Thread: The Forgiving Rifle

Ah thanks for that figure, a couple of mm sounds about right.
Do you think it would be an advantage then to have a recoil pad that compressed by that amount so the rifle moves straight back at first, compared to one that's hard plastic where small differences in shoulder hardness / pressure would affect the jump more ?

GravelBen, does your thumbhole stock have much of a palm swell or is it a thin cylindrical pistol like grip inside ? A lot of tactical rifles have something like a vertical bike handlebar for your trigger hand - not sure if that's good or not.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

GravelBen, does your thumbhole stock have much of a palm swell or is it a thin cylindrical pistol like grip inside ? A lot of tactical rifles have something like a vertical bike handlebar for your trigger hand - not sure if that's good or not.

The palm swell is fairly big, there is basically only one comfortable hand position. Couple of old photos to give you an idea of the shape, pretty sure you wouldn't call it tactical style!

Forgiving in what sense/context? If I'm on a multi-day trip, living out of my backpack, then I'd be more inclined to lean towards a rifle which is forgiving in weight...but that in turn may mean there needs to be a compromise in other area(s). So a forgiving mountain rifle may be different to a forgiving target rifle or a forgiving safari rifle?

Archery is no different. If utmost accuracy in a competition setting is your aim, then features such as length and weight can be explored freely without too much effect on practicality or comfort. Hunting in tight brush, however, or out of a blind, then you may opt for a shorter axle to axle bow - because a decrease in balance in favor of better maneuverability may provide a more forgiving bow in that specific situation.

Didn't realize this was the target shooting/range forum. Lol

Sort of renders my response irrelevant.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Ah thanks for that figure, a couple of mm sounds about right.
Do you think it would be an advantage then to have a recoil pad that compressed by that amount so the rifle moves straight back at first, compared to one that's hard plastic where small differences in shoulder hardness / pressure would affect the jump more ?

GravelBen, does your thumbhole stock have much of a palm swell or is it a thin cylindrical pistol like grip inside ? A lot of tactical rifles have something like a vertical bike handlebar for your trigger hand - not sure if that's good or not.

The only thing a recoil pad does (apart from maybe reducing the bump felt by your shoulder) is "sometimes" it will stop the butt slipping or moving on you shirt or whatever but (pun intended) I don't think it makes any difference to how easy it is to shoot the rifle well really.