Recoil Pads

If you shoot rifles or shotguns, you're going to be intimately involved with recoil.  A good portion of the felt recoil in any firearm is based on the stock design, but most of us are stuck with a particular stock on any given gun.  Which brings us to recoil pads.  A good pad can do more to tame a firearm than just about anything else you can do.  A big plus is the simple fact that the companies have been experimenting with new pad materials and we've got some great choices in recoil pads, choices that we didn't have twenty years ago.

Pachmayr Decelerator is my pad of choice these days.  I've got one on my .30-06 bolt, my son's .30-06 pump and another son's 7mm magnum.  We shoot these rifles and before we installed the Decelerator, the shooting session was over when it got painful.  After installing the pads, shooting 20 or 30 rounds of hard-kicking magnum ammo isn't a problem.

Another great recoil pad is made by Limbsaver.  I've got a Limbsaver pad on a shotgun and I really like the way that pad soaks up the recoil.   It's mounted on my police shotgun, and while I don't fire that shotgun much, when we're using full-house loads at qualifications, it used to get painful.  Now, I can fire a couple of boxes of shells before recoil becomes a problem.

Remington makes something they call the SuperCell recoil pad.  I happened to pick one up a year or so ago for another project, and for one reason or another didn't use it.  It seems to be a great pad, and as luck has it, the rifle I've got on layaway is a Remington that will fit that pad in the drawer.  When I put the rifle on layaway, I noticed that it has a hard-rubber butt plate, and while the .308 caliber isn't known for heavy recoil, a good pad is always an asset on any rifle.  I'll install it pronto when the rifle comes home.

Even though the various companies make pre-fit recoil pads for most fireams, a good gunsmith can fit a pad to just about any stock.  My gunsmith charges me $60.00 to fit a pad and that includes the pad.  He can also adjust length of pull when he's doing the fitting.  I had one rifle with a stock that was too long, and it had a butt plate.  I took it to the 'smith and asked him if he could install a good pad and decrease the length of pull to suit me.   Two days later I picked up my rifle and stock fit me perfectly.

One benefit to having a recoil pad on a firearm has little to do with shooting.  At one time or another all of us lean a long gun against something we're not supposed to lean it against.  A rock, a tree, a pickup or a wall in our home.  A recoil pad on a firearm acts as a skid preventer.  If you've ever leaned your rifle against a wall and watched it slide to the floor, I'd bet that it has a hard butt plate on it.  A recoil pad will prevent that from happening.

If your rifle's recoil is hurting you, consider investing in a good recoil pad.  It's a great investment in your firearm