Clyde,
Over time, certain shooting forms have been deemed "correct". They are so described because these forms have been shown to result in the most successful shooting.
I suppose your definition of
correct to describe the form required by the use of a Morgan or a poorly fitting stock, isn't that far off. We just use different standards.
So it is with the gun mount. The correct mount places the butt of the stock in the shoulder pocket. It is the area just inside of the shoulder joint. As an aside, the heel (top) of the butt, is placed in a position which is even or nearly even with the top of the shoulder. Both elements of shooting form, the height and the lateral placement of the butt, affect the position of the head when the gun is mounted, i.e. turned only slightly toward the stock, nearly upright with the eyes nearly in the centers of their sockets and with the neck not leaned or tilted toward the stock. There are too many benefits of those aspects of a correct form to list here. You'll have to buy my book to learn about them.
Concave Morgans do not allow the gun to be mounted in the shoulder pocket without the bottom toe of the pad digging into the chest. They come closest to fitting when the gun is mounted on the shoulder joint or the upper arm. Both constitute a mounting error.
The rotational movement of recoil pads (if we want to be hair-splitting technical), actually creates cast at the toe and at the same time, the opposite cast at the heel. Move the toe of the recoil pad nearer the armpit with the pad's rotational point at the center of the pad and the opposite cast has been created at the heel.
Cast is determined by looking at the gun from the back. If the stock as a whole or the comb via an adjustable comb, angles to the right, it is cast
off. If the stock angles to the left, it is cast
on. If the comb is to the right of the bore, it is cast
off. This is similar in effect to a stock that is
offset. Offset describes a stock that jogs one way near the wrist and then jogs the other way and continues back parallel to the barrel.
For a right-handed shooter, moving the toe of the pad toward the armpit creates cast
off at the toe and, at the same time, creates cast
on at the heel.
To cant the gun means to rotate the gun around the axis of the bore. I suspect that you are confusing cant with pitch. Pitch is the angle of the butt, usually, relative to the rib. It is usually close to ninety degrees.
The word police are everywhere,
everywhere! You can hardly swing a dead cat without hitting one.
Concerning all the shooters you see using Morgans with concave pads, they have my sympathy. They are suffering from a rather serious flaw in their shooting form, i.e. their gun mount. This in turn, causes other aspects of their shooting form to be corrupted. Disastrous? No, only a limitation to how well they will ever be able to shoot.
That shooters of different sizes and weights can shoot the same guns, isn't surprising. They simply adopt different shooting forms, i.e. stance, gun mount, stock crawling, etc. and some must corrupt one or more aspects of the form.
You are correct when you say that there must be a bunch of misinformed trap shooters out there who are using Morgans with curved pads, not only a bunch, but all who use them.
There are many trap shooters who know little of shooting form. They use the stance, gun mount and body posture that the dimensions of their stocks require them to use. Most of them get used to the form they have to use and as a result, never consider trying to learn the correct shooting form and the stock fitting that would allow them to use it. As is said, ignorance is bliss; this is a perfect example.
You are right in believing -I did not know that the curved and flat Morgan pads could be exchanged. Are both as hard as the concave Morgans I have seen in the past?
You are also correct when you accuse me of bad-mouthing Morgan adjusters. I don't know what they cost but the Jones adjuster at about $70.00 is far superior. Jones' pads can be rotated, adjusted up, down and in both directions side to side. They are also less than a quarter-inch thick and do not affect the length of the stock very much. They do not come with a recoil pad, however. Shooters must buy a quality pad of their choice.
http://www.stockfitting.com