Gil does about 100-150 gun fits a year. He have a “try-gun,” but rarely uses it unless the customer is having a custom stock made. Sometimes if the customer is a small framed adult or teenager, he’ll use it, especially if the gun needs to be shortened a lot. Most of the time, he likes to work with a customer’s gun because they are used to it, and we’re going to have to bend, shorten or lengthen their existing stock anyway. Yes, we said bend.
This is a process of heating the grip section of a shotgun stock, putting it in a jig and bending it in whatever direction needed and letting it cool. It is actually putting an intended warp in the stock. This is done so that when the shooter mounts the gun to the face and shoulder, the butt of the gun is in the shoulder pocket and the muzzles are lined up with the shooting eye.
The butt stock is actually offset slightly to the right for the right-handed shooters and left for the wrong handers. This dimension is called cast. The butt stock can also be moved up or down, adjusting the “drop” – the height of the comb or top of the stock. The amount of cast and drop is determined by the shape of the shooter’s face, length of neck and distance between the eyes.
The other dimension that is important is length of pull, which is the length of the butt stock. Length of Pull (LOP) is typically determined by the length of the shooter’s arms and neck, as well as their height.
A shotgun should be short enough to be mounted easily and long enough to be held comfortably. It should be low enough such that the shooter’s eye is perfectly aligned with the barrels without having to check the gun tightly.
Here is where the art (experience) comes in.
What is the correct length of the pull? Bottom line – what feels right.
Generally accepted measure is 1 ½ to 2 ½ finger-widths between the thumb on the back hand and the shooter’s nose when the gun is mounted. How much cast and drop is necessary? Enough so the shooter’s eye is correctly aligned with the rib and the barrel is pointing at what the shooter’s eye is looking at.
If the eye is too high, the gun will shoot high. If the eye is left, the gun will shoot left for the right-handed shooter.
How can you tell if your gun fits? Stand in front of a mirror – mount the gun and see where your eye ends up. If it is not perfectly aligned with the rib, the gun will not shoot where you look.
If it needs adjusting, go to an experienced gunsmith or a place like Briley Manufacturing – that’s where we send all of our gun fit customers to have their stocks adjusted. Or go to a professional instructor who has experience in gun fitting and have your gun fitted to you.
Do it now!
Once I have been fitted for a shotgun, Can I put those dimensions on any other gun and expect them to fit?
– Bo Huggins, Houston, Texas
The answer to this question is both yes and no. In order to understand the answer to this question, you must understand some particular things about gun fit.
Most gun fit problems can be solved with a good gun mount. Your gun fit is controlled 100% by your ability to mount the gun consistently. We do about 150 gun fits per year. We use a try-gun when working with extreme lengths of pull (very short or very long) or when a customer wants dimensions for a custom made stock. The majority of our gun fits are with the customer’s gun. The one they will actually be shooting. In doing this, you take balance, grip shape and comb shape out of the equation.
When you are fitted with a “try-gun,” the dimensions will be close for any gun you might buy. How close they are depends on the shape of the stock on the “try-gun” and how closely it matches the shape of the stock of your new gun. More often than not, due to the dynamics and shape of your new gun, some minor tweaking will be necessary. This is where experience and the artistry of gun fitting come in.
We make it clear to our customers that if their bodyweight changes 10 percent either way, it will affect their gun fit. Weight fluctuations will affect the shape of your face, which in turn affects the position of the shooting eye when your face touches the comb of the stock.
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