Vicki and I love shooting a shotgun. The one thing that we might constantly have to guard against with our students is recoil. Whether shooting targets or hunting doves or quail, recoil is not as great a factor as it is in hunting waterfowl. Waterfowl loads have larger payloads and higher velocities, which yields more felt recoil. If recoil becomes great enough such that you feel pain when you shoot, it will affect your ability to shoot well.
There are several things that control the amount of felt recoil:
– The kind of ammunition
– The kind of gun
– The weight of gun
– The fit of the gun
– The kind of recoil pad
The weight of the shot charge and the velocity it travels is one determining factor in felt recoil. The larger the payload – 1 oz. vs. 1-3/8 oz. of shot, and the greater velocity 1200 feet per second (fps) vs. 1400 fps, determines how much recoil will occur. A 1 oz. load going 1200 fps like you might use for targets or dove or quail will have much less recoil than a 1-1/4 oz. or 1-3/8 oz. waterfowl load approaching 1400 fps.
Something that most shotgunners don’t know is that the shot charge reaches 90 to 95 percent of its velocity in the first 10-15 inches it travels. That sounds fast, but not nearly as fast as it does when you correct feet per second (fps) to miles per hour (mph). 1400 feet per second is 950 miles per hour! And this happens in a fraction of a second! Ouch!
The most effective way of dealing with heavy kicking waterfowl loads is to use a gas-operated semiautomatic shotgun. These guns use some of the expanding gases in the barrel to actually operate the action, which lessens the felt recoil. Under recoil, the action moves back and ejects the spent cartridge and slams forward, loading the next cartridge. This movement also takes some of the recoil out.
If you shoot a pump, an over/under or side by side, there is no gas bleed off or moving parts to absorb any of the recoil. You get the “Full Monty” into your shoulder and face.
Another factor in felt recoil is the weight of the gun. The heavier the gun, the less it kicks. There is no trade-off for weight and recoil. This is why most target guns are heavy (8-9 lbs. plus). They are made to be carried a little and shot a lot. Most field or hunting guns are light, 5-7 lbs. They are made to be carried a lot and shot a little. Most if not all of the “waterfowl” semiautomatic shotguns are heavy. This is an inconvenience when walking to the blind, but an advantage when pulling the trigger.
Gun fit can have a lot to do with felt recoil. In most cases when you are hunting waterfowl, it is cold. This means you will probably be wearing more clothes to keep warm and/or dry. Since most shotguns are fitted in nice weather, they cut to fit the shooter in nothing more than a shirt or shooting vest. When you start putting on long underwear, wool shirts, and rain parkas, the gun that used to fit will all of a sudden feel too long. This leads to mismounts due to the gun butt getting hung up on the excess clothing.
There are two ways of handling this. One alternative is to simply move your front hand (left hand for right-handed shooters and right hand for left-handed shooters) back toward the receiver – 1 to 3″. This will allow the gun to go forward another few inches when you mount and will make mounting your gun a little easier with bulky clothes on.
With the front hand back, the gun will feel a little barrel heavy, and for that reason it feels a little awkward. Vicki and I have to do this constantly when demonstrating a shot with our students’ guns. Although it works, it is not the most ideal solution.
The most ideal solution is to have two recoil pads of different thickness fitted to the same gun. It is simple to do and it allows you to change the length of the pull on your gun in less than five minutes. This, in turn, will enable you to have the same feel of the gun, regardless of how much clothing you are wearing. In Texas, you might be hunting waterfowl in a shirt one day and heavy clothes and rain gear the next.
To make this happen, take your gun to your local gunsmith. Have him install a recoil pad that is 1” to 1 1/8” thick with a ¼” spacer to your correct length of pull. Outfitted with the thick recoil pad and the ¼” spacer, your gun will fit you when wearing a shirt or hunting vest. At the same time, have the gunsmith grind to fit a 3/8” or ½” pad to the same butt stock. This will enable you to take the thick pad and spacer off and install the thinner pad with or without the ¼” spacer to have a shorter length of pull on the same gun. This will enable you to shorten the length of pull as much as 1” to accommodate shooting in bulky fowl weather gear.
Another trick we have discovered is to have your gunsmith round all the edges of the recoil pad. The typical gunsmith will not want to do this because they think it doesn’t look good. However, we find that the sharp edges of a recoil pad tend to grab clothing during the mounting of the gun. The rounded edges tend to slide more freely against any kind of clothes.
What kind of pad? There are many on the market. The two we prefer are Kick-Eez and Trap Dude. These two are most popular among clay shooters for their ability to absorb recoil.
The Kick-Eez will absorb 10 to 15 percent more felt recoil than any of the pads that gun manufacturers install at the factory. However, the Trap Dude (what can I say? It’s made in California) is softer than the Kick-Eez. Although it is not as tough (because it is softer) it absorbs as much as 15 to 25 percent more recoil than the Kick-Eez.
If you are interested in the greatest amount of recoil reduction, install a Trap Dude on your gun. It is so soft you don’t even need to round the edges. You must, however, be careful with it. If you are rough on equipment, install a Kick-Eez and round edges.
Either way you go, we know you will enjoy shooting more if you don’t get hurt when you pull the trigger. You will also shoot better if you can get the gun properly mounted, regardless of what kind of clothes you are hunting in.
