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. . . but I sure do from some of my shotguns. Face it: If recoil doesn’t bother you, you simply haven’t shot enough. I notice recoil the most when I’m practicing on clays with my game guns to get ready for the upcoming hunting season. In the field I could be using a Ma Deuce and never notice it when that bird flushes. Adrenaline is better than aspirin.

There are two kinds of recoil: calculated free recoil, which has a specific formula based mostly on the weight of the gun, weight of the shell’s payload and muzzle velocity; and subjective, or felt, recoil, which is what you think you feel and is much harder to calculate.

There are two ways to significantly reduce free recoil. The first—and least effective—is to make your gun heavier. As a very rough guide, if you add 10 percent to the weight of your gun, the free recoil will diminish by more or less 10 percent. It’s not an exact 1:1, but it’s close enough to avoid a bar fight.

Of course, target shooters like heavy guns, but they sure wouldn’t while working their way back up the hill to the truck after a six-hour grouse hunt. Waterfowlers might bear it in mind, though, considering the cannon shells being used now.

By far the best way to lower free recoil is to use a lighter load. That way you can carry a lighter gun and hunt without your knuckles dragging. Lowering the payload or the muzzle velocity 10 percent will reduce recoil by at least twice that much. It’s a twofer. Suchadeal.

Example: A 6-pound 8-ounce 16-gauge with a 1-1/8-oz load at 1,200 fps has 25.1 foot-pounds of free recoil. Drop that load to 1 oz of shot at 1,200 fps and recoil falls to 19.8 foot-pounds. Go further to 7/8 oz at 1,200 fps and it’s 15.2 foot-pounds. That’s a 40-percent reduction in recoil for a quarter-ounce of shot!

It’s the same for velocity. The same 16-gauge with a 1-1/8-oz load at 1,300 fps has 31.0 foot-pounds of free recoil. At 1,200 fps it has 25.1 foot-pounds, and at 1,100 fps it has 20.0 foot-pounds.

Changing the shell produces more than a 2:1 reduction in free recoil. Unless you are whacking clouds of doves in Argentina or using a light pumpgun with 3-1/2” Roman candles for geese, recoil may not matter in the field, but it sure will when you’re practicing to get ready for the season.

The Rule of 96 may be antique, but it has a lot of truth. A gun should weigh no less than 96 times the payload to be shot with comfort. That means no more than a 1-oz load in a 6-pound gun. Just keep the velocity down or it will kill on both ends.

That’s it for now. Boots off. Beer open.

Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 in Permalink