I bought an aftermarket stock for my Rem 700, and like most standard stocks, the LOP is 13.5". Due to some apparent ape heritage in my family, I need a 14" LOP. Since this isn't a Rem stock I can't use regular spacers, so what type of material do you guys use? Wood? Plastic? Foam? Obviously it needs to be something that's easily formable.
Increasing length-of-pull on Rem 700
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USAF_Vet
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you could just go and buy a thicker limbsaver recoil pad. 1/2 inch is much to make up for. Otherwise, I'd cut a 1/2 inch thick sheet of ply wood and mount that under the existing recoil pad. 1/2" Lexan or any other rigid material would work as well.
Art Eatman
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I bought a little belt-sander from Harbor Freight which works well on shaping butt pads or inserts. Tape the stock to protect it, and sand to shape as appropriate.
dubbleA
Member
You can purchase buttstock spacers that come in various thickness's like these http://www.100straight.com/products/index.htm or if your handy with tools you could make them yourself. Grinding them to fit will most likely be needed. You didnt not mention whether the stock was plastic or wood but in any case something black would probably look the best.
I have used manufactured ones and I have also made them myself out of lexan and Duracoated them black.
Here's a comb riser I made for my Sako.
I have used manufactured ones and I have also made them myself out of lexan and Duracoated them black.
Here's a comb riser I made for my Sako.
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Thanks for the input. The stock is laminated wood, so yes, an appropriate piece of wood carefully shaped would certainly do fine, and look nice. I'm handy with tools so that's not an issue. Right now the stock has a black Pachmayr pad on it, and to be honest, I was hoping to add material which would enhance the recoil absorbing ability instead of only serving as a spacer - killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. That's why I was hoping that there's some sort of firm foam that can be cut, ground, or sanded, which will also serve to absorb recoil.
dubbleA
Member
You could always just get a thicker pad. Try
looking at these, I see one that's 1 3/8"thick under " magnum "
http://www.kickeezproducts.com/grind-to-fit-recoil-pads.php
looking at these, I see one that's 1 3/8"thick under " magnum "
http://www.kickeezproducts.com/grind-to-fit-recoil-pads.php
NM Mountainman
Member
I have the same problem with stock fit. When mounting a Pach Decelarator pad on a Ruger 77 stock, I also mounted a 1/4" black spacer made by Pach. Since the Dec. pad was 1/4" thicker than the original Ruger pad, I increased the LOP by 1/2". But I still needed an additional .75" for an ideal fit.
But before I made any more changes to the stock, I decided to practice shooting with the stock as is. Every fall before hunting season, I engage in at least two or three rifle practice sessions using field positions (mainly sitting and standing.) To make these practice sessions as realistic as possible, I wear my normal cold weather hunting clothers: long underwear, fleece sweater, and down vest or insulated jacket. I then put on my small day pack (with unpadded shoulder straps which do not interfere with shouldering the stock.) With my fall weather hunting clothes on, the stock fit pretty well; and my practice shooting sessions went very well. Under those conditions, the LOP was just about perfect.
Then I remembered my custom stock maker friend from my teenage years, and I remembered what he told me about LOP. He said the classic fit test for LOP involved holding the stock and checking how well it fit into the crook of your elbow. He said that mainly tested the fit in relation to the length of your arms. He went on to explain that the length of the shooter's neck is more important than the length of his arms in determining LOP. He also said the shape (and fullness) of your face, your overall build (fatter or slimmer,) the thickness of your hunting clothes, your shooting style, and your shooting position(s) also had a great influence on the LOP needed.
His method for checking LOP before building a stock, was to have the shooter put on his hunting clothes, and go shooting with the stock maker who would bring several rifles with different styles and sizes of stocks. He discovered that many shooters need a different LOP than the LOP indicated by the crook-of-the-elbow test.
So it was for me. But my stock still felt too short for some positions in my normal clothes. Since the rear surface of my recoil pad was almost perfectly flat, I decided to just slip a Limb Saver slip-on pad on over the installed pad. Everyone told me it was a bad idea, but in my case it worked perfectly, especially for bench shooting with normal clothes. The extra recoil absorption was much appreciated, since my M77 was a .300 Win.
The system worked so well for me that I decided to use the slip on pad for normal shooting weather at the range. Then I remove the pad when I wear thicker clothes for hunting. (This also helps me shoulder the rifle more quickly while hunting.) The system also allows shorter family members and friends to shoot my rifle easily, and it won't be a specialized stock that won't fit most shooters in case I decide to sell the rifle or hand it down to a nephew.
To make the system work better, I sanded off a slight amount of the material near the toe of the permanently mounted pad to make a perfectly flat surface. This made the pad fit perfectly with the slip on pad.
I don't know what will or will not work for you. But I do recommend that you refrain from letting the crook-of-the-elbow test dominate your thinking about the LOP you need. Try the fit of your stock wearing different clothes while shooting in different shooting positions. Observe the clearance between your eye and the scope when you do this. Also observe the comb height to see if it needs adjustment. It's often the case that a long armed shooter also has a longer neck and requires a higher comb. Proper comb height is very important when using a scope sight.
It's possible that you may decide that you don't need to make any permanent changes to your stock, or you may decide that you need to make smaller or larger changes than you originally thought.
Good luck.
But before I made any more changes to the stock, I decided to practice shooting with the stock as is. Every fall before hunting season, I engage in at least two or three rifle practice sessions using field positions (mainly sitting and standing.) To make these practice sessions as realistic as possible, I wear my normal cold weather hunting clothers: long underwear, fleece sweater, and down vest or insulated jacket. I then put on my small day pack (with unpadded shoulder straps which do not interfere with shouldering the stock.) With my fall weather hunting clothes on, the stock fit pretty well; and my practice shooting sessions went very well. Under those conditions, the LOP was just about perfect.
Then I remembered my custom stock maker friend from my teenage years, and I remembered what he told me about LOP. He said the classic fit test for LOP involved holding the stock and checking how well it fit into the crook of your elbow. He said that mainly tested the fit in relation to the length of your arms. He went on to explain that the length of the shooter's neck is more important than the length of his arms in determining LOP. He also said the shape (and fullness) of your face, your overall build (fatter or slimmer,) the thickness of your hunting clothes, your shooting style, and your shooting position(s) also had a great influence on the LOP needed.
His method for checking LOP before building a stock, was to have the shooter put on his hunting clothes, and go shooting with the stock maker who would bring several rifles with different styles and sizes of stocks. He discovered that many shooters need a different LOP than the LOP indicated by the crook-of-the-elbow test.
So it was for me. But my stock still felt too short for some positions in my normal clothes. Since the rear surface of my recoil pad was almost perfectly flat, I decided to just slip a Limb Saver slip-on pad on over the installed pad. Everyone told me it was a bad idea, but in my case it worked perfectly, especially for bench shooting with normal clothes. The extra recoil absorption was much appreciated, since my M77 was a .300 Win.
The system worked so well for me that I decided to use the slip on pad for normal shooting weather at the range. Then I remove the pad when I wear thicker clothes for hunting. (This also helps me shoulder the rifle more quickly while hunting.) The system also allows shorter family members and friends to shoot my rifle easily, and it won't be a specialized stock that won't fit most shooters in case I decide to sell the rifle or hand it down to a nephew.
To make the system work better, I sanded off a slight amount of the material near the toe of the permanently mounted pad to make a perfectly flat surface. This made the pad fit perfectly with the slip on pad.
I don't know what will or will not work for you. But I do recommend that you refrain from letting the crook-of-the-elbow test dominate your thinking about the LOP you need. Try the fit of your stock wearing different clothes while shooting in different shooting positions. Observe the clearance between your eye and the scope when you do this. Also observe the comb height to see if it needs adjustment. It's often the case that a long armed shooter also has a longer neck and requires a higher comb. Proper comb height is very important when using a scope sight.
It's possible that you may decide that you don't need to make any permanent changes to your stock, or you may decide that you need to make smaller or larger changes than you originally thought.
Good luck.
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