Length of pull matters.

I want to start off by saying I have always been a decent shooter but my rifles have never truly fit me right. Due to an accident a year ago or so my body hasn't been the same. After two torn rotator cuffs and some lose of mobility none of my rifles fit me anymore besides my big bad black ones with collapsible stocks. I decided to cut down my savage 110e tonight by 3/4" to get my length of pull down to 13". I am 6' but my length of pull has been drastically reduced after the rotator cuff injuries. 13.75"-14.25" stocks I could always see through my optics just fine and wrap most of my hand around the grip... fast forward to today and I can bearly see through my scopes with them all the way back as far as the mounts and tubes will let me. I can bearly reach the trigger properly with my 13.75" stocks.

After cutting my stock down and then mounting my optics back on the egw rail this thing fits like a glove! I can see through the scope properly and comfortably. Once I add my regular hunting clothes on I imagine it's still going to be too long as my ideal length of pull is all the way down to 12.75" now.

I imagine a lot of people shoot their rifles as is and learn to live with them. After cutting my rifle down and getting a proper cheek rest pad so I get constant cheekweld this thing is amazing. I can finally understand why guys spend the time and money getting fitted for custom stocks now.

I've had bell and Carlson stocks, but none were cut for my length of pull and fit for my cheek weld. All I can say is wow!

I truly know what I have been missing.

My savage shoots 1/2 MOA before all the custom fitting, my ruger predator shoots 1/4 MOA so I never really worried about it. All I can say is its so much more natural now and it's hard not to be aligned properly the first time everytime.

Enough of my rant.... Just wanted to share if you haven't been fitted for proper eye relief and constant cheek weld, it's well worth the effort!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Big part of proper fundamentals starts with proper fit! I'm 6'5'' and run 14.75"-15" LOP so I fully understand where you're coming from. Picture is of my competition rig. 15" LOP with scope set far back. Just a bit of room left if I needed more, but this gets it done! With you short LOP you may start considering a Chassis down the road as well! Good luck and happy shooting!

Attachment 4535

I've read many times how important LOP is for shotgunning sports, but I've never read the same for Benchrest type shooting. I've always adjusted the scope to give proper eye relief. Am I doing it wrong? What are the fundamentals of fitting a stock for Benchrest, or Prone? Are there any comprehensive articles on the subject?

I have a shooting buddy/neighbor who is 6'7 but in a wheel chair, so it's possible we may need to make some changes to his stocks.

LOP is not a huge deal in bench rest or even F-Class in most cases because the rifles are set up on a rest and most of the time "free-recoil" is used. The should is not placed tight into the stock, but is behind it just to catch the rifle as it naturally recoils providing for less disturbance on the shot. For every other case I believe proper length of pull is very important accept in the case of maybe a lightweight rifle or carbine. But for anything precision related that's not shot from a rest the standard I've gone off is if you hold the pistol grip naturally with your arm at 90* the butt should make contact with your bicep. From that point you can decide if any further adjustment is needed. You'd be surprised sometimes how much a 1/4" can make a difference. for example 1/4" inch on my current stock keeps me from having to pull the rifle back into my shoulder after every shot taken in prone making for better shot spotting and faster follow ups.

Here are a couple quick videos to help assess what length of pull you should be around.

https://youtu.be/FTH4_rLo-Cg

https://youtu.be/RnANGZOrQi4

If you also Google 5 3/4" length of pull you will come up with some other methods relating to your nose and the trigger when cheeking in. I am a hunter mainly and when I hunt it is always cold here so I am always wearing at least 3 layers and that adds a lot of bulk which increases my length of pull even more. Due to my situation of hardly being able to see though my scope quickly when rifling when I added those layers it really caused a big fuss last hunting season. I was fighting to push my head and neck forward to see through the optics. It seems as though my clothing adds another inch when hunting to my LOP!! That's a huge difference.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

When bench shooting or shooting prone Length of Pull doesn't matter as much because you can fudge it easier to get closer to the scope. Hunters who are shouldering their rifle to shoot it really matters. I stalk through the woods and then shoulder quickly and shoot quickly, it matters just as much as a shotgun guy In my own personal opinion. I am going to swap out my ruger predators stock with a compact model stock from ruger to get where I like as well. I hunt during the cold months so I always have a good 1" of material on. If I was going to hunt in the summer the normal standard length of pull would be fine. So weather, clothing and the type of shooting you do does depend if its going to affect you as much or not.