I am stocking a rifle for my niece and looking for a rough idea of a good LOP for her. She is pretty average sized, so factory rifle stock measurements for women ought to be a good benchmark. (5'6" or 5'7" ish and "normal" proportions as far as arm length, shoulder width, etc.)

I don't have a fit stock, and she doesn't live close enough for her to come by for a bunch of trial and error fitting. She has been hunting with a borrowed "man-rifle", and said mine at 13.5" felt good, but I don't think she knows what the right size should feel like.

Also, since milsurp Mausers are almost a full inch shorter than that I think there is a fair amount of room to chop excess and not be too short...

Thoughts or recommendations?

13-13 1/2 should be a good start. Remember that women generally have longer necks than men, so a higher comb may be necessary to maintain a good cheek weld and bring their eye level with the scope or sights.

Thanks Bobster. The semi-inlet has a pretty high roll-over cheekpiece, (which I would rasp off for me...) but she liked the aesthetics of it, and good to know it might help improve the fit too.

Ya, I'd leave it high for you which should be about right for her.
My wife is the same height as her and has been using 13.5' LOP rifles without issues but I feel like a 13-13.25' might be a bit better.
Double check the eye relief so she doesn't get scope bite or top long so she has to crane for full field of vision.

Zeke

i'd like go 12.75, and adjust final with the pad

Pay attention to pitch when she shoulders rifle as well.

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
I am stocking a rifle for my niece and looking for a rough idea of a good LOP for her. She is pretty average sized, so factory rifle stock measurements for women ought to be a good benchmark. (5'6" or 5'7" ish and "normal" proportions as far as arm length, shoulder width, etc.)

I don't have a fit stock, and she doesn't live close enough for her to come by for a bunch of trial and error fitting. She has been hunting with a borrowed "man-rifle", and said mine at 13.5" felt good, but I don't think she knows what the right size should feel like.

Also, since milsurp Mausers are almost a full inch shorter than that I think there is a fair amount of room to chop excess and not be too short...

Thoughts or recommendations?

You can come by and use my try stock if you wish..LOP, is imporrtant of course, but cast, drop and pitch . along with LOP is what makes a stock fit

My wife is 5'5'' and she does best with a 11.5 inch LOP for her deer rifle. Keeping in mind that her clothing equates to a little over an inch that puts her at 12.5 LOP with a t-shirt

Heavy T-shirt, where do you get them. Winter's coming.

Somehow in my mind that last sentence made sense, lol. What I meant was that with a t-shirt her LOP is 12.5 but I had to shorten it an inch to accomodate for clothing. But This is also Wisconsin so a t-shirt is appropriate attire for any weather. We only move up to something thicker when we get frostbite on our nipples.

Key things are height of comb, length of pull, pitch and toe out of stock (to accommodate the breast) and circumference of the grip.

What I would do is get her to visit and make up a stock with bits of padding etc to get the shape right. You could even send her an a cheap take off plastic stock with some stick back foam sheet or similar and ask to make it comfortable. Zoom is your friend here and you could do it together over Zoom video so you can see what is going on. This video and links to website may give some useful information and ideas. https://youtu.be/-lgkX-iFHyE

What I would also do is to do all the inletting etc, and then do a bit of rough shaping, but then arrange a visit and do the rough shaping with her. Here you will get on top of the key dimensions. A fitting, a few strokes of the rasp, and then test again. Block out a day and get it with say 1/4” of final dimensions. But remember once it is off it can’t go back on.

Thanks for the offer to use your try stock Duane, that is very generous of you! She's in Ellensburg, but I will mention your offer and see if she is interested. It would be a good excuse to drop by and say hello again.

And thanks Heym SR20 for the Zoom suggestion. In fact, that has me thinking about using an old beater milsurp stock and glassing in some threaded rods to make an adjustable fit stock of my own. Hmmm...

When I made the stock for my wife's rifle, she fit a 12" LOP and we went with 11.75" to allow for a winter coat. Even though she hates hunting in the cold.

A big thing for her was toe out to get it to fit well. She's 5' 4" with a slender build, but not overly long neck. If memory serves, we ended up with .75" drop, 1/4" cast off, and 1/4" toe out. Pitch, I don't remember exactly, but it seems like we went with 3/16" down (I don't think my terminology is correct here). Toe out was the thing that she noticed the most when we fit her with my really hokey home made try stock.

Jeremy

Well, unfortunately I have no real opportunity to adjust the cast off or toe out. I'm working from a semi-inlet that was cut straight. (unless I steam and bend it...)

But as I said it has a pretty high rollover comb, and if I can get that and the LOP right I hope it will be a good fitting first rifle stock for her. We can dial in the other variables on the next one!

I gotta ask, is there a good average woman? They seem to come in all different sizes and desirability

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
When I made the stock for my wife's rifle, she fit a 12" LOP and we went with 11.75" to allow for a winter coat. Even though she hates hunting in the cold.

A big thing for her was toe out to get it to fit well. She's 5' 4" with a slender build, but not overly long neck. If memory serves, we ended up with .75" drop, 1/4" cast off, and 1/4" toe out. Pitch, I don't remember exactly, but it seems like we went with 3/16" down (I don't think my terminology is correct here). Toe out was the thing that she noticed the most when we fit her with my really hokey home made try stock.

Jeremy

Sounds like you thouht it over well. Doesn't take much imagination to see why a woman needs a fair amount of cast

I have always found most people adjust easier to a shorter LOP easier than a long one.

I think the average is 12.5", most of the ladies I know and the girls in my family have gone with 12.5.

and you couldn't go wrong to cut the stock to 12 then you could use a 1/2, 3/4, or 1 inch pad for the final fit..

Just as a thought, you might want to delve into the Syren line of shotguns and how they are spec’d for women. Some of that may translate into a rifle stock.

...just remember, women are individuals just like everyone else. Upper body strength, flexibility, and shooting experience all factor in. And not all women have long necks.

Plus 1 on Atkinson's suggestion above, re: different thickness recoil pads.

Just for the heck of it I measured my little Winchester Model 70 Classic Compact with the short action in .308. The factory length of pull to the end of the buttstock is 12 3/4, and to tend of the recoil pad is 13 1/4.