Cast off... cast on....

[huntinguy]

Rumor has it that I have a hunk a wood on the way from TOW, keepin it a rumor till the wife sees the bill.

Been thinking, do I need to have a cast on this or no?

It is going to end up as a 30 inch barreled halfstock, lock coming is a flinter but, the one in the parts box is a cap, so I don't know what that part will look like yet.

Not sure what this one will be for other than practice for the one I really want to build (those questions were posted elsewhere on the forum).

Suggestions? Advice?

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Its hard to say wether or not you would do better with cast off/on without having you where you could be fitted. You want to end up with a stock that will put the (iron) sights in line with your eye and the target when you shoulder the gun. The drop at the heel and comb is normally more pronounced on guns used with iron sights . Most modern rifles are designed  with less drop because sccopes are the more common sights today . The cast off/on takes into account the length of your neck , where you normally place your cheek on the stock etc. There is a adjustable stock that is normally used to determine these things . Don"t know if anyone here has one but there are ways to do it with a homemade jig. I"ll see if I can find the information amounget my stuff if noone comes up with a quicker solution.

[pathfinder]

Drop is usually determined by the school. I add a little to each gun I build for myself due to my size,6'2",250 LEAN pound's!(quiet Ron!)And I normally put in at least 1/2" cast off on all gun's. Unless the wood I've cut isn't big enough or the style doesn't really tend to like it,such as Southern gun's. I have a couple I've built and the one with cast off for whatever reason doesn't "feel" as good as the others. Go figure. I still like cast off and have recently figured out how important pitch was,even more so than cast off. American Longrifles forum has an exellent thread on this subject. Very informative.

[Captchee]

It pretty hard to put  proper cast. Very much anyway  in a pre carve stock  without a stock  bending set up .
 While drop does seem to be a lot different depending on the school, we should remember that a given school had a reasoning for that drop . That reasoning is based around the physical make up of the people  in the original area . Thus the drop continued to be imparted  by those studying a given school , needed or not  .
 The other reason for drop ,  was for a given style of shooting . A good example of this would be the differences in as  a back  and more erect French style  compared to the  forward English style
 Cast, drop , pull  and  pitch of the toe , are all things concerning fit  for a given person and style of shooting  . So what works for    physical type A , may not work for  physical type C.
 also the amount of cast  needed should also  take into   consideration , the style of the buttstock . IE a  thick buttstock with a tall cheek piece  may call for more cast then a thin buttstock with a low cheek piece

 Normally I don’t  put  pitch into the stock unless im building for a woman or an overly muscular man  .
 The woman being the more important  of the two .Then only  if its discerned that  there may be an issue do to her physical make up