I have one that makes this more than an academic question for me. Its a VHE 20 with 30" bbls, 2 7/8" chambers, Lyman ivory bead, 14 1/2" straight grip stock with Silvers pad, 6 lb 6 oz. All good until is comes to the 3 1/2" drop at heel. It's fine for shooting clays when I can set up with the heads up stance needed to shoot it well. I switch guns a lot when hunting grouse in the heavy bush my area and I've gotten in the habit of shooting fast. Unfortunately I can say I've literally never hit a bird with the first shot with that gun. I've also got a Fox AE 20, a L.C. Smith 00E 20, and a several British and European guns that get rotated in, so after I picked up a VHE 20 28" with higher dimensions last year the 30" never made it out again. Would I buy another with similar dimensions? Probably, but I'm weak that way.

I agree that a seasoned shooter can adapt to different dims on guns, but the RIGHT dims will up the score in the long run. I had a dear friend, now deceased, that was a serious sporting clays shooter. He really wanted to improve, but was stuck in the very low 70s, out of 100. He shot a high stocked gun that required floating the bird/target in order to score. A mutual friend tried to explain to him the futility of doing that, when he could shoot a gun that didn't require it. He was insistent that floating the bird was okay, and to prove it he took aim at a pine cone on a limb, floated it the right amount, and centered the pine cone. He turned around, looked at our buddy and said, "See?". Our buddy replied "Yeah, it works about 70% of the time, doesn't it?". Our friend dropped his head and looked embarrassed as the reality of it sunk in.

Just this spring I tried shooting a gun that had too much drop in it for me. I was able to shoot the first shot successfully by keeping my head a little high, I was even able to be successful on lazy report pairs where I had time to position my head correctly. On true pairs that required a quick second shot I was a mess. Instinct dug in and my head went back down on the stock on the second bird. That stock has now been bent and it is a much more pleasurable Parker to shoot. Others are probably more disciplined than I.

For me it depends on the intended use of the gun. For a clays gun I need a higher stock say around 14 3/4 - 1 3/8 - 2 1/4 For a grouse and woodcock gun my ideal is around 14 - 1 5/8 - 2 3/4. Anything lower than 3" dah I would have to put a comb pad on.