# Firearms and Shooting > Shotgunning >  Hot Oil  stock bending

## el borracho

As with a select special few I was chosen to be a lefty shooter by God ! One can imagine the pains one goes through to get a gun to fit properly or even nearly given 99% of shotguns tend to cast to the right unless they are plastic ambidextrous stocks for those that dont appreciate Side by Sides. 
Why I didn't go to Youtube  I don't know ,but I found for many  right cast"cast off"and  to the left (cast-on) wooden stocks the process of changing them is actually quite easy .

I have supplied here two videos that I used to gain some knowledge and damn hell it works a treat ! as my old Bonehill side by side  now sports a cast on instead of its old cast off stock.
What I used to do this was so bloody simple .
1 x vice with cardboard to protect the action sides -one bottle of linseed oil -one pot to heat oil -one ladle to pour oil on with - gas burner to heat oil in pot -cotton tea towel cut to fit general area where bend would happen and sting to tie the 100% cotton tea towel pieces in place on the stock .

I will place some tin foil over the safe on/off  switch next time so no linseed oil enters the areas inside the action .  .
I did do a couple of things different to the videos -no flame as the dottering old boy was using as the heated oil was fine if ladled  on for 1/2 hou every 4 or so minutes  -plenty of heat .
I used a stick between the wall and stock to apply pressure sideways  after 20 minutes of heating to force the stock into position -I moved it twice as time went on --not an exact science but in my case I have plenty of left cast and am happy with he result .

If your a lefty this is a must and it isnt hard a t all ! these videos will give you a general idea

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## Rushy

OK colour me confused El B. I don't understand why you would do that to a shotgun.

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## el borracho

isnt it obvious Rushy ? You have a right hand gun but your a lefty --recast the gun to fit!!! voila !!!

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## Rushy

> isnt it obvious Rushy ? You have a right hand gun but your a lefty --recast the gun to fit!!! voila !!!


Nope not to me. I have an U/O shotgun and I can't for the life of me see why it wouldn't be just as effective / accurate shot from the left shoulder by a left handed person.  In fact there is nothing about it that causes me to believe it has a particular orientation. Maybe I just know to little about these things.

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## ebf

Thanks for posting that, love watching old timers at work  :Thumbsup:

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## Barefoot

I'll pick up your shottie next time at your place Rushy and tell you very quickly if a lefty can shoot it comfortably

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## Rushy

> I'll pick up your shottie next time at your place Rushy and tell you very quickly if a lefty can shoot it comfortably


Sure.  I would be interested to know.

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## 308jase

> As with a select special few I was chosen to be a lefty shooter by God !


 :Grin:  :Grin:  :Grin:  :Thumbsup:

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## el borracho

Good ! A worthy post . Rushy the left shooters  aim is pushed to one side when using a stock with the wrong cast and it is harder to hit something as he is not looking down the barrel squarely at the end bead and bird  but at a point on the barrel which will cause a miss.Is all about fit!!the very first image is a right cast gun -imagine my face fit in that stock as a lefty and where my eye would be -probably 3/4 way along the barrel to one side .

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## Rushy

Thanks El B. I wasn't aware that the butt of my shotgun had a kink in it. I must get it out of the safe and have a close look.

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## Brian

Great post.I've just made a stock with a twist in the butt. Thought it was a balls up but turns out its cast off at toe. 
Makes me feel a lot better.

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## Rushy

I just got my shotgun out of the safe and laid it flat on the top of the freezer to see if the butt was offset as you guys are saying. If it is then it is imperceptible to this old mans naked eye.  Here is a couple of pics taken with my iPad

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## greghud

> I just got my shotgun out of the safe and laid it flat on the top of the freezer to see if the butt was offset as you guys are saying. If it is then it is imperceptible to this old mans naked eye.  Here is a couple of pics taken with my iPad Attachment 25792Attachment 25793


thats coz your doing it wrong, stick the barrels on it then take the same photos.
greg

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## Rushy

> thats coz your doing it wrong, stick the barrels on it then take the same photos.
> greg


The barrels were on it.  The shotgun was closed and laying on its side

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## greghud

its not as exaggerated as the illustrations above.
sit the butt on the floor, holding the barrels, look down the line if the rib of the barrels with your eye, you will see the stock kick out slightly, it is usualy only a few mm.
cheap turkish shotguns tend to have less cast as they are trying to have one fit all. 
greg

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## Rushy

Thanks Greg. The shotgun is Italian.  I only posted the pics to aid the discussion for others and my being as technical as the hole in a doughnut I am not personally fussed about whether it has a kink or not and without going back to the safe I am fairly certain that if it is only kinked by millimetres then I wouldn't pick it up.  It shoots well, it hits rabbits ducks and clays so I am a happy camper.

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## el borracho

the one i bent -i note the toe"bottom" of the stock has less cant than the heel "top" in other words the heel is twisted further to the left which is just fine --mainly cause of my bodgey single contact point stick forcing one area more than another to the left

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## veitnamcam

That looks to be a hell of a lot!??

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

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## Gibo

> That looks to be a hell of a lot!??
> 
> Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2


+1 and i thought the ak was the banana gun  :Grin:

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## PerazziSC3

+1

you must have a very very unusual shooting style el b

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## el borracho

yes it does appear to be well left . Now practicing shouldering the gun im near  bead on perfect

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## el borracho

> +1
> 
> you must have a very very unusual shooting style el b


a fat head lol

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## PerazziSC3

if it comes up well then all good! 

try closing both eyes, picking the gun up and quickly mounting. then open eyes.

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## el borracho

doing that I could probably change the angulation from heel to toe slightly to have a better fit .I saw slightly before the bead -mind you my consistency of mount may need some improvement as a certain straight forearm style  lands me bang on

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## Rushy

> a fat head lol


That wasn't the only thing the last time I saw you El B. You looked rather like a shorter me.

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## el borracho

The stock does have a good bend on for sure but It will be a shooter once I make a small angular adjustment to the butt -I wont do this but have a smith do that part . One can be for more exacting in the bend by making a jig and having the perfect measurements once a knowledgeable person has given the fit size to you  -the remainder of us will have to do with abit here and a bit there until you feel the gun comes up and eyes the bead well .
I have to say I am glad I tried this as the cost to do this with a pro is possibly over a grand !!
Now time to take this out and as they say "the proofs in the pudding"

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## Pointer

That's a ton of cast! 20mm is considered tons, that must be 50-60!

But as you say, you wont know until you go a round of clays with it. hopefully you have a baseline score the modifications to compare your improvements to

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## el borracho

yeah , a few easy misses on feather lol - I will shoot some clays rather than feather to check if the pudding is upto standard !!! :Thumbsup: if it needs to come back after that a quick hot brill cream job is all thats needed and viola !!

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## Ground Control

I have never had a stock bent , but a fellow I knew had one done quite a few years ago .
Over a period of time the stock actually tried to return to its original shape . The timber has a memory of sorts and I remember him telling me that he was told every stock is different and some handle the bending better than others .
Both my wife and son are lefties and we have a lefty gun that they share .
It's actually quite handy that they are that way inclined because it means I never have to share my gun  :Have A Nice Day: 


Ken

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## el borracho

an interesting point I noted also about stock bending is the higher grade timbers are easier to bend than the lower grades !

Funny I was with my employer the other day and he is a guy that tutu's heaps with guns and he showed me his Holland and Holland that he was restoring -a job I wouldn't take on but he has .

The side plates were well worn and he some time back purchased an engraving machine which he has shown to have a little proficiency  with .He pulled a side plate and showed me his engraving which to be honest wasn't to bad given the work he had to do on the surface to get it to a standard worth working on . He then proceeded to tell me the one problem he has had with the engraving -he spelt Holand and Holand wrong -yes you saw it ...with one L ......... :Omg:

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## Gibo

Thats a L of a fuck up!

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## Maca49

Fark Rushy that guy looked just like you. If your not into quality old english shotguns Rushy just shoot it the way it is, or park the Highlander on it overnight! :Thumbsup:

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## Gibo

> Fark Rushy that guy looked just like you. If your not into quality old english shotguns Rushy just shoot it the way it is, or park the Highlander on it overnight!


He'd get a better result sitting on it  :Wink:   :Psmiley:

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## el borracho

> He'd get a better result sitting on it


are you suggesting Rushy uses the hot gas method  :Wtfsmilie:

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## Gibo

> are you suggesting Rushy uses the hot gas method


Ha Ha  :Thumbsup:  Yeah hot gas then cold press  :XD:  Im just helping you out after all the shit he's been giving you lately  :Wink:

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## Ground Control

> the one i bent -i note the toe"bottom" of the stock has less cant than the heel "top" in other words the heel is twisted further to the left which is just fine --mainly cause of my bodgey single contact point stick forcing one area more than another to the left


Does that stock have a through bolt to attach it to the receiver ?
Is it a box lock or side lock gun ?


Ken

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## el borracho

its a bonehill box lock , not an expensive gun but must say very nice piece of wood !through bolt i would say it would have to -dont they all have one? off to the smith to make good the butt pad on Wednesday

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## Toby

The one I just pulled to bits doesnt have a bolt and I cant recall a bolt on the one I had before that either.

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## Rushy

Bloody hell look at this.  I go away for a few hours and Maca and Gibo are into me with the boot.  Bastards it'll keep.

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## el borracho

ill have a look at the smiths on Wednesday - i thought they all had a long shaft into the action through the stock but im but a novice

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## lophortyx

a good point groundcontrol,a bolt through the stock will complicate things.the italalians were the first to make this practice widespread,although it is fairly universal now,especially with u/o,but english s/s are still made the traditional way.before attempting any bending you need to establish if the butt stock is held by a bolting system.ie remove the butt plate/pad and have a look. the guy in the video ,jack rowe, i think he is in his late eighties in this clip, is/was regarded as one of the great experts in all facets of english gunmaking.what he appears to be doing so casually has a tremendous depth of experience behind it.

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## Chop3r

A lot of the English guns dont have a butt bolt. I can recall my father bending shotgun butts, an interesting process

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