cheek slapper

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

OK. I've got things worked out for my daughter's, but my son has a .45 Cabela's that is a cheek slapper. The length of pull is a good 14" so it should fit him alright. But there is something about the comb/cheek fit that busts him in the cheek every shot (does this to me too).

Can anything be done? I am thinking of taking a sander to the cheek piece of the stock and removing some wood.

 

[bpd303]

A length of pull at 14 inches is pretty long, unless he has long arms. I have found LOP to be the major contributor to cheek slap. A half inch will make a big difference.

 

[BrownBear]

I'm tall with gangly arms and prominent cheek bones, but I've never found the Cabella's/Investarm stocks to be cheek slappers. Due to the scope-high comb on TC Hawkens, they beat me senseless, even if they fit my bud fine and he hates the Investarms. Just different builds fitting different guns.

To 303's ID of LOP as a factor, I'll add comb height and sight height. The high comb on the TC Hawken doesn't bite me if I mount really tall sights.

One other factor, come to think of it. Move the butt further out your arm rather than in the "pocket" of your shoulder where a modern rifle sits. The hooked butts were intended to fit further out on your arm, and doing so would move that cheekpiece away from your face.

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Ok. Maybe we can try removing the buttpad and take a few shots and see if that fixes the cheekslapping. That is fairly easy to replace the buttpad if removing it doesn't help.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I'd need to see how it fits. Removing wood may just give it more of a running start and make it worse.

Is it smacking him when fired offhand as well as from a table/bench?

 

[Zonie]

Lowering the comb on a rifle won't necessarily make it less likely to slap a cheek when it is fired.

Take a look at the drop on the butt of this .50 caliber rifle I built.

Although it shoots great, it slaps my cheek every time I touch it off.

 

[Vaino]

My neighbor bought this same rifle, but in .50 cal. and complained of getting slapped in the cheek and came over and asked what could be done. I told him I would remove some wood from the comb and also would take quite a bit off the cheekpiece. After the wood removal, his cheek no longer was punished. Previously had done this to my TC Hawken and it was no longer a cheek slapper. On both rifles, the LOP wasn't changed....Fred

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Stumpkiller,

It does this from the offhand position. (sitting as well)

About the only thing we found was to shoot from as far to the left of your body as you can stretch - which feels very unnatural. (right-handed shooters)

Thanks.

 

[tenngun]

Are you shooting off the shoulder or off the upper arm. My first ml was a mowery Allen and Thurber with a deeply curved butt plate. With it I quickly learned the arm hold. Since then I shoot evenn my flat butted fusils off my arm. The only time I ever get any slap is off a bench with a shouldered hold. For me the arm hold seems to alow a smoother recoil movment.

 

[cynthialee]

You could put some lead in the butt. I did that with one of my rifles. It slaps still, but not as bad as before.

 

[Col. Batguano]

OK. I've got things worked out for my daughter's, but my son has a .45 Cabela's that is a cheek slapper. The length of pull is a good 14" so it should fit him alright. But there is something about the comb/cheek fit that busts him in the cheek every shot (does this to me too).

Can anything be done? I am thinking of taking a sander to the cheek piece and removing some wood.

I've had dates like that before too. Best to take them to dinner first before you take a sander to their cheeks. :rotf:

 

[ZUG]

That's very funny and one of the best answers I've heard in a LONG time - thanks for the laugh :rotf: :rotf:.

 

[M. De Land]

My thought on the subject of cheek slap is two fold.
Drop of comb and size of butt hook.
The more drop in a stock the more the recoil impulse is out of line with the butt and the more the rifle rises in recoil against the cheek.
The tighter the butt hook the farther out on ones arm the butt makes contact with the body thus giving recoil more leverage and less resistance to swing against your cheek purchase on the stock.
In effect your absorbing recoil energy from both x and Y axis direction.

 

[coloradoclyde]

padded cheek piece anyone? at least that way you can remove it when he grows up.

Wait a minute did you say the gun had a butt pad?
wouldn't that make the gun recoil/rise up before moving his shoulder which is connected to his neck/head? just enough to slap the cheek?

 

[Col. Batguano]

The other thing that can sometimes help is the placement of his cheek weld. The further aft you place it the less of a chance to pivot upwards the comb has. Guns with a fair amount of cast-off sometimes allow for a more upright head position, which can lessen cheek slap too.

If you use some modeling clay against a board as if it were a stock, and then mash your face against it that will give you a good profile for your cheek rest and comb for your individual face. The more secure the contact, the steadier the hold, and less apt you are to have a high point whack you upon recoil.

But that said, the more acute the comb angle, the greater the propensity for it to whack you when it's coming back. Southern rifles have a really pronounced and upward slanting comb compared to bigger calibers and flatter combs like Jaegers, English Sporting Rifles, or some of the military guns like the 1861 Springfield.

 

[wulf]

You might be using an old habit of crawling up
on it like a shotgun. That'll surly give you a
good slap
Wulf

 

[RedFeather]

Bought a used shotgun that whomped me hard. A gunsmith had me mount it and the cast was way off. Also had a sharp toe which caused it to pivot in. He steamed the stock, bent it to remove the cast and added a pad. Completely changed the recoil. Might consider steaming that stock.

 

[azmntman]

What is steaming the stock?

 

[Tinker2]

What is steaming the stock?

That’s getting it all hot and bothered so you can get it bent out shape

It is used to bend the stock to change the drop or cast.

Getting hit in the face is caused more times than not by the angle of the butt plate to the bore.



William Alexander

 

[EC121]

That angle is why I don't like the French style fusils. With the buttplate angle they have, they are cheek whackers from the start. Close your eyes and mount the rifle into shooting position. Then open your eyes. You should be looking down the barrel, but if the rifle is muzzle high, it will hit your cheek when leveled at the target.