Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rifle stocks for ladies

MD, you’ve written regarding the special stock fitting for ladies. Other than Weatherby I have not seen such.
Do you have recommendations for after market stocks for rifles such as Winchester, Ruger and Remington, maybe others, thanks.

I'd look at Boyd's Gunstocks (www.boydsgunstocks.com) and Stocky's Stocks (www.stockysstocks.com).

Bought wife a McMillan for her Tikka 6.5 CM. It was built to her length of pull and she picked out the colors. Win win. She killed two deer with it this past season. Include the wife in the planning process and she will enjoy the end product more.

I guess that I’m just a cheap jerk, I’ve cut several stocks and installed Pachmyar Decellerators on my wife’s rifles. It’s not that difficult, heck I did it, and it gives the opportunity for a perfect fit for the lady. Though, if it’s a hollow stock, that adds a degree of difficulty! memtb

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that women generally have longer necks, smaller hands, and tender breast tissue. The stock I will be having made for my daughter will likely have some element of Monte Carlo to it, appropriate drop at the heel, some toe out, and a slimmer grip, forestock, and general overall size.

Perhaps so, though my wife doesn’t have any issues with her Win. Model 70 .338 WM with the injection molded stock. That said, she does minimal bench work…..says she doesn’t enjoy the recoil. 😉 But, it’s a hunt’n rifle……not a shoot’n rifle! 🤔 memtb

Well my wife is a lefty too. Eliminates most options. I have already done what Memtb suggested and she's not a fan. I had looked at Boyds didn't have it. Thanks for the links MD. I see that Stocky's Stocks has what I'm looking for or maybe not???

Sometimes you can just flip the recoil pad, top to bottom, for better women's fit--at no risk or expense. We did that a lot early in my hunting days. It works for some because women not only have longer necks and breast tissue you don't want to be beating to death, but we also have higher cheekbones, and less shoulder muscle. Sideways, shoulder muscle is slim on top for women and slopes out as you move down on where the recoil pad sits. With men, they start out at the top of the shoulder with more muscle, then slope inward as you approach where the bottom of the recoil pad site. Most recoil pads and rifles are built to fit that male shoulder profile, which results in a hunting rifle that's a pain in the butt to shoot more than a few times while sighting in. Thus, inverting it can help.
If you can't remove and re-figure the recoil pad, Mule Deer also would use a sander to the bottom of the recoil pad and slope it inward rather than outward...... My custom .308 Serengeti rifle, when I visited the shop for my final fitting? I thought it belonged to a real weirdo. Looked like a Weatherby stock on steroids. Then The gunsmith handed it to me. With just a bit of adjustment it was--and still is--absolutely perfect.
Leenie3Freezers (alias Mrs Mule Deer.)

One of the reasons women sometimes complain about recoil is a stock that doesn't really fit them hurts more--with even lighter-recoiling cartridges than the .338 WM.

Call McMillan. They built me several left hand stocks and they can address your wife’s concerns.

I suggested both Boyd's and Stocky's because each of them offers a wide variety of stocks in different shapes, Boyd's in wood and Stocky's in synthetics. Both offer something with some version of a Monte Carlo, which generally fits women better than the so-called "straight classic" that fits many men better.

They may not be listed as women's stocks, so it may not be obvious....

My daughter doesn't hunt with me but if she ever decided to try it, based on her small stature, I would be curious if the Browning Micro Midas with its shorter 12.5" LOP would be a good fit for her. It seems like a rifle whose shorter stock was made for youth & women. The Tikka T3x Compact with its identical 12.5" LOP would also be on my list of rifles to consider. Based on her diminutive size, I just know several of my favorite rifles would be unwieldy.

If your wife wants to experiment buy her a Savage Storm in her choice of calibers. Stock is adjustable for comb height and length of pull.

I've had two Wby Camilla's come to me for little tweaks (not the stock) and I'll tell you guys, the women just love them...maybe copy some dimensions and try to duplicate.

IME a stock that is fit to the shooter is a very good thing no matter if you are male or female. It really isn't that great of an expense and if you have never done it, you have no idea what you are missing.

As noted earlier, Eileen has one rifle, a .308 Winchester, with stock custom-made to fit her--but also several others that she found also fit her very well, including an older Husqvarna with a small-ring 98 action with a slim barrel in .243 Winchester and a Monte Carlo stock. I bought it off the Campfire Classifieds in 2011, mostly because it was good deal. She was someplace else the day it arrived, and I'd already unpackaged it, mounted a scope, and leaned it in a corner of the living-room.

She's also a rifle loony to certain extent, and knew she hadn't seen it before, so asked, "What's this?" I told her, and she picked it up and put to her shoulder a few times--then announced she wanted it. "Good!" I said. She's used it quite a bit, including on one of her biggest whitetail bucks.

Not so oddly, both her custom .308 and that .243 have similar stock dimensions to Weatherby Camillas. Eileen has also shouldered a couple of them and likes the stocks a lot, but so far hasn't "needed" to add one to her collection....

Absolutely! Proper stock fit is critical to more comfortable shooting.

When I first met my future wife, she was using a Ruger M77 in .270 Win. that had been cut off to better fit her. They had altered the butt angle and put the original hard Ruger butt plate/pad back on it. In my load development for her, it was miserable to shoot from the bench…..it hurt my shoulder far worse than my old .375 H&H.

I recut the stock, put a Pachmyar Decellerator on it……it became a pussycat to shoot, even from the bench! It served her well for a while! memtb

How tall is Eieen? A friend's wife put in for oryx and is looking for a new rifle ASAP that won't break the bank. She's 5'8" average build. I suggested the Vanguard Camilla at 13" for wood or Vanguard Compact Hunter with adjustable LOP for synthetic and less $.

Guess I wasn't too far off the mark. Thanks for your input. You, too, Eileen. Very informative.

Eileen is 5'8" as well.

She has long arms, and can usually shoot the standard American factory-rifle LOP OK--but prefers a little shorter.

Thanks, I’ll look again. I was hoping for a higher comb, lower butt and shorter stock. Wife is 5’2” and a lefty. The Tikka stock I shortened to fit her lengthwise isn’t right. I remember advice on how to bend stocks with hot oil, I suppose I could try to bend the stock down and add a high comb. Or maybe I can find something close enough with those two sites.