reducing recoil

[smylee grouch]

So as not to side track the topic about shoulder injury I will start a new one. There are alot of lighter weight guns being made that will generate considerable recoil and these are hard for people that are sensitive to the excess pounding to shoot. Some have bored holes in the butstock and poured lead into the holes to increase the weight and maybe decrease the felt recoil. Does this work? Will it have any adverse effects on the gunstock with alot of repeated shooting? Any other comments?

[JTR]

I did that once with a .22 cal target rifle. The rules said it could weigh 12 pounds, so I drilled several large diameter holes under the butt plate, mixed up various sizes of buck shot with epoxy glue, and filled the holes until the gun weighed just under 12 pounds!
I shot that gun several thousand times, still have it and nothing has come loose.
John

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Daryl has/had a Kodiak double percussion 58 cal. and it had about a pound of lead poured into a hole lengthwise in the butt stock, under the butt plate.  He took it out.

[smylee grouch]

Interesting Taylor, he took it out because?  Didnt work? Made the ballence of the gun goofy? Lead slug got loose and rattled?

[WKevinD]

I had a 10ga single shot turkey choke shotgun that had a 5/8" x 12" steel rod under the butt plat. Removed it...it was brutal without it.
Don't know what happens when you add but it's not nice when you remove the rod!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I think the lead plug made the rifle besides heavier than it needed to be, a peculiar balance.  He didn't shoot particularly heavy loads with it...I think it regulated within reason with one sight at 110 gr. FFg GOEX and round ball.  I know he was deadly with it on the trail.

[Daryl]

I wanted a little more muzzle weight in the Kodiak.  I didn't even know it had the lead cylinder inside the butt, until I was re-finishing the stock and the orbital sander loosened the lead slightly and it buzzed/rattled, inside the stock. After removing the lead, the balance was much better - a little muzzle heavy which I liked for offhand shooting.

Taylor was right about the regulation - the barrels shot perfectly parallel with 110gr. 2f and .574" ball. With only 100gr., it put both barrels into a single group at 50yards, which meant the barrels were slightly crossing, but only 1" apart in the group centers, at 100 meters. Thus, groups with 110gr. and 100gr. were identical at 100 to 125meters or so- trail walk or deer shooting perfect.

 I shot the rifle at Hefley Creek range with 110gr. and it shot perfectly with one sight, right to 250yards on their gong targets - used to love double tapping them (at our range - bang/clang/bang/clang).

So- lead in the butt to get the weight back towards the hands, some people like. You can also lead the forend (sometimes) if more weight if needed there.

For offhand shooting, a little forward balance usually helps. For bench or prone shooting, centre of balance, but heavy weight usually helps.

Peoples likes and dislikes can also be quite different.  Try to shoot what works for you. If you don't know yet, have fun finding out by shooting more.

[Daryl]

There are several different PAST shoulder protectors - ie: differing thickness of material. This shoulder protector can be worn underneath the shirt and MUST be worn underneath a coat in the winter time.  They will allow shooting rifles that otherwise HURT every shot & make them VERY comfortable to shoot. They do add to the 'length of pull' by varying amounts, depending their thickness and butt shape. They do work best with a shot-gun type butt - or Early Lancaster-types. Deeply Hooked butts that fit the arm do not work well with PAST shoulder protectors.

[Jerry V Lape]

Added weight does reduce recoil significantly and gun weight is one of the factors used in calculating recoil.  Competitive shotgunners have used a mercury recoil reducer in the butt.  Don't know if they still make them but you can probably find one among the trap and skeet shooters.  They are quite effective at adding weight with the additional buffering of the liquid motion.  These same shooter types also use small hydralic shocks between the buttstock and butt plate which are probably the best recoil reducers but they require quite some buttstock modification to use on a longrifle.  Best recoil reducer of all is reduced velocity and lighter projectile. 

[bob in the woods]

Shooting 200 rounds of 45-100 -535 over a weekend  [ long range matches ] put me in touch with a nice large PAST recoil shield , and a shooting jacket. The shooting jacket was wonderful at protecting my elbows [ shooting prone]
I don't need these for my flintlock rifles or smoothbores, since I seldom shoot them from the prone position, and they don't generally have the recoil of the long range load. That and the stock designs seem much better at handling the recoil…even my 10 bore with 140 gr of FFg isn't all that bad from off hand.  If you must shoot a gun / load that you find uncomfortable, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one of those PAST shields. They really work.

[jamesthomas]

There are several different PAST shoulder protectors - ie: differing thickness of material. This shoulder protector can be worn underneath the shirt and MUST be worn underneath a coat in the winter time.  They will allow shooting rifles that otherwise HURT every shot & make them VERY comfortable to shoot. They do add to the 'length of pull' by varying amounts, depending their thickness and butt shape. They do work best with a shot-gun type butt - or Early Lancaster-types. Deeply Hooked butts that fit the arm do not work well with PAST shoulder protectors.

 I ALWAYS use a past pad even when shooting my .40 cal. with a 35 grn. load, and when I shoot my .50 cal. , there is no reason in my book for NOT using one no matter what you shoot. Those that do not risk shoulder problems down the road.

[Daryl]

That actually makes sense, James.  We shirk of the non-recoiling numbers like the .40's and .50's, even .54's and my 14 bore which actually doesn't hurt now when firing it, but there is probably "some" type of damage done, cells destroyed when shooting even those lighter guns.

Perhaps that is why there is a new industry standard in trap ammo - lighter and lighter loads as they'll shoot off 300 to 600 in a weekend. Waghhhhhh - what a bunch of panzies, they only shoot 12 bores with 1 ounce loads driven by 2 3/4 dram loads nowadays.  When I shot trap - oh, didn't I note somewhere about my shoulder damage?  Maybe  the damage is accumulative, especially if 'suffered' at a rate faster than your body can repair it.