headache

[RedFeather]

Thanks for the explanations. Guess I was just going by my Beretta which must have been stocked for someone quite different from me. I took it to a 'smith who used to work for Beretta USA and he had me mount the gun, eyeballing me from a couple of angles. Turns out it was cast-on too much and had a long toe. The gun was recoiling up and left, pivoting on the toe. On top of it, this is a rather unusual gun, an S56E over/under. While imported here to the US in the early 70's, my gun must have been a GI bring back. The 'smith said it has a circa 1967 forestock, plus the gun was produced by Beretta and completed by Sauer, bearing both markings. The top of the comb is that typical European knife edge, which made for a very hurtful combination. The 'smith steamed the stock and added an Old English recoil pad. Felt recoil was remarkably changed. Too bad I can't shoot it due to the recoil, but I decided to keep it, anyhow, as it's purty.   (One of the kids may want it, too, when they are older.)

Yes, I have wondered about conventional stock designs on air guns. Too bad more don't make the adjustable combs as on the Nitro's. And they could be recoil absorbing, as well. Even if you aren't averse to recoil, it would make the guns more pleasant to shoot.

[airiscool]

Red,

Sorry to hear you can't shoot it, Berretas are very nice.

Unless they do alot of clay sports, there are a few other things that can reduce felt recoil that some Smiths don't always know about.

1. With over/unders try to only use the bottom barrel. Most shotgun shooters feel more recoil in their face than their shoulder. The angle of recoil of the lower barrel is below, or closer to the center of mass of the gun and more inline with the shoulder so it has less tendancy to rotate up on the shoulder pushing into the face. The top barrel is above center of mass and will produce more recoil up  into the face.

2. All my shotguns, plus those I've fitted to my daughters and my Girlfriend, get fitted with a
Kick-ese" brand magnum recoil pad. They are not expensive and I've yet to see a "softer" shooting recoil pad, bar none. They are made from Sorbothane. It's the same synthetic rubber used by the medical field for shock absorbsion. The magnum pads realy soak up recoil.
And, I shoot "gun down" for skeet and sporting clays, while the magnum pads are very thick, they are not so "squirmy soft" that they don't give a good fit when the stock is brought up to the shoulder quickly.

3. Surprisingly, shotguns are  one of those things where the old saying "Less is more" often applies.
I won't get into what happens to shotgun patterns with long shot strings from large shot loads, but, shooting lighter, slower loads acutally can be better than the reverse. Before the days of "magnum" shot loads hunters still killed alot of game. And, many tests have shown, plus many pro clay sport shooters will tell you, that clay sport scores go up, not down, when they switch to shooting shells with lighter loads. And the pellets  don't have to be big and fast either.  Having broken clays at close to 100 yards with just factory Winchester AA 3 dram 7-1/2 trap loads in tie-breaker shoot-offs, I can tell you that shotgun pellets break clays at father distances than most shotgunners would ever imagine.

Think about how to go "less", and you'll enjoy shotgunning more !!!  

Paul.

[airiscool]

David,
Sorry to hear about your father.


And I hope the headaches are just stress related and not anything serious. I get them too from stress and know how painfull they can be. I find that if I do neck streaching exercises a physical therapist taught me, it helps rid alot of the pain. Trouble is, I don't remember to do them until the next time the pain comes back.

Paul.

[RedFeather]

Yes, I know what you mean about the top barrel on O/U's. What's really nice is, after the steaming/bending, the top barrel seems to be the tamer of the two.