Recoil, sporting clays, and aftermarket shoulders.

Discussion in 'Competition Shooting' started by Bill Idaho, Oct 12, 2019.

  1. Bill Idaho

    Bill Idaho .270 WIN

    I shoot sporting clays and 5 stand every week. I always use one of my A5s. Over the years I have read a bunch about the recoil of A5s- some saying they are known for a punishing recoil, other claim an A5 is quite bearable. If a person spends 5 minutes investigating how an A5 works, and it supposed to be set up (in regards to the recoil system), the vast majority of the excessive recoil complaints are due to an improperly set spring/friction ring.
    It's not rocket surgery.
    Speaking of surgery, I had both shoulder replaced in 2016. Titanium shafts with a ball to replicate the upper end of my arm bone (the humerous) and a polymer cup screwed into the shoulder where the ball fits into.
    Best thing I've ever done--no more pain, complete range of motion, etc.
    When I had the first one done, I asked my surgeon about shooting. I might also add in his waiting room there were magazines related to hunting in addition to the usual fashion/hollyweird magazines laying around. One of his assistants told me he was a big game hunter. Hmmmm
    So I asked him if I would ever be able to shoot a rifle again after I had him install the new shoulder. And if so, when. He smiled, said he was somewhat familiar with recoil and his replacement parts. I told him I was retiring but wanted to continue shooting a .30 cal rifle, shotguns, as well as some AR rifle stuff too. He told me as long as I waited 9 months and it didn't detatch a retina, I'd be fine and dandy. Then he smiled and said "Besides, I don't do retinas, I do shoulders.......". I was as nervous as a cat in a rockin' chair factory until he laughed and patted me on my back.

    That all being said, when 9 months rolled around, I was still leery about messing up my shoulders. So, I took my various shooting jackets, and had a local custom shop sew in an extra 1/2" of felt inside underneath the existing shoulder area padding. I wasn't taking any chances.

    Bringing this back to my A5s. I imagine someone along the line has done some fancy technological scientific study on recoil and the effects on a human body, and probably compared the "perceived" recoil of various actions, such as a (gas or inertia) semiautomatic, a hinge action, and so on. From my personal observations, after shooting every virtually every type of action action, a long-recoil Browning FEELS softer than all the others. I think, in very un-scientific terms, since the barrel is moving rearwards, it changes the sudden shock since the mass of the barrel (and bolt body) are essentially "absorbing" some of the energy, then when the two finally reach the rearward most travel and tells Mr. Shoulder the gun just went off, about that same millisecond, it pulls the recoil away from the shooter. Since this all happens in a relatively (the key word here being "relatively") long time compared to an over-and-under for instance where all the recoil is instant and in one "shock", the brain feels less recoil. I have purposely shot different action with the sole reason to try to tell which one feels softer-for want of a better word. And in my $60,000 opinion, an A5 wins.
    gnappi likes this.
  2. Rudolph31

    Rudolph31 .30-06

    I talked about this in another post, but briefly, I agree with you. However, if you remove the friction pieces from your gun, the recoiling parts will reach such a high speed that the sudden stop at the end will kick much harder than a fixed breech gun.
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2019

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