Another thing that can happen from taking extra heavy recoil -- especially in rapid fire where you might not get the gun positioned just right for every shot -- is tearing of the layered shoulder muscles in back. You will know when they go. Radical pain. And they may never heal well enough to let you shoot powerful long guns again. Happens. L
Nightcrawler is in pain.
- Thread starter Nightcrawler
- Start date
The last time I shot a lot of slugs from the bench I got all the help I could. The shotgun had sling swivel studs so I ran a couple of loops of fishing line through the stud and tied on a 1 gal jug of water that I had in the car. The line went over the front of the bench and every time the gun recoiled it had to lift the jug of water off the ground. What this did was be an expediant way of adding weight to the gun. Anything that doubles the weight of the gun will Greatly help the recoil problem.
Temporarily tyraping on a 10lb bag of shot to the front of the barrel will make it impossible to handle well but will sure slow down the recoil!!
P
PreserveFreedom
Guest
The worst I have felt was a 3" jacketed Federal Magnum slug from a Mossberg 500. It's good to know that that power can be had without a large investment though.
The worst I've felt was a 3 1/2" magnum turkey load. I was patterning my new turkey gun this spring and trying various loads. Since my 870 Turkey gun would handle 3 1/2" loads, I picked up a box of Federal #6 to see what they'd do.
I only had to put one shot through the gun to tell me that I would be sticking with 2 3/4" or 3" loads. Damn thing nearly took my head off. I wasn't expecting such sharp recoil and my right hand (trigger hand) actually hit me in the nose. One more of these suckers and I'd probably have had a flinch for life.
The smaller loads patterned better anyway, with the 3" loads just beating the smaller 2 3/4" in shot density. FWIW, Winchester shells outperformed Federal in my gun.
I only had to put one shot through the gun to tell me that I would be sticking with 2 3/4" or 3" loads. Damn thing nearly took my head off. I wasn't expecting such sharp recoil and my right hand (trigger hand) actually hit me in the nose. One more of these suckers and I'd probably have had a flinch for life.
The smaller loads patterned better anyway, with the 3" loads just beating the smaller 2 3/4" in shot density. FWIW, Winchester shells outperformed Federal in my gun.
Guyon, the same load you were using would be fine fired from a 10 lb shotgun. Bet yours weighs around 7 1/2 lbs.
Fred Kimble, market hunter and the supposed inventor of choking, advocated using 1 1/2 oz of shot from a 6 gauge like his.
Even in the days of my youth, loads ran under 1 1/2 oz,including goose loads, for 12 gauges. The increasing dependence on bigger loads has turned a reasonably heavy and suitable 12 ga shotgun into a overly light(for the load) flinchbuilder. My pre steel goose load was #3 shot, 1 3/8 oz, and lots of Canada geese could attest to its effectiveness.
Got some with a 16 ga, using 4s or 3s, but I had to have them close over the dekes.
Maybe 8 years ago, I did a lot of patterning to find the best turkey load for Frankenstein. The best patterns came from the Remington Duplex 4/6 loads, a 3" mag barnburner that rocked me pretty good.
Out of 5 loads I tried, the second best one(about 3 pellets less in the turkey target) was a 1 1/4 oz pheasant load, with hard shot and a 2 3/4" case. The Law of Diminishing Returns governs how much lead one can squeeze through a 12 ga tube at a time. And that's with Frankensteins' long forcing cone.
And the question more folks need to ask is if the bigger loads kill any better. The answer is yes, sometimes.Maybe.
It's not how much shot goes through the bbl,it's how much ends up in the right place in the target.
Long shot columns tend to deform more shot,both numerically and percentage-wise. If it doesn't hit the target, it's useless.
The More Is Better Principle is unreliable when it comes to shotguns.
If I were to set up a heavy waterfowl shotgun now,for $%^* steel shot, it'd be a 10 lb gun, either 12 ga 3" or 10 ga 3 1/2".
Fred Kimble, market hunter and the supposed inventor of choking, advocated using 1 1/2 oz of shot from a 6 gauge like his.
Even in the days of my youth, loads ran under 1 1/2 oz,including goose loads, for 12 gauges. The increasing dependence on bigger loads has turned a reasonably heavy and suitable 12 ga shotgun into a overly light(for the load) flinchbuilder. My pre steel goose load was #3 shot, 1 3/8 oz, and lots of Canada geese could attest to its effectiveness.
Got some with a 16 ga, using 4s or 3s, but I had to have them close over the dekes.
Maybe 8 years ago, I did a lot of patterning to find the best turkey load for Frankenstein. The best patterns came from the Remington Duplex 4/6 loads, a 3" mag barnburner that rocked me pretty good.
Out of 5 loads I tried, the second best one(about 3 pellets less in the turkey target) was a 1 1/4 oz pheasant load, with hard shot and a 2 3/4" case. The Law of Diminishing Returns governs how much lead one can squeeze through a 12 ga tube at a time. And that's with Frankensteins' long forcing cone.
And the question more folks need to ask is if the bigger loads kill any better. The answer is yes, sometimes.Maybe.
It's not how much shot goes through the bbl,it's how much ends up in the right place in the target.
Long shot columns tend to deform more shot,both numerically and percentage-wise. If it doesn't hit the target, it's useless.
The More Is Better Principle is unreliable when it comes to shotguns.
If I were to set up a heavy waterfowl shotgun now,for $%^* steel shot, it'd be a 10 lb gun, either 12 ga 3" or 10 ga 3 1/2".
Yep, Dave, you're close. It weighs 7 1/4 lbs. according to the Remington website, and all I've added are some Tru-Glo turkey sights.
I've probably shot my last 3 1/2" out of it. The 3" shells pattern better with less recoil. And of course, plenty of turkeys have been taken with 2 3/4" shells.
I've probably shot my last 3 1/2" out of it. The 3" shells pattern better with less recoil. And of course, plenty of turkeys have been taken with 2 3/4" shells.
Factory nominal weights are never totally accurate. Wood varies in density,metal components in dimension.
One time for the State, I weighed about 6 riot bbled 870s from the armory. They ran from 6lbs,10 oz to 7 lbs, 2 1/2 oz, if memory serves.
While lots of factors affect how we feel recoil, the quick fix for too much kick is to check your form, then reduce the load.
Scott, The NEF, their predecessors the H&Rs and similiar utility singles are delightful to carry and with proper loads,shoot. Just because it has a 3 inch chamber doesn't mean it HAS to be shot with barnburner loads.1 oz loads from that NEF will work for most game, except turkey and waterfowl.
And,the better pads do help,if fit and form are
good....
One time for the State, I weighed about 6 riot bbled 870s from the armory. They ran from 6lbs,10 oz to 7 lbs, 2 1/2 oz, if memory serves.
While lots of factors affect how we feel recoil, the quick fix for too much kick is to check your form, then reduce the load.
Scott, The NEF, their predecessors the H&Rs and similiar utility singles are delightful to carry and with proper loads,shoot. Just because it has a 3 inch chamber doesn't mean it HAS to be shot with barnburner loads.1 oz loads from that NEF will work for most game, except turkey and waterfowl.
And,the better pads do help,if fit and form are
good....