Am I crazy?

[BJamesBeck]

Definitely! I am definitely a measure twice, or ten times and cut once kind of guy, and I'm definitely going to be getting some reading materials for this build. Tonight I decided to practice a little bit by making a toy long rifle for my cousins son for christmas. So that should give me a little more practice on the woodworking bit and might help me decide if I'm going to inlet the lock on my gun myself. I'm going to inlet for a lock from one of my old toy muskets on the stock that I'm cutting myself. Hopefully it turns out decent and I can save a little money on christmas presents

 

[geb324]

LOP 17"-18.5" ? Better get some
help with that measurement!!

 

[Birddog6]

Another thing that kind of made me wonder was the length of pull. When I measured what I believed to be my length of pull I got 17.5 inches (crook of arm to finger tip) I don't know if I measured wrong because he marked 14 I believe? Will that matter at all? I can imagine a LOP that is too long would be very uncomfortable, but does one that is too short really matter? My sleeve length was about 24-25 I believe, if that helps.

He probably measured the 14" correctly. You can't go by measuring from elbow to tip of finger. If I did that mine would be 16" LOP and I know absolutely For Sure I am comfortable with 13 1/2 to a 13 3/4" LOP. (shorter one for hunting in winter with a heavy coat on)

Take any rifle or shotgun you have that FITS you and measure from the front Center of the trigger to the rear Center of the buttplate. THAT is the LOP of that rifle or shotgun.

Now if you need more length to make it fit, fold up a dishtowel to about 1" thick and take some duct tape & tape it on the buttplate & see if that makes it fit better. Then measure again, etc..

Unless you can stand up straight & your fingers tips touch the middle of your kneecaps, you are not... going to need a 17.5" LOP.

A Quality sporting goods store that sells high priced shotguns & rifles, will usually have a guy there that fits shotguns to people for shooting Sporting Clays & Skeet. They can easily measure you correctly if you cannot figure it out. To shoot the above correctly & consistently the shotgun must fit you immediately when shouldered it, there is no time to readjust & etc. One of the sporting goods stores I go to now & then, a guy working there can look at you & tell you within 1/4" what LOP you need. However he has been fitting them to people for 30 years & has done thousands of them.

Now the fit of a shotgun is not as critical as the fit of a rifle.(IMHO) You don't normally snap-shoot with a rifle, thus you have more time to adjust. However, if the LOP is way Too Long, it can still be very uncomfortable to shoot & being uncomfortable when shooting works against you & your accuracy.

You are talking about spending $1000. or so. That would inspire me to insure it is as close to Correct....as it can be, not a guess... :idunno: But it may not be as important to you as it would be to me.

Keith Lisle

 

[BJamesBeck]

Alright that makes more sense. I was a little confused when it said to measure from "crook of arm to finger tip" on the website. It didn't seem right. Like I said I figured that a 14" LOP like he marked down was probably closer to being right. Especially after I couldn't find any rifles with a longer LOP than 15. Thanks for clearing that up a bit!

 

[Birddog6]

You might PM & check with Roundball. He is so tall he almost forked again. Long arms...... I think he uses a 14 1/4 or 14 1/2 LOP & he is a Big man.

The longest one I ever built for a man was insistent it be 15 1/2" LOP...... I tried to tell him that was too long, but he wouldn't hear it. 6 mo later I had to cut it down for him to 14 1/4" LOP. Fortunately it was not carved, as he would have had a long stocked rifle for sell.

Keith Lisle