I love lever actions, but if you don't have a good recoil pad on them they can hurt more than just about anything else. Yeah, it ruins the 'traditional' look of the gun, but it's worth it.

Yeah, rifles that hurt included my old Ruger #3 in 45/70 with some pretty peppy handload with 405 grain bullets. The buttplate that adorned the gun might have worked well on 10/22's, but had no place on that rifle,,,

Operative words were "a small buttstock with a lot of drop to it, and not a lot of weight."
It doesn't take all that big a caliber to kick like a mule when the stock is designed by the Marquis de Sade...

i have owned a Remington 700 chambered in 300 win mag for more years than i care to admit. it has a more than adequate amount of energy, at both ends. about 5 years ago, i discovered soft recoil pads. i had a smith install a grind to fit, as i had him chop an inch off the stock as well. i am not really sure who Remington builds their rifles for, i am 6'2", and it was to long for me. anyway, after having both done, i was amazed at the difference. i had thought about a muzzle brake as well, but the pad took care of what i needed. about a year later, i bought a Marlin Guide Gun in 45/70. that thing was simply a BEAST! it wanted to jump right out of my hands with loads in the 2000 fps range. even the trapdoor loads were punishing enough. that got both, a brake and a pad. it is now, acceptable, barely. in all reality, it should have about 2-3 pounds added to it. but it needs to be done in a manner that does not upset the balance of the rifle. drilling holes in the butt stock and filling them with lead would not cut it. as that would throw the balance way off. same with a stock ammo carrier, only not as bad. if i ever need to re barrel it, a 30" heavy octagon barrel, and then some lead in the back may work. but the only way that is likely is some sort of accident. i'm in my mid 50's now, and i can not see me "shooting out" a barrel anytime soon!

A year and a half ago I helped a friend zero his new Savage .30-06. It had a synthetic stock and not much weight. The ammo was Federal Premium 180's. It was really bad off the bench. I used a sand bag between me and the butt. I don't like a beating either.

MG

Michigan Gunner,
In '99 I bought a Savage 111 '06. It is wood but plastic butt plate. I was bruised till I had a decelerator pad installed.

I was going to ask the same general question as Jim in Mo. I've played with a Casull in a Taurus Raging Bull handgun and while it was stout, it was also managable, so what makes a rifle so severe? Just curious........

The nardest thing, about growing old, is accepting your limitations.

Its all about the build, my dads lil .270 700 adl with no recoil pad kicks, yet my .338 mossberg with a muzzle brake, even light as it is dont kick, and as for 45-70 recoil, My 1895xlr with long barrel and heavy laminate stock is a kitten when it comes to recoil, I've shot 20 guage turkey loads with more kick

When fired with the butstock against the shoulder, stocks with curved butplates are delivering recoil in a more concentrated area. The older rifles, sans recoil pad with a curve plate on the stock, are the generally the worst kickers. Sure, they may look nice and the curved brass plate might catch your attention, but fitting nicely does not mean the recoil is going to be spread out over the whole area. A recoil pad, such as the Pacmyer or Limbsaver will literally cushion the blow as it is spread out over a larger area. Happy hunting.

Gee Whiz, with all the ways out there to tame the recoil no one needs to suffer pain when shooting. Except those idiots with the bruised shoulder that wear it like a badge of machoism.

Coach,

Look at many tactical firearms and you will see they have shorter barrels. Decreasing the length of the barrel makes it stiffer thus reducing the amount of barrel whip. The reduction in barrel increases accuracy. The negatives are, you will loose velocity, gain muzzle jump and muzzle flash do to the shortening. Depending on what caliber you are shooting shortening the barrel might not matter all that much. If you are shooting a magnum of some sort you dont want to cut anything down because you will loose a lot velocity and completely contradict the reason you bought a magnum in the first place.

Yup. I've found that I've been going down in recoil over the years (with no loss of effectiveness). I started out on a .30-30 and .35Rem then went to .30-06, then down to a .270Win, and now a .260 Rem. Very mild recoil and it works as good as my .30-06 on our whitetails. I enjoy shooting my .30-06 (still have it) but there's just no reason to, really, when the .260 is half the recoil and just as effective.

One day I hope to have the opportunity to hunt something that requires a big thumping rifle. Thankfully, whitetail deer do not -- in fact, I often feel like I'm carrying too much gun when I take my .270 into the field.

To All: One of the problems you have with rifle recoil that you do not have with handguns is, a poorly designed rifle stock will put the foot-pounds into your cheekbone and, while you may be willing to take punishment in the shoulder (or have your thumb torn off if you're shooting a handgun), no one can take a pounding in the head.

Hunted texas whitetails for 40 years with a 270. Discovered in recent years the 257 roberts. Deer can't tell the difference but I sure can

My .338 Win Mag kicks like a mule on the range, but I haven't felt a single recoil shooting at bull elk. Even killed a nick mule deer buck with it once and never noticed the kick. Guess it's all in the mind.

Mark-1,
Unless I misread your post my Rem 760 pump '06 is a pussycat compared to my Savage bolt '06.

nehunter92

yep, I initially patterned it off the bench for my brother because he didnt want to, he shot it once and didnt want to continue( he was 14 and I was 15 at the time). I fired 2 rounds and had enough. We werent strangers to recoil either. We were both shooting 7mm rem mags at that age and shooting them quite well. Killing groundhogs with them on our farm out to 300+ yards. that shotgun just really kicked. It wasnt nearly as bad standing up though.

Its true, i never feel the recoil pulling the trigger on game. even the sound seems to be distant. Its very cool how the focus makes most everything else fade away.

I am probably not as experienced as most of you here (37) but I have hunted and shot a lot and I think it boils down to what many of you have said; gun fit, tolerance for recoil and willingness to absorb that recoil. Obviously some of the larger calibers are going to kick no matter how high your pain tolerance might be but like anything else,it all a matter of personal preference (and how crazy we might be).

One late summer and fall when I was a teen my buddies and I bruised ourselves stupid with our shoguns. Then we graduated to surplus Krag's, Springfield's, and Mauser's. Plenty of surplus ammo through 8- 9 pound guns. One of the guys discovered Browning's in .375 H&H Mag and such but did not share ,thank you, God. Well, we thought we were pretty tough. I own a .444 Marlin from about 1973 w/ a thick factory pad. Still thought I was pretty tough. Now I have a Weatherby Vanguard in .30-06 with a decent pad that has been calling me "Sissy Boy". Now that I am ready for AARP it is time to man up, again.

Hello Everyone,
I have a Savage 110 .270win that I got as a present when I was 15 or 16. At first I did not want to shoot it too much because of recoil. But I was flinching a lot and thus was not keeping proper form. Now I enjoy shooting it when I can. I now do not flinch as much and therefor do not feel the recoil as much. It could also be that I about 100 and some pounds heavier than I was back then!

If I could change one thing about that rifle I would shorten the stock about an couple inches and add a recoil pad.

I also have a Marlin 336CS .30-30win and love to shoot it! YEs it is a heavy rifle to go carrying around in the deer woods, but that helps reduce felt recoil! I use both 150gr and 170gr ammo in it and I am not bothered by the recoil.

I've gotten into old military guns recently. M1 Garand, M1917, M1903. I can't imagine OR may maybe I can the firing range for teenagers and twenty somethings. In battle I would guess it would be forgotten. I'm using a thin seat cushion. I'll look for a slide on recoil pad. Wouldn't what to change an old soldier.