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pdq

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Fellow shooters -- hoping for some advice.

A woman I shoot with has a chronic problem with bruising her cheek. She is shooting a standard Browning O/U, has overall good body stance / form and shoots in the high 80's in score. But, by about the end of 50 shots she wants to stop, due to discomfort.

Any classic things to look for as to what is causing this?

In advance, many thanks for the advice --

Pete
 
#2 ·
It's surely a gun fit issue. If she doesnt have an adjustable butt plate, would suspect that toe of plate is dgging in. If that isn't case look at pitch, and drop at comb.

Bob
 
#3 ·
My wife suffers the same problem and it has taken many adjustments to correct the problem. We were unable to make a wood stock work, bought a PFS and have finally solved the problem. Good luck, Jake
 
#4 ·
pdq,

Find a good fitter in your area and make an appointment for her. She probably needs the stock pitch change a little.

I've also been around a couple of lady shooters that had to end up getting a soft comb installed because of their cheek bone structure.

A good fitter helped both of these ladies rectify the situation.

ss
 
#5 ·
PDG---I have cured the cheek brusing problem on several of my shotguns. Cheap fix but does work. Follow the above postings BUT put the washers in the bottom of the butt pad, not the top. About 1/4 inch out further on the bottom makes the gun drop on recoil from the face. I have taken the chop saw and took 1/4 inch off the top of stocks bringing the cut out to the normal stock length on the bottom. Have done that on a few field shotguns with excellent results.

Had to do the same thing w/washers on my bt 99 plus.Even with the stock recoil reducer it still kicked my face until i put 1/4 inch of washers lengthing the bottom of the butt pad. Does not cost much to try. Hope this info helps. Steve
 
#7 ·
pdq,

I would say it is a pitch issue. I have very high cheekbones, and if the pitch isn't correct, I start to bruise, swell, and bleed. Find a stockfitter and have them check her out.

Matt
 
#8 ·
Pitch is a possible problem but there could be other causes. I fought cheek bumping for many years and went through several custom stocks. The only cure for me was a PFS.

Pat Ireland
 
#9 ·
Women are generally not as simple as a pitch change. Quite a few women have issues with cheek bruising that require a soft comb to correct the problem. Their faces are usually unlike ours and do not always respond to pitch changes that fix male common cheek bruising issues easily.

One might like to ask Nora or Stephanie that question as they suffered from this problem throughout theit shooting career and know a little about Trapshooting too!!
 
#10 ·
I will not argue that it is a pitch problem. I do have a hard time with people saying to change the bottom or the top on the pitch when they don't even know how the gun fits the person. What worked for them probably won't work for her or vise versa. The way to tell if the pitch needs changed is to mount the gun and when the pitch is correct the recoil pad will contact the shoulder the same top to bottom. Good luck but I would check the shoulder mount before I added washers anywhere.
 
#12 ·
A common cause of "cheek slap" is the wrong pitch, the angle of the butt. It is correct when the whole pad makes simultaneous contact with the shoulder as th gun is mounted using a normal shooting posture.

Other things that can cause cheek slap are:

A comb that is either too high or too low

Raising the cheek off the comb during swings

Shooting with too much weight on the back foot

A low gun mount (with the forward part of the cheek making contact with the comb)

Having the gun fitted to your friend is necessary. Her shooting form, particularly her gun mount, may also be wrong as may be other stock dimensions.

Rollin
 
#13 ·
Big Papa, Matt and Rollin and Pat have given you some good advise here. However, although common...
Pitch is not always the culprit. AS for the PFS stocks, I just finished my 3rd soft comb this week for a PFS that was a face- kicker. Some stocks are simply gonna kick the faces of some shooters. Pitch solves some. Cast solves others. Some require both. Some require neither. Best to Book a fitting session with a professional fitter.

Easy to make a gun stop kicking the face in most instances following simple do-it-youself add-ons like pitch or adding a cheek-eez sticky pad. Possible to put out the fire yet still NOT have the gun set up in a proper, sustainable fitting arrangment. Todd
 
#14 ·
One thing I did to my stock that made a difference was to adjust the comb so that it's parallel with the bore. Mine was slanted in towards my face just a little. What a difference. Also added a pitch spacer thicker on the top than the bottom.

Good luck.
 
#19 ·
My 13 year old daughter had the exact same problem when she advanced to shooting a 12 gauge. 50 shots would put a bruise on her cheek. We had the stock fit by a gunsmith, but the problem still existed. On the advice of another female (who had also suffered from this same issue), we discovered what was causing the bruising and also how to stop it.

When properly mounting the gun, the cheek/stock weld was tight enough that every time the gun recoiled, it literally jerked her cheek backward. This trauma was the cause of the bruising. (The stock was not "slapping" her in the face as the fit was correct.) It was the quick movement of the gun to the rear pulling on her cheek that was the problem.

When told this, I was not convinced. But the remedy was very simple and inexpensive so we gave it a try. We went to Rite-Aid and bought a small jar of cocoa butter with vitamin e (approximately $4.00). My daughter puts a liberal amount on her right cheek before shooting. This lubricates her cheek/stock weld and allows the gun to recoil and "slide" on her cheek instead of "jerking" her cheek. The bruising immediately stopped. Within 6 weeks of trying this, she was shooting 200 rounds per day with no bruising.

The cocoa butter can be wiped off of the gun stock at the end of the day with no adverse effects. My daughter is 15 now, and will not shoot without it on her cheek. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
 
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