Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing LOP for 5'5" young women?

Can anyone recommend what LOP to cut for a young woman? I am trying to get my wife into shooting, and her Marlin 60 is too long.

Thanks,

Rex

My wife is the same size. It also depends on the length of her arms but I've fitted her with 12.5" LOP.

Thanks for the reply bobski. Thats about what I had thought, about an inch shorter, but wasnt sure.

Can you believe that she wanted a project gun for her first gun? Refinishing and the whole thing. A gunnut in the making!
Good day,

Rex

5'0" wife and 5'4" daughter both use 12.5" LOP. Pretty standard on "youth" rifles.

The magic formula is you want the LOP to be long enough that the comb of the stock doesn�t slap her in the face when the gun goes off, but you need it short enough that you can still arrange proper eye relief on the scope. Generally, I tell people on rifles, go for a 1-2� gap between the knuckle of the thumb of the firing hand, to the nose. This should get you pretty close. For shotguns, I recommend a little more LOP.

Gungeek, by that method there will be more than an inch to cut off.

I had her try out varous youth models before we bought this rifle, but they were all too small for her. Hmm... dont know what to do now. Guess I will shorten it in stages, and have her shoot it some each time.

Thanks all, at least now I have an idea on how far to shorten it.

Good shooting,

Rex

Re: "Generally, I tell people on rifles, go for a 1-2� gap between the knuckle of the thumb of the firing hand, to the nose."

The number I've heard used by custom stockmakers for the "perfect" fit is 1�" so that fits right in there.

RexM,
A rule of thumb that comes closer than most is this. Take 13.5" as the "Standard" to fit the "Average" man who is thought to be 5'10". Take off 1/8" for every inch under this height. With your wife being 5'5" that would come out to 12 7/8". Since 12 1/2" is noticeabley short this would seem to be real close. Heavy clothing can use another 1/8" taken off. Time may prove that she prefers a slightly shorter or longer stock, but this will be awful close.

Model70guy

My wifes 5-3 and I cut 1 1/2" off of her stock, and it seems to fit fine, and is all of a wee bit long for my daughter who is just about 5'.

I've shot the rifle a fair bit and find that the shorter stock isn't that bad, which leads me to believe I'd rather go slightly shorter than longer, but definately get a scope with plenty of eye relief.

Thanks all for the advice.

Rex

Another thing to consider when stocking a rifle for a lady is the difference in build. It will vary with the width of her shoulders and the length of her arms, upper and lower, but I usually end up cutting a little more pitch down (more off the toe than the heel) to allow for the structure of a womans chest. Besides the obvious difference, the muscle structure is slightly different and you don't want her to take all the recoil being jabbed by the toe of the stock. This can cause discomfort and lead to developing a flinch.

Jim

My wife is about that size. We bought her an HS Precision with a 12.5 LoP, and it proved to be exactly the right size. I'm going to the 'smith's today, to pick up her Bell & Carlson and McMillan stocks that have just been shortened to the same length.

Would this then work the other way as well, adding 1/8 inch for every inch higher than 5"10"?

The length of a shooters arms has always been a bigger factor in adjusting LOP than their height for me.

Try this method:

Hold rifle by the pistolgrip in standard fashion

Extend arm out to your side, bend your elbow at 90 degrees, and point the muzzel vertically skyward. Think of a bodybuilder starting a biceps pose.

The butt should rest lightly on, or just clear the crook of your elbow. If you hunt in cold weather, take into account that a thick coat will cause the rifle to hang up while mounting on the shoulder, therefore the length of pull should be shortened.

I prefer my rifles 3/8" shorter than my shotguns.

Try it, this always worked for me.

The fitting by putting the butt in the crook of your elbow is an old wives tale and not worth much. The 1 &1/ 2 " between the nose and thumb is much more accurate.

Saddlesore
I agree completely! The arm length is the least useful, yet most often quoted measure. The arm sticks out to the side with this wonderful length-altering device built right into the middle, called an elbow.

The location of the eye and its match to the eye relief of the sights is the critical issue. The height/LOP ratio cited above work well for me for a start.
art

How many times a year is this going to be asked??

SIX!

The Ruger 77 OM I custom fitted to my 5'4" wife wears a 12.5 inch LOP stock. Fore-end was shortened and thinned to make the aesthetics right with the 17 inch barrel. Most of the time, it wears a one inch slip on recoil pad over the Decelerator.

Funny how that works.

I call it "Stub".