Shortening a synthetic stock?

[lokidog]

I'm thinking about buying my son a Savage Model 11, but even the "youth" stocks seem a bit long for him.  I've shortened wood stocks before but have never dealt with potentially hollow synthetic stocks.  My guess is that if it is hollow, I could fill the hole with epoxy after cutting it off and then drill an access hole to get to the stock bolt.

Any thoughts or experience with this?

[AWS]

No stock bolt and there should be enough material in the screw bosses in the stock to use them if your going to go less than a half inch..  You can order a .5" thick pad to reduce it with out having to cut.  If my memory serves me right the savage pads have ridges on the inside to keep them centered on the hollow stock and you have to reshape them to fit the shortened stock if your going to try and reuse the original pad.  If the pad is the soft spongy one they don't reshape very well to make smaller, the rubber in them wants to ball up instead of grind off.

[Heredoggydoggy]

A gunsmith friend of mine used to cut synthetic stocks off, then replaced the screw bosses with an epoxy putty and redrilled the mounting holes for the Kick-eez buttpad that he put on and sanded to size on a disc sander. 

[Hornseeker]

I wonder what the "correct" way to establish length of pull is. I bought my girlfriend a marlin X7 and would like to shorten the stock... I know I can do it, with epoxy and such... She's small... I am thinking an inch could come off...

[Heredoggydoggy]

The standard Length of Pull is 13 1/2 inches from trigger to buttpad.  The comfortable Length of Pull for women and children and small-framed individuals is somewhat shorter.  That's whats nice about AR-style collapsible stocks,  Normally, a standard Length of Pull is good for me, but if I'm wearing a heavy winter coat, one notch shorter is more comfortable and gives the correct eye relief for the scope. 

[lokidog]

I wonder what the "correct" way to establish length of pull is. I bought my girlfriend a marlin X7 and would like to shorten the stock... I know I can do it, with epoxy and such... She's small... I am thinking an inch could come off...

That was my next research project.  It seems like most things say to measure from the crook of your elbow to your bent trigger finger.  My rifles seem to vary by as much as an inch and a half (12 to 13 1/2), but as long as the scope eye relief is good when mounted, they seem to fit me. I think slightly shorter feels better, plus I can move my head back for eye relief more easily than I can move forward. 

I like the idea of one of those adjustable pads that can lengthen as my son grows.  I also need to put an adjustable cheek piece on it.  Why don't gun manufacturers do Monte Carlo style stocks as standard for guns that don't come with open sights?

[Heredoggydoggy]

Shorter is better--especially if you will be wearing a heavy coat in hunting season.  what I would do is buy a standard stock for the gun to put aside for the day when the shooter needs it.  My Benjamin Marauders now have an adjustable Monte Carlo cheek piece.  I don't know why more rifles don't have this feature.

[RadSav]

The Weatherby Vanguard youth stock is a neat little gadget.  Wish it had the usual Weatherby fit and finish, but might save you the trouble.  I also agree with the above idea about using the .5" pad.  Not sure if Sims has one but the Pachmayr is better than most other 1" pads IMO.

I do not like the hollow sound of most plastic gun stocks.  So I am putting foam in the stock anyway.  When cutting down I permanently foam in a piece of fir laminate to anchor the screws to.  Seems to work well!

[lokidog]

I do like the Monte Carlo on that Weatherby.  My son's elbow to trigger finger length is 10 1/2", I have a 20g that had been cut down to 12" which seems to fit him decently.

The standard Length of Pull is 13 1/2 inches from trigger to buttpad.  The comfortable Length of Pull for women and children and small-framed individuals is somewhat shorter.  That's whats nice about AR-style collapsible stocks,  Normally, a standard Length of Pull is good for me, but if I'm wearing a heavy winter coat, one notch shorter is more comfortable and gives the correct eye relief for the scope. 

I bought an AR 6.8 spc a couple years ago thinking that same thought about the adjustable stock for him, but realized it was way too heavy.

Has anyone used Kydex to make a cheek piece?  That stuff looks handy.

[AWS]

Here's one I put on a target rifle that had to be mounted on high rings because of the large objective and bull barrel.  Most of the time I have my scopes mounted in low rings and can get away with no build up or just a slight amount.  Most modern bolt action stocks have combs too high for open sights for me.

This is a shortened synthetic stock on a Savage.