A lot of people don't realize it but the early German gunsmiths that came over here after 1700 were producing larger caliber rifles with a wide, straight butt...Then sometime after 1800 the crescent butt came into vogue...By then calibers had been reduced down to .40 caliber as most of the deer in the eastern part of the US had been killed...A .40 caliber round ball rifle with 40-50 grains of powder is very comfortable to shoot with a crescent butt plate because there is little recoil...Once you get to .50 caliber and especially when shooting conicals a crescent butt plate isn't the best to have on a rifle...

A crescent butt plate is made to be mounted on the upper arm, not the shoulder...Move the butt to the area of the arm between the shoulder and bicep...