I could talk for hours about this issue. I will try to keep it short. I learned to hunt rabbits at about 11, dad gave me a heavy 12 SXS non selector 30". I used it but never liked it! My older brother was given a little lovely Fox 20 SW with double ivories...man it was sweet! Dad no longer hunted and we did not have much luxury cash in them days so I used the big 12 for several years. I did ok on rabbits if they got out there or I cut them in half. Don't think I ever hit a rooster with that gun. Now I know why..pretty sure I was shooting under them. I started working at 16 for Woolworths in the coffee shop, soon I bought a Hi Standard pump 20....I shot that gun well! Later I got a better paying job in Sheet&Yube steel mill. Being a smart modern young man I thought I wanted a Over Under they looked so cool and sleek! I bought a SKB 600 all engraved up, silver receiver 26" 20ga. I sold my pump to a older kid. I soon found out I could not hit with the SKB and sold it, next I bought a Remington 870. It saw little use...I got very interested in GIRLS. That lasted way to long, did not get married till I was 35. So now I get back into hunting, deer was my main interest as we no longer had wild pheasants left in eastern Ohio. Ohio was a shotgun state back then so I bought a deer barrel for 870. Then one day on the Gun List that came in the mail I saw the full page add for Parker Reproduction SXS shotguns at close-out prices. I got on the phone to Jaque's and bought a 20ga two barrel set.....My SXS addiction started that day! An infection I still have as I type. I did not like the single trigger of my PR, it was way to hard to switch the barrel selector. So I sold that set and looked for a double trigger model that I found in short order. About that time I started shooting sporting clays. Something I had never done before so I had to learn. I shot and shot till I started breaking birds and slowly got better at it. Self taught and had no clue about stock dimensions and all that. I kept shooting and learned to shoot my repro and got much better at it. Well that gun is stocked 1 1/4 by 2 1/8 That is high compared to the old Parkers and Fox guns I wanted to own. Wow that dimensions stuff is important! Now today a look for the old guns that are stocked hi. They are hard to find indeed, its a battle I fight all the time. In the past 10 years I have bought several PR sets and 3 Parker guns that have hi stocks. I ordered a made for me CSMC Fox and bought a few English guns and two Ithica Classic doubles all are stocked kinda hi. My advise is...If you want to own all kinds of shotguns and be able to shoot them (ALL) well stick with 1 1/2 2 1/2 and the correct pull you shoot. You can find the old ones stocked that way if you take your time. Minor bending will also help in some cases. Restocking is a expensive option. I know the PR market...there are guns out there with lower dimensions, look for one of them! I am a wild bird hunter, I do not have time to think about what gun I have and how it shoots hi or low, I want a gun in my hands that shoots exactly ware I point it....period. I have shot the feet of several roosters and blasted the breast meat...not good! When I have a proper fitting gun its head shots for me...(-: Stock dimensions are not the whole story, get to the patterning board often, shoot sporting clays and find your sweet spot. Don't buy guns that do not fit if you plan to hunt with them. SXS Ohio
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