Recoil management-poor shooting

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

1. Break
2. Good Packmeyer recoil pad
3. Good trigger
4. Proper hold to your shoulder when aiming. Posture!!!
5. Now this is important!!!

Also have a friend load your rifle with live and dummy rounds and have him video you as you shoot. without knowing if it is a live or dummy round and watch your reaction on each shot. Pay attention to your trigger finger and if your body tenses up right before each shot. Will hopefully teach you to stop flinching. You should have good posture with your rifle and it should fire almost without you knowing it. Your groups will definitely get smaller and enjoy shooting more.

 

[dogz]

Thank you for all the replies. Just to go a little more into the weeds. I am in my mid-40s very athletically built, and again I have no problem shooting my 375. My problem is that I cannot shoot the 300 WSM worth a pinch of coons&*t because somehow I fail to control the recoil in any consistent fashion. Today I wasn't very smart and did all my shooting in a T-shirt and that certainly didn't help... I have a past recoil shield shoulder pad (which I forgot to bring along) which takes the sting out of the gun but the recoil is still not controlled and I'm shooting all over the target. If I transition to my tikka T3X 6.5 creedmoor I can print three-quarter inch groups right after I put this gun down. I know many can do better but I would be very pleased if I could milk out the same performance from the 300 WSM... I understand that shooting lighter weight bullets would decrease the recoil but unfortunately I cannot reload and over-the-counter selection of lighter weight bullets is fairly limited.
I think my problem is my inability to consistently manage recoil and thus shoot the gun accurately. I'm thinking about a muzzle brake or a silencer, leaning towards the silencer because I'm afraid of not being able to put an ear protection and damaging my hearing shooting a braked gun in a hunting situation without ear pro. I'm also not sure if somebody can thread a 5/8 inch diameter muzzle to receive a break or a suppressor. Could anyone weigh in on this possibility?
Again I appreciate everyone's insight so far!
( I may also have to consider taking some lessons how to shoot lightweight heavy recoiling rifles well...)

Right up front I'll say that I haven't read this whole thread so forgive me if you've come with a solution already.

But, it seems to me why fight this, get rid of the darn rifle!

You have a 6.5 CM and a 375. I'd add a good quick twist 22/250 for hunting smaller big game like deer/black bear and lopes and call it a day.

Side note, I have a fairly lightweight 70/7WSM with a McMillan Compact Edge fill stock. The guns accurate, but the stock litterly slaps me in the cheek all the time. I can't stand the stock. So, I have one of D'Arcy's Legends that will go on it and that'll take care of that.

Bottom line, life's short, ditch the dog...........

Side note, I didn't catch it but what do you hunt on a regular basis?

 

[sobrbiker]

I got through about 5 pages...
Try this before doing anything to the rifle:
-have someone else that you know shoots well shoot it. At least rule out that the rifle doesn't have an issue first. It may not like what you're feeding it, bedding issue, etc.

I apologize if that's been discussed already.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Is that why half the words of this post is yelling?

Yup and these young Newbie's with, Big Bore, Guns and Brakes, NEED to KNOW just how BAD,.. Tinnitus, IS !
T'is,.. bad,.. "Chit" !
ONE, freakin' forgetful, Moment and,.. YIKES, for,.. a Life Time !
You couldn't GIVE me, a Brake on,.. a real, walking around,.. "Hunting Rifle" !

 

[xsn10s]

Yup and these young Newbie's with, Big Bore, Guns and Brakes, NEED to KNOW just how BAD,.. Tinnitus, IS !
T'is,.. bad,.. "Chit" !
ONE, freakin' forgetful, Moment and,.. YIKES, for,.. a Life Time !
You couldn't GIVE me, a Brake on,.. a real, walking around,.. "Hunting Rifle" !

What?

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Some of us Old guys can be, FORGETFUL and I want to, KEEP what's left of,.. MY, hearing.
I'm not into shooting from, One Mountain Range, to another. My style of Hunting is, walk around, sit, Glass, walk to another ridge / small Canyon and Glass, in the Back Country and Dark Timber, where most Hunters, don't go, IF possible !
And on, a quick, jump Shot at, an Animal, I "might" forget, to put Plugs, in.
And,..my UN Braked, 24", .270 WSM,. WON'T, cause my ears,.. to Ring IF,.. I forget !

 

[xsn10s]

Some of us Old guys can be, FORGETFUL and I want to, KEEP what's left of,.. MY, hearing.

I just can't read your writing above my ringing in my ears

 

[COBrad]

Okay I skipped to the end so this has probably been suggested… I had a Kimber and an HS Precision ultralights in 300 WSM. With the 200 grain bullets I favor I simply couldn't shoot the rifles accurately. I downloaded to the 168 grain Barnes TSX at adopt 2800 FPS, '06 levels really. It was no problem to shoot sub moa and the elk I shot with that load didn't know the weren't shot with a magnum. They just died.

 

[hawg chaser]

OK, I scan read everything, so here goes...
I am not recoil shy, but several of my rifles are SNAPPY due to them being light. The worst was my 9lb 505 Gibbs.
I found a substance called 'Sorbathane' rubber, it comes in sheets 1/4"-1/2"-3/4"&1" thicknesses and is 12" wide by however long you want.
I bought the 1" & 3/4" and cut 6"x3" rectangles of both, the 1" isn't really necessary as the 3/4" will absorb the 150lbs/ft of the 505 Gibbs easily. I put them under my shirt between butt pad and shoulder. Couldn't feel the 505 at all with the 3/4" pad, the 1" pad would probably stop a Howitzer from hurting you!
Many call this a sissy pad, but I am manly enough to admit that sighting in my heavy recoiling rifles without it is a chore I would rather not do. I have had 2 surgeries on my right shoulder, rotator cuff repair and removal of the A/C joint. After this, anything that didn't jarr it was a good thing.
I also find switching to a Decelerator pad helps a lot.

Cheers.

This right here, and look at adding a mercury dampener to the stock. They are great for taming hard recoil.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Okay I skipped to the end so this has probably been suggested… I had a Kimber and an HS Precision ultralights in 300 WSM. With the 200 grain bullets I favor I simply couldn't shoot the rifles accurately. I downloaded to the 168 grain Barnes TSX at adopt 2800 FPS, '06 levels really. It was no problem to shoot sub moa and the elk I shot with that load didn't know the weren't shot with a magnum. They just died.

Most of the OP's "choices" were covered,.. in the First, 2 or 3, Pages BUT,..
He DOESN'T,. reload, .. Your idea, would work, perfectly IF, he did !

 

[COBrad]

Well that's what I get for skipping ahead

 

[Ftothfadd]

Oh well, it just pushes every time a bit further along toward taking up reloading

 

[Chadp82]

Another thing I should have mentioned in my earlier post, shot placement!

You can easily go lighter on recoil and focus on shot placement. I myself WAS guilty and known plenty of other that are to this day, bigger harder hitting doesn't make up for bad shooting. I have missed a deer at 75 yds off hand, due to lack of practice. I have also taken deer at 150 yds off hand. Set personal limits. A larger caliber/bullet doesn't make up for a poor shot. On my main hunting rifle, 280 Remington, I have a field limit of 400 yds w/ a good rest (prone or sitting) Plenty of folks will go further and my particular set up is good to 600+ yds. A lot of personal decisions go into the shot.

I was recoil shy at one point, and spent a lot of time with a 22-250 and 243 to break that. I also used double ear protection for awhile, plugs + muffs. As a grown man, it was tough to realize and admit, but once I did and worked through it I have reaped the benefits since.

 

[COBrad]

After shooting a variety of magnums over the past 3 decades my main elk rifle is now a 5.5 lb .284 shooting 160 grain bullets about 2600 FPS. The one magnum I'll still hunt elk with is a .300 WSM I had built for shooting across the canyon above the ranch I'm on. Shots there are in the 8-1200 yard range. Muzzle brake makes it shoot like my .284.