Stock Options

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2001 by Dave Anderson

Since the 1960s, the trend has been towards straighter stocks and away from Monte Carlo designs. For example, a pre-'64 Winchester 70 Featherweight has drop at comb of 3/4", at Monte Carlo of 1", and drop at heel of 1 3/4". The current Featherweight has drop at comb of 9/16", no Monte Carlo, and drop at heel of 7/8". The Remington Mountain Rifle stock is even straighter with drop at both comb and heel of 3/8".

A straight stock recoils straight back, with little or no muzzle rise. The straightest stocks are not on sporting rifles at all, hut on military rifles such as the Ml6. In this design the heel of the buttstock is actually higher than the bore. Combined with an effective muzzle brake, recoil is straight back, allowing the shooter to stay on target even when firing on fall automatic.

The trade-off is that a straight stock delivers more recoil force to the shooter's shoulder, rather than letting the recoil energy lift the muzzle of the gun. Most shooters don't mind a drop at heel of 1 1/2", even 2" or so. They would rather have a bit of muzzle jump than have all the recoil come straight hack and bop them over the eye with the scope.