Length of Pull

S

Sphawley

New member
How can you truly measure you LOP (length) of pull? Is there a way to measure this?

Is there an actual way to measure for a shotgun's to fit you??

I've heard on many tricks and such like closing your eyes and pointing your gun to the corner but is there a true test? Or a way to actually measure body length and size in comparison to a shotgun?

Just curious, I know MY guns fit me...but was just browsing over the idea.
 
general rule of thumb, but everyones body is different and depends on how much clothes you will have on, example, summer time trap shooting with a vest on or duck and goose hunting in Dec in WI. bend your arm at your elbow and put the but of the stock against your bicep, put your trigger finger on the trigger in a shooting position, if it feels right that is about your length of pull. I like a longer length of pull for my trap gun and higher recoiling rifles. Shorter for my bird shotgun for easier/faster mounting. it also depends on your neck length, if you are a stock creeper, or just lay your cheek on the stock, if it is a rifle where you have your scope mounted, most bench rest shooters like a bit longer length because they do not have to fast mount the gun and can get there face forward more.
Bob
 
Fit

Oswald's book is fairly well-known.
Proper fit is certainly a subject for book length discussions.
A proper fit of a SG involves measuring and then adjusting, if necessary, five different parameters or aspects of the stock. LOP is just one of them. The others are: Drop at comb, drop at heel, cast, and pitch.
These measurements are taken by means of a contraption called a "Try Gun". It is a shotgun with a stock that is adjustable in about a bazillion ways - for each of the five aspects.
Its use requires someone who REALLY knows what he is doing.
You go to a range. There is a steel plate painted white and mounted 16 yards away from a shooting point. You are handed the try gun. It is loaded and then you are instructed to look at the target, mount the SG, and shoot at the target. The idea is to get the gun to shoot where you are looking. The bead is not used.
The fitter looks at the point of impact and adjusts the stock on the try gun. They repaint the target. You shoot again.
You do this repeatedly until the pattern is centered. Then the figures are recorded.
Like all such explanations, this one is an oversimplification.
The simplest way to measure LOP and get pretty close is to take a measuring tape and measure from the crook of your arm, along the forearm to the center of your trigger finger. Done this way, I get a LOP of 15 1/4". The Try Gun put me at 15 3/4". Pretty close....depending on, as was noted in the earlier post, what you are wearing.
Pete
 
You know I mean no disrespect. I hate LOP and everything about it. I am short - only 5-8" and for my proportion I have even shorter arms ( my OIC of Army ROTC Major Williams used to repeatedly make me do pushups over over over again because my arms are short and don't " lock out " properly. Once I did like 500 pushups to do the 100 I had to do. He was a Rick head with a D like that ).

Anyway I have a Mossberg 930 SPX. AND I replaced the pad stock pad with a LimbSaver recoil pad. Never once even thought about Lop and could care less - you just pick up the thin and shoulder it and shoot it.

My ARs need to have pinned stocks - CANNOT have any form of adjusting folding moving bamboozling nothing. So I have my 5.56 AR pinned one spot from fully closed and my 15-22 AR is glued fully closed - those give me short LOPs and short weapons perfect for CQB. I have no idea what their LOPs are nor could I care- shoulder them and if they work they work if not try bigger or smaller.

Hope the doesn't sound loke a condescending jerk cause that's not how I meant.
 
LOP

Never once even thought about Lop and could care less - you just pick up the thin and shoulder it and shoot it.
Click to expand...

TaK: That's probably true for most people who buy and use shotguns. Our ability to adapt to guns that don't "fit" us is pretty wonderful if you think about it.
I found that I could shoot my Trap gun - a new Browning BT-99 - pretty well just as it came from the box. I shot it that way regularly for some months. Then I measured it and found that, technically, it was more than an inch short. I added the difference with a spacer and a recoil pad. The difference was immediately noticeable. I shot/shoot the gun better. Not just wishful thinking, my scores went up an average of two birds. One could argue that the scores went up because I had just gotten better over time - and maybe so - but the change in average was definitely concurrent with the change in LOP.
I have an old Parker that mounts really well - it always has. But...I had trouble hitting live birds with it. Then I measured the stock - despite it's comfort, it was nearly two inches too short. I added the two inches. I started hitting birds.
Pete
 
How can you truly measure you LOP (length) of pull? Is there a way to measure this?

Is there an actual way to measure for a shotgun's to fit you??
Click to expand...

Yes there is - it's called visiting a fitter with a "try gun" that is completely adjustable in every aspect.

There is more to fit than LOP - thickness of the comb, drop at heel, drop at comb, pitch, toe in or out, cast on or off, etc.

Properly fitted, the felt recoil, AKA "kick" will be reduced substantially
 
darkgael knows what he is talking about. I am still struggling with things like proper mount, pointing, and fit and am not the person to tell others how to do it. A general guideline that some use is the distance between the second knuckle of your thumb and the bridge of your nose. Some say it should be 1" and more say 1-1/2".

I am also a shorter guy (5'8") with slightly short arms for my size. My 870 has a LOP of just under 14". If I stand too erect, I have a good 2-1/2" between nose and thumb. If I place a bit more weight on my lead foot and lean forward, it is less. If I then remove the pad, which reduces the LOP to 13", and take the forward leaning stance the nose/thumb distance is aboout right; perhaps too short. I can't tell myself and have to get someone at the range, preferably an instrutctor, to check it. BTW, while my arms may be slightly short, my neck is long, and I am overweight. Were I to drop a bunch of weigth, I suspect that an LOP of about 13-1/2" may be about right for me depending on what I wear.

Your LOP will change depending on whether you are wearing a thin T shirt or if you are bundled up in heavy winter clothes.
 
My ARs need to have pinned stocks - CANNOT have any form of adjusting folding moving bamboozling nothing.​
Your preference or jurisdictional requirement?
 
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