Stock (firearms)

The modern gunstock shape began to evolve with the introduction of the arquebus, a matchlock with a longer barrel and an actual lock mechanism, unlike the hand-applied match of the hand cannon.

With both hands available to aim, the arquebus could be braced with the shoulder, giving rise to the basic gunstock shape that has survived for over 500 years.

[5] Ironically, the stocks of muskets introduced during the European colonization of the Americas were repurposed as hand-to-hand war clubs[6][7] by Native Americans and First Nations when fragile accessories were damaged or scarce ammunition exhausted.

The butt (or buttstock) is braced against the shooter's shoulder for stability and also interacts with the trigger hand, and is further divided into the comb (3), heel (4), toe (5), and grip (6).

In a one-piece stock, the butt and fore-end are a continuous monolithic piece, such as that commonly found on conventional bolt-action rifles.

Two-piece stocks use separate pieces for the butt and fore-end, such as that commonly found on break-action and lever-action firearms.

[8] In one-piece rifle stocks, the butt also varies in styles between the "European" type, which has a drop at the heel to favor quick shooting using iron sights; and "American" type, which the heel remains horizontal from the grip to favor more precision-oriented shooting using telescopic sights.

There are also in-between designs (such as the Weatherby Mark V) with a "halfway" heel drop where the front half of the buttstock stays leveled.

A collapsible (or telescoping) stock makes the weapon shorter and more compact for storage, carrying and concealment, and can be deployed just before shooting for better control.

There is some confusion between these terms, as the features are often combined, with the raised rollover cheekpiece (D) extending across the top of the stock to form essentially an exaggeratedly wide and high Monte Carlo comb.

Stock dimensioning is especially important with shotguns, where the typical front-bead-only sight requires a consistent positioning of the shooter's eye over the center of the barrel for good accuracy.

This layout places both the center of gravity and the position of the shoulder stock nearly in line with the longitudinal axis of the barrel bore, a feature increasing controllability during burst or automatic fire.

[15] Traditional gunstocks have a permanently-shaped buttstock that is fixed in length of pull and comb height, and cannot tailor to the anatomical variation between different users.

Alternatively, the buttstock can be built with a movable comb (known as a cheek riser) and/or buttplate, which use one or more guide rails to control position changes.

These moveable parts can be adjusted using a leadscrew usually turned with a knurled wheel, or have them slide freely along the guide rails and then fastened to desirable positions with set screws or thumbscrews.

[17][16] Regardless of the material actually employed, the general term "furniture" is often applied to gunstocks by curators, researchers and other firearm experts.

Folding, collapsible, or removable stocks tend to be made from a mix of steel or alloy for strength and locking mechanisms, and wood or plastics for shape.

Careful selection can yield distinctive and attractive features, such as crotch figure, feathering, fiddleback, and burl, which can significantly add to the desirability of a stock.

Two piece stocks are ideally made from a single blank, so that the wood in both parts shows similar color and figure.

Modern laminates consist of 1⁄16 inch (1.6 mm) thick sheets of wood, usually birch, which are impregnated with epoxy, laid with alternating grain directions, and cured at high temperatures and pressures.

The resulting composite material is far stronger than the original wood, free from internal defects, and nearly immune to warping from heat or moisture.

Repeating Arms Company (Winchester) to display some laminate stocks on their rifles in a green, brown and black pattern (often called camo).

[17] A hand-laid composite stock is composed out of materials such as fiberglass, Kevlar, graphite cloth, or some combination, saturated in an appropriate binder, placed into a mold to set, or solidify.

A few designs, like the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare, use a metallic chassis which securely beds the functional components of the firearm, with non-structural polymer panels attached externally like a shell for ergonomics and aesthetics.

The user only has to simply hold the trigger back against the grip, and the spring-assisted forward push will itself work against the recoil to cycle the shooting.