Thread: Rifle for good keen man

Originally Posted by Friwi

Recoil perception is different for everyone.and we all have a threshold. I have worked in the gun industry for the last 6 years, I have never seen so many 270 rifles passing into my hands since June last year. And they all want a suppressor for a good reason , the noise and quite often the kick.

Would be interested to hear some more details from you @Friwi, without risk of de-railling the thread, were most of them new shooters?

I think there are two trends which have caused people to think recoil is a bigger deal than it really is, 1- shooting from prone with a bipod and 2- lightweight (but cheap) factory stocks and short barrels.

Not many realise that a prone shot off a bipod will put the most recoil back into your shoulder. Add heavy pre-load onto the bipod attached to a cheap, flexy factory plastic stock, and you are in for a bad time. A properly supported (front and rear bag) setup will help a bit, although the 'free vs. fixed' recoil debate is another matter.

As mentioned, the rifle manufacturers are using hollow or semi-filled plastic stocks, which for all intents and purposes work OK (accurate and light) but they are by no means great. Personally recommend laminate options to people, which they can pillar and glass/epoxy bed themselves down the road if the rifle really needs it and they are competent. The stock not being hollow in the butt really helps. But those filling plastic stocks with expanding foam in the butt and epoxy + metal rods in the fore-end can crack on too!

The short barrels point, most of the rifles coming into the UK have barrels around the 20 inch mark, as the importer thinks everyone wants to chuck a moderator on. To be frank, a short barrel will usually need a moderator so it's a chicken and egg thing. I've got a 24inch barrel (technically around 23.5inch as they measured in mm!) on my Sako Vixen, carries fine and I think the longer barrel means it does not need a mod.

I'm not fond of the idea that someone buys their first rifle in the shop, say a Tikka T3x .270 or .30-06 (Jack O' Connor, peace be upon him, smiles down from above). Rifle comes out of box, nice balance, light weight, slick action. No open sights of course so you have to chuck on a scope and mounts.

Then you have to add a moderator, maybe not a huge amount of cash left after a good scope and mounts so cheaper (usually longer and heavier) moderator goes on. Now you'll need a bog-standard bipod to prop the rifle up for photo's, so a Harris or similar clone goes on too.

Wow, the rifle weighs so much now! Better chuck a sling (in reality, most are just cheap straps thrown together in Chinese sweat shops) on, so now the muzzle heavy rifle (due to bipod and moderator) can lean backwards and flail around wildly whilst they stalk/walk down the trail... and get hung up on branches, bushes, low hanging power lines etc...

If you can't carry the rifle in your dominant hand for at least 30 mins at a time, there is a problem! In Col Jeff Cooper's (personally don't agree with a lot of his stuff, but his book is OK) 'Art of the Rifle' he prescribes a test of holding the rifle in the dominant hand, extended and vertical around the grip area, for 60 seconds, as shown below:



@Bagheera yep I'm just over 6ft and bodyweight is 85kg. Mass definitely helps but I would say technique and practise are the great equalisers.