doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cheek Rests

I have never cared for cheek rests on a shotgun. It is my belief that, even on a rifle, they are there mostly for aesthetics. They perform no basic function that cannot be achieved with a properly designed buttstock which does NOT have a cheek rest. In his great book, Stock Fitter's Bible, Rollin Oswald goes into great detail explaining why each part and dimension of a shotgun's stock is important. Nowhere have I found that he gives shotgun stocks with cheek rests even a casual mention, which is telling.

However, if one really likes that style of buttstock with a cheek rest it certainly cannot hinder anything in the way of good shooting, as long as the stock with it fits the shooter properly. Having shouldered several shotguns with cheek rests in my lifetime I've never found one that felt right for me. And, if I cannot mount the gun with my eyes closed, getting a good cheek contact with head upright, then open my eyes and find I am looking right down the rib, I will not be able to shoot it well.

In America the cheek rest has it's origins in the muzzleloading rifles of the 1700-1800 era. They were often built with a crescent shaped buttplate which was not intended to be fired from the shoulder pocket as we do with modern guns today, but the buttplate was intended to be placed just outside the shoulder joint, almost on the upper arm itself. This required more wood to be left on the cheek side of the buttstock to give cheek support for good, and steady aiming. I competed for many years in NMLRA patched roundball competitions at the state and national level, and I can assure you that every successful offhand rifle shooter used that stance and mount when shooting m/l rifles with a hooked buttplate. THAT is the reason it was commonplace in early America. The sideways stance required to shoot a m/l rifle this way also gave a battlefield advantage, a narrower target for the enemy. Pistol duelists on the frontier adopted this sideways stance for the same reason.

To be fair, I was "perusing the site and noticed that an "Edmond Good" is a multiple donator to the site. Assuming that this is the same "Ed Good" posting here, its would appear that he DORS contribute financially to the site (while others do not). Just an observation from a newly.

I can not comment regarding more modern rifles, but I can say with some conviction that that does NOT apply to period flintlocks. The cheek rest on a period flintlock serves a purpose and is very comfortable to shoot compared to one without. However, and this could be significant, the cheek rest on late 18th early 19th century flint rifles were not designed like that that we commonly see on more modern rifles. They are concave and tend to roll UNDER the cheek rather than just pushing the cheek out. For many years I built period flinters and would never dream of making one without the period correct cheek rest. Interestingly, even then, cheek rests were not common on shotguns though. It is also noteworthy that these same flint rifles that pretty much ALWAYS sported a cheek rest also were made with cast, 1/4" being not unusual, something I don't think is all that common on rifles of more recent vintage. For the record, I also do not care for a cheek rest of any kind on a shotgun.

Great!! Although, I was not referring to any SPECIFIC person in my statement. I just liked the way some other websites won't let you post the sale of a gun without posting pictures, (which Ed always does, by the way). And also, I always feel that if someone advertises on any website, or through ANY business, they should pay for that pleasure. Dave has always been gracious enough to not make people do that. So, I was not even looking who was posting, actually. I just saw the topics of gun sale, advertising and $12.00, and thought I would throw my thoughts out there on the matters. Please continue. I am truly enjoying the thread.

Jimmy, there are a number of guys who post gun sale ads here without pictures, or even a link to pictures. But it appears that Ed does provide links to GunBroker or Guns International, where his guns are also listed. So it only takes me a simple mouse click on that link to see multiple pics of his guns. Now, that could be a real problem if I had some sad dystonia malady that caused me to flinch when I click on a computer mouse. Don't laugh. It's a real mental condition.

I agree with your thoughts about guys who advertise guns or services on this or any website. Dave is gracious enough to not require any fee for ads for items that do not sell. But he has made his feelings known about people who advertise their for-profit businesses here without any compensation. Yet we still see people doing continual Free Advertising in their tag-lines, or offering to sell guns, gunsmithing services, and other items in other forums, without any mention of an intent to pay Dave. This back-door approach should tell us something about their integrity. I hope I am never so low and desperate that I feel the need to cheat Dave out of $12.00 by doing something that I know is wrong.

I realize that Ed posts pictures of his guns by putting the website of them on here. I was actually applauding him for doing that. But I understand what you are saying. Thanks.