Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Whazzup with Recoil?

I was trying to explain something regarding recoil to my sons the other day, and I realized I was wading into some pretty deep weeds. I figured I would lay this all out to you guys and see what comes of it.

First off, I have noticed in my 40 years of shooting and hunting that my reaction to recoil is a very subjective thing and it is constantly changing. I was never really bothered about the recoil of my 35 Whelen in the field, but at the bench on a hot summer day, it was getting way too stiff for my liking. This is despite the fact that my best hunting blind pretty much duplicated the dimensions and ergonomics of my bench-- purposely.

Some years, I come away from turkey season feeling my shoulder. I shoot a 12 GA 3" load that has about the same recoil as an elephant gun. Some years I've felt my shoulder clear to Labor Day. This year, I walked away from season with no lasting ill effect.

What is it about some days where a couple rounds out of a 30-06 make me wince and other days I could not care less? Same gun, same load-- I know it's just me, but what is it? Why is it that some days I'm fighting a flinch and some days I'm pool-cued and unfurturbed?

Somebody must have thought this out. I know there is something going on inside me-- it isn't the rifle or the load. I just don't know what it is.

For me it is simple enough, I hold it easy and move with the recoil, if I attempt to hold it tight and soak the recoil it makes my teeth and bones ache.

From a bench I handle recoil best when my torso is vertical, getting a shorter seat or taller rests or from a standing rifle rest.

Recoil will affect you differently based on shooting position. Shooting off of a bench will feel differently than laying prone. I've also noticed that I'm not the same day in and day out when I shoot. Some days, I feel pretty solid. Other days, I can't seem to settle down.

Im with you on the shotguns. I can shoot a much higher number of shotgun rounds that recoil way more than any of my rifles, leave me bruised, etc. and not think twice about it. Even if like you said, it’s a turkey gun and I’m using it like a rifle. Recoil never crosses my mind. I have never gotten as comfortable with the recoil from a more-than-mild rifle.

Bench position is critical in “felt recoil”, as mentioned! However, my opinion/findings differ from JSTUART on holding the firearm. When I first got my .375 AI ( 60 ft/lbs recoil) , I attempted the “light hold” method! It kicked the crap out of me and my 3 shot groups ran in the 1 1/4” to 1 1/12” range. When I went to a very firm/tight hold.....felt recoil was lessened and my groups shrunk to 3/4”!

I suspect that the “light hold” allowed the rifle to get a “running start” and hit me pretty hard. The “light hold” also allowed the rifle to jump quite high off of the front rest as well as the rifle “torque” (twist) a great deal. I think that a “tight hold” helped minimize all of the above....helping me shoot much better! JMO. memtb

Mismount of the gun always made recoil very noticeable.

I don't own any big bore rifles - closest I get is a 12 gauge. Was snow goose hunting. Extended magazine stuffed with Kent 3.5 inchers. I want to say there were 6 and I unloaded as fast as I could. Winchester Super X2 is pretty soft shotgun but that shook my teeth.

Never again. I stepped down to 3 inch and shot MUCH slower.

YES !!!!!

If I try to STOP the rifle’s rearward motion
It gets my attention and CAN hurt.

I like as upright as I can be AND leave my
Arm, Shoulder, & Back RELAXED....
I will then rock or rotate WITH the rifle
Instead of trying to stop its motion.

I don’t notice recoil TILL my 8 mm Rem Mag.
80 grs powder, 200 or 220 gr bullets @ 3100 FPS.

I’ve used my Tikka T3X Lite SS 7 RM each year
since 2018 and NO problems.

Jerry

I’ll add this to my previous post. I do not try to stop or limit my body from moving during recoil......I try to relax my upper body as much as is possible, while pulling the rifle firmly into my shoulder and holding the rifle down with my non-trigger hand (placed on top of scope) to minimize rifle jump and torque! memtb

Thanks for all the comebacks.

I'm particularly concerned with an effect I notice that doesn't seem to have any relation to the ergonomics. Some days, my body just seems more sensitive to recoil than others. Anyone else notice this? What's causing it?

One has to wonder, on those days did you drink… milk?
Cereal question.

Does stock fitment have any effect on felt recoil? Seems I read something about that.

Stock design does and fitment.

Used to shoot an old Nobel 12 gauge. Was too short for me and every time I'd fire - my thumb would come back and hit my nose. Usually bleeding at the end of a round of trap.

Kimber's design of the Montana stock seems to do a very good job at mitigating recoil. Certainly better than the M7 I had in the past.

Confidence is everything, if you are thinking about recoil, then you:

Raise your head up off the stock

slap the trigger instead of steady pull

Jerk the trigger, which is different than a slap

loose focus of your sight picture, with no idea where the cross hair was when the gun went off

Inconsistent grip with either hand and shoulder pressure

IN 1986, a gunsmith introduced me to a muzzle break on my 375 H&H, and 338 Win mag....jeez....where had I been all those years? Head in the sand for sure.

Next was a brake on the 35 Wheelen, then 30/06....then all varmint rifles down to 223....

Shotguns are another can of worms. I was shoot a lot of 3" mags on pigeons where the average shot was 50-65 yards with them flying 70 mph, and Coyotes with 3" #4 buck. Gave up the pumps, and Benelli SBE, got to the Beretta's 390, 391, Rem 11/87's...home sweet home!

Recoil is a darn accuracy killer, and going down in caliber size and bullet weight is a huge help, amazing what a 243, 6 Rem, and AI's will do with Nosler partitions and tripple shocks, and pass the 100g Hornady BTHP and BTSP.

A 22 Creed and 22/250 AI shooting 60g Partitions is a deer slayer.

I'm not being smart or critical. I thot that was a given.

I won't keep a stock that doesn't fit me. It either gets adjusted or it's down the road.


Jerry

Bingo. You never want to lightly hold a magnum or heavy kicker.. Also allowing the rifle to push you back a bit, as in "follow through". In other words, you don't want to be like a brick wall, but you do want to pull the rifle in tight to your shoulder pocket..

bsa

What do you call a heavy kicker.

My 8 RM & a 338 WM that I had & a
375 HH I played with are my heavy kickers
of experience.

I hold all of em more lightly than ‘tight’ & hard.
No problems.

? ? ? ?


Jerry

One of the best pieces of advice about bench-testing harder kicking rifles I've read over the decades was Elmer Keith's: Hold the forend firmly with your front hand just behind the front rest. This definitely cuts down on felt recoil, whether the stocks "fitment" is correct for you or not.

On the other hand, the biggest advance I've encountered in recoil abatement over those same decades was using smaller cartridges with better bullets.

Limbsaver recoil pads help a lot.

Gripping the forend of my 338Fed Montana is how I ended up taking that rifle from snappy to pleasant.

Time of year and weather is big too. Much more comfortable shooting with a jacket than with a t-shirt.

Gain weight…. I’m a rail…. But I’m 45 pounds heavier than when I shipped off to MCRD San Diego in 2004. I got sick in boot camp like everyone else and dipped down below minimum weight standards during that first couple of weeks. Now I look back on it and can’t imagine myself with 50 pounds less on my frame.

Posture. Being upright on the bench is much better than being hunched over.

Wear good hearing protection.

Shoot big stuff. I hunt doves with a 12 gauge Fox Sterlingworth pin gun with a plastic buttplate. My friends think I’m crazy, but I smack doves with it and don’t care about the recoil.

Shoot little stuff. Have a 223 Montana to go with my 338 Fed. They often go to the range together.

Recently got into reduced loads. I’ve found that getting comfortable with the rifle before it goes off with full loads has helped.

At this point in my life I’m looking for something bigger, and even though I’m still a youngster to most of you, I’ve never been a fan of hard kicking rifles. Now I’m starting to like it.