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Old March 18, 2002, 07:09 AM   #1
Dave McC
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Join Date: October 13, 1999
Location: Columbia, Md, USA
Posts: 8,811
More experiments with recoil control....

Some of you may recall the things I was doing with weights and springs. Being a longtime tinkerer, and deeply committed to the concept that not all excess is wretched, I've thrown caution to the winds and went for broke.

My 870TB claycruncher now runs about 10 lbs. No, that's not a misprint. 10 lbs. Here's how and why...

First, you may also recall me mentioning that the earliest 870s came with a solid steel magazine plug. When it wasn't in the magazine, it fit neatly in the stock bolt hole. I still have mine, it's followed me around the country and unlike most things, has proven to be lost proof. Being nigh useless, it has remained in my possession.

I had the TB set up with a hull filled with shot set between springs in that stock hole, and two more in the magazine. The new setup has the one in the stock replaced with the steel plug, gain about 11 oz more.

Besides the two hulls in the magazine, I've added a weight to the cap. This one's a bow stabilizer, adding about 7 oz to the weight.Total added weight comes to 29 oz, plus a few for the Morgan pad.So, it weighs 10 lbs and a skosh.

For comparison's sake, the new Classic Trap 870 has a listed weight of 8 lbs. Most trap guns fall between 8 and 9.

Now to the gist. I've fired 6 or 7 rounds of trap with the thing, scores falling in the mid 20s. This is about what I was doing pre weight. The interesting part is that there's NO noticable kick. It makes noise, but no push or shove I can detect.

The load used was 1 1/8 oz, 1225 FPS. Not a hot load, but more than adequate for trap.Less felt recoil than a 1 oz, 1150 FPS load in this, unweighted.

And yes, it's heavy, but I've always had more uppper body strength than most folks, and even in my dotage this is workable. The swing is slower, all that inertia to overcome, but the difference is not great.

More later, duty calls...
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Old March 19, 2002, 07:00 AM   #2
Dave McC
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Join Date: October 13, 1999
Location: Columbia, Md, USA
Posts: 8,811
A little more....

If 10 lbs sounds heavy, you're right. It is. But, many battle rifles run that heavy or more. It's about the same weight as an M-14 with E-2 stock and full mag.

A 10 gauge should weigh at least this much. The Remington 10 gauge runs 11 or so.

And again, there's no felt kick. Someone more sensitive than I might feel a push, but I do not.

I doubt I'll keep it this way forever. Chances are it'll go down about 8-12 oz this spring. But right now it's doable as a training aid, getting ready for my debut into ATA competition....
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Old March 19, 2002, 12:35 PM   #3
Dave R
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Join Date: January 7, 2000
Location: Idaho
Posts: 6,073
But Dave, the good thing about this is...

If you shoot this 10lb gun regularly, when you take to the field with a "normal" 7lb shotgun, it'll feel like a featherweight and you can carry it all day!

Thanks for sharing this tinkering with us. Great ideas! Sounds like you are basically trading arm strength for recoil reduction. Porting/muzzle brake basically trades noise/blast for recoil. Not sure which is the better tradeoff.

One of the reasons to reduce recoil is so youths or other recoil sensitive shooters can enjoy it. A 10lb smoothbore becomes unwieldy for them because of weight.

I think the best use for that recoilless shotgun is pass-shooting ducks & geese. Weight is irrelevant if you're not carrying it around all day. And you can shoot lots of those magnum loads without discomfort.
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Old March 19, 2002, 04:14 PM   #4
Dave McC
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Join Date: October 13, 1999
Location: Columbia, Md, USA
Posts: 8,811
Thanks, Dave. When I picked up Frankenstein for that pheasant shoot it felt like a 410!

Too much change tho, shot my worst round of 5 stand ever. Hit the birds tho.

BTW,Frank,at about 7 lbs,is my pass shooter(G)...
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