Greenwood Gunsmiths in Kent

If you have a younger shooter who is still growing, a lady with a long neck or high cheekbones, or indeed anyone with a none average shape, the picture below shows a very useful addition for your gun. It is called a Jones Adjuster. It consists of two plates. One attached to the gun, one to the pad. The two plates are joined in such a way that the pad can be moved to any position to allow a good, comfortable gun mount.

As you can see, the pad fits comfortably in the shoulder pocket, while the stock comes to the cheek without rolling the head forward. I other words, the gun comes to you, not you to the gun. This promotes consistent gun mounting, and reduces head lift and fatigue from recoil due to poor gun fit.

As you can see, this young shooter has a really long neck, hence fitting the adjustable pad. Be warned, there are cheap versions of this on the market, but they are rubbish, heavy and badly made. The Jones, in my opinion, is the best.

Most shooting schools use a Try Gun to help to asses a shooters measurements. This has a fully adjustable stock from which measurements can be taken for the shooter to take away and have transposed to his new bespoke shotgun, or his existing gun altered to.

Unfortunately, in most cases, it is not that easy. The measurement of cast, as previously explained is taken from a line, extended from the rib down the stock. If the measurement of ,for instance, 6mm cast off( R/H) is taken from a try gun with a thin stock, when it is transposed to a modern o/u with a thicker stock, it will need to be increased to compensate for the wood thickness, probably to 8 or even 10mm. Once again, a good, competent gunsmith should be able to help and advise when the work is done.

Another view of the Jones adjuster. As you can see, this has been set for a l/h shooter with a very long neck. The beauty is, it can be moved as the shooter grows, or his style changes. The two small holes accept an Allen key, supplied with the pad, for all adjustments.

One of the jobs I am most frequently asked to undertake is to shorten or lengthen the stock of a shotgun to fit the shooter.

I would always recommend that Clay Shooters have a pad fitted to the gun, whether to help lengthen the stock, or even to have one fitted when the gun is shortened. When clay shooting, a large number of shots are fired in a comparatively short space of time, which can cause bruising and fatigue from the recoil. However, if you are game shooting with an expensive English shotgun, you may not like the idea of a big lump of rubber being put on the end of your gun.

The best answer, in my opinion, is to extend with a piece of matching wood. If this is done properly, it is very difficult to even see the join or change in the wood grain.

Here is a pair of Holland& Holland 20 bores I was recently asked to extend with wood.

Micky Winters, one of the best trap shooters in Essex, if not the country, recently introduced me to Tracy Meston, the owner of Frock Stock and Barrel, a very successful company in Essex specialising in clay pigeon coaching and organising clay shooting events. As a fully qualified C.P.S.A. coach, she knew that, as she had just bought a new trap gun, it was important to have it properly fitted.

After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that the gun was a little long, needed more right hand cast (cast off) and to have a Jones Adjuster fitted, due to her long neck and high cheek bones.

The first part of the process, the gun set in the press to increase the cast.

So, with all the work done, it was time for Tracy to return for me to set up the Jones adjuster for her.

As you can see, by dropping the pad and plate down, Tracy has been able
to adopt a good “head up” position.

As you can see, by dropping the pad and plate down, Tracy has been able to adopt a good “head up” position.