LOP Length of Pull

[wilded]

I keep hearing people say that rifle is 1/2 inch to long or to short length of pull. Or the measurement from the trigger finger to the bend of the elbow is your length of pull. That measurement is simply that, a measurement. I am a NSCA shot gunning instructor and fit shotguns to my students. You can only fit someone that has a consistent mount and grip or each time they pick up a gun it is different.

Take a 14 inch LOP southern mountain rifle for instance. Grip the rifle and put it to your shoulder. Notice how the length of pull fits. Now dismount the rifle and move your forward hand farther out the stock and mount the rifle and notice how the LOP is longer. Now grip the rifle normal again and mount, notice how it fits. Move the forward hand back two inches and re-mount the rifle and notice how the LOP seems to be much shorter. All controlled by where you grip the rifle with the forward hand. You should be able to adjust your grip for changes in rifle stock length and also for the time of year and the amount of clothing you are wearing. It only takes a couple of 20 minute practice mounting sessions to adjust to the new grip and LOP for the gun or season. :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

True, many prefer a "most comfortable/natural" LOP thus the desire to have a specific length, when I put my fusil to thre shoulder with eyes closed then open my eyes all is as it should be with cheek, hands in "best" position and eye is lined up with front sight with correct amount of barrel showing for correct POI for load that has been worked up. most can shoot a wide range of LOP( look at the number of factory guns around) some prefer it to be fine tuned so all falls into place, this is just how I do it and I think quite a few others as well.

 

[wilded]

TG I agree with you 100% but being a stout fella I find my perfect lop changes. In Texas right now we are in tee shirts and in deer season when the blue northers blow in we will be wearing lots of clothes,my Vincent don't seem to fit the same at those times. As I go up and down in weight I find that even that will change gun fit so it is always nice to know how to adjust.
Good Shooting, Wild Ed

 

[jmforge]

Now here is a good newbie question. When you measure length of pull, where do you measure it to? With a gun a relatively flat butt, like a jaeger or English sporting rifle, i wouldn't think it would matter that mcuh, but with a gun that has a pretty radical crescent shaped butt, like a hawken or some of the later longrifles, where do you measure to? One reason that I ask is I was wondering if you could "flatten" the butt on something like a GPR kit without shortening the LOP up too much? Call me too modern, but I am just not a big fan of crescent butts.

 

[wilded]

On a flat stock it is simple but on a radical crescent or curved butt I would measure the shortest measurement or the center of the stock butt. Others may do it differently.