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Hawken rifle. Lowering the comb?

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Rufus

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My hawkens all strike my cheek bone
When firing. would lowering the comb help?
I shoot left handed with right handed gun.
 
Place the rifle in your shooting position with both eyes closed, get comfortable as if you were aiming. Then open your eye and see if your sights are lined up with each other. It makes no difference if there’s a target in front of you, just the rifle and sights are inline with your view. This can help you see if your stance and manner of checking the rifle is natural. Then you can determine if the stock needs reshaped. Thinning the comb maybe the way you need to go or if lowering it will help. Perhaps just adjusting the way you hold the rifle can get the results for you.
 
When shouldered eyes closed natural posting front sight is half inch high move face back an inch brings it down but feels unnatural.
 
I hear complaints all the time about the comb on TC Hawkens. It is my opinion that the real culprit is that huge protruding cheekrest. I shoot my right-hand TC Hawken left handed and my eye lines up right in line with the sights & I don't have any cheek-slap problems. But if I put it up to my right shoulder I have to assume a totally unnatural/uncomfortable position to even see the sights.
 
I lowered a TC comb, actually two of them, in this picture I am about to start on the lower stock. I lowered, thinned and rounded the wrist and brought back into the butt stock a few inches.
stock comparison.JPG
 
Eric thanks for the pictures.nice work.
Did it eliminate the check slap?
With me it actually is checkbone slap Wich with me can cause flinching.
 
I"ve made the same modifications that Eric has shown on every T/C Hawken & Renegade that I've owned, I'm about to start another one next week. You'll find that if you lower the forward portion of the comb and Re-shape it, sloping it upward in a straight line to the rear and thin the cheekpiece, when you fire the rifle it slides baclward, away from your cheekbone. As the front portion is lower than the rear, there's nothing there to smack you! The gun recoils back and the comb rises slightly but not enough to hurt you. That's been my experience, anyway. It's time well spent, and as you'll need to re-finish the area you've worked on, just remove the hardware, strip the entire stock and have at it! The stock I'm re-working now is a pretty plain looking piece of walnut, I'm thinking I'm going to stain it a dark red, kinda' like mahogany, maybe. We'll see........
 
Sounds like a good idea centershot.
I think I'll try it . I have a secret formula for turning walnut almost coal black. If interested.
 
I did like Eric on a TC Hawkens I worked over. He was kind enough to share some photos and measurements with me. It helped a lot with check slap.
 
My hawkens all strike my cheek bone
When firing. would lowering the comb help?
I shoot left handed with right handed gun.
I know what you mean. I don’t have a problem with getting whacked in the face, but the comb seems a bit high to get a good sight picture. If I move my fact back toward the butt plate, it’s better. But I might strip the finish and contour it down.
 
I don’t have a pic of the check piece before I tore it down. But you can see the difference in the wrist and comb in the pics even if they are of oposite side. Than the finished gun. This was a kit gun that was finished very poorly before it came to me.
 

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