Phil Bourjaily talks about reducing felt recoil and shows a couple of videos that purport to show how perceived recoil can be diminished. I agree with Phil that hearing protection has a lot to do with perceived recoil at the range. If your ears don't hurt, it doesn't seem like the firearm kicks so much, but lots of other factors play into the equation. Stock fit, shooting position, caliber (or gauge), individual body build, psychological fear, all these make recoil something to be endured, feared, or enjoyed. If you're afraid of the gun, it'll seem to hurt you a lot more than if you're not afraid to shoot it.
Regardless of what I was shooting, I've never felt the recoil when I was shooting at game. Whether the recoil of a rifle from a deer stand, or shooting heavy magnums from the duck blind, if I was focused on meaty animals, I didn't feel the recoil. In fact, I often didn't hear the report of the gun.
When I'm teaching new shooters, grandkids, or nieces and nephews, we talk about recoil and how each gun might feel to them when they fire it. I've had students shy away from a gun that they felt might "kick" them too much, but I've never had them stay away long. I've seen skinny little teenage girls handle my .44 magnum and love it and those same girls shoot 12 gauge shotguns with relish. I've seen grown men who didn't like the recoil of a .30-06. It's okay to not like something and some folks handle recoil better than others. It's okay.
There are some guns I'm not crazy about. I don't really like shooting heavy .357 magnum loads, but I love shooting the .44 magnum. Go figure. Most recoil is about perception. If you perceive it to be bad, it probably will be bad. If you perceive it to be easy to handle, it probably will be easy to handle.
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One of the things I've noticed over the years is that people with slender, lightweight upper bodies don't seem to experience recoil as a painful thing nearly as much as those with a heavier build. My best friend's wife Julie is Filipina, weighs about 103 lbs, and can shoot up a box of .458 Win. Mags and enjoy it. Two or three rounds and I'm a candidate for the ER, or several shots of single malt. Even a lightweight .30-30 single shot such as my H&R M148 Topper beats me up pretty bad without a recoil pad.
Yep, my daughter doesn't 'like' my G17, but she 'likes' the G22... sigh...
My first exposure to .30-06 was an M1 Garand, which was flat out fun and pain free to shoot. Every time I took it out shooting 150 rounds only hurt my wallet, never my shoulder.
Then one day I shot a Springfield 1903... 10 rounds and my shoulder was screaming (and was badly bruised). I blame it mostly on the heavy, sharp checkered (incorrect) buttplate it came with, but even a smooth buttplate and a PAST recoil pad hasn't made the 1903 a pleasure to shoot... better, but not enjoyable. Perhaps Gerry N. has a point on the shooter's size making a paradoxical difference.
I am not a masochist but shooting my '03 gives me tremendous pleasure. The recoil along with working the bolt are to me a major part of the range experience. I also like to load my 357 alternating 357 and 38 rounds to where you don't know what round is there until you pull the trigger. I should learn to reload to make shooting more affordable.
Deacon
Off the topic, but today I had a Dr. appointment at 10 ayem, which took about 15 minutes so I hit a few gun and pawn shops on the way home. In an old pawn shop in old Everett, WA covered in forty years of dust and grime was a geriatric H&R single shot with a sawed off barrel. It measured 24" from the breech, and was marked 16 Ga. Since I have two boxes of Remington 16 Ga hunting loads that came in the drawer of an old camper I bought, I decided to have a quick chat with the proprietor, a very pleasant young woman. We decided $25 was an agreeable price so after filling out the paper work, having a cup of coffee and a pleasant chat, it came home with me. It needs the muzzle squared, and a serious cleanup, after which it will occupy a canvas pouch hanging behind the seat of my pickup. Hunting loads of #4 shot should be fine for the odd rabbit or grouse stupid enough to show itself while I'm roaming around on logging roads in the Cascade foothills. I've never fired more than ten or twelve shotgun rounds in my life, so I figure a $25.00 shotgun and some free ammunition should get me started off just fine. Not bad for a 67 (going on 14)yr. old geezer just prowling around with too much loose cash in his pocket, eh?
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