If you’ve shied away from shotguns because you’re afraid of the recoil, you’re not alone. Some people are more recoil-sensitive than others, and it’s not always tied to body size or how “tough” you are. The fact is that every shooter is affected by recoil, and the effects are cumulative—over time, it all adds up, and even competitive shooters who have fired thousands of rounds a year for decades can eventually find themselves developing recoil-related problems, such as a flinch.
The good news is that while recoil isn’t avoidable, there are ways to mitigate it, and that starts with understanding exactly how recoil is generated. There’s actually a scientific formula involved, and by playing with the variables, we can change the end result—in other words, reduce recoil.
First, understand that there are two types of recoil: free recoil and felt recoil, and you’ll want to address them both.
Free Recoil
This is the scientific part. Remember Newton’s third law of motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction? Recoil is the reaction to the forward momentum of the shot leaving the barrel. The bigger and faster the load shooting forward, the harder the (equal and opposite) recoil will be coming back.
Free recoil is an expression of kinetic energy, expressed in ft.-lbs., and it is a function of three variables: the weight of the load, the speed of the load, and the weight of the gun. SAAMI has an official formula to calculate this that is too complicated for anyone who’s not a physicist to want to deal with, but for our purposes, a way oversimplified version can be thought of like this:
Free Recoil = (Load Weight x Load Speed)2
Gun Weight
Notice that first, you take the weight of the load and multiply it by the speed of the load, then square the result. This makes these two factors exponentially more impactful in determining free recoil. Then you’ll divide that number by the weight of the gun. Consequently, gun weight is less of a factor in the result of the formula—but it still matters.
As a shooter, you can control all three variables based on the shells and the gun you choose. Simply stated, lighter, slower shells produce less recoil, and a heavier gun produces less recoil. Avoiding ultra-fast, heavy-payload shells if you don’t need them (and you probably don’t) will go a long way in reducing how much recoil is produced, as will choosing a heavier gun. Of course, lifting a heavy gun all day can increase fatigue, so you’ll have to find what works for you. Target guns, designed for skeet, trap or sporting clays, are intentionally heavy because they’re intended to be shot a lot and carried a little. Field guns, intended for hunting, are carried a lot and shot relatively little compared to target guns, so they are lighter by design. There’s nothing wrong with shooting skeet with your hunting gun, but understand that it will probably recoil more because it’s likely on the lighter side.
Interestingly, going down to a 20-gauge does not automatically guarantee less recoil than you’d have with a 12-gauge. It has to do with the weight of the gun. If you shot shells of the same speed and payload (say, 7/8-ounce of shot at 1,200 f.p.s.) out of an 8-pound 12-gauge and a 6-pound 20-gauge, the top half of the recoil formula would remain the same, but the bottom half has changed. The 20-gauge would recoil more because it is a lighter gun. Of course, you will more than likely choose a lighter load for a 20-gauge than you would for a 12, but the point is that gauge in and of itself is not a factor in recoil.
Felt Recoil
While free recoil is an objective, measurable scientific fact, felt recoil is … well, a feeling. It’s how you perceive the recoil’s energy in your body—how it feels to you. This is subjective and will change from individual to individual, and there are plenty of factors here you can play with to mitigate how the recoil feels.
Gun choice: A semiauto shotgun will reduce how much recoil you feel because the gun uses some of the recoil to operate the action. I’m oversimplifying again, but in essence, some of the rearward momentum “bleeds off” as the bolt’s rearward motion “absorbs it.” In a gas-operated semi, approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of the gasses generated at the shot are directed backward to cycle the bolt, while the other 60 percent to 70 percent of the gases are directed forward to propel the shot. Therefore the total recoil is spread out over several milliseconds as all of this happens, as opposed to a single big push you’d get from a pump or a break-action gun. Gas-operated semiautos offer significantly less felt recoil for this reason. Inertia-operated semiautos also offer less felt recoil than a fixed-breech gun, but they don’t have those gases moving rearward and spreading out the recoil impulse, so they will impart more felt recoil than a gas-operated gun.
Gun fit: If a shotgun doesn’t fit you properly, the recoil will be directed into places it shouldn’t go, often bruising your cheek or the outside of your arm/shoulder. A proper gun fitting—often more than one, if you’re a serious target shooter—will go a long way to reducing felt recoil. In the same vein, using good shooting form and proper posture will help the gun recoil how and where it should for optimal performance and comfort.
Recoil pads: Most target guns and many hunting guns are fitted with a rubbery-feeling recoil pad on the buttstock. The rearward motion of the gun actually compresses this pad slightly, and thus the pad absorbs some of the energy before it gets to your shoulder. These pads can be very effective, although some work better than others. If your gun doesn’t have a recoil pad, keep in mind that adding one will increase your length of pull, and you might need to have the stock cut down to accommodate it and keep a proper fit. Wearing heavier winter clothes can have a somewhat similar, albeit lower-tech, effect, but remember that it, too, can change your length of pull.
Gun modifications and powder choice: Opinions are mixed on some of these and data is often hard to come by or inconclusive, but some shooters and even ballisticians swear that porting the gun’s barrel(s), lengthening the forcing cone(s), and backboring (no longer as popular and potentially dangerous in older models) can reduce felt recoil. Similarly, some reloaders believe that using a “slow-burning” powder in their shells reduces felt recoil by allowing more time for the powder to produce peak pressure, because it ignites over several milliseconds rather than all at once.
In Summary
Recoil comes in two varieties: Free recoil, which is an objective scientific fact based on load weight, load speed and gun weight; and felt recoil, which is a more subjective feeling based on how you perceive the recoil energy. Both types of recoil can be mitigated with gun choice, shell choice, proper gun fit and the use of recoil pads.
Even if you think recoil doesn’t bother you, you’re still experiencing its effects, and over time, it might catch up with you. There’s no need to be a hero and soak up more recoil than necessary, so try some mitigation measures and enjoy more comfortable shooting with less fatigue.
