the stock was chopped off. So no, I never shorten a stock.
 
Just out of curiosity, those who like the longer LOP's, how are you shooting? Rest/bench type shooting, or reactively, and/or from field positions?
 
Skylerbone said:
Do you own it for resale value or for utility? If it doesn’t suit you, fix it posthaste.
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Thank you.
I have never thought twice about making ANY modifications... to ANY weapon.
I'll thread barrels, shorten stocks, sporterize old battle rifles... ANYTHING.
I don't buy ANYTHING as an investment. I ain't rich. I buy things to use... so they need to suit me.
If I take a loss when I sell... at least I didn't suffer with a less than happy ownership experience the whole time I had it.
 
Almost everything you actually use in life works better if it fits, rather than you adapting. Bicycles, car seats, hats, clothes, tools, bows, pistols and rifles to name just a few. Have shortened (had shortened) some number of stocks to 12.5 in, and if the gun was worth some coin tried to shorten a replacement tock not the original. Am 5.8 with short arms, and quickly got tired of using extended ring mounts, lowering a lever action to work the lever or banging my cheek on a shotgun stock.

Out of an older shotgunning book got the fitting technique of placing stock in crook of arm, and trigger finger at 90 degrees on trigger. And then mount the gun with eyes closed, and everything is lined up when opening eyes. Am very partial to the newer style of rifles that have adjustable butt stocks. An added benefit of fitting the gun to your physical dimensions is recoil control. How many youngsters got turned off to shooting by having their first shots from ill fitting rifle/shotgun? They make youth stocks for a reason.
 
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Space Ghost said:
If I take a loss when I sell... at least I didn't suffer with a less than happy ownership experience the whole time I had it.
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This. I wonder how many would be kept if they did fit? It’s not exactly bespoke but it need not be a hindrance.
zeke said:
How many youngsters got turned off to shooting by having their first shots from ill fitting rifle/shotgun?
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My first trigger pull was a single shot 12ga, no pad, at age 8. I retired from shooting that very day but was lured back by a BuckMark. Praise the Lord for rimfires!
 
Being 6'5", I've never met one I thought was too long. That said, I've never met one I thought was too short either. Even sks's with their short stocks are comfortable. I never understood the need to lengthen stocks, because a slightly short stock isn't a hindrance, at least not in my experience.
 
I never bought a rifle which felt awkward enough to try to change-
,
-even though the stocks on a few AKMs felt too short.
This is what people should expect with this category.
Am 5’11”.
 
You often hear the AK's are too short (same LOP as any of the other military rifles), and when you watch how some people try and shoulder them, you can understand their thinking.

Ive seen a lot of people try and get their cheek weld up on the comb of the stock, which isn't where you should be trying to get it. It should be down on the narrow "wrist" up close to the receiver. Like an AR with your "nose to the charging handle", you want your head down and forward, and your nose at, or along the top cover.

Do that, and the gun will shoulder naturally and feel right, and the sights will naturally line right up.

Thats the same thing you get with most of the older bolt guns with similar LOP's. Head down and forward on the stock, and the sights line right up.
 
I shortened the stock on a CZ shotgun. Did the work myself and while it’s not perfect I was happy with it. Since then the number of birds I‘ve taken probably doubled over earlier hunts. I bought the shotgun to hunt with and could care less about resale.

That said, I’d have a professional do it if it was a really valuable gun. But I’d still do it.
 
I'm built like a giant toddler, so I shorten the stocks on just about everything I can, especially shotguns. If a youth stock won't work or isn't available, sometimes it takes some creative solutions. I had the stock shortened on a Stoeger M2000 years ago and the job required adding a block of wood inside the cavity with epoxy of the shortened stock to hold the screws from the pad (it's a trick pioneered by 3-gun shooters for Benellis, which like the Stoegers have no working parts protruding into the stock like a Remington). In addition to my stubby limbs and no neck, I prefer to shoot rifles and shotguns with my torso facing the target/threat as squarely as possible and the stock mounted inboard of my shoulder. The stock on the Stoeger looks ridiculous, but it fits me and the way I choose to shoot perfectly. It's been years since I measured the LOP, but I think it's about 9.5 inches.
 
entropy said:
....or you're mounting it wrong. See my last post. The man who taught me how to mount a shotgun was 5'4" and had the standard 14" pull on his Model 12.
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Did he use an extremely bladed stance behind his firearms? Not so uncommon among wingshooters of a certain vintage anyway...
 
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