Any of you guys ever use one of these?

[rafterob]

80 grains is not excessive in a .50 cal. but surely the charge can be lowered into the 55-70 grain range and still have excellent accuracy.

 

[Snooterpup]

View attachment 161292

Well done! Short, concise, and clear. Thanks much!

 

[sheriff john]

Bench and prone kick me the most. For sighting-in, the Lead Sled is a real help. Still use my P.A.S.T. hunting vest - probably 40 years old, still good. One thing I learned teaching combat shotgun is those who don't hold tightly to the shoulder get bruises and some never learned.

 

[hanshi]

Never used a pad or anything else when shooting .32 to .62.....nevah! For some reason I don't ever know I'm hurt until the next day; by then it is too late. I had reconstructive surgery on both shoulders but never got full use of them back and that was over 25 years ago.

 

[JamesA]

I realize this is a bit "unmentionable" but I fired my Mossberg Persuader 3" 12 ga. mag once with double ought buckshot. Once. My kid caught it on video but the language makes it unwatchable here.

 

[NorthFork]

Ok, bear with me here.

I own rifles that are modern that will make most male shooters either wince or pee their pants. Yes I saw this happen. A male shooter shot the same ammo from his firearm and pee'd his pants on the second shot. This also includes a very light weight 6ish pound 3.5" modern pump shotgun shooting 3.5" 2.25oz 1200fps turkey loads. I know first hand what recoil is all about. Try a .338 Lapua in a 7ish pound rifle without a muzzle brake. Ok?

If you own a rifle or smoothbore that is a muzzleloader, PLEASE try @Britsmoothy way of shouldering the weapon. PLEASE. He posted a short video in this thread. It is HC/PC and will reduce the 'pain' either benched or offhand. If you own a modern that you fear, try this-

1. Hold the weapon tight to your shoulder.
2. Wear ear plugs PLUS ear muffs to reduce the muzzle blast to your ears. This is important as the blast to your ears is often worse than the kick or push to your body.
3. Just go with 'it'. The weapon is going to kick. Roll with it and don't fight it.

The same 'rules' apply to traditional muzzleloaders. Put the butt plate in space between the deltoid and bicep, as described by @Britsmoothy, hold tight and 'roll with it'. Don't fight the recoil.

If it still hurts. Reduce the powder charge.

 

[new2bp]

I will admit to be planning on grabbing a slip on recoil pad

Even though it is a 54 and 425 gr maxis pushed by 60-90gr 3F arent much worse than 12 ga slugs or buck it is the stock design etc Had the same issue on an AK, just bad ergonomics for my shoulder and stock design

 

[toot]

Yeah but weren't we alot younger in 1961?

ROGER THAT!! so true! now I must admit that that!

 

[sheriff john]

Might be only my imagination, but comparing "felt recoil" (what I feel, nothing scientific) between smokeless and black powder guns, smokeless recoil is "sharper". Gun weight, loads, etc. are important - as is stock design, buttplate, as well but in general black powder recoil and sound seems not as "sharp" to me. Is that nuts, or what?

 

[user 53380]

“ Good accuracy will be found much lighter. Try it, you'll like it!”
And my powder will last longer! I will do that, I found my Kentucky pistol is most accurate at 20-25 grain! I just liked the clean holes 80 grains left in the target

Ok, bear with me here.

I own rifles that are modern that will make most male shooters either wince or pee their pants. Yes I saw this happen. A male shooter shot the same ammo from his firearm and pee'd his pants on the second shot. This also includes a very light weight 6ish pound 3.5" modern pump shotgun shooting 3.5" 2.25oz 1200fps turkey loads. I know first hand what recoil is all about. Try a .338 Lapua in a 7ish pound rifle without a muzzle brake. Ok?

If you own a rifle or smoothbore that is a muzzleloader, PLEASE try @Britsmoothy way of shouldering the weapon. PLEASE. He posted a short video in this thread. It is HC/PC and will reduce the 'pain' either benched or offhand. If you own a modern that you fear, try this-

1. Hold the weapon tight to your shoulder.
2. Wear ear plugs PLUS ear muffs to reduce the muzzle blast to your ears. This is important as the blast to your ears is often worse than the kick or push to your body.
3. Just go with 'it'. The weapon is going to kick. Roll with it and don't fight it.

The same 'rules' apply to traditional muzzleloaders. Put the butt plate in space between the deltoid and bicep, as described by @Britsmoothy, hold tight and 'roll with it'. Don't fight the recoil.

If it still hurts. Reduce the powder charge.

 

[ernbar]

I use one when firing more than 30 rounds in my bolt rifles in 8mm, 7.62R54 and 30.06. After 30 rounds the steel butt plate begins to hurt my shoulder.

 

[earlwb]

I have been thinking about a shoulder pad too. I had surgery recently where they grafted in a tube on my right arm artery and routed the tube down to my legs to bypass a blockage in my abdominal aorta. Unfortunately the tube is right next to the small or pocket in my shoulder. Heavy recoil guns are probably out of the question now anyway.

I could go left handed though. I am semi- ambidextrous and I do shoot a left handed flintlock from time to time. But as a teen I broke my collarbone and there is no small or pocket on my left shoulder for a rifle butt to fit into.

So maybe a shoulder pad might do the trick for me too. When I was in the USMC we used shooting jackets which have shoulder pads. That was for marksmanship qualifying on the range. With the M14s you could really feel the benefit of the shooting jackets. Especially with the sitting and prone positions. But with M16s you didn’t need them but you still had them.

If you were skeet shooting or doing a lot of bird hunting with larger bore shotguns padded shooting jackets were a must have item. You really need a pad if you are bench shooting or using the prone position at the range with a larger bore rifle. I know we all did it without pads when younger. But maybe it is a bad idea going sans pads.

 

[1BadDart]

I’m 61 and had surgery on my shooting shoulder eleven years ago and have since moved to lighter recoiling firearms. I’ve had my .50 GPR for over thirty years and it has never hurt me, because I shoot it from where it was designed to be shot. The .40 I finished a few months ago has a nice wide, almost flat butt plate and is a joy to shoot. I shoot it off my shoulder like modern pb’s.

I do my load development from a bench, but not necessarily setting the sights. It depends on what the rifle is going to be used for. The .40 is for offhand matches, so it’s sights get set shooting offhand. Some guys can shoot both bench and offhand and not change their sights, I can’t. My wobble error must be larger.

 

[Joemolf]

Bob McBride of Blackpowder TV has a good video on how to mount a southern mountain rifle with a crescent butt stock. So does Britsmoothy.

I only use 50 grains of 2f in my .50 caliber Kentucky long rifle and it’s very accurate out to 50 yards and probably more. This load is also easy on the old man doing the shooting.

Wow I’m using too much powder!

 

[Snake Pleskin]

shoulder aids are for SISSIES! stand up and shoot like a man, there were none for us when we shot the M-1 GARAND in the ARMY in 1961. jmho.

if I was in the same shape as I was in 1961 I might agree with you, but I have learned from years of shooting that you get NO Gold Stars for recoil. Only a fool thinks getting pounded shot after shot, is meaningful IMHO. When i went into OCS we were using M-14's, big heavy, and liked to kick, not a lot of ammo. When we were given our first M16's, I thought, someone finally caught on! I "acquired" a CAR15 style ,and loved it. Light, easy to handle, worked fine and I could carry more ammo then three guys with m14's. Then I picked up a Swedish K while I was overseas and carried that until I rotated out. Never felt under gunned.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

One thing that has been left out of this discussion is the shooter size, body mass and the natural padding that they possess. I am a bony type, with plenty of muscle but little body fat in my shoulders, my 12ga fowler flintlock loaded with a max turkey load kicks my @%%, I use a thick PAST recoil pad and don't feel a thing, I don't flinch and can enjoy shooing my fowler as well as my big bore flintlock deer rifles.

I have also had reconstructive surgery on my right shoulder, lots of variables on whether to use a recoil pad or not, some of us need one to keep on shooting.

Good for you. Recoil is for fools, IMHO. You gain nothing by being kicked around except bad shooting habits.

 

[Packrat]

At our old range the tables were covered with old carpet material, shooting a heavy recoil rifle, modern or antique in addition to the shoulder pads, elbow pads were nice do to sliding on the table. Off hand was never a problem.

 

[MrMackc]

I shoot 60 grins of fff in my .50, and great accuracy out to 100yds. Some folks think they have to use big charges, when they don't

If you use 60 grins for a load ,how many smiles does it take to make a grin? LOL Ha! Ha!.....

 

[ernbar]

if I was in the same shape as I was in 1961 I might agree with you, but I have learned from years of shooting that you get NO Gold Stars for recoil. Only a fool thinks getting pounded shot after shot, is meaningful IMHO. When i went into OCS we were using M-14's, big heavy, and liked to kick, not a lot of ammo. When we were given our first M16's, I thought, someone finally caught on! I "acquired" a CAR15 style ,and loved it. Light, easy to handle, worked fine and I could carry more ammo then three guys with m14's. Then I picked up a Swedish K while I was overseas and carried that until I rotated out. Never felt under gunned.

Love the K and it’s close buddy the SW76.

 

[MrMackc]

I haven’t tried it yet, still waiting for the bruising to clear up. It feels good in place, and it might ease that bracing I do for the kick that ain’t helping my groups

OH Shoot! Just stick a couple of Depends Guards for men on a tee shirt under your old fashioned flannel or buckskin shirt, BTW stick one in your briefs just in case recoil or old age makes you pee your pants. Get them at Wally world or AMAZON!