• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

half stock w/37 inch barrel

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mwojack

32 Cal.
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with a halfstock percussion with a 37 inch barrel. I see one in a TC Hawken. The barrel is a 45 cal. Would this have a tendency to crack the stock? I know it would be muzzle heavy, but not sure just how much. :confused:
 
Just my opinion, but I think it would be very muzzle heavy unless the barrel was tapered. I don't think it would crack the stock, but I do not think it would be a comfortable to shoot without a rest.
 
I'm shooting a half-stock with a 32" barrel that's .50 cal. It's a little muzzle heavy, but I find that the extra weight reminds me to keep the nose up. On other guns I tend to drop the nose and be off target. As far as cracking the stock, as long as you're not using too much BP I can't see any reason for the stock to get damaged.
 
I would think that if it is properly fitted to the stock, it wouldn't cause a problem with it at all.
In fact, the recoil of the barrel with a given amount of powder would be less than that of a lighter shorter barrel.

It will of course be muzzle heavy and to some people it will look a bit odd, but nowhere near as strange as some of the original New England shotguns with their 5 and 6 foot barrels! :shocked2:

zonie :)
 
I am curious since I have started a Southern Mountain with 7/8" 42" Green Mountain .45 CAL.
Why would the halfstock be any heavier or more ungainly than a Typical Longrifle from Pensylvania,Kentucky or the Southern states
 
A halfstock gun with a 7/8" X 42" barrel will make you a nice gun. The only way it would be heaver than a full stock gun is the difference between the weight of the wood and the weight of the barrel rib. It will be just as strong as a full stock gun. The gun stock does not support the barrel.
 
All sounds good. I intend to buy another rifle. It's a toss up between the TC 45 cal. Hawken with the 37 inch barrel and a 50 cal GPR. I have a GPR in 54 cal. so the TC might be the ticket. It's mainly for target shooting. :) :)
 
37" bbl should not be all that bad. But remember, for offhand shooting, muscles ain't gonna do it, people need to learn the use of their skeletal frame work for support.
 
Recoil is suppose to transfer between the breechplug and the stock under the tang, and not through the tang. The tang simply give a means of keep the bakc of the rifle attached to the stock( and sometimes the trigger guard underneath). The tang should never ben taking or transmitting recoil forces on any gun. So, the long barrel should not cause any damage to the stock, provided that the inletting of the barrel at the breech is done properly.

As to a 37 inch barrel, the gun will be muzzle heavy, but not as much as a gun with a 42 or longer barrel, for sure. Any idea what the Length of Pull is on that gun? Since so much of gun barrel " weight " is determined by the overall balance of a rifle between the shooter's hands, it kind of important to know just how long that buttstock is on the gun, too. Some of these half stocks come with a half moon buttplate, and it can only fit out on the upper arm above the bicep, and not in the pocket of the shoulder. A longer LOP is called for, but because the gun is positioned out on the arm, and not under the jaw, the longer barrel is also back, and the balance may be pretty good. Balance is more important to consistent good off-hand shooting, and barrel length, or even muzzle heaviness. The benefit of a muzzle heavy barrel is that it provides stability on windy days, and contributes to better accuracy under adverse weather conditions, which are rather common in the Fall and early Winter over most of this country. Using a swamped barrel is the way to have your cake and eat it too. You get the weight out front, for stability, without all the weight in the barrel from the back sight to the front.
 
Probably, unless you have very broad shoulders, like a Green Bay linebacker. I stand 6'1" tall, but have broad shoulder because I was a swimmer in HS. I can work with a 14 1/4" LOP on most guns.

Mount the gun to your arm/shoulder, and the comb to your face, and ask someone to stand next to you, and put their finger on the cheek piece where your cheek rests. Then slowly dismount the gun, and see how close that mark is to the knuckle on your right hand that is wrapped over the wrist of the stock. If its within 1/2 inch, you need a longer LOP, or you are going to be beating your face on your knuckle. A longer LOP is needed on guns used to shoot Chunk Gun matches that are shot from a prone position. I am assuming that this gun will be shot off-hand, or off a bench rest, or an improvised rest in the hunting fields. YOu could consider getting rid of the half moon buttplate, and replacing it with a flatter buttplate, so that you can mount the gun in your pocket of your shoulder, like you would a shotgun. If you mount the gun in the pocket, you will want to check your chest muscles after several shots to see if the toe of the butt is digging into your chest. That suggests that you would be served with more " down pitch ", by cuttin a half inch off the toe of the stock, but angling the cut to the heel of the butt, so that the LOP remains pretty much the same. You want the recoil forces to be taken by the full surface of the buttplate, and not just a small portion that is digging into your pectorals! OUCH! AND, when you do change the place you mount the gun from the arm to the pocket, you may find that the stock is too long, and you need to shorten the LOP. Shortening the butt stock will move the center of balance of the rifle rearward, of course, and that also contributes to better control with a muzzle heavy gun.


When you hold the gun by its wrist in your dominant hand, and hold the forestock in your non-dominant hand with both hands and arms even iwth your shoulders, the mid point on the stock where the gun is balanced should be between your hands, but closer to your fore hand than to the wrist. If you release the stock from your grip at the wrist, to carry the gun with your forehand, it should balance close enough that you don't have to shift your hand( left hand for right handed shooters) backwards or forwards. If the gun is slightly muzzle heavy so that the muzzle naturally sinks down towards the ground, that is probably an okay length for you and that gun. You should be able to shoulder the gun by lifting it up so that the barrel and sights are in line with your Right eye, so that you can then pull the gun back to your cheek, and arm/shoulder mount. Always mount a gun to your face first, and then your arm/shoulder. That will keep you from dropping your head, causing eye strain as you try to focus on the sights while looking out the top of your eye, neck strain because those muscles have to carry the weight of your head until you fire that damn gun, and one helacious flinch caused by the stock smacking you in the face because you are laying your face down on top of the comb, instead of mounting the stock so that the comb lays NEXT to your cheek.

That is how important the mounting of a rifle or shotgun is to being able to shoot it well. We can move your feet wider, or closer and we can shift your weight and your hands to deal with a long heavy barrel, or a short light barrel, but if you mount that gun wrong, its going to hurt you.

Good shooting.
 
I have a TC Seneca with a 36" barrel in .45. Even with that small stock, no problem. I also have a Southern Mt. rifle .45 with the same GM 36"
barrel, they both feel about the same and shoot about the same.
 
Back
Top