I do. I have. It made no difference for me at all.
Talking about fitted stocks and made to measure stocks is fine BUT for the average shooter they don't really make much economic sense. It makes a great deal of sense though for a manufacturer to make their, shall we say, off the shelf cheaper guns with a middle ground stock and an adjustable comb. This allows the buyer at no cost at all to themselves to fine tune their gun how they want it. Changes to cast at heel, comb height or even a Monte Carlo parallel comb become possibilities. Now for those who can afford it anybody who wants to buy a Perazzi can have a fitted stock made for them... at no extra cost to them... but not everyone wants to spend that much money.
If I needed shooting to make economic sense, I’d get a pea shooter or a spud gun.
Im well below average, a relative novice still in my defence
When it became obvious I needed to modify my stock, I took a step by step approach. Needing a shorter LoP I removed the butt pad. Needing a higher comb, I taped on a comb raiser. Needing more cast on, I rammed my face into the stock, and needing to lengthen/ lower the grip, I had to put up with what I had.
the next step I took was approach gunsmiths/stockers to modify my stock. Shortening was fine. An adjustable comb for cast and comb height, despite that I don’t get along with them as I find I snag them on my vest, was the appropriate solution and the grip would have to remain as it was as no smith/stocker was willing to modify. That cost was £600 for half a job. Affordable, yes. Value added? Not so much. Well, not for me anyway
So I looked into a custom stock, prices from £500 up to close to £5,000!
I looked at hacking my stock and getting a factory replacement should I ever need to revert back for a sale or whatever. £1,600
In the end, being a bit of a amateur woodworker, though certainly no James Krenov, I made a stock from some American black walnut and reinforced it with a carbon fibre wrap just aft of the pistol grip as it is quite cut away and the balancing system renders the timber quite thin.
I plan to use this as a pattern for a full composite stock. Mainly because I’m interested in doing so, it won’t cost me too much and its all part of a learning process before I make the eventual trip to Manuel Ricardo next year.
So, for me, it’s about your own personal decisions about what is valuable and affordable and if it makes sense to you, average shooter or not.
The way I look at it is this . A clay costs 30 pence , a cartridge costs 20 pence . That’s 50 pence a pop . On average I reckon a good gunfitting session and cast might cost you £200 ( my last 3 were nearer £300 as I had pads changed and on the 20 had the drop at face raised ) . If those mods buy me 400 or 600 more targets per gun over the life of the gun ownership they have paid for themselves . It becomes more relevant when you are live quarry shooting IMHO , and you aren’t going to settle into a pre mounted stance and call pull .
Even with a factory adjustable comb , I think there is a strong case to have a competent coach / gunfitter assess the fit , set it up with you and then confiscate the key .
I totally agree. The most expensive clay shooting can be, is a missed target... my shooting is thus very expensive!
I could pay 35p per cartridge, but what’s the point if I’m missing half of the presentations? I’m not doing such a shell the justice it deserves (debatable)
Ok, I’m being a bit ridiculous with my thought process as I still enjoy shooting whether is miss or hit, and I have my doubts that RF or GD would suffer a significant drop in form if they started shooting the cheapest of cheap shells.
But I’d getting a good gun fit help hit more clays, and it further adds to my enjoyment, then I see no problem in spending the money on my hobby.
That said, I’m not convinced that a perfectly fitted gun is the be all and end all either. I made my decision because it’s making me happy to do so. There aren’t any other reasons for me as I’m never going to be that great a shot that I’d see a return on investment so to speak