Recoil Control Methods

[Remmy700]

So got a buddy I am trying to get into some LR work and he asked me a question about controlling recoil and best method. I have always used free recoil with bipod and rear bag and try to refrain from fighting the gun and just let it do its thing. Normally I try and make sure alignment is good with rear bag so it's nice straight rearward recoil even with big magnums. I use very light grip very little cheek pressure, and it simply works for me. For a new shooter getting into LR is this a practice I should pass down or is this just a bad habit I have learned and adopted? To be honest it's instinct to me and I don't even think about it now so when he asked me I was like, hmmmmm?

 

[cohunt]

weight of rifle and caliber?

 

[Remmy700]

My typical thick girl rigs. M40 type barrels in heavy manners. Just straight target guns in mid weight calibers. 260, 308, 6.5 creed, etc. scoped good average of around 12-15 lbs.

 

[cohunt]

My typical thick girl rigs. M40 type barrels in heavy manners. Just straight target guns in mid weight calibers. 260, 308, 6.5 creed, etc. scoped good average of around 12-15 lbs.

thats close to how i do it, sand bags (no bipods for me), bench I use a small bag on an adjustable front rest, minimal input to rifle via trigger hand/finger other hand on the rear squeeze bag --in the field I try to use my pack for a front rest and ultralight rear bag-- I call it free recoil, but its more of a minimal input free recoil as the butt stock is in my shoulder with slight pressure.

some guys say free recoil you actually leave a gap between the butt stock and your shoulder and only have your trigger finger and cheek on the rifle

 

[Remmy700]

Yeah what I do almost also, I do a little shoulder pressure but very light grip if any just mainly light trigger and cheek pressure.

 

[gohring3006]

I bury my cheek in the riser and get my final elevation by pressing the rear bag down, everything else is kinda loose with my thumb on the side of the grip. This is with a front adjustable rest that allows for straight back recoil.
Squeezing the rear bag for final elevation has me using muscles in my hand and arm, that causes fliers for me.

 

[Remmy700]

Yeah I got a nice big heavy Sinclair rest I use every blue moon but I have got use to shooting off atlas seldom get the front rest out!

 

[gohring3006]

I like using a bipod, but my best groups always comes from that rest. I can duplicate it better with a back pack than with a bipod.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

I know I sound like a broken record, but with my Limbsavers, it ends up just as you describe by not fighting the gun and letting it jump into the pad. I also agree with a reviewer that described changing the recoil from a kick to a push with these pads. I looked at my friend's two 7mm mags (a Ruger 77 and a Rem) last weekend and they both had very hard rubber pads, certainly nowhere near as effective as what I put on mine.

 

[cjl2010]

I keep the rifle as center as I can get it usually on my collar bone, in a straight line with the rifle, always on a bipod and I load into it, pull back on the grip with the same amount of pressure I feel when I hold the rifle in the air by the grip, light face pressure as too much will create a left hop, thumb on the side of stock, 90° trigger press.

 

[YZ-80]

I use a big honkin' "Dog-gone-Good" shooting bag up front and a rear bag off the bench. Prone, I use a Harris bipod (remind me to ask Santa for an Atlas) and front load it on a shooting mat. I try to let the gun do what it wants. I have a friend who uses the same kind of bag but he has this technique where he squeezes the trigger by opposing his thumb behind the trigger guard and "pinches" the trigger.

Anyway, my main method of controlling recoil is to not shoot anything that generates any more than 15 ft./lbs of it.

 

[Don A Parsons]

12 lb rig shooting mid range boolitz in 6.5...

Lots of dry firing in many shooting positions with eye on target and mind on task...

If I'm focused on the shot,,, there is no recoil,,, another thing I like to do is follow through with the shot,,, 1,,, 2,,, then jack in the next round on 3...

Breath,,, Breath,,, Slowly exhale to next shot as I decompress when X hairs land on the target as I luanch the next shot...

Repeat over and over in sets of 3 using 2 shots...

Back to dry fire in the many shooting positions...

Go live,,, then click,,, repeat in sets slow for distance shots,,, fast up close...

PS: I start my morning off with 4 fast shots at 80 yards as I work my way down to the close target at 20 yards doing 3 sets,,, I call it the charging Grizzly defence now that 2 folks in our area had close calls with Grizzly's in the last 2 weeks...

A fellow just got attack by a Wolf yesterday West of us,,, it went after him in his tent with his 2 young kids and wife,,, the wolf drug him out of the tent by his arms... Poor fellow took it bad... He survived along with his family...

Yuppers,,, block out the recoil thing and focus on the kill and destroy with follow through and get your timing going on follow up shots...

If a fat lazy middle age dude like me can do it,,, then it will be a walk in the park for the rest of you...

Don't let your guard down this year folks,,, remember,,, more hunters have been killed and maimed by Kow Moose then all critters combined...

They are the evil doo'ers to human kind that we know of today... What they lack in sharp teeth they make up for in ragging hooves...

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

So got a buddy I am trying to get into some LR work and he asked me a question about controlling recoil and best method. I have always used free recoil with bipod and rear bag and try to refrain from fighting the gun and just let it do its thing. Normally I try and make sure alignment is good with rear bag so it's nice straight rearward recoil even with big magnums. I use very light grip very little cheek pressure, and it simply works for me. For a new shooter getting into LR is this a practice I should pass down or is this just a bad habit I have learned and adopted? To be honest it's instinct to me and I don't even think about it now so when he asked me I was like, hmmmmm?

yes good way pass it down if his rifle is set up for it

 

[Jon Bischof]

None of the cartridges Remmy700 mentioned provide much recoil to deal with--not in those 12-15 lb rifles. So you can get away with a lighter hold and a looser shoulder pressure; somewhat more like shooting rimfire.

But you wouldn't want to employ those same techniques when shooting a rifle/cartridge that has a lot of felt recoil. Certainly would not want to leave any space between my shoulder and the butt stock--that's a big "No-No" for shooting hard recoiling rigs. Also would not want to rest on my collarbone; but since I don't normally shoot from a prone position, I can sit up and get the stock cradled into the pocket of my shoulder without resting on the collarbone.