Recoil, what recoil?

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Deleted member 107796

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IMO, there should be few comments about recoil.
A came to that realization after doing a search on the 325WSM and noticed someone's comment about it kicking like bay mule, then making another comment about how the 338WM is so much better. I am not denying that recoil exists and shows itself in very light rifles but an effective recoil pad will effectively tame recoil for everything up to the elephant guns and beyond, provided you have a scope with enough eye relief. I keep the crosshairs on and let the thing jump. If you haven't tried the new generation recoil pads, they are game changers. I love to shoot my WSMs and a very light 338WM without flinching at all due to my Limbsavers and all are custom fit, 2 min installation. If any gun has an issue with recoil, it can be tamed easily. cheers
 
I agree, a properly fitted rifle and a good recoil pad, should tame most any rifle....except for a few of the exceptional cartridges. Not saying, that all of us should be able to sit behind a 460 Weatherby at the bench for 20 rounds without discomfort! My wife shots her sub-9 pound .338 WM ( no brake) exceptionally well....but doesn't "enjoy" shooting it from the bench. But from field positions, including prone....she's pretty darn lethal! A friend of ours watch her "smoke" a cow elk at about 150 yards in fairly heavy timber, shooting prone downhill. She picked out a tiny opening in the trees, and waited for the elk to put a shoulder in that little "window"! Our neighbor was more than impressed!

I shot a friend's 416 Rigby in a #1 Ruger, I thought it was a "***** cat".....but, I was standing, shooting offhand. From a bench...."my mileage may vary"! ;)

Unless someone has a medical condition which will not allow shooting a heavy recoil rifle, any of us should be able to conquer it. In summary: How bad do you want it! memtb
 
.....I am not denying that recoil exists and shows itself in very light rifles but an effective recoil pad will effectively tame recoil for everything up to the elephant guns and beyond........

....Unless someone has a medical condition which will not allow shooting a heavy recoil rifle, any of us should be able to conquer it. In summary: How bad do you want it!........

Effective being the operative word, meaning able to be effective on elephant size targets, at typical elephant ranges or something else.

Big kickers are mostly in my rear view mirror.....but lots of fond memories associated with them.

I think we talk about recoil a bunch here, but only occasionally get into specifics, if you were poll minded it could be interesting to define weights and calibers to decipher what most people think is tolerable when plugging in specifics.
 
Do you sell or manufacturer said recoil pad?

You are referring to rifles producing 35 lbs of recoil in a 9 pound rifle and telling everyone on this forum you are shooting under 1 MOA with these rifles? If you are, I give you props (as I'm NOT calling you a liar), but I would say that you are about .1% of the population.

I'm not sure the purpose to the post, but here you go I guess:

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Steve
 
Recoil affects people in different ways and one of the worst things a shooter can do is shoot to much gun for them. Some rifles recoil worse than others even when they look identical. I doubt there are many shooters that can sit down and shoot a 300mag as well as a 223 after the first dozen rounds. I learned the hard way from shooting a mule kicking weatherby mag to much. It was great for hunting with but it brought on flinching during load development and practice. That was before the better pads and brakes. It took me a long time to get over my flinching. There is a reason the creedmoore has become so popular -most people Enjoy shooting them and are more accurate with them because of the light recoil. (No -I don't own one). I love the mags but the older I get the more I just use my 223. The better pads are a great help-but they only do so much. I have no desire to have a hunting rifle with a brake on it. Anything more than a lightweight 300 wm is to much gun for me. I proved everything to myself that I needed to years ago and could care less what other folks think. If you can shoot 50 rounds a week from the big boomers then more power to you.
 
All of the rifles I hunt with without doubt qualify as harsh recoiling. I own three belted magnums, a 300wsm, three fully rifled 12ga slug guns, one dedicated 12ga smooth bore slug gun, three 12ga 3.5" turkey guns two .50 cal inlines both push a 325 grain FTX at a MV of about 2100fps and one .50cal smokeless ML that my favorite load pushes a 250 grain Barnes T-MZ at a MV of 2850fps and a my second favorite pushes a 290 grain T-MZ at a MV of 2450fps.

The first 6-7 years of my deer hunting was done with 12 gauge 3" magnum 1oz Active foster slugs and for those of you who don't know, a 1oz slug equals 437.5 grains and the 1oz Active slugs have a MV of 1650fps. I didn't know any better and just accepted that this was the way things were and don't ever recall even noticing the recoil. Then I graduated to fully rifled slug guns my first being a Marlin 512 slug master and at the same time discovered and used for the next 6-7 years Lightfield slugs and used their 12ga 3" magnum 1-3/8oz (or 600grns) Commander IDS sabot slug at a MV of 1450fps. The next 6-7years were with 12ga 3" magnum Winchester PT/G sabot that pushed a .50 caliber 385 grain bullet at a MV of about 1700fps. For 6 of the last nine years I have been using the discontinued Federal Barnes Tipped Expander sabot rounds that pushed a .50 cal 300 grain bullet at 1900fps. Since Indiana allowed certain bottled necked cartridges for hunting on private ground three years ago I have been using my 300wsm as that's what I have that is allowed

Over the 30+ years I have been deer and turkey hunting and practicing with the rifles and shotguns I hunt with I have expanded thousands upon thousands of rounds out of quite hard recoiling firearms and I can honestly say recoil is a complete non-factor for me. BUT, all of my rifles and shotguns have Limb Saver recoil pads on them and I use a Past magnum recoil shield as well but only for bench sessions.These two factors combined help a great deal with reducing felt recoil.

I will admit on my worst recoiling long guns being my 10ML-II and my turkey guns I do need to limit my shots from the bench. In the case of my 10ML-II its about 35-40 shots per bench session, which works out well as seeing it's a muzzleloader and needs time to cool off between shots and takes time to load it and I periodically pull out the breach plug and clean it, if I can get 6 shots off in an hour I'm doing well. It doesn't hurt it weighs with optics and ramrod a little over 10lbs either.

Thankfully or should I say mercifully I rarely need to take more than 20 shots from the bench with my turkey guns because there is no load development involved only patterning and sighting in at 50 yards and under. For those who know most shotgun stock designs generally sux for helping to manage or mitigate felt recoil, at least that is my opinion of the design of the stocks on my REM/870's. My turkey guns are where the LImbsaver recoil pads have made the most noticeable reduction in felt recoil. 2-1/8oz loads of #5 shot at a MV of 1200fps truly defines the saying tends to kill on one end and maim on the other.

For those looking for help with recoil I can not recommend the LimbSaver Air tech recoil pads strongly enough, they DO make a HUGE difference in felt recoil. Put one on my 12ga turkey gun when they first came out and it worked so phinominally well I put them on all my rifles and even replaced the ones that already had Pachmayr Decelerator pads on them they IMHO worked that well.

My sons (10-1/2 and 13) had spoke with their friends who turkey hunted prior to them and they had my sons quite concerned about recoil from the stories they were told of shoulders hurting for days after firing only a few 12ga 3" magnum turkey loads. I had them gradually work up to full bore turkey loads by firing light trap loads then gradually heavier upland game loads then turkey loads and thanks to the LS pad and having them wear my Past recoil shield they have no fear of recoil and regularly shoot my 300wsm with no issues.

For me like most people, recoil came down to what I was use to. I imagine if I started out deer hunting with a .243 or 7mm/08 for decades and then for the first time ever, shot a 7.5lb Remington 870 loaded with a 12ga 3" magnum 1.25oz/547 grain Foster slug with a MV of 1500-1650fps my opinion of recoil would likely be much different if not the direct opposite of what it is now.
 
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My sub 9 pound .375 AI, when shooting from bench (no sling, one round), has recoil 58 to 60 ft/lbs. I do use a Past recoil pad. I'm good for 20 to 30 rounds in a good session, on a good day, without noticeable worsening of group size. But, the next day is a different story. My shoulder is sore, and groups are generally about 50% larger. Load development "does not" occur on consecutive days! memtb
 
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