Shotgun recoil

[Water Rat]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

The weight of a gun is usually built to reduce recoil  , when it's a feather weight your removing weight which make recoil higher  Ithaca 37s were light guns that packed a good punch..  still not close to 835 with 3.5 in turkey load..  

I bought this Featherlight years ago for small game. It’s nice and light were I could carry it all day.                                  

[Water Rat]

I also own a Harrington & Richardson single shot 10 gauge. I shot a hen with it years ago but is way too heavy to walk around with. 

[Kmartinson]

I had to carry a .410/.22 over-under when I was younger. My step-fathers go to small game gun. I always wished for a bigger or cooler gun, now I think about how nice and easy it was to carry and look forward to buying one in the future.

[CharlieNY]

53 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

Also, Most people dont really understand the difference between a 410 and a 12ga turkey load... when people say is 410 even legal? well yea, it shoots a pattern or pellets and flies at the same velocities.. you just have to adjust your max yardage per payload/pattern like anything else when we do our part and get good with our equipment.. I have a 410 that will shoot better than most normal 12 ga patterns. its light, extremely ethical and birds dont flop.. guys can shoot 3-1/2" factory standard turkey load and barely make a killing pattern at 50. Bump up to my 28ga and its a stone cold killer beyond 60.. 

My 535 and 835 mossbergs are flat out shoulder dis locaters.. but they pattern lead and non toxics better than most shotguns.  My 535/835 guns with a 3.5 or 3" handload will flop a turkey at very very long ranges, but will also roll you back  harder than the 3.5" lead turkey load .. I rarely hunt with them, but tinkering is fun.  

attached is a 3.5" 2.5oz handload pattern from my 535 at 35yards. Theres roughly 640 pellets in that pattern #8 Tungsten that has 1.25" deep gel penetration out to 95 yards

I bought my son a Mossberg 535 camo turkey gun years ago when they first came out. It shoots phenomenal patterns using Winchester Long Beard ammo. The patterns are tight and uniform out to long ranges. His only complaint was that it kicked like a mule with 3.5" shells but he put on a Limbsaver pad and said it was much better. He has never had to take more than one shot at a turkey with it and says he loves it and would never trade it for a more expensive gun.    valoroutdoors.com

[G-Man]

3 hours ago, Kmartinson said:

I had to carry a .410/.22 over-under when I was younger. My step-fathers go to small game gun. I always wished for a bigger or cooler gun, now I think about how nice and easy it was to carry and look forward to buying one in the future.

I have a .22 over a 20  nice gun

[suburbanfarmer]

3 hours ago, G-Man said:

I have a .22 over a 20  nice gun

I kick myself everytime i walk in a gun store, for not buying that when it was introduced a while back.

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, suburbanfarmer said:

I kick myself everytime i walk in a gun store, for not buying that when it was introduced a while back.

That would be a perfect gun for me to carry, when I am checking the traps in my corn in the late summer and early fall.  I carry my Ruger 10/22,  but I got to go back to the house for a shotgun, when I catch a skunk.

[LET EM GROW]

19 hours ago, CharlieNY said:

I bought my son a Mossberg 535 camo turkey gun years ago when they first came out. It shoots phenomenal patterns using Winchester Long Beard ammo. The patterns are tight and uniform out to long ranges. His only complaint was that it kicked like a mule with 3.5" shells but he put on a Limbsaver pad and said it was much better. He has never had to take more than one shot at a turkey with it and says he loves it and would never trade it for a more expensive gun.    valoroutdoors.com

It is a fine shooting gun! Just kicks like a dang Mule for sure! Mine has a thumbhole stock and I just may consider looking for a limbsaver pad for it also.  Bought it when they first came out, its always shot #4 lead really well! Keep you barrel polished and it will shoot great every year! Thank you! 

[cas]

Complain about recoil?  How do you think the turkey feels!?!? 

[The_Real_TCIII]

Complain about recoil?  How do you think the turkey feels!?!? 

He made bad decisions and paid the ultimate price


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[cas]

I've always liked and use the expression "I gave him the bad news."

[SuperMag]

I typically don't think about recoil when shooting at either turkey or deer. If i did think about it while aiming i'd be willing to bet my accuracy would suffer greatly. Something to think about too is, when I'm in the woods i typically am dressed for colder weather, meaning theres extra padding between my shoulder and the butt stock of my gun. This reduces recoil a lot. I don't do much shooting in the winter months, however I shoot a lot in the summer and usually wait until then to sight in any new guns i might have. Those are the times when my shoulder really feels it because I'm usually in just a t shirt.

Edited March 28, 2022 by SuperMag

[Kmartinson]

10 minutes ago, SuperMag said:

I typically don't think about recoil when shooting at either turkey or deer. If i did think about it while aiming i'd be willing to bet my accuracy would suffer greatly. Something to think about too is, when I'm in the woods i typically am dressed for colder weather, meaning theres extra padding between my shoulder and the butt stock of my gun. This reduces recoil a lot. I don't do much shooting in the winter months, however I shoot a lot in the summer and usually wait until then to sight in any new guns i might have. Those are the times when my shoulder really feels it because I'm usually in just a t shirt.

I started shooting in my hunting clothes just before season, dry run scenarios. I guess archery taught me that lesson.

[Kmartinson]

4 minutes ago, blackbeltbill said:

  What has not been really talked about yet is the possible  Glitch you can develop  quickly by shooting Heavy Magnum Turkey Loads at a Target. By expecting and thinking about that heavy and painful recoil will possibly  have a hunter shoot over the Top of a Gobbler .

  I may shoot 1 Turkey load and then go to Pheasant  Loads at a target.

 No one feels a thing when pulling the Trigger on a Gobbler- but if you develop  a Glitch from too much patterning- you might miss over the Top because you are waiting for the pain.

Anything is possible. Bare down, aim small miss small, and dont forget to squeeze. A nice basic clean up of the sear pin or trigger will make a more crisp shot, a couple of my most used guns have at least been cleaned up. I'm about shoot more, shoot more often, and buy more ammo every time I go near it.  Lol

[cas]

Conditioning!  I've always been puzzled how I can take say my match gun to the range and fire 5-6 rounds testing something, and my shoulder hurts like heck for two, three days.   Then a week or so later, go to the match, shoot 150-200 rounds and have it hurt less than it did from the 5 rounds.

 

Same thing with rifle shooting. The more you do it, the more your body and your mindset get used to it. Though that's not east to do these days.

[suburbanfarmer]

35 minutes ago, cas said:

Though that's not east to do these days.

Agreed

A round of clays is now north of $60 when 2 yrs ago it was just $34 for 100 targets

[wolc123]

4 hours ago, blackbeltbill said:

I grew up shooting Skeet. Shot very many 25 Straights. 

 But the Recoil from Skeet Shooting is nothing compared to Patterning Heavy Magnum Turkey Loads . Shoot off 8 or 10 and you will be black and blue later. And you might develop  a Glitch and miss that Gobbler-- over the Top. 

  And hunt Turkeys enough and you will miss over the Top eventually. 

  

When I am on the range with my shotguns, I always use a pin on recoil pad.  It is about 6” x 8” x 1/2” thick and filled with a material like silly putty.  It has a Velcro patch, that pins onto the shoulder of a t-shirt.  You don’t notice the recoil at all, when wearing that pad, and there is no shoulder bruising.

I bought it many years ago, while I was working on a shock absorber for a complicated recoil-absorbing mechanism, that mounted into the stock of shotguns, that were used mostly for trap and skeet shooting.  The silly putty pad was more effective effective and way cheaper to produce.  

Edited March 29, 2022 by wolc123

[DirtTime]

The Matrix gets glitches, people who become anxious while shooting a heavy recoil firearm develop a flinch, jerking the trigger instead of squeezing it, leading to pulling the shot left or right but usually not up or down, thought I'd fathom a guess high or low might come into the equation. Even when sighting in, the actual shot should sort of surprise you due to slow and steady pressure on the trigger until the gun fires.

 

I don't know many people who grab a half dozen boxes of 3 1/2" shells and think let's go shoot some skeet. Or 3" for that matter.

 

Semi-auto shotguns will have less recoil than a pump, dblbbl, or single barrel. So is true that usually a heaver gun will absorb more recoil than a lighter one. The gas operated 12GA I just let go could be shot all day in a tee shirt and not be a big deal. The pump 20GA I have has more recoil, but it's sort of heavy, so it is highly tolerable. My single shot 20GA is light and has a pretty noticeable difference, especially with slugs and 3" shells.

 

You don't feel the recoil when shooting at game due to adrenaline, but that recoil is still there whether we feel it or not. It's not like some magic fairy waves a wand, and it goes away.

 

I'm not a big range guy anymore, I will go out and burn through a couple boxes of 22LR once in a while, but my deer rifles, shot guns, and even the ML don't see a lot of rounds run through them. I check to make sure things are still on point and that's about it. As fun as the newest rifle is to shoot, that won't get used to burn through boxes of ammo either.

[Water Rat]

Maybe subconsciously I know that the shotgun is going to kick , but if I use proper shooting fundamentals , I won’t need a follow up shot on a turkey. Not that I’m an expert marksman or anything but why go through the recoil twice when once is all you need ? Provided that the turkey is in range and you know it’s capabilities.

[ApexerER]

On 3/23/2022 at 1:54 PM, G-Man said:

I have a .22 over a 20  nice gun

Me too, it was my grandfathers....

[DirtTime]

1 hour ago, Water Rat said:

Maybe subconsciously I know that the shotgun is going to kick , but if I use proper shooting fundamentals , I won’t need a follow up shot on a turkey. Not that I’m an expert marksman or anything but why go through the recoil twice when once is all you need ? Provided that the turkey is in range and you know it’s capabilities.

Pretty much my thoughts. Patterning a fixed bead sight shouldn't take more than three shots. You can't make any adjustments, so one to see where the shot is hitting, and two more to make the adjustment with your aim and remember. A scope or adjustable iron sights will take more to dial it in. If you're flinching at the range, you'll probably flinch at the moment of truth.

 

Dealing with recoil can be a pain if you don't like it, and the only way to know if you can deal with recoil is to shoot. That can be a problem for some people if they don't know anyone who can take them out for some practice, because if you buy a 10GA and it whollops you too much, you're instantly out money. The reasonable solution for a shotgun is a 20. Yes, they kick, but less than a basic pump 12, and far more practical than a .410 in my very humble opinion.

[Buckmaster7600]

Lead sled, there’s zero reason not to use one for patterning. They’re plenty cheap and are an absolute necessity if your patterning a Turkey gun, with the price of some shells today if you pull 4 or 5 shots you could have payed for a basic lead sled.

I love shooting and I shoot more than most anyone I know. Recoil is a non issue for me but I absolutely hate shooting heavy recoiling shotguns I can still shoot them accurately it it’s something I just don’t enjoy and have learned to avoid. It’s why I’ve went to a 20ga for slug and Turkey purposes years ago. Even with my 20’s I still shoot them in the lead sled if I’m patterning, zeroing a dot etc.

Once the wind dies down I’ll be checking 3 20 gauges they have dots and they’ve been patterned so it will be one shot and done. 2 other 20’s have new optics/ chokes so it will probably take 3 shots to zero and another 10 to test shell choke combos then another 1 or 2 each to zero the best combos.

That’s a lot of shooting and even with them being 20’s I wouldn’t want to do it without a lead sled.


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[phade]

Put me in the .410 category. I have three now with two dedicated to turkey. 

It has a bit of kick but even shooting at paper is no problem. I just enjoy the lighter tote weight, the portability, etc. 

I have used a Mossberg 535 12g for years with hevi, and I'm good on that, forever. .410 FTW.

I've probably also sent more shotty loads downrange than rifle by a factor of 5-1 in my life.