Ouch my poor old cheek!

[Slake]

Went shootin today with my new {to me} Traditions Shenandoah in 50 cal and found it to be slappin me in the cheek pretty hard like I'm huggin it with my face or somethin...It's weird I don't ever remember this happening to me before. I'm curious why. Is it the drop of the stock that's makin me lay down the side of my head more?
I've been shootin over forty years and don't recall ever havin this problem before. Anyone have a similar day?
My accuracy was decent. It was my first outing with the rifle and I made some adjustments to the rear sight while I was involved in a chicken shoot
and I was consistant and flirting with the bullseye all day I even hit it once

 

[Hunter66]

I have the same problem with my T/C rifles. No problem with my GPR though. I finally took a bunch of wood off of the Hawken cheek and I am getting ready to do the Renegade now and refinish it.

 

[jtmattison]

My Lyman Trade rifle does it to me too. Beats me up like a bully.
I don't have that problem with the Deerstalker or GPR.

HD

 

[Napper]

Had a .58 T/C big bore that did the samething to me just had to grin and bear it.

 

[Deacon4]

Slake,
Been there, done that. Had a right-hand 58 cal. Hawkin that I use to load heavy and shoot left-handed. Got too hurting on both ends. Caused me to flinch, so I traded it away. The stocks gotta fit ya or it just ain't no fun. If possible, always shoot or borrow a like-gun before you buy. I noticed in the winter, wearing more warmer clothing changes the way a gun fits and shoots. Likewise in the summer it can feel different too.
Deacon

 

[paulvallandigham]

Slake: Are you mounting your rifle out on your arm? If so, you have to lift that arm up so that your elbow is parallel with your shoulders. Then, when you mount the gun push it out away from you , and bring it to your face, rather than mounting it to your arm, and then lowering your face to it.

I found that most stocks are too short for me to shoot well if they are mounted on my arm. I now shoot shotgun style buttplates, and mount the guns in the pocket of my shoulder, as I would a shotgun. That allows me to stand with my head up and straight, no cramping neck muscles by leaning over, and I can bring the stock to the side of my face. If I mount the gun to my shoulder, first, and then lower my head, the stock will beat on my cheek everytime.

If our gun has a typical hawken style half moon buttplate, you may have to change it, as I eventually decided to do. However, I shot one of those for years, and learned to raise that elbow up and out so that the butt was higher, and the stock would lay alongside my cheek, and not below it.

The other thing you should consider is shooting lighter loads. I don't think your manhood will suffer if you finally realize that all the power you need on a target range is enough to push the ball through the paper. I have a friend who weighs in excess of 300 lbs. and stand about 6'3" tall, who used to shoot heavy loads all the time, until his shoulders began to act up. He had built a .32 rifle for one of his daughters, but after she left for college, it just sat on his gunrack. One month, he decided his shoulder was too sore to shoot his usually cannon, so he took that gun to the range, and shot the match with it. Won, too. We kidded him a bit about using a kids gun, and he just smiled, and said he probably was going to use that kids gun again next month, so just get used to it! He had us pegged. We were all a little jealous, both because we didn't have one of those rifles, and because he had found a nice solution to getting a sore shoulder every month proving how manly he was at the club shoots.

 

[Slake]

I'm wondering if it's because of the well curved brass butt plate if I'm sucking it into my shoulder too deep. When I read what you wrote I went and got the rifle and put it up to my shoulder. I put it up to my shoulder and brought my face to it...Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to shoot this rifle out on my upper arm and drop down to forty or fifty grs. I was shooting 70 which was prolly a tad higher than I normally use for paper. This rifle has the most curve butt of any rifle I own

 

[paulvallandigham]

Slake: A curved buttplate can be very painful if its not mounted on the arm, above the bi-cep. Mount the stock to your face, and not your face to the stock. By lifting that elbow up you raise the arm and shoulder above your colar bone, which allows the stock to rest NEXT TO your cheek, and not under it.

I had a standard, Factory made Winchester Model 94, in .30-30, that beat the heck out of the cheekbone, and shoved my glasses in to the bridge of my nose, so that I had bruises in two places. I had been shooting a light weight .30-06 for several year and it didn't do that kind of damage.

I finally found a gunsmith who added some spacers and a recoil paid to lenthen the Length of Pull of the stock, and Now I can shoot it in comfort. In fact, a lot of my taller friends have tried that carbine, and tell me its the softest shooting winchester they have ever shot. And, now they know why. Years later, now, as I have learned about stock design and the relationship between pitch, LOP, and drop at comb, and heel, I believe that if I put a different buttstock with a higher comb on that Winchester, I probably could also use a shorter LOP. It would also help to put some cast off on that factory stock, and some down pitch.

 

[BRUN]

My cabelas hawkins does that too,but my gpr's dont.

 

[JoelH]

I have an old German double rifle that gives me bruises on my right cheek bone! I now use a cushion pad over the cheek piece when I shoot this ole girl. Cutting the stock down to size was not an option with this one!

 

[BLAHMAN]

...It's weird I don't ever remember this happening to me before. I'm curious why. Is it the drop of the stock that's makin me lay down the side of my head more?

You pretty much answered your own question. "Is it the drop of the stock that's making me lay down the side of my head more?"

I've looked at those at the Log Cabin and noticed there is something about that gun, the way the stock is laid out that forced me to roll my head to pick up the sights....it's a terrible fit, and that may be your problem.

It may be that the rear sight needs to stand a little higher......

That gun is a mass produced "one size fits all" item and you aren't the right size!

 

[W T]

Cross-dominance (right-handed but left-eyed) can also be a factor.
I gotta remember to shut that left eye and keep the noggin upright, else I tend to throw the head over the stock to line-up the strong left-eye with the sights. Gets me a walnut hickey every time

 

[BLAHMAN]

Cross-dominance (right-handed but left-eyed) can also be a factor.

CROSS DOMINANCE!!!!!!!!!

I didn't know that was the description of "cross-dominance".

I figured it's something that Mrs. Blahman gets when I work too much on favorite hobby: muzzleloading making and all that stuff!

 

[Goldhunter]

My TC only did that with heavy conical loads. The heavy RB loads didn't seem to beat me up that hard. I have since replaced the stock but haven't shot it with a heavy conical load yet.

 

[RC]

Slake, I have a cva penn rifle,50 flinter, i use to hunt and at winter shoots,,it shoots awesome,but, if i shoot it during the summer or when i ain't dressed fer the cold..i can draw blood in 20 shots! got scars to prove it! but it looks impressive when ya come off a long woodswalk bleedin..least the people i go with have fun with it..i put that leather sling on it with a lil leather pad in it an it was fine, but only use it when i have too on warm days...gets a bit tender the second day..ouch! RC

 

[Halftail]

That gun is a mass produced "one size fits all" item and you aren't the right size!

I agree!I got a T/C Rennegade I shot it for years and didn't know a muzzleloader wasen't supposed to smash your cheek to pieces when you shoot untill I got Muzzleloader with the proper LOP.

 

[RedFeather]

I bought a rather unusual Beretta over/under 12 gauge that had been stocked by Sauer as some kind of joint-venture. It has the typical European narrow, sharp comb and sported a curved hard buttplate. The first time I shot it (my first experience with a shotgun, too) was at a Saturday morning trap clinic. After about a box or so of loads, I had to put it up. Kept kicking me right under the cheek bone like someone gave me an uppercut with a 2X4. (My face was so swollen the next day that folks at work thought I had been to the dentist.) Took it to a recommended ex-Beretta master gunsmith and he had me mount it. He saw that it was cast-on, the stock rotating to the left with each shot, plus the toe was so sharp it was pivoting the gun up. Smack! with every shot. I had the stock steamed and straightened, plus added a Pachmyr Old English recoil pad. Tamed it right down. Now the top barrel, extra-full, is softer than the Modified. Maybe you should look at the stock on your rifle to see if it is straight or warped a bit to one side. Which leads me to ask, anyone ever change the cant on their m/l's to make them fit better? Seems doable.