cwhitenton

Hey all, I need to have to have arthoscopic surgery onmyshoulder to fix a SLAP tear in the joint. Sounds like a simple procedure but they will be re-attaching the shoulder tissue around the joint with anchors and souchers (sp?) and I was wondering if this would limit my caliber selection when it comes to rifle shooting. I'm curious to hear from others of you who have had shoulder surgery and your success or lack thereof in shooting rifles, say maybe the 30-06 or 7mm?

jeepkid

I had my left shouder re-constructed my sophmore year (dang dislocations [:@]), I am a right hand shooter though. But I think my left shoulder is in better shape then my right. Since its orthoscopic it shouldn't be too major of a surgery, so I would think it would be in great shape. A 30-06 or 7mm should be fine. You might want to run it by your Doctor, just to make sure.

biscuit jake

I'm not familiar with a SLAP tear but since they are re-attaching tissue I am sure that your shoulder will be in a hum for awhile. Doubt that you will want to put anything with recoil up there for at least 6 months. Also, ask the Doc about your limits. I've had a couple s. surgeries (lucky me) so I now limit bench shooting with heavy loads. Eg, with Buffalo Bore 45 70 loads, I zero from a heavy camera tripod so I "give" with the recoil. Similarly, I would not shoot from the prone with calibers like the 06.

If you are not familiar with the needed physical therapy for shoulders, I offer this joke. "Know how many physical therapists it takes to shingle a roof?

Just one if you slice him thin!"

cwhitenton

Thanks alot for the good replies, I'll ask the doctor on the next visit and letyou know my progress.

jeepkid

I forgot about the physical therapy. That wasterrible. [:@]

JeffS

Yes, I just got back today from doctor had a dislocated rib. It is no fun. Though for the surgery you are having if you give it arund 3 - 4 months to heal you should be fine. You could also do like I did when I shattered my wrist. I can't shoot my .450 or any really large calibers so I learned to shoot left handed. I can shoot fine with either hand now though after a few shots right handed I need to switch to left handed shooting. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. I even switch hands shooting a shotgun now.

TUK101

I had 2 surgeries on my right shoulder in 6 months and I have to tell you that it took me about 3 years before I was able to do much shooting with anthing larger than an .243. I can now shoot my .270 and 44 levergun about 20-50 times without too much aggrivation, but it still bothers me a bit.

cwhitenton

Shazam! why didn't I think of that??? I'll start practicing with my left shoulder right away. My Dad is left handed and so is my son, guess I need to git with the program.

statjunk

If you have the money you could get yourself an A10 that shoots .308. Very very little recoil with that rig and very capable of taking game up to 400 yards. Problem solved.

Tom

cwhitenton

If you're talking about the .308 Armalite makes in the AR format I do have that one in the AR 10 (T) model and love that thing. Another good suggestion. I also dropped a Savage Police Tactical w/ heavy barrel (7mm mag) into a Boyd's Thumbhole laminate stock, put two mercury recoil suppressors in the buttstock and capped it off with a limbsaver recoil pad. Thing shoots like a 22-250 now. Still don't know how long it will take my shoulder to get back in shape though and I don't plan on rushing things. Surgery is on July 30th. I'll probably be shooting left handed this season so I'll begin practicing now.