shortening a shotgun stock

[twin9553]

I posted this under the shotgun forum also.  Not sure where it should go.

A buddy of mine wants me to shorten the stock on a .410 for his boy.  Personally I don't think a .410 is the gun for a kid but it is his kid.  Anyway he wants me to shorten it and put dowels in the cutoff piece so it can be reattached in the future to fit him when he grows up.  I have a plan figured out to do this and to add a spacer to take up the width of the saw cut.  What I need is a way to figure how much to cut off the stock without having the kid come to my house.  Is there some sort of measurement that can be taken to figure out the length of pull he would need?

[Phoneman]

easy way is to bend arm at a right angle and measure from inside joint to farthest knuckle of trigger finger. That will get you pretty close. Might want to cut stock with a band saw if possible. thin blade will make refitting easier. A metal cutting band saw would give a straighter cut than a stand up saw.

[gunnut69]

Ive not found that saw cuts are smooth enough and straight enough to properly fit a pad. I would simply cut the stock and git the pad, retaining the cut off piece for later use. Then when it was needed dowel and glue the piece back on and refiniish.. Remember also that adjustments can be made by using differing thicknesses of recoil pads..  As to the 410 being enough gun I must differ. I began with a 410 and dad's justification was that its harder to injure a neighbors cow than it is with a 22. We were made to hunt alone or with an adult..who watched us close. The 410 doesn't do well at any distance but squirrels and even guail were taken regularly. The best shot I ever new normally shot the 410. On the one occasion he used a 12(for his ammo) he took his six bird limit with 4 shots..

[twin9553]

Ive not found that saw cuts are smooth enough and straight enough to properly fit a pad. I would simply cut the stock and git the pad, retaining the cut off piece for later use. Then when it was needed dowel and glue the piece back on and refiniish.. Remember also that adjustments can be made by using differing thicknesses of recoil pads..  As to the 410 being enough gun I must differ. I began with a 410 and dad's justification was that its harder to injure a neighbors cow than it is with a 22. We were made to hunt alone or with an adult..who watched us close. The 410 doesn't do well at any distance but squirrels and even guail were taken regularly. The best shot I ever new normally shot the 410. On the one occasion he used a 12(for his ammo) he took his six bird limit with 4 shots..

I didn't say it wasn't enough gun, I said I didn't think it was the right choice for a kid.  I think of the .410 more of an experts gun not a beginner's gun.  I too started with a .410 and ended up pretty disgusted along the way.  When I got a 20 ga and later a 16 gauge I started doing better and bringing home more game.  I was just too young and inexperienced to know the limitations of the smaller .410.  Now I use one because it is more of a challenge and really quite enjoyable to shoot, except in my 10" contender which is a handfull with 3" rounds.  Also I am not concerned with the cut, I can always straighten it up on the belt/disc sander if it is not straight, but I have a custom built miter box I use and generally get a pretty good cut.  Usually the owner will tell me what length he wants the pull to be and I shorten accordingly.  This time I just needed something simple to tell the owner so he could get the proper length of pull without travelling quite a distance just to be measured (I don't think he has the boy full time from what I could gather).  Phoneman's tip was what I needed and I should have remembered this but was suffering from brainfade.

[victorcharlie]

I too started with a .410.....and I too was disappointed.......

My decision was to start my son on a .20 guage....he killed just as many rabbits as I did shooting a 12 guage auto loader, but he used far fewer shells......

I will agree that just cutting the stock and keeping the extra is a good idea.......

[Airsporter]

Consider that the shorter you go, the smaller the butt plate area because of the stocks taper.  I wouldn't go below 12 1/2" length of pull (trigger to butt plate).

[gunnut69]

Perhaps the problem is in translation.. I started with the 410 but on squirrels. It works very well indeed. I eventually moved on to rabbits and even quail though that was beyond my 7 year old skill.. These little shotguns were full choked and the largest problem with killing with them wasn't range, it was the full chokes!! I admit to starting my kids off with a 22 rimfire..but they pretty have ignored the shotgun totally..my fault. Still the 410 is a useful little cuss and I find myself working on more af them as my friends age and eyesight wanes. They work well in the squirrels woods, and while my favorite is still a rifle the littles shotgun will make the shooting a lot easier...The only real help as to pull length is that the shooters elbow should form a right angle(apprx) with the gun shouldered and the trigger hand in place. Also the thumb should remain at least a couple of fingers bredth away from the nose.. This is of course only a rough guideline and changes as clothing and angle of aim alters.. Good luck...