Thread: How to manage recoil?

Eat more pies and hold it tight and close, like the rifle is your lover. It got me through a couple boxes of hornady leverevolution 45/70 out of an 18" henry, haha

Originally Posted by gundoc

Recoil is directly proportional to the weight of the firearm versus the weight and velocity of the ejecta (powder and bullet). The effect of recoil can be mitigated by the fit of the firearm to the user, shooting stance, and add-on items such as recoil pad, muzzle brake, and suppressor. Assuming the fit and stance are correct then the greatest reduction effect will be from a properly designed suppressor and a good recoil pad. A proper suppressor design will incorporate an effective muzzle brake coupled with an efficient baffle design. Over-barrel suppressors use the rear chamber to reduce gas pressure exhausted from the brake while the baffle design should consist of a series of shaped chambers that use the front surface of each chamber to absorb some of the forward force of the ejecting gases, thus tending to exert a counter-recoil force. The sound suppression also makes things a lot more pleasant for the shooter and tends to reducing flinching (refer to 'stance' mentioned earlier). A good suppressor is, overall, more effective than a good muzzle brake.

To add to that, if the rifle is pulled back into the body to the extent there is the body and the rifle become one mass in the same way the scope and action are one mass....Thus the equal and opposite reaction from the projectile being forced forwards is pushing the body + rifle mass rearwards as opposed to just the rifle. So instead of 8 pounds thumping you, your round is pushing back on closer to 80 pounds....and in my case closer to 180 pounds....

problem is that a muzzle break is going to make the noise louder and that adds to the perceived recoil. I would fit a suppressor and go with a light bullet and try that out. also, no offence, but did you go from .22lr to .308? I'm over 60 years old, and have arthritis ,and i regularly shoot a 14'' barrel .308. its not that i'm tough; its because over the years i learned to shoulder the gun properly and not think about the recoil but the trigger and sights.

Originally Posted by nowool

problem is that a muzzle break is going to make the noise louder and that adds to the perceived recoil. I would fit a suppressor and go with a light bullet and try that out. also, no offence, but did you go from .22lr to .308? I'm over 60 years old, and have arthritis ,and i regularly shoot a 14'' barrel .308. its not that i'm tough; its because over the years i learned to shoulder the gun properly and not think about the recoil but the trigger and sights.

Yes, go from rimfire to 308 recently. My only experience with centrefire was during younger days in the military. Don't remember the recoil was that much but I think you are right, the focus was different then. The advise in this forum is great. What I need is more practice. If that did not help, will probably get a low calibre rifle.

you DONT NEED lesser recoiling rifle...ditch the brake,get a suppressor.....and use milder loads.......JOB DONE...... the .308 is a great cartridge...YOU CAN HANDLE this easily.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

you DONT NEED lesser recoiling rifle...ditch the brake,get a suppressor.....and use milder loads.......JOB DONE...... the .308 is a great cartridge...YOU CAN HANDLE this easily.

Yes he does or else it will perpetuate his problem. Look at the post by Keneff.

Originally Posted by TeRei

Yes he does or else it will perpetuate his problem. Look at the post by Keneff.

might I politely suggest you do the same......
I KNOW about flinching.....once upon a time I had a shocking flinch....it took work to rid myself of it and I still dont like shooting paper,other than sighting in,I really dont like unsuppressed rifles anymore,although I have a couple...I make damn sure to wear good ear pro when using them.....
going back to .22lr helps.....then MILD recoiling rifle...supressed 223 is awesome...and subsonic loads are simply fantastic as you useing your same rifle except suddenly it goes POP instead of BOOOOOM and there is zero recoil....plink away to hearts content and get used to it again...then "suck it up buttercup" and let off a supersonic load or two......now that wasnt so bad was it????
go home and smile....do that a few times and you have RETRAINED yourself..... you now KNOW rifle isnt going to hurt you so no need to tense up,close eyes ,jerk trigger.

While doing research on reloading, chanced upon a YouTube video that use a Tikka T3x lite and a AR10 to test the same 308/165g reload ammo. You can see the significant recoil on Tikka T3x lite compared to AR10. Mine is a Tikka T3x Superlite, so the recoil should be higher than the lite. Since it is a hunting rifle, will keep the weight down and manage the recoil.

Pretty long video. If you keen to watch, go straight to 22:30 for Tikka T3x lite recoil, and 29:00 for AR10 recoil.

https://youtu.be/3UnmfK_w9yI

Well, after reading this entire thread a couple of times and picking the bones out of it, I thought, "avoiding it ain't doing any good", so I pulled the .270wsm out of the safe. As many here can tell you, none of the wsm rounds are quiet as a mouse. They make a pretty loud bang. So used plugs and muffs, settled in and went through the setting up processes outlined above; took the first shot (at paper) and surprise! it didn't hurt a bit. Fired some more, and found I don't have the flinch any more. I'm not sure how I'll go with my brother's big banger, but I have a feeling I'll be okay. So thanks, fellas, for all the good advice in this thread. Maybe it should become a "sticky" but anyway it's great to have it here. I know it helped me a lot. Again, many thanks.
Cheers
Ken

good on you......acknowledging you have an issue to begin with is HUGE part of beating it....goes for most things in life. the dreaded "starts with F and rhymes with grinch" is one is really does.

Originally Posted by Makros

Hey sheep.
That rifle, caliber, and brake combination should be relatively mild to shoot.
First thing to check is you are using hearing protection. Suggest both ear plugs and muffs. A lot of perceived recoil is noise and concussion. With a muzzle brake you have an abundance of both.
Second Tikka's recoil pad is quite stiff. Get a limbsaver. You can buy them as a bolt on pre-sized part.

Next I would focus on shooting technique and body position both of which can significantly impact perceived recoil.

Have you got an experienced shooter than can go out for a few shots with you?

i had that exact setup and found recoil too much but not on my shoulder, just the noise and concussion. With plugs and muffs it was manageable.
I found suppressed was better but still bad.

Everything that mentioned is good.
Another thing to check is if the Length of Pull is correct your you and eye relief is setup. Once my LOP was corrected recoil was reduced drastically.

Managed to overcome the recoil issues, thanks to this forum. Emptied few boxes of ammo at one go, thoroughly enjoying it without shoulder pain and concussion.

The list of improvements I adopted based on the advise given in this forum:

1. Replaced factory recoil pad with Limbsaver
2. Fitted suppressor (dpt Modular Mk II)
3. Wear ear plugs and muffs
4. Posture - Hold the rifle with elbow and push it firmly against my shoulder. Same posture on bipod, sandbag, prone, sit and stand position. No more cross-arm.

Deeply appreciate the advise given in this forum. Now, I get to enjoy my 308 Tikka superlite!

Cheers

Cheers!

awesome to hear it...now enjoy it.

Originally Posted by Stavanger

My Tikka T3 Superlite 6.5x55 is comfortable to shoot even without a can.

Good for you.

Greetings All,
The evolution of my Remington 700 ADL has been a saga of managing recoil as I age. Purchased new when I was in my 20's it had a hard plastic but plate (I refuse to call it a pad). I used it a lot on the range for our NZDA club shoots and never noticed the recoil much. I have always been a big chap so this may have helped. After a decade or so I started to get recoil headaches so started loading reduced loads for the range. These were only reduced by a couple of grains which gave me a 100 metre zero with them with a 200 metre zero for the full power hunting loads. Much better. This went on for a few years until other rifles had taken over such hunting as I was doing and the loads were reduced further, settling on 38 grains of AR2206H behind the 150 grain projectile for about 2,300 fps. One day, after my son had visited, a Hogue stock appeared in my cupboard. This had a nice cushy recoil pad and after a scratch around for some bottom metal it was installed. What a difference. A DPT suppressor followed. A couple of .223 rifles have taken over the minimal target shooting I now do and the .308 has been relegated to load testing duty. Just recently while doing an inventory of loads on hand and found I had a significant quantity of full power hunting loads, most with my favourite 150 grain Norma projectile. As my old shoulder thumper has been transformed into a pussy cat perhaps it needs to go walkies in the bush again. On my list of goal trips is one in spring to Macintosh Hut and one in Autumn to Kiwi Saddle Hut in Autumn. By the latter I will be close to 73 and the rifle 45. I have carried the rifle to both of these huts a number of times in the past so one more trip can't hurt. Seems like a plan to me.
Regards Grandpamac.