The butt stock, as we all know, is meant for compensating the effect of recoil by both spreading it over a larger area of your body and providing a better leverage for the formidable backwards force. Its importance is also the reason why those bootleg shotguns are generally terrible.
Guns are pretty much designed for people about 6 feet tall- a fact purely born of convenience and manufacturing budget (therefore it is mostly too long for some and too short for others). To have its length adjustable is really a modern idea since in both modern militarizes and civilian firearm use, comfort and accuracy come into play.
How far and which click should I put the buttstock on?
Before we start, I would assert that mostly this is based on personal preference. However, there is a science behind it all. If the butt stock is too much longer than the ideal length for you, you might experience difficulties aligning your aiming eye with your sight. On the other hand, if it is too short, you might experience unnecessarily high recoil.
A good rule of thumb is such:
- Hold your firearm in your hand, holding the pistol grip.
- Then, bend your forearm 90 degrees and put the butt-stock in the inside of your elbow.
- At this point you should adjust the butt-stock to such a length that it rests right on your upper arm.
This mostly ensures that your will have a more steady aim, and the butt-stock could rest right on your shoulder, providing proper support while you shoot.
If I have a fancy cheek rest type of butt-stocks?
The adjustable cheek rest exists to provide you even more support and an anchor point for you cheek so you could align with your sight even better.
If you have one of these, simply go to the aiming position, adjust the cheek rest to where you could perfectly align your aiming eye with your sight. This improves both the speed at which you could aim down the sight and your stability while under recoil since your cheek is braced against a fixed point on the gun.
