How to measure your length of pull

Shotgun balancing

Q: How do I change the balance of my shotgun?

For good handling, a shotgun should balance either on the hinge pin, or about three eights of an inch behind it, but there’s more to it than that.

The main weight of the gun should be concentrated in the part between your hands. In other words, between the middle of the fore-end chequering and the pistol grip.

If an over-under is muzzle-heavy, it can be improved by fixing a lead weight in the stock bolt hole, just under the butt plate.

However, such a cure will not make a gun balance quite as well as one that was built with good balance and handling in the first place.

Make sure the weight is firmly attached to the butt pad, because if it slips down the hole you will have a hell of a job to get it out next time you wish to remove the stock bolt.

With a stock that doesn’t have a bolt hole, you can take off the butt pad or plate and drill a hole for the weight. (Mike George)