What is the best recoil pad for a hard kicker?

Decelerator.

That's kind of what I was thinking...that or a Limbsaver.

Limbsaver, Kick-Eeze, and Remington Supercell seem more effective to me than a Decelerator, but not by a huge margin. The Decelerator looks better and is sturdier.

As many square inches and as many inches thick as a Limbsaver as you can get.

Limbsaver is made of a lossy material. Some of the recoil energy goes into heating the pad.

My father did a math derivation of a parabolic taper of hydraulic recoil mechanism [rather than empirically derived with tables at Rock Island Arsenal], 70 years ago.... but you would still need the Limbsaver with compliance to form fit the shoulder and get more square inches of contact.

The goal is to keep the maximum pressure below 20 psi anywhere on the skin. This requires averaging the impulse over time and area. Hydraulic could average over time, but the soft pad can average over more area. The Limbsaver does both.

The material the Kick-Eeze, Limbsaver, and other similar pads are made of is hard to grind it wants to roll and crumble. Decelerator is easier to get a nice clean job of fitting than the others.

Just replaced a Limbsaver that was guaranteed not to melt but did with a Decelerator on my 375H&H Belted Magnum.

Lousy paying twice for the same thing plus fitting.

I am happy with the Decelerator.

I have Limbsavers on most of my long guns and find they make a huge difference in felt recoil.

Decelerator

Thanks for all the replys. I guess I'll just have to decide for myself.

limbsavers just don't hold up

Decelerator for me as well.

A good recoil pad should work well without being butt-ugly. A Limbsaver may work well enough but it certainly falls down on the second requirement. Decelerator. GD

Limsaver gave me a free one no questions asked. Mine was a pre-fit Rem. so no charge for fitting. They had a bad batch of material about the time the Rem. pad was offered so this is not the norm.

Limbsaver sure work but for looks and durability I like Pachmayer. I also think the softer pads transfer more felt recoil to my face. On a big kicker or high volume shoot I like the PAST recoil shield as it is the same sorbathane material as the Limbsaver. The pad and a decelerator makaes just about anything tolerable until you go to a 458 Lott or bigger.