Ask the Instructor: Proper Gunfitting & Square Pegs

Q: I have a Winchester Model 12 I recently purchased. It has a Monte Carlo stock on it.Beautiful firearm, patterns great, cycles easy, but I just cannot mount it. I am looking toeither have the comb trimmed down or a new one made and was wondering what the bestcourse of action in your opinion would be

A: The short answer is, you need to see a knowledgeable gunfitter.

If your gun “patterns great,” the last thing you want to do is lower the comb by shaving it down. This will change the point of impact (POI) - the relationship between the center of the shot pattern and the point of your visual focus - and likely your ability to see the target over the rib.

Many in our sport falsely believe that a Monte Carlo stock is a “raised comb.” It is instead a lowered heel, i.e., a lowered butt. The purpose of a Monte Carlo is not to raise the shooter’s eye relative to the rib; it is to change how the surface of the butt pad contacts the shoulder. Even distribution of the butt pad against the shoulder reduces felt recoil and improves consistency.

Your issue is almost certainly not the Monte Carlo design itself, but how the geometry of your gunstock fits your mount and physical structure. When a shooter says, “I can’t mount the gun,” what he is really describing is a mismatch between the body and the shape of the stock.

It is also possible that, once mounted, you are not seeing what you think you should see. Visually aligning yourself to the shotgun is “aiming.” If you feel the need to manually align yourself with the shotgun, the issue is the overall fit of your stock.

Your pattern plate results may not be a reliable diagnostic indicator due to the tendency to aim when shooting at a stationary object.

The specific characteristics of the stock that make it feel off are impossible to determine without a face-to-face gunfitting. Before you take a belt sander to that stock—or worse, shop for a new gun with the blind hope that a new gun will resolve your dilemma—I strongly encourage you to visit a qualified and experienced gunfitter.

If you are in need of a proper gunfitting, please contact me.

Master Target Shooting Instructor Don Currie - Explained by Master Target Shooting Instructor Don Currie - Ask the Instructor Proper Gunfitting & Square Pegs