Stock Design: ASSAULT & BATTERY

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2001 by Dave Anderson

Cartridges get more powerful, rifles get lighter, and recoil increases. Recoil may be largely subjective, but it can still hurt. In his book Keith's Rifles for Large Game, Elmer Keith described the first time he fired an army qualification score with the 1903 Springfield: "I wound up with an expert rifleman's medal; a broken nose, from the safety; my upper lip cut almost through and swollen down over the lower lip, and my chin peeled by my finger nails."

Keith's Springfield was chambered for the standard .30-'06 cartridge. Imagine the effect of such a stock if the rifle was chambered for the .338 Win. Magnum.

The miserable recoil of the Springfield is usually attributed to its short (roughly 12.9") length of pull. Actually, a short length of pull can be quite useable if the other stock dimensions are right. What made the 1903 a bear to shoot was its low, narrow comb, considerable drop at heel and narrow, hard buttplate -- features left over from the early Kentucky and Pennsylvania flintlocks.

Excessive drop, at heel makes it difficult for the stock to support the shooter's face while aligning the sights. It causes the rifle to pivot around the shoulder during recoil, increasing muzzle jump and the blow to the shooter s cheek. Combine excessive heel drop with a small steel buttplate and Minimal length of pull and you have a weapon that's dangerous at both ends.