Auto loading shotgun questions...

[iowamatt54]

Hey everyone, been researching auto loaders and am seriously looking at the winchester sx3 but I am worried about the length of pull being to short for me. I'm 6'3" and have pretty long arms. I know pretty much nothing about fitting a shotgun for myself the LOP is 14 1/4 for the sx3. Should I be looking at a different gun or is there something I can do to fix the length of pull. Furthermore, does anyone know what LOP should be for some one my height? I've read several different answers on the internet and I don't know which is right if any. Any info would help tons, thanks.

[JeffB]

If your nose is almost touching your knuckle on your thumb your length of pull is to short. If your just wearing a t-shirt when fitting your gun there still should be at least 1.25 between your nose and knuckle. A guy at the range told me between 1.5 and 3 fingers should fit between your nose and knuckle and that if you add .25 inches to the butt pad it would change your length between knuckle and nose by a full inch. Pick up a lot of guns and pull them to shooting position quickly and see how the sight plain looks. If the gun fits well you should see right down the sight plain and the front and rear bb should be perfectly lined up on target when raising the gun quickly into position. You also don't want to be seeing the top of the vent rib just the sights. If you pull your gun up and see the top of the vent rib instead of looking strait at the bb's you will be shooting high. To solve this some guns come with shims to adjust the comb(drop of the stock) also some offer a slightly raised vent rib. I'm no expert so anyone that is can chime in to give a little more help.

[PurpleFloyd]

I have a Beretta Extrema2 that has a pretty good assortment of shims to fit nearly everyone. I have had the gun for probably 8-9 years and it has performed flawlessly. That being said, I bought my son a CZ 712 ALS a few years ago thinking it would be a great gun for him to grow into since he could change LOP with the click of a button. However, the gun was not reliable at all so last fall I bought him an SX3 and IMO it is a very, very good gun. It has spacers to fit LOP as well, although maybe not as many as the Beretta. We liked the gun so much I bought one for my daughter as well as she started to deer hunt and they are both going to be on the new High School trap team this spring. I wanted a soft shooting, reliable gun that was affordable and it fit the bill. I don;t think you need to look at any other gun.

LOP will have more to do with your arm length than your height.

[JeffB]

Most of the guns come with shims for adjusting the comb, but the length of pull would still be adjusted at the but plate either cutting the stock or adding a larger butt pad or spacer. Some guns even include or sell shims for cast off. I haven't had to adjust the cast off on my guns but the comb has been a different story for me. Many people just live with the fit of their gun even though it can be made to fit very easily. If the gun fits well you should be able to raise it up quickly to shoot with your eyes closed and when you open your eyes you will be looking strait down the vent rib with just the bb in sight and the bb should be should line up perfectly with the center of the rear portion of the vent rib. If you don't see the whole front sight and the back of the vent rib tends to block you view of the front sight then raise the comb. If you see the whole front sight and the top of the vent rib then lower the comb. Adjusting the cast is simple too just shim the gun so your looking straight down the vent rib side to side. Its a little pain in the but fine tuning, but fun and pays in the end. You'll shoot quicker because your not searching to center everything.

[PurpleFloyd]

The only time you need to cut a stock is if you have a pretty short LOP and then it is probably easier to start with a youth stock and add shims IME. Otherwise with the modern S/A shotguns they are usually well equipped to customize the LOP to suit your needs. With the SX3 you can also make the other adjustments you referred to:

[Gordie]

LOP is just a good starting point to get fitted many other factors come into play when fitting a shotgun to a person.

You can stop at a good gunsmith and he or she could fit the gun to you.

[crothmeier]

I'm 6'1" and shoot the SX3 right out of the box. I didn't put any shims in and it fits me pretty well.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

If you havent already, get to the store and get every gun your considering in your hands. Pull them up,see how they feel. There are tons of good non-bias reviews online that do a pretty good job of revealing the pro's, con's and tendancies of just about every auto-loader on the market. I too was in your position last year and went through about 5 different guns and finally settled on the one that "just felt right" in my hands. You may have to fine tune it afterwards but if your case is like mine was, there will be one irregardless of brand that just feels and fits better and that should be the one you go with. If your not comfortable and there is something sticking out about it, then it's on your mind every time you pull it up and your shooting will suffer. Good luck!! Nothing feels better than walking out of the store with a new gun!

[SmilinBob]

Fitting is a lot more than just LOP, in gunsmithing school we spent a lot of time talking and doing fittings on each other, it was one of the instructors passions. I also do a lot of fittings as a smith, and can attest first hand how much difference it makes, I went from shooting high teens, to a 23 on the first round after fitting my gun. I recently became a NRA shotgun coach and was impressed by the level of emphasis placed on fitting and how much we talked and covered it there too, even after doing if as long as I have I learned more and one of the things I am becoming known for in my business is in fitting. It's also not as expensive as many think, and the return on investment is exponential.