Bolt action rifles and cheek weld

[Technologist]

After I got my m14 clone and began googling for scope mounts I became very conscious of the height of the scope relative to the bore. I'm currently using a home made cheek rest that is over 2" high and if I close my eyes and have a nap in the prone firing position I wake up with my eye looking into the scope but not properly centered.

For a year or so I've been casually looking at complementing my beloved tractor of a gun with a more harmonic hunting rifle. For various reasons I'm looking for a bolt action rifle, but it bothers me that even in modern designs the stocks are even lower than is required by the protrusion of the bolt. Why is this? Is my face abnormally shaped?

One work-around that is popular here in sweden is sending your gun to a smith and having them cut out an adjustable cheek rest from your stock. In my eyes this is barbarically ugly. I don't mind synthetic stocks or laminate stocks or tacky Tapco furniture but it kills me when people take a beautiful, expensive fine walnut stock with lines that are the conscious product of a true artist and saw them up to make an adjustable cheek rest.

The person who designed the stock didn't intend it to be used cut in two, and this is immediately obvious to most who hold the rifle.

Justerbar kolvkam | Forsa Bössmakeri

At this page you can see some examples not of fantastic stocks but of stock shapes that simply don't go well with the cheek rest riser.


As I said, don't mind people doing what they feel is right to their rifles, but I don't get why manufacturers won't try harder to circumvent this problem.

I guess what I want to ask the LongRangeHunters is; those of you who use wooden stocked bolt action rifles, how have you handled this problem? Is cheek weld as important to you as to me?

 

[BrentM]

You are not alone on this I think. I see these goofy things that bolt to a stock and are just flat ugly with bolts sticking out etc. Horrid. I do what many folks do and build my own for about $12. It is cheap, looks ok, and works.

 

[MudRunner2005]

M14's are not bolt-action....An M14 is a semi-auto .308 Win. Unless there is some new moniker that is ripping the M14 designation off, pertaining to a bolt-action rifle...In which case, I am unaware.

You can even take a beer koozie and stick it under your stretchy butt-stock shell holder. I've done that before, too. Worked great for me.

 

[Technologist]

M14's are not bolt-action....An M14 is a semi-auto .308 Win. Unless there is some new moniker that is ripping the M14 designation off, pertaining to a bolt-action rifle...In which case, I am unaware.

You can even take a beer koozie and stick it under your stretchy butt-stock shell holder. I've done that before, too. Worked great for me.

I don't think you read all of my original post.

Regarding the actual topic of cheek rests I have tried making my own using old newspapers and gaffer tape but I'm looking for a longer lasting and better integrated solution before I buy a new dedicated hunting rifle.

You are not alone on this I think. I see these goofy things that bolt to a stock and are just flat ugly with bolts sticking out etc. Horrid. I do what many folks do and build my own for about $12. It is cheap, looks ok, and works.

Well, yours is better looking than mine!

http://www.kkc.no/properties/new-rifle-or-new-stock/

This company makes a stock with great ergonomics. The price is in the ball park of 700 dollars and they can only be fired from the right shoulder (grip design) but they sure seem like a nice upgrade. Very untraditional though.

 

[BrentM]

I like that. However, I do like a standard angled stock to use with a rear bag while hunting. The elevation adjustment for LR is awesome. For bench rest I like a flat stock.

There really isn't anything great commercially out there for a shooter with eye to eye piece alignment issue's that doesn't require mods to the stock. I have not yet found out if my stock is hollow or not. If it is not I will likely drill the top of the cheek area for two stud holes. The studs will line up with a cheek piece I can attach or remove easily. I actually like the neoprene cover as it provides a little bit of cushion and it covers up my little gadget. That gadget is held in place via electrical tape and then covered. Right now my rifle is right bolt but can be fired from either side. I am a left hand shooter.

 

[Technologist]

I like that. However, I do like a standard angled stock to use with a rear bag while hunting. The elevation adjustment for LR is awesome. For bench rest I like a flat stock.

There really isn't anything great commercially out there for a shooter with eye to eye piece alignment issue's that doesn't require mods to the stock. I have not yet found out if my stock is hollow or not. If it is not I will likely drill the top of the cheek area for two stud holes. The studs will line up with a cheek piece I can attach or remove easily. I actually like the neoprene cover as it provides a little bit of cushion and it covers up my little gadget. That gadget is held in place via electrical tape and then covered. Right now my rifle is right bolt but can be fired from either side. I am a left hand shooter.

I have been thinking along the lines of detachable rather than adjustable as well, I've even been thinking of having two holes like you mention. The riser needs to come off for when the bolt is being removed and not just actuated to run the action. What's the point of having an adjustable cheek rest anyway? I only have one head and I don't intend the scope to be moving up and down much...

The challenge is designing a cheek rest that doesn't look like a giant blob yet still goes well with the rest of the stock. The kkc has very edgy lines and the sharp angles of the rest do not look out of place on the kkc. On a traditional stock, I don't think that cheek rest would look as good.

 

[BrentM]

No sir it would not look that great. They make different colors of neoprene if you thought this is a way to go. On another note, you could find matching wood for a cheek piece and then tap your stock with a female insert. You would have to unscrew the piece for cleaning, but it would look good.

 

[D.ID]

No sir it would not look that great. They make different colors of neoprene if you thought this is a way to go. On another note, you could find matching wood for a cheek piece and then tap your stock with a female insert. You would have to unscrew the piece for cleaning, but it would look good.

There you go........ I know it aint your thing because it's all function without trying to dress it up but the choate cheek riser saddles the stock and screws down over the original stock with a single screw (onto a choate stock) and it works slick. If you made one of wood to match your stock it would still be pretty.
While I understand stock design and the reasoning behind the angles, it drives me nuts almost every bolt gun off the shelf comes with a snap shooting free hand stock. I almost never shoot that way even hunting so it irritates me that every major manufacturer slaps a low comb or drop heal monty carlo on there guns or an angled but to send the muzzle skyward under recoil.
I need a parallel straight comb (for heal hight) +riser for scope use, a vertical grip and a 90 degree but plate preferably with a for-grip parallel to the bore and **** near nobody equips rifles that way factory so every gun I buy needs a new stock right off the bat.

 

[BrentM]

I am in total agreement.

 

[youngtrout]

Can't believe this was not brought up, but the big reason these things are adjustable and removable is so you can clean your rifle. IMO

Most likely not the only reason most factory sticks have sporters, but think remington would get more complaints from guys who have to remove their stocks to clean, or use an otis type system.

I have a fixed high cheek I made for my 260, but have to remove stock to clean, big reason I bought the fat wrench so I could torque back each time.

The kydex type ones look the most simple for retro-fitting. A quick removable one could be made up by the guy with a bit of tooling, I drool over the mcmillans and manners, that are adjustable, but that a bigger leap than simply modifying factory.

 

[BrentM]

It has been brought up, nearly every post refers to the fact factory stocks are not set up for the LR and big scope crowd. Perhaps the idea is more infered but that is what we have been discussing. All risers have to be removable to allow the bolt to be removed for proper cleaning. I have a model 600 that has to have the stock removed to remove the bolt. PIA.

 

[shortpants]

Cleaning is an obvious reason for them being adjustable but not the only reason. There can be a big difference from shooter to shooter so if more than one person might shoot the rifle it helps to be adjustable. Also going from bench to prone or even different prone positions (body higher or lower than the rifle on the side of a mountain) can cause slightly different head positions. Having an adjustable cheek piece makes it easier to get comfortable in any position.