Col Del Rio Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Greetings, I have to cut down a 97 Win stock for my 5'2" wife. I have seen more rules-of-thumb for determining LOP than I care to count. Their recommendations vary by up to an inch! Anybody have a good formula or process so I can do this the right way, and once! Del Rio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger #3720LR Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 One of the rules of thumb is to place the stock on the forearm with the finger on the trigger. The mark where the stock and elbow bend meet. This works fine for trap shooting and hunting. But for cas we have to take in to consideration the reloading on the clock. Most reload the 97 through the port. If you cut the stock at the elbow bent, you can not really reach the port to reload without taking the shotgun off the shoulder. To make reloading possible, if you cut the stock an addition 3/4" shorter small shooter can reach the ejection port with the shotgun still shouldered. If needed and addition 1/4" could be cut off after testing the new cut. I have a friend who's wife was short. During practice we were working on props and the wife was down in a shooting bay paracticing. She was having so much trouble with the reloading. The husband brought the shotgun up to where we where working. He calmly ran the stock through the table saw cutting off what looked to be 4" plus of the stock. She had no problem reloading while shooting ever again. I suggest cutting small pieces at a time. 1" or so. Second story. I saw him shooting a stage and when he got to the shotgun, He about took his nose off with the bolt. He has mistakenly picked up his wife's shotgun. That short shotgun looked more like a under coat gun that a competition shotgun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 I have used the method Boyd’s Gunstocks promotes on a couple of different long guns and it worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branchwater Jack SASS #88854 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 One thing to consider, in our game, it may be more important to cut length of pull on a 97 in order for it to be more comfortable cycling the action. When we went and cut my wife's model 12 for her seeing wild bunch, we could have just a tick shorter than the 'formula' said that we should. It made it a lot more comfortable for her to work the action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 11 hours ago, Cliff Hanger #3720LR said: I suggest cutting small pieces at a time. 1" or so. I agree in principal, but I would remove no more than 1/4" at a time, then have her try it wearing the clothes she shoots in. A tiny change in stock dimensions makes a big difference in how the gun will handle. Expensive trap and skeet shotguns use tiny shims to perfect the fit. Don't be in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder SASS #13056 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 From some very experienced cowboys, for cowboy shooting, you want your nose about 2" or just a little less from the bolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Kiowa Jones #6765 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 I didn't look at the vids but I have cut many shotguns stock for the ladies. The crook of the elbow to the trigger method is a good method for skeet and other games where the gun is already mounted and you don't have to work the action. Doesn't work well for what we do. What I've found for both but particularly for the ladies is the stock should be just long enough to allow the thumb of the trigger hand to be no closer than an 1" but not more than 3" from the shooters nose. Generally, if the stock is longer the crook of the elbow will be extended beyond 90% and because the ladies and youths generally don't have the upper body strength that men do and the ladies also have those protrusion there on their chest that can get in the way, so the gun will be too front heavy. When you see that new shooter leaning way back struggling to hold the gun up that is usually the reason why, the stock is just too long. Also the stocks on most of the CAS SXS guns are designed for aerial targets. When you point them toward the ground the positive toe of those stocks tends to dig into your shoulder when you fire. This will eventually cause the shooter to let the stock move down on shoulder which brings the front end up. Shot goes high. Savvy shooters will lean way into the shot but that usually doesn't ’t work for the lady shooters. So, now that positive toe is nailing them. For the shotguns besides shortening the stock I like cut them so the pad is about 5 degrees negative. That helps take some of the felt recoil away shooting at our ground targets. Here’s a good example. This young lady was 11 years old when this picture was taken. This first pic is her with one of the youth size henry 22’s and as you can see she is still struggling to hold it up. Here she is with a 12ga Baikal SXS that is cut to about 10”LOP with a mercury recoil reducer and good pad. Her stance isn’t that great but she is definitely in more control of the gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil dogooder Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 We aren't shooting trap, so anything told to you about how to cut a stock normally is a waste of time. For the five shooters I equip there is exactly 1 stock that is full length. Heights vary from 6' to 3'10" The closer the action in within reason. The better the balance. The better the balance the faster you will shoot. A good rule is nose 2" from action. Yes its awkward at first but it will get easy very quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Del Rio Posted November 25, 2021 Author Share Posted November 25, 2021 Action closed or action open? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 On 11/25/2021 at 12:17 PM, Col Del Rio said: Action closed or action open? Did you get an answer on that? I would like to cut Ellie's only once if possible and it would suck to have to put some back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Del Rio Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 I measured/guessed right. Just remember that the recoil pad and leather cover take up room. And clothing too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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