I've got a little 35 Whelen, a reboared Rem. 721 w ith a FG stock. It's a great hunting rifle but brutal on the bench. Last weekend I was sighting in a new scope and forgot to pull it in tight, the recoil must have popped the nerve a little as my right hand is still a partially numb. I finnished the sesion useing a shot bag full of sand between the butt and my shoulder.

Will the Past shoulder recoil pad help alot when shooting this gun?

erich

erich,
I use one when I shoot my 35 Whelen from the bench to work up a new load. They come in handy with a plastic stocked 7mm Magnum that seems to kick even worse. It will keep you from flinching because you know it is not going to hurt.
GWN

erich,
someone "borrowed" my 1st one I but got another from Midway last year. It is the ambidext type for either shoulder - 23$. Highly recommend them.

I don't have a Whelen, but I do have the Past. With my Ruger #1B in 300 Winnie, I'm not happy even with the Past protection. I use a sandbag as you describe, and am able to shoot w/o pain. More recently, I bought my first .338 Win in a Ruger M77. With that gun the Past does a great job of softening the recoil off the bench, and in fact it's quite fun to shoot. Recoil sensitivity is the the ultimate example of YMMV, with both personal pain limits and gun design and caliber being the determining factors. Off the bench is about the worst, with prone not much fun either. My 300 just kicks hard for some reason, and I know that going in. I'm guessing the .338 would recoil much more like your 35 Whelen, with the edge going to your gun for comfort. With a Past your Whelen could probably be fun from the bench instead of painful, but......YMMV.
222

I use one every time I shoot from the bench, with every rifle I own. With .35 Whelen, .444, 9.3x57 and others throwing heavy bullets, it makes a long range session very bearable. My wife bought me a nifty rest that also absorbs a lot of the recoil. That makes shooting heavy-recoilers not just tolerable, but actually enjoyable.

Shooting at game I never notice recoil or muzzle blast...so practice that eliminates flinch is pretty significant.

Get a Caldwell lead sled you will love it.

Cabela's, Sportsman's warehouse, Gander mtn. etc. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Lefty

The past will keep your shoulder from hurting, but it won't protect you from the big push. The rifle will still roll you back.

I like mine. PAST pads are great for cutting the bruise. CAS said it right -- you won't be saved from the shove, but I haven't found it to be the shove that gives one the bruise, its the sharp hit that the PAST pad does such a good job catching.

Holding the rifle tight is important (as you noticed).

I tend to put the but of the rifle on my chest just below my collar bone off of my joint (the "pocket"). I found that putting it on the ball gave me tingly feelings when shooting heavier rifles (.340 wby, .375H&H, .458 win), not to mention pain in the joint. Putting it on the arm is also a bad idea.

Dan

I find that the Past pad does 2 good things when I'm shooting my .35whelen. It takes the sting out of the recoil and it also makes the lop the same as it would be during hunting season when I'm wearing a coat. FWIW, a piece of closed cell foam, such as that from a cheap sleeping pad, slipped under my t-shirt works as well as the Past pad.

I have one of those metal adjustable rifle rests made from square tubeing, on which I shoot. I have moulded some wheel weights into long metal tubes that I inserted intothe square legs of the rest and this adds about 6 lbs to the rest. The butt of the rifle fits within a sling and the recoil must move the entire rest to the rear before my shoulder gets banged. This works good for my 35 Whelen and other hard kickers.

The Past strap on pad has been a big help to me for shooting magnums. I have one really mean .300 Winchester, and it doubles the amount of rounds I can handle at one sitting. They also make shooting shirts with the pads built in.

I use one with my 416 rigby and my 340 and find that it helps some. Best flinch insurance however is earplugs PLUS muffs. You will be surprised at how much of the discomfort of shooting is noise related. Good hunting,

safariman

safariman, somehow I don't think putting muffs over my plugs would have kept me from dropping my cellphone, coffee cup or fork for the past three days. I'm down to just my thumb and the tip of my trigger finger numb.

That does it eight Yays no Nays will order one tomorrow. I've had heavy recoiling guns in the past .358 Norma and .300 Mags but they were in heavier guns and didn't seem to sharp rap this one has especially since I've gone from the wood stock to FG. It does the job on deer and it's easy to pack.

Thanks Everyone
erich

[quote]Get a Caldwell lead sled you will love it.

Hurray for the Lead Sled! I use mine on big bores from the bench with phenomenal reduction in recoil.

The PAST pad is great, too. Shooting off hand, it makes a difference and is a good thing for bench shooting as well.

Finally, any big bore or heavy recoiling rifle can be tamed notably with the Limbsaver recoil pad. It is a must and far more effective than other pads I have tried.

I agree about the earplugs and muffs together. Now the recoil from the whelen doesn't bother me at all. And I shoot better.

One of the first things I got a hold of after I got my 405 was a Past sheild, it helped , but putting the limbsaver pad on that rifle made it a pleasure to shoot.

We have alot of experience with rifles that exhibit heavy recoil. Our way of dealing with it (with out resorting to a muzzle brake) is to also add the installation of the Edwards Recoil Reducer (spring & weight design). They slow down the kenetic energy of recoil so that you feel a push instead of a punch. A Pachmayr Decel pad & a recoil reducer will tame recoil on any caliber to the point that it no longer becomes an issue. This now allows you to concentrate on technique, sight picture, etc. instead of concentrating on controling the rifle to minimize the damage.