This is a question that needs to be answered and understood before anyone has a custom stock built. There are many stocks makers out there today, some good, some not so good. I will try and educate you on a method we use here and why.

   The most important part of any stock is the grip. It is the steering wheel that helps the body move to a target. The hand needs to be in the proper position to work with the body properly. If the hand is not in a comfortable position it will fight you tooth & nail to make a proper move to a target that will be difficult at best. Below are several photos that show the way the hand should be positioned for the grip of a stock. They call it a pistol grip for a reason, but if you look at most factory grips today they are still fashioned after the old English style grip. Take a look at the Photos below.

   The photo on the left shows the typical stock and grip. Notice that the middle finger is right up against the back of the trigger guard and the hand is high riding the grip area. This will cause pain and bruising in the middle finger. This style will not be comfortable to shoot for very many targets. Many times a shooter has to do this because the hand or fingers cannot reach the trigger.

   The photo on the right shows the correct hand position. Notice that the middle finger is no where near the back of the trigger guard and the trigger is now in a position to pull the trigger straight back instead of lifting the trigger like the photo on the left.  The stock on the right has the grip a little far back for this shooter. The photo was done to show the proper hand position. If this stock was being built for the person in the photo the grip would be moved forward about 1/4" to get the trigger to the first joint of the finger.

   Another problem on the left photo is the hand being on top of the grip. This limits the mounting into the shoulder pocket. The gun can only be brought up as high into the shoulder pocket as the wrist and the elbow will allow. I see many shooters short stroke their mount and end up ducking down their head to meet the stock. The wrist is made and hinged to move left to right not up & down. The bent position in the wrist can cause sever pain as you are eating all the recoil when the gun goes off back into the hand.  Nick Sisley wrote an article for Sporting Clays Magazine that explains what experience he had with this very problem and how the revised grip position solved the pain issues. Check the December 2010 issue It can be found by clicking on the article. (Click Here)

     When we are building stocks at DeVault Industries this is the style that we will build as long as the shooter feels comfortable with the results. The making of the grip depends on the discipline the shooter is involved in. The grip shown is used when a shooter pre-mounts the gun prior to calling for a target. For the shooter that is mostly a FITASC or Sporting Clays Shooter starting in a low gun position the grip has a different angle of approach to accommodate the style of shooting and the wrist rotation needed for a low gun mount to the shoulder. 

   One area that we do not compromise on is the subject of Cast vs. Offset. My engineering background will not allow me to build a stock with a bend or cast. I have seen cast promote recoil to the face. The photo below will show the straight line approach of making all points of a stock parallel to the bore center line  of the shotgun.

   With all the stocks that we have produced over the years this approach has never failed to produce the results that we and the customers were after. When everything is in a straight line the recoil comes straight back and not at a abstract angle. Most stock makers will not use the offset method because it requires a larger blank of wood especially in the thickness of the blank. The cost of the blank increases and availability of this type blank is hard to find but the end results are worth the wait and trouble to look.

   The next area that we attack is the comb. Most stock makers measure the comb off of the slope of the rib. DeVault Industries feels this is a wrong approach. A parallel comb must again be parallel to the bore center line and not from a sloping surface, To obtain this dimension we take the measurement from the highest point of the rib and project a line back across the comb parallel to the bore center line.

   Another debate is parallel comb vs. a sloped comb. I an very aware that all shooters have a radial bone in the back of the jaw line and if a stock is not built correctly the stock will smack the bone in the back of the jaw and cause sever pain. Many people blame a Monte-Carlo stock for this problem. The Monte-Carlo style is not the culprit but it is the design of the comb area that is the bad guy. We have never had a customer complain about a parallel comb or Monte-Carlo stock that has been properly fit. This is not to say that a Monte-Carlo stock is always built. That style depends on the distance of the shoulder pocket to the face.

   Toe Out, this is the area at the back of the stock that we put in a slight twist to fit the pocket of the shoulder. The shoulder pocket is the area where the two muscle groups from the chest and shoulder meet. They kind of fold in together and form a pocket of sorts. If you use your fingers to follow the pocket in the shoulder you will notice that the pocket does not go straight down the chest but curves out toward the armpit. If the toe is not properly fit to the muscle structure it will cause the gun to cant either out (away from) or (in toward) the face. If not done correctly more problems occur that cause inconsistent scores and pain. See photo below for the toe style.

   So with all this said if this is the type of stock solution you may be looking for give us a call and set up an appointment. We have had hundreds of satisfied customers. To answer one concern I promise we will not design you a stock named after a famous shooter. Each person that walks through our door will be treated with respect and we will work as hard as we can to deliver what you want down to the checkering pattern picked to fit your personality and your needs. Thank you for looking and if you have further questions please feel free to send an E-mail: dennisdevault@sbcglobal.net or call the shop 330-456-6070.

Sincerely yours,

Dennis R. DeVault, Cindy & the Crew