Coyote stalker, I have shot 3 1/2's out of a beneli nova,browning gold,remington 870, and a browning bps 10 ga. As well as 3'' out of a rem 870 and a browning citori and none of those guns kicked near as bad as the mossberg 835, I guess it is because the mossberg synthetic is so much lighter than the other guns. I don't know maybe for some reason mine just kicks more thansome of the others. It hurt shooting it before I put the simms pad on it but not hard enough for me to not use it I love the gun with or without the the simms pad I just like it even better with the pad