Gunner500,
I agree with you on fitting the rifle to the shooter. And you are correct on size - I stand 5'10" and weigh 170 pounds(was 145 back in high school) and the 1886 fits fine. Larger or smaller folk may need to make changes in stock configuration and length.
The era and region of gun design can also influence the final design. For instance, my Parker shotguns are based on a pre 1900 design and for shooters living in the Northeast USA where bird hunting was a cool weather sport. Therefore the standard butt stock length fits me ONLY when I am wearing a winter coat under a padded shooting vest. In Texas dove season, I must use a slip- on pad to get proper stock length. A person with longer arms may have this problem in all seasons.
Interesting and good to know about that Parker too, also glad to hear you've used your '86 on African game, have always thought about taking my Turnbull 50-110 WCF to Africa , it fires a hardcast 700 gr flat nosed grease groove bullet to 1240 fps with black powder, I think it'd take a hell of an animal to catch one of those, have the Smith ladder sight on it, hits to 200 yards have been pure cake.
