Recoil

W

whitenack

New member
Hi guys,

I have spent a lot of time in the past couple weeks researching handguns. Now, I am trying to start some research on shotguns.

Currently, I own a Citori Lightning 20 guage, with 26" barrels. Great gun. I love it. Great for hunting, not so good for SD/HD.

I am looking into a mossberg 500 12 ga. with 18.5" barrel. My concern is recoil, not for me but for my wife, who is also interested in a firearm for SD/HD.

Now, I know that there is no way of knowing what recoil will be offensive to any particular person, and that the only way to tell would be to actually stand behind it and pull the trigger, but I was wondering...

Is the felt recoil of an 18" barrel more than a 26" barrel. I know a 12 is more than a 20, but I didn't know if barrel length played any part as well.

Thanks
 
recoil

I have an 18.5" Mossberg. Compared to my 26" Remington 870, it has substantially more noticeable recoil. The gun is just much lighter. I wouldn't call it excessive, but you defintely notice it and I know my own wife finds the recoil objectionable in casual shooting. I don't think it would matter in an HD situation, though.

For me, the biggest problem with that shotgun has to do with the length of pull & shape of the buttstock. Unless I consciously hold my cheek farther back on the stock, I end up hitting myself in the nose with my own thumb when firing. That hurts. My trigger hand is just too close to my face and the recess in the stock for my thumb is just not deep enough. Otherwise I'm very happy with the gun, so I'm considering getting a replacement stock with a pistol grip (still a shoulder stock, though) to get my trigger hand out of alignment with my nose.
 
The Mossberg will have a bit more recoil than your standard hunting shotgun. If your firing slugs or heavy turkey loads/buckshot from the Mossberg your shoulder will take a beating. If your gonna let your wife shoot the Mossberg first use some cheap #7 or #8 field loads or reduced recoil loads. If she doesnt have any problems with those rounds then maybe move up to something with some more punch. I guess you could always get a softer recoil pad for the stock as well.
 
Consider getting low recoil 12 gauge rounds.

Or consider a 16 or 20 gauge. Some people will laugh at that; but its the same power, just a few less pellets. With much less recoil, faster follow up and shots and more confidence for recoil sensitive shooters are a reality.

More expensive, semi-auto shotguns (gas operated) will also buffer the recoil some.

Also consider a nice aftermarket recoil pad. A good one can make a noticable difference.

my .02
 
I'll let you know soon about the knoxx myself. I just had my 7th shoulder surgery and refuse to stop shooting. I ordered a Knoxx for my Winchester a couple of days ago.

I had my barrel ported, a kickeez pad installed and I still can't handle it. I can hardly wait.
 
delzo-- you'll love it.
I had about 800 rounds of reloaded goose loads from years ago laying around.
these were 3 inch 1 7/8 oz lead #2 shot.
was trying to figure how to get rid of them since they are legal for waterfowl hunting anymore.
I put my new knox stock on and whent clay shooting.
Shot all 800 in two seperate weekends with zero pain.
Those stocks are that good.
 
I had thought about the 20 ga. Since I have a 20 already I wouldn't have to buy separate shells.

I was wondering about the tradeoffs of ammo selection and effectiveness.
 
I have a Knoxx Compstock on my 870. This is a standard rifle style stock and does a great job of absorbing recoil. With 2 3/4 Rem reduced recoil loads feel like a shove on the sholder. The SpecOps stock is of a more tactical style and has dual recoil absorbing mechanisms, which absorbs almost all of the recoil. Look at the videos on their website. www.knoxx.com

A stock Mossberg 500 will have more felt recoil than a Rem 870 because the reciever is aluminum and on the 870 its steel.
 
SD/HD shotgun

A 20 ga. is perfectly adequate for home & self defense. If you don't have a very light 20 ga. the recoil is appreciably less than 12 ga. and the targets will not be able to tell much difference. For smaller lighter folks, the 20 ga. will probably mean more practice which is the most important factor in effectiveness.
 
Well, got the Knoxx today and put it on in 10 minutes flat. The most time consuming part was getting the old Butler Creek folder off. The Knoxx was a perfect fix and tomorrow I go try it out.

On the shipping receipt, I noticed I got a discount and there was NO shipping charge, because I mentioned I'd heard of their product on this forum! Major cool.

(I think they made up part of the price though by sending me a grip sleeve I didn't order,,, but I'm glad they did. I like it! :D )
 
No the grip sleeve is included and Knoxx does give a discount to members of gun forums if you mention it. I was pleasently suprised about the forearm because I was going to have to buy one anyway.
 
I don't want this to sound like a big deal, cause it's not,,,, but I was charged $9.45 for the grip sleeve. It was added into the final price to come up to the total I was given by phone.

And,,, like I said, I'd wanted one anyway!
 
I got the SpecOp model, and will say that it is fantastic. I just ran about 20 slugs through it and I'm really impressed. I even shot 10 off my bum shoulder and feel great. (I just had shoulder surgery again on the 21st of December)

I recommend it absolutely,,,, for ANYONE with a shotgun, not just recoil sensitive folks.

Finally,,, a company that figured out how to make shotgunning easy!
 
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