OK Guys,
I'm after advice on the best way to shorten a stock to suite my forearm length. I have a rifle that was custom made for someone else who must have been a lot taller than me. I find I am really searching and stretching my neck to get teh eye relief required to site in a target.

How can I shorten the stock so as to neatly cut teh timber and how can I determine the right butt plate for teh eventual size. Is there an article on the web.

Thanks guys

I use a band saw with a fine blade. I use a belt/disc sander to sand the new recoil pad to the shape of the stock.

If you havn't done this before I suggest you take it to a gunsmith that has the tools and equipment to do the job.

This is a job that looks pretty easy, but can lead to devaluing a nice gun if done improperly.

Seems like either Rifle or Handloader magazine had an article on installing recoil pads not long ago. Perhaps you can google Wolfe Publishing and get a link to the article.

Measure the distance from your curled trigger finger to the crook of your bent shooting arm at the inside of the elbow. That will tell you the length of pull for you. The normal is somewhere around 13 3/4".

Faucettb's advice about having a competent stockmaker do this is very sound advice. It's pretty easy to mess up cutting a stock and installing a recoil pad if you don't know what you're doing.

If you do decide to do it yourself, be sure to use masking tape to tape off the area where the cut will be made. This serves to keep from chipping out the wood in the cut area. As stated, use as fine toothed blade on a band saw as you can get. Don't hurry the cut. The cut line should be at right angles to the comb of the stock. Be sure the butt of the stock is completely flat and that it mates perfectly to the spacer plate of the recoil pad. Follow instructions provided with the pad for proper mounting.

Good luck.