doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thoughts on length of pull

I've always thought the proper length of pull for me was 14.5" I recently bought a used RBL 20 with 15.25" LOP. I first shot it on a 5 stand course and did miserably, even by my standards and thought probably the long stock was the culprit. Yesterday with the RBL, hunting preserve pheasants---easy birds but high wind made them spooky and they were strong flyers---I went 6 for 7, better than I normally shoot. Now I'm worndering if I should ignore LOP and just enjoy a sweet gun. As info, my go-to gun if I'm serious about having birds for dinner is an SKB 585 with, you guessed it, 14.5 LOP. Your thoughts?

Steve

Describe your physical build, Steve. Tall with long arms, etc? I regularly shoot a 15.25" pull at sporting competition, but actually like about 14.75" to 15" for field shooting. But, I'm 6'2" with 34" sleeves.

When I first started competing in the NSCA I modified a gun with an adjustable l.o.p. buttpplate, and built up the comb with cardboard and duct tape until it hit like I wanted it to. Awhile later I went for a gunfitting, shooting at a pattern plate with a try gun, the whole 9 yards. The gunfitter wrote down what he found my measurements needed to be, for me to take home. Lo, and behold, when I got home I measured my gun that I had fitted to myself and the measurements were within 1/16" to 1/8" on all measurements.

FWIW, Jack O'Connor once wrote that most people shoot a rifle stock that is too long, and a shotgun stock that is too short. I feel that you should make every effort to get guns that fit as nearly as possible to your requirements, but exacting measurements that "strain at a gnat" are overdoing it. The most important of all the dimensions, IMO, are drop and cast. If you're not looking down the center of the rib, or if you can't see the bead from excessive drop when lightly cheeked, or if you are looking too much down on the rib, it is hard to overcome.

You usually need a bit longer LOP with a double trigger gun than a single trigger gun. I find a gun with a longer LOP seems to work better for trap, while a shorter LOP works better on birds for me. What I'm wearing that day has an effect, also.
My first thought is to what the weather will be like, then I decide which canon to pull out. I freely admit, that this method does not produce automatic good results, either.

Best,
Ted

Stan,
I'm just the opposite, 5'8, 32 in. sleeves and slender build.

Steve

I think you'd be better fitted with a shorter LOP. I'm 5-11, with 35" sleeves and 14" works best for me. However, I shoot low gun on everything except trap. I would ordinarily bow to JOC's expertise but I see far more people using shotguns that are too long for them than too short. They have the butt on their shoulder muscle , worse yet, out on their upper bicep or way low, on their pectoral. That's their boob, for people from Rio Linda. Some have their cheek almost on the heel of the recoil pad(women, in particular, do this). A lot of crap is written about longer LOP reducing recoil(felt) and other questionable benefits. However, almost every picture I see, of one of the top Sporting Clay shooters, shows them with their trigger hand thumb, almost touching their nose. I'll bet you'd exhibit one or more of the above signs with that 15.25" new gun. I'd more likely credit your pheasant success to paying more attention than to the longer LOP. Of course, whatever works best for you is fine with me. JMO, of course.

I'm no gunfitter, Steve, but I agree with Jim that you would most likely be better off with less than 15.25" l.o.p. I can shoot guns reasonably well that vary from 14.5" to 15.5", the longer ones for premounting. Just my observations, no more, from 50 years of shotgunning.

Shoot as much as you can, in lieu of a gunfitting, and you will eventually work it out to your satisfaction. The above are just rough guidelines.

All my best, Stan

I would suggest you get a measurung tape and do some comparisons between the RBL and SKB. I don't have either gun so I have no idea how they match up stock wise but you may find out some useful information. LOP is a measurement that is useful when you are trying to get a gun to fit like another but other variables come in to play too, especially if they are two different manufacturers. If one gun has a pistol grip and the other a prince of wales or an english. Pitch angle, comb height and, as Ted mentioned, number of triggers. I have several doubles, all with 14" LOPs. The one with the POW fits just right if, after months in the safe, I remember that little round part fits in my palm not behind the heel of my hand. Have fun working it out! Kurt

I find that with smaller lighter guns I need a longer length of pull - I just point gun at the bird and bring cheek to stock and bird falls down - often the but plate hardly touches the shoulder - and this certainly the case when shooting live birds. With clays I tend to take a much more deliberate shot.

With the new 20 just shoot it for a while and see how you get on - as said abovedrop and cast are more important.

Hard to isolate lop from other factors/characteristics of gunfit and dynamics. That said, Stan's comments are spot on in my experience. I think the rule of thumb for lop - shoot a gun as long as possible that doesn't hang up or seem awkward in mounting - is pretty good.

I'm built like an ape - 5'9" on a good day, 34" sleeve - am fit perfectly with a straight grip double trigger gun with a 15 3/8" LOP, and 15 1/2" doesn't bother me a bit. With a straight grip single trigger, slightly shorter, but not much. A pistol grip gun moves my preference to 14 1/2" or so.

Keep in mind that this fit business is a strange alchemy - a mix of art and science. Feel of the gun is important, and I am comewhat perplexed that in my stable of shotguns of all types is quite a variety of dimensions, when measured objectively, but the result is the same - great fit on each that I wouldn't change. They all shoot where I look, and somewhat defy logic. But the generalizations I make earlier lean the right direction, I think.

To complicated things further - O/U guns may well have different dimensions than a SxS for the same shooter