The rigid grip on a fixed spot is, as a matter of fact, a disadvantage. It caused me to give up this hand guard and substitute an asbestos glove for the left hand.
In game shooting with a rifle, or gun, one shifts the left hand constantly, according to the angle of the rifle or gun to your shoulder. For a high shot the left hand is thrust forward, for a low shot the hand drawn back.
To sit down and shoot off the knees, the left hand is much further back on the rifle than if you stand up to shoot off hand.
If you find yourself shooting under, you shift the left hand forward for the next shot so as to shoot higher.
You cannot do all these niceties (which make all the difference between first class shooting, and merely good shooting) if your left hand is tied to one place. The same applies to pistol shooting.
The pistol should not be held in a “firm grip” as these inventors of potato-shaped stocks imagine.
A fencer does not keep a “firm grip,” nor does a shotgun man.
All have their weapons lying in the palms of the hands loosely and easily, the grip of the foil is only tightened momentarily for parrying or thrusting and the game shot handles a rifle or shotgun as lightly as a woman nursing a baby.
A pistol stock which has all the fingers embedded in it stops all wrist play. It may answer for a long aim at a stationery target but for any rapid shooting it is impossible.
How can a man draw and shoot in one movement if he has to fit his fingers first into each hollow excavated in the stock? He might as well try to pull on a glove each time before he draws his pistol.