I'm just under 6', but I love rifles and shotguns with a short length of pull.
AK's and youth shotguns seem to shoulder so much faster and I get on target quicker.
I agree 110%. If you shoot anywhere but off a bench, short (they should really be called "correct") stocks are really the only way to go, but even more important on a hunting or combat type gun. They just handle so much better, and the shooters size really has nothing to do with it for the most part.
AK's arent "short" either by the way, most "combat" stocked long guns are in the 13" range, or slightly shorter. The M16A2 being one of the odd ones here.
I think a lot of the problem is, many of the gun makers now make their rifles for scopes and bench shooters, instead of iron sights and field shooters, and stock them accordingly. Most older iron sighted hunting rifles also have a shorter LOP than their newer versions. Also, a lot of people only hunt or shoot from a rest, and the longer stock is usually more comfortable to shoot with that way. They purely suck pretty much anywhere else.
Another problem is recoil pads. It seems we have become a nation of wusses and cry babies, and the gun companies have listened to all the whining. These days, its hard to find just a simple "factory" plastic butt plate, let alone a nice checkered steel one, rifle or shotgun. Unfortunately, all they did was add the recoil pad to the "correct" length stock, just making it longer. On the plus side, fitting a plate really isnt all that hard and Brownells has a bunch of blanks available.
