It goes back to the famed Pigeon rings in Monte Carlo. Funny how everything goes back to shooting Pigeons.
An early mention of the Monte Carlo Stock... Drew Hause 1893 Sporting Life MODIFIED GUN STOCK. “Something New From England Which Isn't Popular” A representative English gun firm recently devised a new gun stock which is quite a novelty, but not likely to find favor with many sportsmen. The firm terms the new stock a “modified stock.” This stock, while retaining the extreme drop at the butt, has a parallel bend along the face line from the comb to five or six inches back, giving the same alignment at any point between these limits, subject in some cases to slight modifications. It is generally conceded that shooting is greatly improved when the stock fits easily against the face at the moment of sighting. This cannot always be obtained when the drop of the stock continuously increases from the comb to the extreme butt. As most guns used by American sportsmen have a bend of one and three-fourths inches at comb to three inches or more at butt, there is an increasing slope of about one-fourth-inch between these points. It follows that in shooting a high-flying bird the face presses against the stock nearer the comb than when aiming at a low-flying bird or ground game; therefore, according to the flight, high or low, so the sight is taken at various distances from the comb and practically increasing or diminishing the bend of the gun at each shot. English and continental sportsmen for years have used stocks parallel from comb to butt, but the extreme drop of guns which has prevailed with American sportsmen, although there is now a tendency to use straight stocks, has interfered with, the attainment of that desideratum - easy and accurate shooting.
Thanks Trap3 I was going to copy and paste the same thing after finding it via google but figured I would look smart by just posting what I did.
so now a valid question should be, was that style stock used at the monte carlo as a result of wanting a better aim for the game? or, did the new stock just take on the name of the casino?
"The stock shape got its name from being associated with a particular gun. However, it was not a rifle. It was the W&C Scott Monte Carlo shotgun, to be exact." "These stocks were called “Monte Carlo style”, with the word “style” eventually dropping off. The shotgun was named Monte Carlo for the pigeon shooting rings in Monaco. It was a shotgun range located behind the famous casino. The Monte Carlo shooting facility existed from 1872 until 1972, and in the late 19th and early 20th century held a number of competitions. It was very well known in the sport shooting community at the time. The Scott gun was marketed as designed specifically for those competitions, and many shooters there did, in fact, use them."
So what brought in the RE-Verse Monte Carlo stock ? I've heard those who lost a lot of money with Flyers !
I don't know if Al Ljutic was the "first" but he made them in the mid 1960's. An article in 1985 about Fajen stated that they made them but I would think it was Al's idea that they copied You can google Ljutic guns and read all about the different models AL designed. Along with everything else he developed and made. That's a story in itself There was one guy years ago that was writing an article about the 1964 guns and was trying to track down who owned which Reno guns from #1 to around #23. He said Punkin Flock owned gun #16, the one the replica is holding in the HOF. I would be willing to bet the stock was made to fit her but this guy thought it was a "regular" shaped stock. He also said that he saw some records that showed she also owned # 18 which had a smaller forearm to fit her hand AND a reverse Monte Carlo. He said Nadine disagreed but even though he loved her, he still thought he was correct due to the extensive research he had been doing. There was a Ljutic for sale on GA years ago that the owner claimed was owned by Punkin and it had a reverse Monte Carlo.
Joe Devers was using a reverse Monte Carlo on flyers as early as the 50's. He fashioned one for an early Browning O/U 32" trap gun with the pre war low stepped 7mm rib. The style was even know as a "Dever's Carlo" among his circle of flyer shooters. I know that Joe had a reverse MC stock on his Mono Gun in 1968 when I first saw it.
Yep my good Friend (RIP) Ron Hall had Ljutic build him a Bi-matic with a Reverse Monte Carlo in the late seventies , he never got attached to it as , it went by-by ! It sure was a nice looking gun , never heard where it went !
If it was invented by the pigeon shooters from Eastern PA it would have been called the, Yuengling stock
