A friend and I were trying to divine the benefit of having a thumbhole stock. Best we could come up with was ' maybe this' and ' maybe that' kind of reasons. Can anyone provide a more definitive explanation?

More control over your firearm. Better finger placement on the trigger. Improved trigger control. Improved prone shooting.
Look at all the top target shooting rifles. Then look at all the top military style weapons. You will find at least one thing in common...they all have pistol type grips or " thumb hole" stocks.
They just are not very " politically" correct for hunting. Of course I say this just as Benelli has taken the stock from the M-1 Tactical, applied some camo, added it to their line of hunting shotguns, and renamed it the " comfort/control" stock.
Go figure!

i agree.....and they do feel alot more comfortable on the hand...you can really pull back and get a rock solid rest iwth a pistol grip or thumbhole...i like them.....wish the mausers stock wasnt so purdy or id put one on it....

All of the above with the added benefit of less felt recoil on the shoulder with the stock pushing on the palm of your hand and your shoulder. Two places instead on just one.

At this rate...they may just become " politically correct" !!![][:-]

Better hand placement for better trigger control. The only drawback I can think of is that the safety on many rifles is inaccessable to your shooting hand while holding the rifle.

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All the above is true I love them. I had one on my Steel Silhouette gun for years.

never owned one..
but it sounds like they are better utillized as a bench rest shooter or target shooter than having it as a stalking/treestand stock.
did look into one for my F.N. mauser as a stalking gun. but found it rather weird for quick shots.

I just built a 10/22 with a thumbhole stock. It will be my squirrel rifle. It is so comfortable to shoot and the more comfort you have, the better you shoot. Its a little heavy but very steady. It depends on what style of stock you get whether it is better suited for hunting or benchrest. They actually have benchrest styles and sporter styles.