108 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1922 
SPECIAL STOCKS FOR RIFLES 
A FINELY FINISHED GUNSTOCK, PROPERLY FITTED TO SUIT THE 
OWNER’S MEASUREMENTS, ADDS MUCH TO THE UTILITY OF THE WEAPON 
By C. S. LANDIS 
I N making- or purchasing a special stock 
for a sporting or target rifle the 
owner nearly always goes to this 
extra expense and trouble for either 
one of two reasons, the first of which is 
to secure greater utility and accuracy. 
The weapon that is especially stocked to 
fit the shooter exactly can be used more 
successfully, in offhand snap-shooting, 
than one fitted with a regulation stock 
which is of necessity made short enough 
and with sufficient drop so it can be 
used by both the shortest-armed and the 
longest-necked hunter. This is a little 
hard on those who have been blessed 
with a different form of manly beauty, 
but fortunately tbe difficulty may be rem- 
edied without resort to surgical means. 
The second reason for restocking a 
rifle is to increase its beauty — to doll it 
up: to re-create it in a form that will 
place its owner in that elect class which 
has its rifles made to order; to give it 
the place of honor in the gun cabinet 
from which it is proudly brought forth 
for exhibition ; and to make it the spe- 
cial fa\orite of its owner, almost as a 
Stradi\arius violin is the pride and joy 
of the virtuoso. 
To secure greater utility and effective- 
ness it follows that the first thing to do 
is to obtain the proper measurements. 
Sometimes this is not so easy as might 
appear because very frequently all that 
can be told about the weapon to be re- 
modeled is that its stock is either too 
short or too crooked without specifying 
the degree. 
The best plan undoubtedly 
is to try out each of the rifles 
and shotguns that can be. ob- 
tained, to measure the drop 
at comb and heel ; the length, 
width and pitch of the butt 
plate: the length of pull, 
width, depth and circumfer- 
ence of the grip; and the dis- 
tance through stock, or stock 
and cheekpiece, where it 
touches the face. You will 
also want to know the distance 
in front of the trigger where 
the left handgrips the fore-end, 
the shape and size of the fore- 
end at that point, and the dis- 
tance from the trigger to the 
front end of the fore-end. 
You must e.xamine the dif- 
ferent combs, both the full, 
rounded ones and the sharp, 
thin ones, and see how far 
they extend up on the tang 
and note which type feels more com- 
fortable to your face ; also whether to 
use a cast-off or a pistol grip, and the 
amount, style and position of the check- 
ering. 
Then there is the butt plate. Just as 
the effectiveness of a soldier or a hunter 
depends largely upon the type and fit of 
A well-designed model 
his footwear, so does the speed and 
effectiveness with which a rifle may be 
gotten into action depend largely upon 
the shape, size, pitch and degree of 
roughness of its butt plate. Your whole 
hunting trip may be a success or a 
failure by the fraction of a second 
needed to make the snap shot at a rap- 
idly disappearing buck. On such occa 
sions you have no time to waste in ad- 
justing a slippery, sticky or uncomfort- 
able butt plate. The time to guard 
against this is when you make the de- 
sign. 
In obtaining these measurements there 
are two important things to be taken into 
consideration. One is to wear the max- 
imum amount of clothing that will be 
worn when using the rifle. If it is a 
big game rifle, dress as you would on a 
big game hunting trip — heavy underwear 
and all. Clothing makes a big difference 
in the fit of the stock. 
If it is a target rifle, put on your shoot- 
ing coat, get down in the prone position, 
and then be measured. Take nothing for 
granted while listening to the ideas of 
other people but get suited yourself. You 
buy your own shoes, and, barring un- 
happily selected Christmas presents, your 
ties; in the matter of a stock you must 
also work out your own salvation. The 
gun that fits you may be nowhere near 
the measurements that you had expected 
or which were advised by your favorite 
gun-writer, but that is of no consequence. 
The main point is that your purchase be 
satisfactory. 
F or a big-game rifle, whether it be a 
bolt action, a lever, a pump, or an 
automatic, the following dimensions will 
be found to fit the majority of people 
reasonably well; a drop at comb of 
to inches, and 2%. to inches at 
the heel. These measurements are from 
the point-blank sighting of the rifle and 
for that reason the comb and the top of 
the stock should not be entirely finished, 
if possible, until the rifle is sighted in 
and tested zvith the nezv stock on it. 
After this is done any little changes that 
may be advisable can still be made. 
It is always possible to take off a small 
amount, but it is a pretty hard matter to 
add an extra % inch to the height of the 
comb after the stock is finished, without 
ruining its appearance. 
The length of pull should usually be 
from 13j4 to 14jd inches. This distance 
is measured from the center of the trig- 
ger to the middle of the butt plate. A 
man of average build will not want a 
greater length of pull than to 14 
inches when the rifle is used with heavy 
clothing. A good proportion is 13j^ 
inches pull ; trigger to heel of butt, 13% 
inches; trigger to toe of butt, 14 inches. 
This gives a nicely-shaped butt 
plate — just enough of a hollow 
to hold well, not enough hump 
to catch when snap-shooting, 
and not enough pitch to the 
toe to cause the muzzle to fly 
up and drive the thumb or 
cocking piece against your 
nose. 
The cheek-piece is always 
worthy of attention. When 
properly designed it adds 
greatly to the beauty of the 
stock. A well-modeled one 
also provides a larger area for 
the face to rest upon and there- 
by steadies the aim, makes it 
more constant, causes less va- 
riation in grouping, and pro- 
tects the face, especially any 
small part of it, such as the 
root of a sore tooth or the 
upper lip, from taking the full 
recoil of a hard-kicking car- 
tridge. 
The distance through the stock and 
cheek-piece for full-faced men should 
be. about 2 inches, for the thin-faced or 
the lantern-jawed type of physiognomy, 
2% inches. 
The full value of a cheek-piece is 
never appreciated until you realize how 
very much easier and steadier it enables 
The real test of a stock is the way it fits the face 
