doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What Causes Cheek Slap

I learned long ago that it was way easier to slip in late on your mama than it ever is with your wife...Geo

Drew,
Thanks. Good reading but inconlusive. Seems gun fit and cause remain somewhat of an art with lots of opinions. Not enough empirical studies being undertaken.

Bluegoose,
Sounds like a plan but will have to wait for much warmer weather.

As Mark said, adjust your stock so the front has more drop than the back. That way when the gun recoils back, the comb is going away from your face.

Been there.

I used to have terrible check slap with any modern shotgun I used. The typical stock dimensions on newer guns just didn't fit my face shape. It wasn't until I started shooting older SxSs with much more drop at the heal and the comb that the problem went away. I now shoot guns that have 2 3/4" or more DAH with 2 1/8" or slightly more at the comb where my check touches. It's not uncommon for me to take a file to the stock of a "new" gun and drop the comb down and then refinish the entire stock and forend. On guns with modern dimensions I always saw lots of rib and had to float targets. Upon firing the force lifts the gun into your cheek more than it should if the comb is too high. And because I saw so much rib, I forced my cheek down hard on the stock to get as low as possible and this just made it worse.

I don't know why the trend on so many newer made doubles is toward less drop at comb...... and at heel, on most. Many of the Italian O/U guns are stocked like that now. I have friends who shoot Guerini(s) and they have often offered them to me to try. I have never seen one yet that wasn't stocked too high for me. Obviously there are folks whose distance from their cheekbone to their eye is much less than mine.

I have a Verona 28/410 O/U two barrel set that is stocked way too high. I only use it for sub-gauge competition, and aesthetics is secondary to proper gun fit, so I put an adhesive backed add-on rib, 1/4" high, on top of the vent rib on both barrel sets ($40 ea). Instant gun fit. It lifted my line of sight that 1/4" that I couldn't get comfortably by burying my cheek into the comb. I would recommend trying one on any gun that one is considering having bent for more drop, before doing so. If you don't like the looks of it you can remove it with no damage to the vent rib, and at least you'll know how much you need to have the stock bent down. You may well find you shoot better with it because your head is usually in a more upright position, much the way the old-timers shot in America with stocks that had/have 3" DAH.

Brister, I believe, wrote about making a balsa try-rib to add height to a gun's rib, to test for proper fit and resulting pattern placement. It is said he was one who would take a rasp to a gun in a heartbeat, if needed, to try and make it fit him better. Shaving away the comb height accomplishes the same thing as elevating the rib, but is much harder to put back than removing a glued on add-a-rib.

SRH

No expert here but I am a trap shooter..I shoot a negative pitch...and I have a 21 that had the comb the same height as my trap gun but it has no pitch..neutral pitch... it does slap with hotter loads..order Stock Fitting Secrets by Rollin Oswald.
good reading
Monty

I've found that for me zero down pitch or close to it is best. The GR3 (7lb/1oz) here slapped the shit outta me when I got it. Checked the down pitch and it was nearly 8" !! Buzzed that baby down to about 1/8" and it became as civilized as a gun weighing a pound more. There is not a gun in the safe now that has more than 1" down pitch and the adjusto stocks are set at zero. Works for my wife as well and a couple other shooters that I spoken with about it.

FWIW Michael Bradley a somewhat respected coach/etc in the GB world says that down pitch serves no purpose on a gun used with modern shooting styles. I'm happy I took that advice some years ago even tho he is a Limey.