A shorter length stock allows one to be able to get their shooting arm elbow tucked down and inside the body line. This assists in stability, and makes life easier if one needs to shoot one handed only. The tucked down elbow also keeps the elbow protected if you are going through door ways so you don't show your elbow first to whoever may be on the other side, as well as keeps you from smacking your elbow going through the doorway.
To obtain a tucked elbow one needs to turn the body more forward and not bladed. Our training philosophy is turn the torso as much forward as possible. This forward position is natural for movement, as we walk around all day with the torso facing forward and not bladed. Also if you are in a bladed position, take a step forward and you will find you are not in a very balanced position for a stable shooting foundation.
Short stocks do assist those who wear body to obtain a proper cheek weld by getting the head forward so your nose can touch the charging handle. Small stature people also benefit from a shorter length stock as well.
One other option is our Sully Stock that we offer. This stock has just become recently available after its two year in the making.
Our stock is approximatley 8-1/8" in length.
This length was derived from the first lockout position on a collapsable stock of which is what we found shooters chose most of the time. This length also allows one to use the 1" spacer that DPMS sells, to still give you one choice of size length under the Military A1 stock. You will also see that on the Sully Stock we did some under cutting. This undercutting was done for th purpose of makeing it easier for the user to wrap their hand around it for carrying and field combative techniques. This undercutt also makes it a lot more comfortable for a field type cradle carry. Our stock is also solid urethane all the way through, of which we found offered a better feel of balance, as well as makes it a lot more sturdy. It uses a short CAR buffer and spring, so you can only use it on 16" of shorter barrels. A photo of the Sully Stock next to the A1 and A2 for comparison is available for viewing on our website if you just click on the photo of the OD colored M4.
Stay Safe,
Sully
Chief Instructor
www.defensive-edge.net
www.dpmsinc.com