On a synthetic stocked Benelli Super Black Eagle 1. Bought the shotgun used a while back shot it over the weekend for the first time and the length of pull is to long for a proper fit for me. I don't know what it is I've yet to measure it all I know is the butt stock needs to be shorten and my local gunsmith is telling me it can't be done cause the synthetic butt stock is hollow. You would think there is someone out there who has a fix for this. Willing to ship the Benelli if needed. I love the shotgun but it is useless to me if I can't hit anything with it. Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions. Regards, Rick.

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I have seen Remington synthetic stocks cut to fit. Its not as easy as wood but it can be done. The tabs for the pad screws need to be relocated and that's the hard part. I would recommend you go see a smith that does more stock work or look at a wood stock and forarm. The wood option makes it real easy

Does Benelli offer a youth stock that might be a better fit?

I just saw this on another forum and copied it for you. Hope it might give you an idea on how you may be able to shorten the stock.


"...The SBE only comes in one length (14.25") the stock can be cut down by a gunsmith. The stock is hollow and requires a wood block to be contoured to fit inside the bottom of the stock and glued in place to give the bottom recoil pad screw something to bite into. You will also have to put an aftermarket pad on it because once it is shortened the stock pad will no longer fit..."

Most of my rifles have synthetic stocks and have to be shortened, sometimes you can get away with just replacing the recoil pad with a solid plate, I'm replacing the pad with an old curved Rem plate on my Rem. LVSF this week. All my hunting shotguns have butt plates either steel, horn or plastic and have been shortened sorry no synthetic stocks on the shotguns.

That's the method I've heard recommend the most often.

Jack O'Conner always said we like our rifle stocks too long and our shotgun stocks too short...

Have you adjusted the shims between stock and action? It is quite possible a little adjusting there will get you on target without shortening the stock at all.

Thank you all for the replies. I realize that what probably needs to be done is some type of fitted wood insert to mount the new pad onto. I guess what I'm looking for is someone who does this type of work that I could send the Benelli to I sure as hell am not going to attempt it myself. Thanks

It ain't rocket surgery...



Seriously, get with a serious shooter locally and have them help you adjust the shims... very likely you will learn something about fitting a stock and improve your shooting with that shotgun. A little extra length is probably not the real problem.

Super Black Eagle 1 there are no shims just a pad.

You have the answer for correcting LOP if needed. You bought it used, so perhaps you won't take a beating selling it used. Get the SBE II and you get shims and the ability to add different thickness of pads.

Many have a poor mount and if corrected could go longer. However, if one already has a good forward or leading hand move and point, then a little short beats a little long every day. Adding extra clothes during hunting seasons makes a little long now more of a problem later.

Addition: Good chance the SBE II shims will work with the SBE I if the receiver/stock mating isn't drastically different. You can make a cut up credit card work also. All they do is up, down, right, left.

Brownell's sells the shims and lists them for the SBE. They are in the schematics for the SBE 1. I have played with several of them and know they exist. It is possible there is a stock configuration without them, I suppose, but doubt it.

It has a stock bolt according to the schematics and shims made of credit card stock work fine to get the dimensions right and then can be duplicated by bedding with steel bed or similar.

Sorry, did not read your post before responding... I suspect from the nature of the questions the OP (absolutely no insult intended) could possibly use some help setting his shotgun up to fit him better and find length is not really the issue.

Many shotguns have a too long, length of pull. It is a common issue.

I am getting ready to cut my Browning A5, and get a pad that is grind to fit. I am slow to cut my 1960 stock
though, it is almost as old as I am.....oh well....

I am often using this gun during late pheasant season, hunting coat, etc. I have short arms and need
to make things fit better.

Your arm length has nothing to do with your LOP needs. Those hinges in the middle allow them to adapt to any required length...

It is about your shoulder, neck, and eye.

I gotta agree with Sitka deer...most people are shooting a shotgun with way too short of a LOP. I am 5 ft 8in and have 33 inch sleeves on my shirt. I shoot an Ansley Fox 20 ga with a 15 inch LOP. I had a lot of trouble shooting behind birds until I got with someone that knows how to fit shotguns. Pretty much if you are pulling the gun back into your shoulder it is too short. You should be pushing it forward to mount. When you stop to pull back there is a typical delay in the swing and getting on target and you will miss. Funny thing is that many shooters "overcome" this with a lot of practice and can hit okay, only to miss when they least want to. Why not make it easy on yourself??? My biggest question to the OP is this; if you don't even know what length the stock is now, what length are you going to tell a gunsmith to make it so it "fits"????? As suggested, before you go doing anything rash, get with someone that understands gun fit and see if you can at least arrive at an educated guess. Don't get me wrong, it's your gun and yours to have it your way. I see a lot of guys in the dove fields that have it their way...here comes a dove, crossing shot...push the gun up...come to a complete stop and then reverse direction and pull it back an inch or so into their shoulder and fire a foot behind the bird...dove keeps on flying. Best of luck.

I've thought most want their LOP too short for best shooting for a long time but found few that didn't think I was a bit goofy. If LOP is just a bit longer than most find comfortable you get a more repeatable anchor for your "rear sight" if you use a standard dimension stock. For instance I had a habit of crawling the stock so if I wasn't careful the mount would be inconsistent - actually all over the place if I was focused on a bird. The longer length of pull cured that. Also I think that little bit of tension you feel is a point of reference for "muscle memory."

I find that most people drag the stock closer to their shoulder when they begin their mount and get hung up. So it's not so much pushing the stock away, that works but it's extra motion and not as fluid, as bringing it up before pulling it towards your shoulder. Feels really awkward at first but make it a habit with summer trap shooting and it should become natural by fall. However thicker hunting clothes can be a real problem. For upland I put a shorter pad on the gun to compensate when it gets cool.
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To clarify, by "bringing it up before pulling it towards your shoulder." I mean pulling it AGAINST your shoulder. There should be no appreciable gap.

If the stock is long enough the hesitation caused by sucking it into the shoulder is reduced. Few folks really have any idea what their shotgun should feel like...

Yeah, but I don't think it's the hesitation so much as building consistency. If, say, I'm shooting over decoys I have all the time in the world to mount the stock properly and get lined up right. Sort of like trap where you can use the middle bead to get lined up before calling for the target. Stock length doesn't matter quite so much. But upland I need to be able to shoot quickly while tracking the bird, same mount every time (as best I can anyway) without having to think about it. The little bit of stretching when the LOP is what many would consider too long helps get your eye in the same position relative to the barrel every time. Whether or not that's the correct alignment has to do with other stock dimensions. But even with an imperfect natural alignment, which is usually the case since most shooters use a standard dimension factory stock, you make the same adjustment every time.

I think it helps with a smoother, more consistent swing too (swing with your body and not your arms) but I never really thought through that. But then I've seen videos of Tom Knapp hitting almost perfectly with anything he picked up. Now if only a manufacturer would finance our practice sessions...

(If you stop your swing for anything, getting a good mount or whatever, you've got bigger problems.)

And my simple point about shooting casually when you do not have to hurry, as in blind-shooting ducks, would be to do it right and the same every time...

Get a Shotgun Laser bore sight, and use it to see how your shotgun fits you. If laser dot is where you are looking it fits if not shim or adjust till it does. When looking for a shotgun I use it to find a shotgun that fits me.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&a...d-24546651431&ref=pd_sl_4g21gp5yka_b

Kurt is right about figuring out where your shotgun is looking in relation to where you are looking. Get that figured out and mount it the same every time and you will shoot much better...