Shotgun fit for a woman

[Sigfan220]

I have been trying to find a shotgun that fits my fiancee. Nothing seems to fit. I've tried youth models and even the super tiny Mossbergs with the stubby stocks. Nothing looks right. She is a lot shorter than me so nothing that fits me will ever work. Do most people just buy and regular gun and have a gunsmith modify the stock to fit the shooter? Any tips would be appreciated.

She is left handed too which throws a wrench in things. I was thinking Browning BPS 20ga so I can sell it if she doesn't like it. The upland special looks like it would work good, shorter barrel lighter weight. I'd hate to buy a left handed shotgun and have her not use it and have a hard time selling it.

[grimbeaver]

My wife (also left handed) loves her 20ga Browning Citori Micro Midas. It has a 13" length of pull. I believe you can buy a BPS Micro Midas that has shins to adjust the length of pull.

[Squib Joe]

The CZ Lady Sterling or 712 ALS have been good from what I've heard to fit shorter arms. The ALS is adjustable too, but not very classic looking with the Akita stock

[grimbeaver]

Another good one to look at would be the Franchi Affinity Compact. It has a length of pull between youth and fullsize that is more female friendly.

[870TC]

Just throwing something out here, might be way off...but trying to help. Have you checked her eye dominance?
You say "nothing looks right". If your fiancee happens to be cross eye dominate, it can look like the gun does not fit, as she will try to look/sight with her right eye. It may appear like her head is trying to lay over the top of the stock, in order to get her dominate eye in line with the beads.

[curteric]

870tc is on the right track. shotgunworld.com has a section devoted to women shooters.
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewfor ... 5839fb2d58

[Sigfan220]

Just throwing something out here, might be way off...but trying to help. Have you checked her eye dominance?
You say "nothing looks right". If your fiancee happens to be cross eye dominate, it can look like the gun does not fit, as she will try to look/sight with her right eye. It may appear like her head is trying to lay over the top of the stock, in order to get her dominate eye in line with the beads.

I haven't but that's a good idea.

I'd totally go for an over under if she had more experience and I knew she would use it. I'd like to keep it under $700-800 for the first shotgun. I'll check into some of the options listed in the posts

[smurfman]

The suggestions regarding shotgun world and eye dominance are pretty good places to start. I would also recommend a session with a registered sporting clays instructor as their training includes the basics of determining gun fitting. A long time instructor may even have some samples to try which can narrow down your. Hoodies.

Youth stocks tend to be shorter versions of standard stocks and are not
Likely to fit women very well. Women tend to have higher cheekbones than men/boys so need a higher combed stock. I have mostly seen trap stocks converted to fit women as they are pretty close and usually need a little
adjustment for length. As it is easier to remove wood to fit rather than add, a trap stock works better than a field or often those meant for sporting clays.

In the days Remington ran their shooting school, the instructors often put 760/742 stocks on the respective 20 or 28 ga guns for women to use. The frame sizes were the same with the rifle stocks being short enough for the majority of women as well as having a high enough comb. That would be the advantage with Remington guns- pretty inexpensive to start out with and pretty reasonable prices on accessories.

[JJ]

Another issue with shotgun fit, that guys don't think about, is how the stock and the chesticles interface. Too much focus is placed on the LOP, and not on cast.

For many women, they need a strong cast-off, with an opposing and downward pitch to be more comfortable.

My wife (5'1") has actually migrated to SxS shotguns, as she has eye dominance issues, and has learned to shoot more "heads up" and not lay her eye on the sight line.

[Sigfan220]

My wife (also left handed) loves her 20ga Browning Citori Micro Midas. It has a 13" length of pull. I believe you can buy a BPS Micro Midas that has shins to adjust the length of pull.

I ended up getting a deal on a BPS Micro Midas 20ga. It has the shims and you get 50% off a full size stock if you want one. I figure I can put one of those foam pads on the stock to bring the comb up. If she uses it we can always upgrade.

[grimbeaver]

I ended up getting a deal on a BPS Micro Midas 20ga. It has the shims and you get 50% off a full size stock if you want one. I figure I can put one of those foam pads on the stock to bring the comb up. If she uses it we can always upgrade.

Congrats it will serve you/her well. I have the same gun but from before they started doing the shims. I intended to get the full size stock for her Citori but never got around to it. Also I found that with the shorter stock they both make great winter guns for me when I'm wearing thick layers.

The only gotcha I've found with the BPS is explaining to new people how to load it when shooting clays. Personally I prefer to load all my rounds via the magazine instead of trying to load the gun upside down. So before ejecting my empty I will push in the next round that way my next round gets dropped onto the correct side of the forks and floats there till I close it. I actually do that for my first round too, I will close the empty gun, load the round into the magazine and then hit the release which is perfectly placed for the left handed shooter. The main trouble with loading this way is getting new people to pay attention and not load a new round right before they need to switch stations.