Thread: .303 rifle recoil, sore shoulder

Originally Posted by Old_School

Any advice on how to mitigate recoil? Dont want to sound like a wimp here, but I have a wickedly bruised shoulder after putting about 3 or 4 rounds through it over the weekend. I had to stop.
I dont know if I was holding the rifle wrong, but its not like I haven't fired one of these before, but it was some years ago when I last used one and at the time I didnt think the recoil was anything significant, but I had been using his rifle while in the standing position.

We were just shooting regular soft point hunting rounds through his gun, but ive been putting through my rifle the greek surplus HXP rounds.
Perhaps these have a higher charge in them? IDK, but I was shooting this sitting on a chair and resting the rifle on a table with a sack of grain to support the rifle on.

I have been diagnosed with bursitis on my shoulder, and im also wondering if the use of my 12 gauge has been partly to blame, but i had been doing alot of heavy work over the last few months when it first gave my symptoms which is what I put it down to, but I dont want to make things worse.
Any suggestions?

a funny story for you rebooting rifles - we have it easy - my Dad was telling me when he trained in Egypt WW2 they had a viscious beast called a boyes anti tank rifle -cant remember the calibre but think single shot .50 cal - the Sargeant would ask first volunteer to step foward to fire the big bitch and no one would move - they were all shit scared of it - the sergeant would have to order them to fire it

More rounds down range is the solution, once bruising subsided. Bit of regular practice and won't know yourself. Try to incorporate using sling, allow rifle to go through recoil pulse and ideally coming back approximately onto target, your technique is sound.

There does seem to be more perceived recoil out of HXP Greek at 2500 fps than say a 174gr reload at 2400 to me, even though one would think there shouldn't be much in it?

I thought it improved my shooting on light recoiling rifles as shooting the brass buttplate three'O exposes flaws in shooting technique that are not clearly obvious otherwise with modern setups as tend to mitigate to dome degree, but are still there.

you are shooting a rifle that was DESIGNED to be shot standing and held firmly in BOTH hands...... sitting is no issue,not having front hand firmly holding onto that stock and pulling it back into shoulder however IS an issue..and why your getting booted.
if your cleaning patches are still coming out grey....keep cleaning.... just make sure you are using a cleaning rod from chamber end and not pulling rope pull through out on angle.....
you can get really serious about cleaning and CAREFULLY pour jug of boiling water down through bore,carefull not to get onto stock etc..this will help shift any corrosive salts left over from primers etc in the milserp stuff...not sure if greek stuff is corrosive,but some of reports on here its a bit dodgy at times..... you can also plug muzzle with rag and fill bore with the likes of CRC and leave it over night then give it another really good clean using your brushes and followed by numerous cloth patches till it comes out clean....what your trying to achieve is remove any old shit from in bore that isnt supposed to be there.
a slip on rubber recoil pad doesnt cost the earth.... removing brass plate will shorten stock up a fly shit, one thing is forsure,what your doing now is not doing you any good ,it will erode your confidence and could lead to the dreaded rhymes with grinch......

re cleaning the barrel-a trick told to me by an oldtime shooter of .303s.plug ya barel pour a cup of boiling vinegasr down the tube -let sit for a time theb rinse with boiling water-heat of metal will dry the bar rel .do not attempt to drink either .that bore should lo ok clean as a babies bum!
my own no4mk1 longbranch I had fun and games with it too but a recoil pad plus a DIYcheekrest solved it .dont fire the old sheilas often but I dont call her my 18"naval gun for nothin.the barrel is also only 2land/groove so she sprays 150gn but looooooves 180gn softnose round nose.-Im also pondering exploring downloading some cases with 125gn7.62x39 loads????subsonic -oh yeah have suppresor in situ

Well remember my first centrefire was a .303 quite a step up from my .22 more they noise I think too make sure you have good air protection and as Mickey says hold the forend and a firm buttpad on your shoulder.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

a funny story for you rebooting rifles - we have it easy - my Dad was telling me when he trained in Egypt WW2 they had a viscious beast called a boyes anti tank rifle -cant remember the calibre but think single shot .50 cal - the Sargeant would ask first volunteer to step foward to fire the big bitch and no one would move - they were all shit scared of it - the sergeant would have to order them to fire it

I would hate to think what the recoil would be like on one of those 50BMG rifles, im assuming the modern ones have some sort of spring or shock absorber to absorb the recoil?

Originally Posted by jackson21

More rounds down range is the solution, once bruising subsided. Bit of regular practice and won't know yourself. Try to incorporate using sling, allow rifle to go through recoil pulse and ideally coming back approximately onto target, your technique is sound.

There does seem to be more perceived recoil out of HXP Greek at 2500 fps than say a 174gr reload at 2400 to me, even though one would think there shouldn't be much in it?

I thought it improved my shooting on light recoiling rifles as shooting the brass buttplate three'O exposes flaws in shooting technique that are not clearly obvious otherwise with modern setups as tend to mitigate to dome degree, but are still there.

Yeah I think I need more practice, I found that with my 12 gauge it was the same thing, I was bruised heavily when i first used it, but since then its never been as big a deal.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

you are shooting a rifle that was DESIGNED to be shot standing and held firmly in BOTH hands...... sitting is no issue,not having front hand firmly holding onto that stock and pulling it back into shoulder however IS an issue..and why your getting booted.
if your cleaning patches are still coming out grey....keep cleaning.... just make sure you are using a cleaning rod from chamber end and not pulling rope pull through out on angle.....
you can get really serious about cleaning and CAREFULLY pour jug of boiling water down through bore,carefull not to get onto stock etc..this will help shift any corrosive salts left over from primers etc in the milserp stuff...not sure if greek stuff is corrosive,but some of reports on here its a bit dodgy at times..... you can also plug muzzle with rag and fill bore with the likes of CRC and leave it over night then give it another really good clean using your brushes and followed by numerous cloth patches till it comes out clean....what your trying to achieve is remove any old shit from in bore that isnt supposed to be there.
a slip on rubber recoil pad doesnt cost the earth.... removing brass plate will shorten stock up a fly shit, one thing is forsure,what your doing now is not doing you any good ,it will erode your confidence and could lead to the dreaded rhymes with grinch......

What about lying down flat? I would imagine they should have been designed for use in this position? I might experiment this over the weekend.
I might give it a better clean this week. It doesnt look rusty, so im assuming any corrosive ammo used in the gun previously should have showed up alot of rust by now. I was assured by the store that this greek ammo has no corrosive primers, CAC however can be corrosive.
I have some hoppes No9 bore cleaner which is supposed to be really good, perhaps I should use this, but ive just been using easeOX oil which is supposed to be OK for cleaning.
Ive got a long cleaning rod and a brush that i gave a good brushing but could probably do with some more.

Originally Posted by trooper90

Well remember my first centrefire was a .303 quite a step up from my .22 more they noise I think too make sure you have good air protection and as Mickey says hold the forend and a firm buttpad on your shoulder.

Yes will give this a go next time!

Well i also seem to remember different powders also contributing or helping with recoil.
How fast it builds pressure vs burning down the barrel.
I will stand corrected on that though

laying prone,ALL the recoil goes into shoulder,as it cant move your body out of the way...its inline with recoil force. sitting or standing your body can sway somewhat....
and for crying out loud do not believe everything the retailer tells you..thier JOB is to sell you stuff.the more stuff the better....

did you yell "TALLY-HO" before firing?
if you dont it will bruise you for sure

pullthat bloody thing into your shoulder and hold it tighter than a scots man holds a pound . now get ya mate to grab the barrel and pulllike a schoolboy with a penthouse.

ok if your mate has put his shoulder out with that action tell him step aside ,work the bolt and slide one inot the chamber then touch the bang lever! If recoil is a problem -place a large fresh gorse bush between your legs snug again ye old crown jewels-if youve got it wrong youll soon know .no we dont need photos!!!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

laying prone,ALL the recoil goes into shoulder,as it cant move your body out of the way...its inline with recoil force. sitting or standing your body can sway somewhat....
and for crying out loud do not believe everything the retailer tells you..thier JOB is to sell you stuff.the more stuff the better....

I wonder how soldiers got on during combat or training, wasnt that a common position that they would have used back in the day?
I guess they were tougher back then

I bet they were using a full wooden one weighing closer to 9lb than 6lb cut down model..and they would have been holding the plurry thing with BOTH hands...like they were made to be shot.for sure you can shoot a cut down .303 brit prone...thousands have done it..... but its slightly more pleasant to shoot if your upright.
try lining up open sights in both positions and see which is easier/quicker.....
you can actually get felt recoil from a .22lr if you try hard enough...sit but plate on your jaw and fire a round.....all firearms move when fired...how you control that/absorb that make huge difference.

Get along to a physiotherapist and check out if you have some “frozen shoulder” before it gets worse.
In general , building up beef ( not lard ) with strength training is helpful to shooting but well planned rotator cuff exercises and stretching can make that safer.

My dad joined the South African Police at 16. Shooting practice with .303 rifles saw him fire a few rounds and have to crawl forward to get back into position, because the recoil had pushed his slight frame back a foot or more! It isn't the worst by any stretch, but definitely rates as a grown up calibre and lying prone doesn't help matters.

@GrumpyKiwi - That 14.5 x 114 mm Truvelo CMS is almost an artillery piece! Any pics?