Shape of buttstock

[pwc]

0 Seems like all black powder rifle buttstocks have the classic steel or brass buttplate. Now, the 2X barrel shotguns have a flat shotgun butt.

Now, is the rifle made to shoot from the shoulder (ouch!) The points hurt. But, if I slide it down my arm, it fits better, and can still be properly sighted.

Most lever 30-30's have the same type butt.

So, my question is, were the early rifles bent to be fired from the shoulder pocket, or down the arm?

[Winger Ed.]

My guess is both were meant to be fired from the 'pocket' of your shoulder.

The curve took more time to bring up & into position than a 'point & shoot' shotgun, so they were flat.

A rifle would lend itself to a more accurate, long range shot.
The curve would tend to fit better for acquiring a good sight picture and sight alignment.
The added fraction of a second to get it settled in on your shoulder wouldn't really matter.

Reproduction BP rifles probably still have the curve because 'they've always been done that way',
or to be historically correct to their period.

In their day, they might not have pinched so bad since people back then tended to be smaller framed than us.

[LAGS]

From what I learned from my Grandfather, ( Who was a gunsmith and professional hunter around the turn of the last century) the Curved Buttplates were meant to shoot more off your upper Arm and not on the body side of your Shoulder.
He said, that is why the Length of pull on a lot of Old rifles was much shorter than they are today.
Not because people were smaller.

[waksupi]

The curved buttplate should fit above the bicep.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

It's traditional. It can be uncomfortable. It doesn't have to stay that way if it doesn't work for you.

[indian joe]

My guess is both were meant to be fired from the 'pocket' of your shoulder.

The curve took more time to bring up & into position than a 'point & shoot' shotgun, so they were flat.

A rifle would lend itself to a more accurate, long range shot.
The curve would tend to fit better for acquiring a good sight picture and sight alignment.
The added fraction of a second to get it settled in on your shoulder wouldn't really matter.

Reproduction BP rifles probably still have the curve because 'they've always been done that way',
or to be historically correct to their period.

In their day, they might not have pinched so bad since people back then tended to be smaller framed than us.

shoot with your elbow up level with the shoulder joint and that curved buttplate might start to make sense to you

[Yooper003]

The biggest problem I had with muzzleloader stock was with the comb, I had a 50 cal. Hawken that the forward edge of the comb was higher than the rear. With this, with recoil it drove the comb right into my cheekbone.didn't take me long to change that. I think a lot of the really old time firearms were made that way, along with the curved buttstock.

[pietro]

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A lot of old time firearms were a lot heaver (longer/thicker barrels) than those made today...………..



My .45cal T/C Seneca, with it's 27" bbl, shoots a lot milder than my 24" barreled T/C Cherokee - with the same loads.

.

[KCSO]

And the English guns had flat butt plates like most modern guns, the same with a lot of Germanic styles. The curved buttplate or crescent helped to lock in and counter balance the weight of the barrel. As Waksupi said the crescent sits farther out on the arm.