Cast Off

[Hoyt]

I got this description of "cast off" from another forum..

"Cast "off", on a right handed gun, means that the butt plate is set slightly to the RIGHT of centerline of the barrel,(generally 1/8" to 1/4"), to more easily line up the sights, especially with a large cheek piece."

The reason I bring it up is that I got my Hershel House Virginia Rifle drawing from Log Cabin and in going over the print I notice the center line on stock doesn't line up with centerline of barrel. Also at the end of stock centerline there is a 1/4" offset dimension. The only dimension on the whole print. Although it doesn't scale perfect (suppose to be full scale and centerline at end of stock scales 7/16" to right) I take it to mean 1/4" cast off.
My main question is could someone please explain to me in simple terms just how this cast off is worked into the stock..like do you do as said above and just move the butt plate one way or the other and then just go by the dwg centerline and scale from centerline to outside of stock and shape stock that way? The dwg looks like the barrel centerline and stock centerline intersect right at comb. Does this sound right? I'm trying to get a dwg. I can post, but my CAD is on other computer..not set-up and I downloaded two different CAD freeware's and both don't have half the tools..like no trim, etc.
Thanks for any help on this.

 

[Zonie]

It sounds like your interpretation is correct.
The center of the buttplate is moved 1/4 inch to the right of the centerline of the barrel for a right handed gun.
The approximate center line of the stock will then intersect the centerline of the barrel somewhere around the wrist.

The stock shouldn't have a noticable kink in it where these centerlines meet. The idea is to fair and blend the wood so it looks like a very smooth transition.
If done correctly, no one will even notice that there is Cast Off in the stock until they shoulder the gun.
Even then, they will notice that for some strange reason the barrel lines up with their eye much better than a regular guns barrel does but they won't know why.

1/4 inch to 5/16 cast is about as much as is needed to work this magic. Just don't get it backwards and move the butt plate to the left of the barrel unless you shoot left handed. ::

 

[Hoyt]

OK..Thanks a lot Zonie..I'm in process of redrawing with accurate scale and am offsetting 1/4" from end of butt-plate inlet (wood) to where the comb starts to rise on top of stock. That will give me about 10" to offset 1/4".