beating recoil

[missed_shot]

I have never been recoil shy - some people are. What are some of the tricks used to beat recoil ? I simple remain loose and roll or give with the recoil . It works for me. Any other tips ??

[Danny45]

There' s not many ways to beat recoil. It' s just natures way of letting you know that for every action, there' s an equal reaction.

Some ways to reduce felt recoil are:

reduced loads.
lighter bullets.
recoil pads.
add weight to firearm.
add some sort of motion reducing item like mercury or hydraulic.


I read an article some years ago about the long term effects of recoil on the body. I was astonished when several of the writers were having eye problems due to shooting heavy recoil firearms (and I mean Heavy recoil, like the 338' s and up). The optometrist advised them that the constant pounding was slowly detaching their retinas. OUCH!!!

[driftrider]

The one big method that Danny forgot is having a muzzlebrake installed. A good muzzle brake can reduce recoil by as much as 70% in some of the heavier calibers. One of the main reasons that the .50BMG is managable in shoulder fired rifles is because most of them weight a lot (20-30 lbs typically) and all have a high efficiency muzzle brake installed.

Muzzlebrakes work by venting most of the high velocity gasses radially and perpendicular to the axis of the bore. This causes the thrust of the gasses, which as part of the total ejecta factor into the recoil, to cancel itself out leaving only the bullets mass and velocity and a little bit of gaseous ejecta in the recoil equation. Some brakes even direct the gasses backward toward the shooter a little, which creates forward thrust further reducing recoil.

Of course, there' s no such thing as a free lunch. A muzzlebrake has one major drawback and that' s GREATLY increased noise from the redirected muzzle blast. The noise increase can be just downright painful. A brake equipped rifle should NEVER be fired without hearing protection, even in the field. I' ve found that just sitting next to a shooter with a brake equipped rifle I often need to use two forms of hearing protection because with one the noise is still too much.

Mike

[Danny45]

Mike' s right. Thanks for remembering the muzzle brake. He' s also right about the amount of noise those cause. I have a friend that has a 300 win mag with a boss on it. It hurts my teeth to be anywhere near him when he fires that thing!!!!

[ELKampMaster]

Stock fit, proper eye relief (requires good scope), technique, and attitude.
EKM

[Raymond270]

I recently bought a shoulder pad as I have had a few shoulder operations and took my new 270WSM to the range and it really helped. I also plan on getting a Simms Limbsaver which will reduce my recoil in the field. I had a 270Win before so this 270WSM just kicks a little more. I would try to stay with a caliber that you feel comnfortable shooting plus it will help with your accuracy.

[KonaBoy]

Buy a recoil pad and you'll be good

[UncleNorby]

All the things mentioned above, and like you say, relaxation, but also posture. The more you "lean into" the shot, the more you will feel it. At a bench try to adjust yourself so your torso is vertical, instead of leaning toward the target. Shooting from the prone position demonstrates this point, you really soak up the recoil in that position.

I have a sissy pad, recoil pad, whatever you want to call it. I love it. It has helped me tramidously. I can shoot my RUM's 30 rounds and no bruise. I also know it takes practice. When first shot my 300win mag when I was a kid, I had a huge bruise after 20 rounds. Why? Can't remember, I just know I did. Now the 300Win mag is a ***** cat compared to other rifles I have. I don't even bother with a recoil pad with it. All I can think of is, I was shooting with wrong form, or not rolling with the recoil. All I know is I got used to it. I know I ain't getting any stronger or tougher the older I get. I am much weaker now than I was 15 years ago.