Q I have recently bought my first side-by-side shotgun – a 12g Baker from Chris Potter’s and intend to use it for clays and game. I have a shoe on the gun to help with better fit but I am 6ft3” and this is not working out brilliantly as I seem to need to hold it very high on my shoulder.
Would you please give me an idea of how much a Jones extender would cost?
Sephen Blinkhorn, by email
A You are certainly on the right lines with your thinking: having to hold the gun high in your shoulder shows that just lengthening the stock is not going to cure all of your gunfit problems, which is invariably the case, as most tall people have longer necks than average.
If you just extend the stock length, you will end up rolling your head forward onto the stock to make cheek contact. On a rising bird or target, because you are looking through the top of your eyes, not the centre, this can be the cause of head lift.
Although fitting a Jones-Adjuster, together with a leather-faced Kick-Eez pads, would certainly help, as the Jones will lift the gun up to your cheek instead of you dropping your head, I suggest a better way would be to cut the stock horizontally at both the heel and the toe and insert two pieces of matched Walnut, to form a deep Monte
Carlo-type stock.
This will be more in keeping with the style of the gun and with its intended use for both clay and game shooting. At the same time, I will also be able to set the top of the comb nearly parallel to the rib, to give you the correct height for your eye in relation to the sight picture needed. This would help reduce any recoil through the face, which is quite common with narrow combed guns.
I have often carried out this work on over-and-unders, and several times on side-by-sides to great effect.Tim Greenwood
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