M14 Forum

2336USMC

Which recoil pad, whether OEM or aftermarket type and freely available, gives the most recoil reduction on say a Rem 870 12 gauge?

I brought this up in another thread, but I should have put it out as a poll.

Thanks!

mercman

Seriously, just pull that stock tight into your shoulder! All mine have either the plastic or a very thin plastic butt pad. Well, my duty 870 has a Choate pistol grip stock and it does have a very thin pad on it.

Daimyo

Rubber doesn't produce the desired effect of busting jaws and breaking teeth like a steel pad does. HAHAHAHA.

jens5

I shot my Mossberg 590 with standard recoil pad for pattern with 00 buck and slugs at 25 yds 2 weeks ago. I know how to shoot a shotgun and held tight, but the 00 buck kicked the snot out of me. I'd be very interested to see what the posted vote is for pads.

mercman

MMWWWWAAAAAHHHHHAAAAWWWHHHHAAAAWWWWWHHHHAAAAWWWW!! !!!!!! I forgot about that aspect of the rear impact tool

stickboy

I put a white line Pachmayr on my 20" 870. I also took 1/2" out of the length of pull to fit me better. One reason I had to fit a new pad.

I can say it sure helps a lot when shooting 3" magnum slugs and all weights of buckshot. It is also nice for and all day clays shooting session.

The factory Remington solid rubber but pad sure hurt a lot though.

kal47

I shot about 20 slugs in my new 12 gauge 590A1 SPX just the morning and I feel my pain. I am going to get a recoil pad, so I'll follow this thread to see what others have to say. I might add, I've never fired a 12 gauge before. I don't have a problem at all with my M1A though.

Butzbach

Go with your bionic recoil pad. Already installed, custom fit. The Lord gave you all the springsteel and sex appeal you'll ever need for recoil.

DukeRustfield

I'll just say it's silly to not use a recoil pad. Other than resting a BMG on your crotch and firing it, you're not going to encounter much more in the way of discomfort. And humans being humans, it will increase flinch factor, which reduces accuracy--yes, even for shotguns. I regularly put through about 3 boxes of high(er) velocity 12 gauge target rounds and I couldn't imagine doing that with no pad at all. I'd have to change my name to Lefty Rustfield.

That said, which pad? They've all seemed about the same to me.

mercman

Well, when I went through my department's SG course we fired in excess of 300 rounds of full house 00 and 000 buckshot and around 100+ slugs in an 8 hour day. It was fun and yeah I had some bruises on my shoulder but was ready to do more.

Recoil is a funny thing and it affects some folks a lot and some folks very little. I'm one of the very little affected guys, but during the SG course one of the really big guys was just about crying from his pain. He hadn't shot nearly as many rounds as I had but wasn't dealing with it well. So the guy's size may not be a factor. I was fairly svelte back then and have gained few pounds but still don't have a problem with recoil.

One of my favorite shooters back then was a Ruger No. 1 in 375 H&H with the dreaded steel butt plate and I handled that just fine. Would I want to put a hundred rounds through it? Probably not. But I didn't find is scary like some folks.

So if a guy or a gal wants to install a padded butt attachment to their shotgun/elephant rifle I say go for it. Just remember to adjust the stock for the change in length of pull and shoot on!

7.62bthp

I use a t shirt....

I'm a big fan of steel, or hard composite buttplates on duty/tac shotties. They mount easier to me and are better for a noggin knocker. In fact, all my long guns are buttstroke certified.

mercman

Heavens, 7.62, you're a bad man!!! Good to have around when there's a$$ that needs kicking.

7.62bthp

Not really. I reckon at some point you'll run out of ammo, jam, or get REAL close, and a good whack is always demotivating (Remember the PR24? LOL)

What the point of strokin someone with a R5 recoil pad? I gotta laugh, all you may get is a "Jeeze mister, that hurt" out of your assailant.

2336USMC

Maybe I should mention, since this is turning into a testosterone fest, that I cut my teeth on a US State Department issued 870 Police with the stamped steel top folding stock. Thousands of rounds over a three year period with a steel buttplate and a steel rail for a cheek weld. And yes, the pun about teeth cutting was intentional.

The 870 in question is a 45 year old Police model with an old waffle recoil pad that is pretty much smashed, and I'm looking for input on what to replace it with. I feel a hankering to get back into 3 gun competition, in which case I would be shooting this gun a lot. For competition, I would prefer a recoil pad, and a good one.

Thank you Butzbach. You are assuming I don't already do 250 pushups a day and that I need you to tell me to do so. If I were any sexier I might tilt the Earth off its axis. That would be bad, so I have to be careful.

While this doesn't directly address the question of recoil pad effectiveness it's a very good point, and I have thought about it. For a gun I may want to use in competition I'm thinking the value of a good recoil pad is worth the compromise with buttstroke/smash effectiveness. Thoroughly trained with the PR24 also, and remember it with great fondness. I'd have one now if the state of California didn't ban "civilians" from possession of any/all striking or martial arts type weapons.

Swamp Rat

I use the 80/20 Push/pull recoil pad. Works for me.