What LOP is "standard" Adult LOP?

U

Unlicensed Dremel

Moderator
Is it 13.75" or just unsettled / there is no "standard"?

What range would you say constitutes:

-Youth / Kid's
-Mid / Teen / Woman / Bantam
-Adult male

??

How about: 12.25" and under is Kid's; 12.5" to 13.25" is Mid/Teen/Woman, and 13.5" and up is Adult? Or how would you tweak that to make it as accurate as possible, if you had to use exactly 3 categories?

Thanks.
 
there really is no standard but 13.75 is very short, many commbloc rifles like the SKS have 13.75 LOP and are considered by many to be way too short. 14.50 is probably more in the range of normal, 15 a little on the long side.
 
there really is no standard but 13.75 is very short, many commbloc rifles like the SKS have 13.75 LOP and are considered by many to be way too short
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Remember that effective LOP is affected by the clothing you wear when shooting. When wearing bulky winter clothing, having a short LOP is good. I think that is the reason that communist block weapons tended to have a shorter stock length.
 
As far as standard bolt action hunting rifles, it seems like just about all the manufacturers list LOP in their specs, and they say 13.5 to 13.875.
To me, 13" is short and 14" is long.
 
If ordering a McMillan custom stock they'll make it most any length you want, but they list 13.5" as standard. Ruger and Winchester list 13.75" as standard with 12.5" on youth stocks.

Somewhere around 13.5" works best for me.

You'd have to have gorilla arms to shoot anything longr than 14"
 
"Standard" varies by manufacturer, country, and stock style.

Generally, adult LOP is 13" to 14" in the United States.
Sometimes, 'womens' stocks might be 1/2" shorter.
Youth stocks are generally 11.75"-12.5".

I, personally, am just under 6' tall and have long arms. For the typical "American style" shotgun or rifle stock, my ideal length of pull is about 14.4".


That being said....
It's difficult to try to lump LOP into set categories, because it is influenced by many factors.

For example, my M38 Mosin currently has a 13.5" LOP. It feels just a little short, but is usable. On the other hand, my Rossi 62SAC has a 13.5" LOP, feels like a tiny little kids toy, and is sometimes difficult for me to get comfortable with.
The differences that cause that? (In this case.)
Grip angle / style.
And... believe it or not, position of the support hand.

For a lot of people, a straight stock (non-pistol grip) makes the LOP feel shorter. And the closer you get to a vertical grip, the longer it makes the LOP feel.

And, that ties in with the support hand problem. The farther out you grip a long gun with your support hand, the more the rifle tends to cross over your body. And, as such, the longer the LOP needs to be to compensate for your strong arm following the rifle.


Then you can take into account drop at comb, drop at heel, butt angle, sight heights, etc.... and get completely lost.

The best way to figure out what LOP works for a person, is to have them hold the long gun with their support hand where they want it, and then slowly build up the length of a short stock until the length feels right.

And if you're trying to figure out the LOP of stocks sold by a company... just call them.
 
Bend your trigger arm with the palm up to a 90 degree angle, put a yardstick against your lower arm with its end against your upper arm. Where your naturally extended finger pad is on the yardstick, the measurement between that point back to an inch less is your LOP range for most shoulder rifles with warm weather clothes on.
 
Most military and older commercial rifles have an LOP of right around 13". The only one I can think of thats shorter, is the SKS.

It seems since rifles became more scope oriented, and apparently, the American shooter, recoil sensitive, the LOP's have grown with addition of recoil pads, and stocks set up for a higher sight arrangement.

I myself grew up shooting military rifles, and older commercial bolt and lever guns, and still prefer the checkered steel butt plates and 13" LOP's, and have found that if you remove the recoil pads from most of the current commercial offerings, you will have pretty close to a 13" LOP. At least thats what Ive been getting on all the guns Ive replaced them with butt plates, which is pretty much all of them. The only downside these days is, most makers dont offer a butt plate, and you usually have to get a generic one from Brownells, and fit them yourself.
 
LOP is determined by your size, not your age or sex. Ruger started labeling their short LOP rifles as "compact" to quit insulting us old short people.:D

IMO, LOP really does matter and the Bart's reiteration of the standard practice lead to several shortened stocks over the years. Makes a significant difference to have a tool fit you. Now a days they call it ergonomics.
 
LOP is determined by your size, not your age or sex
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Right, but I'm just asking what is considered to be the general "industry standard" if there is one. A standard must of necessity just lump things together and make generalizations.

But fine, if you'd rather, what are the standards for (a) adult, (b) COMPACT (teen/woman/bantam/us short dudes), and (c) Youth / Kid? :)
 
I'm a six-footer with longish arms, but the pull length I like best for all-around, year-round shooting is 13 inches to 13 1/4". I can shoot one at 13 1/2" without a jacket on, but it tends to catch on my light jacket.

My .243, Rem 700 has been my best offhand shooting rifle, winning me lots of turkey shoots, etc. and it has the 13" pull, as does my custom 581 (thumbhole) that is my favorite offhand gallery rifle.

The newest rifle, the 700 LV has a 13 1/4" pull and it's very good for me also.
 
FrankenMauser gave good estimation of "standard". There may be some officious exacting standard/definition, but am doubtful.
 
It seems to me that the vast majority of modern rifles have a LOP of between 13 1/4 and 13 3/4.

Seems like there's basically 3 categories. 12.5 or so is compact/youth/woman's. 13.25-.75 is average, anything more is just plain rare.

I find that odd because folks who'd like more aren't that rare but the guns sure seem to be. I'd love to see 14-14.5 on my guns but none are.

There's far more variance in people than there are in guns.

As an example using archery (cause I've never actually measured on a gun), I'm just shy of 6' 1", my draw length is a very average 28.5". My dad is just shy of 5' 11" and his draw length is.... 31". Almost all bows can be had between 27.5-31". Very few guns have any real choices within a given model and even between models there's rarely over 1/2" difference. Very odd.
 
Years ago it was 13 1/2 and now it is 13 3/4. Americans have gotten bigger (taller and longer limbed) over the course of 50 years. The rule of thumb is to fit the gun to the customer. For a factory gun, this may require adding/changing the buttpad or adding a spacer to make it the right length for a customer. Remember too that in colder weather where thicker clothing is worn that the length of pull must be shorter. T-shirt weather the length of pull is longer.
 
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