Olympic skeet shooting- stock geometry surprise

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I watched a bit of the women's Olympic skeet shooting on YT yesterday. I thought it was interesting that the vast majority of elite shooters are using near vertical grips on their shotguns. Some were custom molded with large finger grooves, similar to the target pistols.

I didn't notice any that had a traditional swept line like your 870, 500, or o/u. It appears that a more vertical grip is not only better for rifles but also pointing and shooting shotguns.

 

[intunegp]

A lot of it comes down to personal preference. Kim Rhode is arguably the best female competition clays shooter ever, and shoots a fairly traditional stock:

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Hers is definitely more mild, but it's still more vertical than traditional swept and certainly straight stocks. If you look at our Olympians shotguns in this link, they're all more or less vertical.

https://usashooting.org/athletes/olympic-team/

I'm not saying its good or bad, but it's definitley an interesting change. I'm not going searching to replace my shotgun stocks, but I'd be interested to try one of these configurations and see if it helps my shooting.

 

[Macintosh]

its been this way for a long time, a couple decades at least. Most arent truly vertical like you might get on a rifle chassis, but they approach it in many cases. Shotguns are a different animal than rifles in many ways and you will find differences in stock geometry to support that--for instance, you see high combs and raised ribs on some comp shotguns to force an upright head which facilitates the shooters ability to see a target out of the center of their eyes, which is an aid to aquiring and holding a hard target focus, and is integral to shooting a shotgun well--whereas you have many rifle shooters using stocks that require head positions that would be detrimental to shotgun shooting. Regardless, a relaxed pistol grip or a straighter grip on a shotgun is more of an asset for carrying the gun one-handed than it is for shooting the gun--it still makes sense in some field shooting uses, it just isnt helpful on a target gun. The other thing you'll see on most of the those shotgun grips is a big palm swell, which is there in large part to help soak up a bit of the recoil, which cumulatively causes a lot of shooter fatigue even in a 10-11lb comp gun.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

its been this way for a long time, a couple decades at least. Most arent truly vertical like you might get on a rifle chassis, but they approach it in many cases. Shotguns are a different animal than rifles in many ways and you will find differences in stock geometry to support that--for instance, you see high combs and raised ribs on some comp shotguns to force an upright head which facilitates the shooters ability to see a target out of the center of their eyes, which is an aid to aquiring and holding a hard target focus, and is integral to shooting a shotgun well--whereas you have many rifle shooters using stocks that require head positions that would be detrimental to shotgun shooting. Regardless, a relaxed pistol grip or a straighter grip on a shotgun is more of an asset for carrying the gun one-handed than it is for shooting the gun--it still makes sense in some field shooting uses, it just isnt helpful on a target gun. The other thing you'll see on most of the those shotgun grips is a big palm swell, which is there in large part to help soak up a bit of the recoil, which cumulatively causes a lot of shooter fatigue even in a 10-11lb comp gun.

Good to know and thank you!

 

[Formidilosus]

A lot of it comes down to personal preference. Kim Rhode is arguably the best female competition clays shooter ever, and shoots a fairly traditional stock:

That stock has a vertical grip and a negative comb.

 

[intunegp]

That stock has a vertical grip and a negative comb.

My point was that what she is shooting looks fairly similar to any over/under you might go grab at your local shop, not this:

The "traditional swept lines" that OP mentioned seem to be going the way of guns described as "vintage/classic/traditional" rather than a modern sporting shotgun.

 

[Formidilosus]

My point was that what she is shooting looks fairly similar to any over/under you might go grab at your local shop, not this:

The "traditional swept lines" that OP mentioned seem to be going the way of guns described as "vintage/classic/traditional" rather than a modern sporting shotgun.

Understood. Thank you.

 

[Nine Banger]

Competition shotguns on Rokslide?

Am I dreaming?

Here's mine.