Chapter IX: Fitting the Gun to the Man

One of the most important features of a shotgun is its fit, fit and balance having more to do with a gunner’s ability to perform well with his weapon than even the shooting qualities of the gun. Shotguns can be obtained that are quite capable of “outshooting” their owner, however expert he may be, and hence the chief study of the skilled and the novice alike should be perfect fit and balance as contributing to finer holding.

It is true that there are men who can shoot fairly with any gun, just as we have all heard of the man who can down his birds as surely from the hip as from the shoulder. If the reader happens to belong to the “hip-shooting” class this chapter is not for him, since he has risen superior to the gunbuilder’s art and merely requires barrels that will kill. However the majority of us do plenty of missing without deliberately courting that sort of thing by purchasing a gun that is unbalanced or a misfit.

The neatest fitting coat can be procured by going to an experienced tailor and being measured for it, and the best fitting gun should be turned out by the expert gunmaker. Nevertheless, when beyond the reach of tailor shops, you must needs go to the largest retail store you can find and there try on coats until you get one that fits, and the same rule applies to procuring a gun. A sporting goods dealer should have arms of every size, weight, and measurement, some of which would be of the exact dimensions required. If you are a novice consult the salesman who should know his business, or take with you the most experienced of your shooting friends. Be careful in the selection of your first gun, for you will “grow” to it, and it will always influence you thereafter, perhaps in the wrong way.

1. From trigger to center of butt. 13⅝ ins. (This corresponds with an ordinary length of stock of 14¼ ins.). 2. From bottom of standing frame to center of butt, 17⅛ ins. (This gives correct length of 14¼ in. stock regardless of position of trigger.) 3. From bottom of standing frame to heel, 17 ins. 4. From bottom of standing frame to toe, 18 ins. 5. From bottom of standing frame to end of grip, 7½ ins. (This length well adapted to single trigger.)]

The fit of a gun relates principally to the length and drop of stock, the drop, thickness, and shape of comb, the length, shape, and size of the grip, the slant and shape of the buttplate, and possibly its cast-off. The balance of the piece, technically known as its “hang,” concerns its equable distribution of weight.

MEASURING A GUN STOCK

A glance at the accompanying drawing will tell more of the method of measuring gun stock than any written text. The system shown is more elaborate than that in use by any gunbuilder in this country, yet there is warrant for taking all the various dimensions. As a rule on orders, the manufacturers ask for the length of stock from front trigger to center of butt, and the drop at comb and heel, the remainder of the stock being machined out according to a fixed form. If a man is going to the aforementioned skilled tailor he should be forgiven for asking that his coat fit elsewhere as well as in the chest and sleeves. The proportions of stock given in the cut must not be taken as standard or the conclusion reached that an arm of its dimensions will fit everybody. It is simply a well proportioned medium gun which nearly every individual would find necessary to change in some particular, possibly in all.

American shotguns are built with a length of stock ranging from thirteen and three-quarters to fifteen inches. Those kept in stock by dealers are of medium measurements, say from fourteen to fourteen and one-half inches. For several reasons gun stocks are now made longer and straighter than were once popular. Trap shooting is in a degree responsible for this. The man at the traps is permitted to place the butt of his gun to his shoulder and for this reason can handle a gun with a half inch longer stock than he could afield. Moreover he has discovered that a long stock punishes the face less and the reduced shock is not so liable to produce gun-headache. Then, too, a long stock causes a tendency to shoot high which is a decided advantage with the rising clay birds. An arm throwing its charge a trifle high is a killing gun, too, in upland shooting where the game as a rule is rising from the ground.

Perhaps a changed style of shooting has had more to do with the lengthening and straightening of gun stocks than any other one thing. The present manner of wing-shooting is to _point_ the gun with both eyes open, which necessitates a line of sight well above the rib. In the past it was thought impossible to aim without closing one eye and squinting the other flat over the rib as though it were the sight of a rifle. This matter will be treated at length in its proper place; sufficient now to say that one eye sighting rendered a crooked stock imperative in the past and would to-day. The longer stocks have come with the gradual evolution of the piece from arms now obsolete.

The shooting principles involved in the length of stocks are: A stock too long may balk the shooter by catching under his armpit as the piece comes up for a quick shot; it causes shooting too high and behind; it strains the arm and shooting hand, possibly causing a premature “let-off.” A short stock shoots low; it allows the recoil to catch the gunner’s face in place of his shoulder, thus causing gun-headache and flinching. More stocks are too short than too long, on the same principle that a man can wear a boot that is too large but he cannot if too small.

THE COMB

The comb is known indifferently as the comb and the cone, but as there is another feature of a gun known as the cone--that section of the barrel just in front of the shell chamber--I shall adhere to the term comb when referring to the upper portion of the stock just back of the grip, against which the cheek is pressed when aiming. It is shown in figure 6 of the diagram on stock measuring. Since it governs and regulates the “line of aim” both horizontally and in elevation, no feature of gunfitting is of greater importance than the comb. Its drop from the level of the barrels gives the correct elevation to the charge and its shape whether thick or thin regulates the line of sight, keeping it directly over the center of the rib. As a matter of fact there are just two sights of any possible use in shotgun work, one being the comb and the other the object shot at. Even the front bead is placed there merely in deference to custom and old fashioned methods of shooting, never being seen when in actual use at flying objects.

Personally the writer likes a thick, well-rounded comb because it punishes the face less where a great many shots are fired and brings the line of sight directly over the center of the breech when used in connection with a drop of an inch and a half. However, faces and eyes differ and every man must be a law unto himself in the drop and shape of the comb he uses. Our late models of shotguns are built with a drop at comb of from 1¼ to 1⅞ inches, the majority of those not built to order ranging from 1½ to 1¾ inches.

Formerly gun stocks were much more crooked and occasionally had a drop of two and a half inches at comb and four at the heel. For upland work and especially for trap shooting the comb should be of such a height as to throw the body of the charge above the line of aim. A gun built expressly for wildfowl shooting might well have the comb an eighth or a quarter of an inch lower than for quail or clay birds,--this for the reason that you are nearly as liable to overshoot a passing bird as to undershoot him.

If the buttplate is comparatively straight or flat, the drop at heel is of minor importance compared with that at comb, since the butt can be raised higher or lower to the shoulder as may be required. However, guns are usually built with a proper proportion of drop between comb and heel. A drop of 1¼ inches at comb calls for a 2 inch drop at heel; one of 1⅜-2¼; 1½-2½; 1⅝-2⅝; 1¾-2¾; 1⅞-3 inches. Of course, individual tastes and conformation will vary these dimensions. Live pigeon shots have used guns straighter than any of those given. The clay bird men find it advisable to adopt the straighter of the measurements, the upland shooters the medium, and the “one-eyed” performer the crooked ones.

THE MONTE CARLO COMB

The Monte Carlo stock, which should be termed the Monte Carlo comb, is shown in the illustration. This comb runs straight back, every part of it having a like drop from the level of the barrels in place of sloping to the butt as usual. The object of this is to have the line of sight the same whether the cheek is placed close up to the grip or farther back. Theoretically this sort of comb is right, but in practice I have not found it to improve one’s shooting materially, for the reason that a practiced shot will invariably place his cheek to one spot and the elevation of the comb elsewhere cannot matter greatly. However, the novice whose shooting habits are less firmly entrenched, might find it a positive advantage. In any event, this comb could hardly prove disadvantageous either to the expert or the beginner. Its only faults are that it detracts somewhat from the clean, racy outline of the stock and adds a few ounces to the weight of the breech end which needs to be reckoned with if the weapon is to retain its perfect balance. A few years ago such combs became a fad and many ordinary stocks were fitted with them by gunsmiths. My advice would be to try a gun with this sort of comb either in the field or at the traps before purchasing and then, if you like it, shoot only the guns that have such combs. Do not attempt to shoot one gun with the Monte Carlo stock and another without as that would handicap you unnecessarily.

CAST-OFF

The English are firm believers in cast-off, that is in a stock which deviates either to the right or left from a straight line behind the rib. They argue that the butt being placed to the shoulder, well to one side of the head, the eye will naturally be looking across the barrels in place of with them unless there is a cast-off to bring the tubes in line. This would be simple truth if the man’s neck were encased in an iron collar so that he could not bend it to get in line. Moreover the Briton only recommends a cast-off of from one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch, whereas it would have to be as many inches were the neck not bent toward the comb. A cast-off of one-eighth of an inch at butt gives but one-seventeenth at comb which at one hundred feet would only place the charge two inches to the side of where it would have gone without the cast-off--not enough to cause a miss where the charge covers thirty inches.

As a rule American stocks are made straight or without cast-off, and yet the American marksmen are the best in the world to-day. We regulate the line of aim by the drop and shape of comb, as previously mentioned, in place of casting off the stock. Nevertheless, if a man prefers to shoot a very high comb, he may find a cast-off an advantage, since otherwise there will be difficulty in getting the eye over the center of the rib without shooting too high. It is all much a matter of habit and usage. If you have learned to shoot the cast-off stock and perform well with it, why stick to it, but if you have not, it is likely to cast your charge off just so much more than it ought to.

THE GRIP

Lines four and five, diagram p. 115, give length and circumference of the grip. The dimensions of the grip require special study for several reasons. The length of the stock is governed in a great measure by the length of the grip taken in connection with the place the left hand grasps the barrels or fore-end; lengthening the grip at once has the effect of shortening the stock. This can be noted by taking hold of the rear of the grip and at the same time shifting the left hand back toward the frame; the stock will come up, missing the shoulder exactly as though it were too short. This explains why a long stocked gun is more liable to balk you when shooting with the front trigger. Hence it follows that if your gun is to fit you in length of stock it must also have a grip of correct length.

Grips vary in length with different guns from seven to seven and one-half inches and even more. The illustration shows one of the latter length. This measurement is best adapted to long fingers or to pulling the rear trigger. With a small hand, especially when the habit is to shoot the right barrel first, seven inches is long enough. A better control of the gun is maintained where the hands grasping fore-end and grip are well apart, but ease in reaching and pulling the triggers must not be sacrificed to this.

In the nature of things the grip cannot be of exactly the right length for pulling both the front and rear triggers, and as a medium seven and a quarter inches is a very nice measurement for hands of average size. It should be remembered when ordering a gun that the different gunbuilding firms all have a standard length and shape of grip to which guns will be built unless otherwise ordered.

Whether a gun shall be constructed with a pistol or a straight grip is much a matter of taste in appearances. Some claim that the straight grip is a trifle quicker, but I have never heard a good reason advanced to prove it. Such a thing as a real pistol grip of the kind we are accustomed to in revolvers and single shot pistols is impossible with a shotgun. At most there is only a trifling curve to the part grasped by the hand. The principle of a pistol grip is that the pressure is put upon the trigger solely by the grasp of the hand and the contracting forefinger, while shotgun triggers are pulled by the arm drawing back, only the last few additional ounces being applied by the contraction of the finger. If the grip were sufficiently curved it might interfere with this pull back of the arm but it never is. Therefore select a straight or pistol grip as may please your fancy without fear that either will materially influence your ability to handle the gun.

Grips vary in circumference from four to five inches. The former size is suitable only for a lady or a boy and the last is adapted to a very large hand. Four and a half inches is an average size and will be found satisfactory to the majority. A grip that is too large will cause the gun to handle clumsily and one too small is still worse since it permits the stock to roll in the grasp and the hand fails to take up the amount of recoil that it should. It should not be checkered too smoothly but left rather rough to the feel. I should like to say now, in passing, that the best shaped grips and the handsomest finished of any in the world are those to be found on high grade American shotguns.

THE BUTT PLATE

The butt plate shown in the illustration is five and one-fourth inches long which is about an average. Lengthening the line to toe and shortening that to heel will give more slant, and the shape of butt is governed by these two measurements in connection with the length of stock. The stock can be drawn in at the center, leaving a bump at the heel and a long toe if desired. It is wise to leave these measurements to the gunmaker unless you have developed positive ideas from experience. A longer stock can be used by giving the butt more slant so that the heel will not catch in coming up. A deeply incurved butt leads to more regularity in placing the gun to the shoulder but is slower. It is best adapted to trap shooting where the butt is placed to the shoulder before calling “pull.”

The illustration shows the manner of measuring a stock for a single trigger. Different manufacturers place their single trigger in slightly different positions so that the most uniform and reliable lines are those taken from the bottom of the standing breech. The grip of a single trigger gun can well be from one-fourth to a half inch longer than one intended for a two trigger gun. The unvarying grasp of the hand in a single trigger gun maintains both uniformity of length of stock and balance. The single trigger has a chapter of its own and it is sufficient here to state that it is especially adapted to straight and long grips thus permitting the use of long stocks and materially assisting in steadiness of holding.

GUN BALANCE

The balance of a gun has always been regarded as something of a mystery. The usual statement is that the gun _balances_, that it comes up right, or that it has just the correct “hang” and feel in the shooter’s hands. These statements are not especially enlightening to the novice, and I shall attempt to analyze and give reasons. Naturally a shooter’s previous experience of the gun he has become accustomed to shooting will have a very considerable influence when a new arm is being tested. If the sportsman has been handling a weapon that is muzzle heavy or the reverse for fifteen or twenty years he will consider every gun defective in balance that is not similar to his old piece. For this reason the beginner cannot place such absolute reliance upon the advice of his veteran friend as he might otherwise.

A gun balances when its center of actual weight is midway between the two hands grasping the fore-end and the grip. Either hand then supports a like amount of weight, there is no undue strain, and the arm comes to the face level and true to the line of sight. This equable distribution of weight to either arm has the effect of causing the weapon to “handle light” or to feel lighter than it actually is.

The “point of balance,” or center of weight, given in the illustration is three and a half inches in front of the standing breech. Naturally this point will vary somewhat with the length of stock, length of barrels, length of grip, and position of the left hand grasping the barrels, but in every true hanging gun it should not be greatly removed from the spot indicated in the drawing. To be sure it may be argued that it will be found very difficult to bring the center of weight midway between the two hands when the stock is made long and heavy and the barrels short and light. All of which is very true, and it will be just as difficult to make such a proportioned piece balance--in fact it will be impossible.

I recently had the pleasure of measuring and weighing a twenty bore gun from the shops of one of our best builders. The point of balance was just in front of the trigger guard. The entire gun weighed five pounds, fifteen ounces. It had a fourteen and one-fourth inch stock with twenty-six inch barrels; the barrels with fore-end weighed two pounds three ounces, the stock and frame, three pounds, twelve ounces. In balance it was a startling illustration of what a gun has no business to be. The true proportions of weight between barrels and fore-end compared with the frame and breech should be in the vicinity of four pounds for the former to three and a half to the latter. These might be varied a trifle without destroying balance, yet never to the extent of having stock and action out-weigh barrels and fore-end.

The things to be remembered in connection with the balance of a gun are: A muzzle heavy gun has a tendency to shoot low and behind; it is slower. The recoil is not felt to the same extent as with a muzzle-light gun; it hangs where it is fired and the second barrel can be placed more promptly. A gun light at the muzzle is quick and shoots high. The recoil throws up the muzzle like a heavily charged pistol making it slow to get on with the second barrel.

TRY-GUNS AND SHOOTING SCHOOLS

The try-gun is an American invention but has never been of much practical use in this country of long distances, where ninety-nine guns in the hundred are ordered by mail or bought ready made. It consists of an adjustable stock in which every measurement can be changed until the intending purchaser secures an exact fit on the lines of which the new gun is built.

The try-gun is shot at a shooting school, so-called, a range where an object is thrown at all speeds and angles across a background of painted boards or other material which indicates accurately where every load is placed. When the loads invariably go true to the line of aim the stock is pronounced a fit. In the nature of things these shooting schools where one practically shoots with visible shot are of even more benefit in teaching the tyro to hold and shoot than in giving him measurements for a new gun. As a matter of fact, the schools are used principally to teach wing-shooting, but that phase is outside the province of this chapter.