The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for stopping a roll set, quickly in a controlled fashion. Typically, such a roll set is comprised of a plurality of rolls which is launched from a slitter wherefrom it is rolled along a downward ramp to a conveyor. On the downward ramp, on the side of the conveyor opposite the ramp is a number of adjacent stop gages suited for being controlled to a home position and an operating position, respectively. For each roll, a required number of the stop gages located along the rolling path of the roll is selected to operate, while the rest of the stop gages are left in their home positions. In this fashion, each roll can be stopped individually even when the rolls move simultaneously and, moreover, the stopping force can be adjusted separately for each roll.