What were they thinking back then........

[TNsailorman]

I made my own 50 Hawken in the mid 70's using a set of blueprints that I bought from the Colorado Museum of an original Modina rifle. Of course it had a curved butt plate on it and wanting one as authenic as I could get, I put a curved butt plate on mine. mistake that I will never repeat. If you hold the rifle the way they did way back then, no problems. But I do not hold the butt on the inner ball of the shoulder socket in my other rifles. As a result when I shoot the Hawken in my normal style (I forget and hold it as normal) I get a very bruised shoulder or in the case of one day at a Black Powder Match, I came home with a big old bruise that had a small hole right in the center of it and a bloody undershirt from the blood that was oozing out of the little hole. Took a couple of weeks to heal up too. So I will never again have one of those type butts to kick mine. james

[NEKVT]

I tried holding it against the upper arm as some had suggested but couldn't line up the sights without tilting my head to the side over the buttstock to compensate - very awkward. The 1899 hasn't been out for a while so taking it to the range tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet...or maybe not...have some cast RB with a light charge of 700X wimpy plinking loads.

[Texas by God]

I've never had a shotgun butt slip from my shoulder; so I'll pass on the rifle style, thanks.

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[JFE]

I have a 25/20 and 50/90 with this type of butt stock. The 25/20 is OK but the 50/90 is a killer, even when using one of those sissy pads. A shotgun buttstock is preferable and, for me, more comfortable and practical for quick follow up shots when hunting.

They also make the toe of the stock quite vulnerable to damage. You see quite a few older rifles with a chip missing from the toe of the stock.

[T-Bird]

I guess I must be a sissy. Years ago, I stopped loading anything hot enough to make me bleed at the recoil of it. I actually like the curved butt plate. I quit shooting conicals out of my muzzle loader for this reason (reduce recoil).

[cwtebay]

I made my own 50 Hawken in the mid 70's using a set of blueprints that I bought from the Colorado Museum of an original Modina rifle. Of course it had a curved butt plate on it and wanting one as authenic as I could get, I put a curved butt plate on mine. mistake that I will never repeat. If you hold the rifle the way they did way back then, no problems. But I do not hold the butt on the inner ball of the shoulder socket in my other rifles. As a result when I shoot the Hawken in my normal style (I forget and hold it as normal) I get a very bruised shoulder or in the case of one day at a Black Powder Match, I came home with a big old bruise that had a small hole right in the center of it and a bloody undershirt from the blood that was oozing out of the little hole. Took a couple of weeks to heal up too. So I will never again have one of those type butts to kick mine. james

Bleeding at recoil!!!! Holy buckets!!!
OUCH

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[.45Cole]

The curved buttplates were made to be shot off the arm rather than the shoulder. You can see where by cupping your non-shooting hand into a "c" and putting it on your shooting arm just outside of your armpit - the perfect fit. Most were shot from here (actually works better than shoulder as you don't get caught up in clothes) and many people didn't rotate their thumb over the comb of the rifles either. Shoot a 1895 in 30-06 with curved buttplate, hurts if you do it wrong and is just fine if shot off arm.

[meh]

I've got a few rifles with crescent buttstocks. I know I tend to hold them more towards the arm, blading my body to the target more than with a flat buttstock, but I'm not actually sure whether I position the crescent on the outer shoulder or upper arm. I just go by comfort, so I'd have to check to see where I'm ending up. But none of mine are in hard kicking calibers, anyway. I can neither confirm nor deny, but Leverguns 50 on YT has some thoughts about why people think hard-hitting rifles with crescent buttstocks hurt more than they need to. I think he's got a good point about not holding the rifle in tight.