Why do most Pistol Grip stocks slant down?

[Joe22]

I've been looking at adjustable and fixed pistol grip stocks lately and they all slant down... Why? Knox, speedfeed, ect... Only ones I found that are straight back like a Ar15 is the Mesa and the ATI..

[JaMail]

are you talking about this.. ergonomics of the hand and write.your wrist and hand naturally relax at the slant, instead of having to cock your wrist and put tension on it to do a 90 degree handle.

[Joe22]

No the actually stock not the pistol grip

[Dr Rockso]

Because when you have a cheek weld with the high-tube buttstock in the first pic your eye is too high to use standard shotgun sights, you'd have to install rail mounted sights of some type. With a lower mounted adjustable stock (like the LEO in the first pic) or a slanted stock you can use the regular sights, or a lower mounted optic.

[Joe22]

Ya I understand your cheek weld for sights but i'm talking about why are most slanted like your third pic rather than LEO in the first pic? With a pistol grip I don't feel comfortable with my shoulder that low. I much rather prefer the LEO style but most brands are slanted like the third pic. Am I just weird and thats my preference?

[Merc1138]

Ya I understand your cheek weld for sights but i'm talking about why are most slanted like your third pic rather than LEO in the first pic? With a pistol grip I don't feel comfortable with my shoulder that low. I much rather prefer the LEO style but most brands are slanted like the third pic. Am I just weird and thats my preference?

Like he said, because if the stock were straight, it's too high up to use standard sights on a shotgun, unless you get taller sights like on an AR.

[Dr Rockso]

I think it's largely personal preference. A lot of people shoot small caliber rifles with the corner of the stock just barely touching their shoulder (like the guy with the HK below) so they can keep their head up and bring the gun up to the level of their eye. If you're doing that with a shotgun you need a more aggressive slant so the buttstock isn't just barely touching your shoulder.


If everybody brought the buttstock into the meat of their shoulders like Costa is in this pic, bringing his head down to the level of the gun, then I don't think the aggressively slanted buttstocks would be as popular.

[Thefeeder]

It about keeping your head strieght up, having a cheek weld at the same time having have your eyes (eye) looking down the sight.

In the above pic, the sights are 2" above the barrel.

Fit boys....it all about fit.

[G-forceJunkie]

Because your eyes are 6-8" above the pocket of your shoulder. Without a downward angle on the stock, you either need tall optics, or scrunch your head way down like that Costa pic above.

[BigDogatPlay]

It about keeping your head strieght up, having a cheek weld at the same time having have your eyes (eye) looking down the sight.

In the above pic, the sights are 2" above the barrel.

Fit boys....it all about fit.

^^^ This^^^

A lot of thought these days in LEO and .mil says to keep the head up and the eyes parallel to the ground. That dictates raising the weapon's butt up on the shoulder as The Feeder notes above. With a relatively light recoiling gun like a .223 carbine or an MP5, it's not a big issue.

The LEO stock pictured above helps accomplish that with it's AR like straight back orientation. There is, usually, also recoil reduction built into that stock which helps when you bring the butt up on the shoulder.

In clays shooting, with it's different body orientation from combat shooting, it's far better to bring the gun up to your cheek than to drop your cheek down to the stock but the butt still needs to be properly placed in the shoulder pocket or it's going to start to hurt pretty quickly. This is why a lot of clay guns have adjustable combs.

As The Feeder correctly notes.... fit is everything, regardless of the type of shooting you are doing.

Because your eyes are 6-8" above the pocket of your shoulder. Without a downward angle on the stock, you either need tall optics, or scrunch your head way down like that Costa pic above.

You're right here to a great degree. Costa is, I think, going for maximum control of the gun in that photo. I'd imagine it moves mere fractions of an inch in recoil. The butt is buried deep down in the shoulder pocket and is aggressively pulling it in with his trigger hand. Compare and contrast with the PD guy in the first photo.

With the stock buried that deeply the only thing he can do to bring his eye line down to the optic is thrust his head forward and down sharply as we see. Again, on a mild recoiling platform it can and will work well, but on a shotgun with anything close to defensive loads, that posture is a broken nose looking for a place to happen, IMO.

[Joe22]

Ya i'm just kinda saying LEO style vs slanted I guess. I don't know too many people using pistol grip stocks for claws lol

[WmWhitfield]

My guess is that the placement of the stock determines the height of the sights and you are looking at designs intended to minimize felt recoil while minimizing time needed to for a follow up shot. I believe a straight comb stock is more easily built to absorb recoil and one with a recoil absorbing mecnanism in line with the bore of the barrel best reduces barrel lift.

That is why the Knox, Speedfeeds you are looking at have straigt combes (the recoil absorbing mechanism is often found on pistol grip stocks). As for guns without what you call a pistol grip (many non combat shotguns have grips that are also called pistol grips but look nothing like what you are asking about) most have angled combs. That means the drop at the heel of the stock is greater than at the front of the comb.

A supposed advantage to the sloping comb is the shooting eye's height relative to the sight or rib decreases as the cheek weld is slid towrds the heel of the stock. Acorresponding disadvantage is that if you fail to set your weld in the same spot every time you will lower or raise your point of impact.

I also guess that the scrunched over posture may be favored on a comgbat shotgun in order to reduce the target picture presented by the shooter.

[WmWhitfield]

Ya i'm just kinda saying LEO style vs slanted I guess. I don't know too many people using pistol grip stocks for claws lol

Many clays guns use a parallel comb stock.