Heetor
Member
I probably have less experience than most of the people posting replies so you can take my feedback for what it is worth to you, but this is something I battled/battle with over the last four years as I have gotten into precision shooting.
Partially I think because I shot wrong for 20 years before I decided to start working on it. Typical I shot short range hunting, and my success left me thinking I was a marksman after killing a lot of game under 150 yards. Realistically I probably jerked or flinched every one of those shots, range time was a matter of sighting in my rifle so the holes to fall within 4" at 100 yards each fall before hunting season.
My first rifle was an old Ruger M77 .338 WM, and I have killed a lot of moose and bears with it, but it kicks so hard 4" was probably the best I could shoot it. I hated putting 6 - 10 rounds through it each fall before hunting season, and treated this like a necessary evil in order to enjoy hunting.
About 4 years ago I really got into shooting for shooting, when I bought another .338 WM but in a Tikka T3 Light. Worried about the recoil in such a light rifle I put a Limbsaver recoil pad on it. I paid careful attention tothe scope mounting and added some stock spacers to length the pull to better fit me. I could take it to the range each weekend and easily half my group size over the Ruger, and putting 40 rounds through it in an afternoon was manageable. The lesson here is the scope/stock setup gave me a more comfortable posture, plus a good recoil pad changed everything.
Still the .338 Tikka was a hard kicker, and still couldn't shoot it sub MOA, but it was a day and night improvement over the Ruger I had been shooting for years, and I really enjoyed taking it out.
I figured if I could shoot the Tikka that well then I had to fix the Ruger, so I took it to a smith and spent a pile of money for a custom muzzle break, Pachmyer recoil pad, better scope, and a trigger job. Like magic with all of the enhancements it was a pleasure to shoot. Shooting it without any fear I got the groups down to 1 MOA, and loved shooting it. So definitely getting the rifle worked on improved it as one would expect. I was now shooting half the group size of the Tikka.
Unfortunately I hated hunting with ear protection and my hunting buddies don't want to be around when that thing goes bang, so I have given up on using breaks, personally, but different situations might make me change me mind on that one some day.
Not wanting to use a break I went back to work on recoil reduction, I found some articles on something called the EVO Shirt, with a custom moldable shoulder piece. It simply gets rid of the recoil that is not mitigated by improving the pad and setting up the rifle correctly. You can wear it hunting, or just at the range where the beatings usually take place, and it has the added bonus that you can use it with all of your rifles as opposed to buying a break for each one, nice investment for $60.
It has taken me over 3 years to get over the bad habits developed from 20 years of jerking triggers on hunting rifles, but recoil and flinch is a thing of the past. My favorite rifle is a 30-378 which I shoot without a break, 20 - 30 rounds every weekend and look forward all week to breaking it out on Saturday to put up some 0.4 MOA groups.
I think the lesson I learnt was that flinching was 50% in my head, and 50% in my equipment. Spending a lot of time getting the rifle stock length and scope position exactly right so I was holding the rifle perfectly comfortable in shooting position, was a major improvement and it was free. Getting a good recoil absorbing pad ont he rifle fixed most of the equipment problems, though the EVO Shirt also helps a lot even if only at the range. Getting comfortable shooting and spending a lot of range time on technique got rid of the other 50% of the problem, but I had to fix the equipment before I could start working on my head.
Partially I think because I shot wrong for 20 years before I decided to start working on it. Typical I shot short range hunting, and my success left me thinking I was a marksman after killing a lot of game under 150 yards. Realistically I probably jerked or flinched every one of those shots, range time was a matter of sighting in my rifle so the holes to fall within 4" at 100 yards each fall before hunting season.
My first rifle was an old Ruger M77 .338 WM, and I have killed a lot of moose and bears with it, but it kicks so hard 4" was probably the best I could shoot it. I hated putting 6 - 10 rounds through it each fall before hunting season, and treated this like a necessary evil in order to enjoy hunting.
About 4 years ago I really got into shooting for shooting, when I bought another .338 WM but in a Tikka T3 Light. Worried about the recoil in such a light rifle I put a Limbsaver recoil pad on it. I paid careful attention tothe scope mounting and added some stock spacers to length the pull to better fit me. I could take it to the range each weekend and easily half my group size over the Ruger, and putting 40 rounds through it in an afternoon was manageable. The lesson here is the scope/stock setup gave me a more comfortable posture, plus a good recoil pad changed everything.
Still the .338 Tikka was a hard kicker, and still couldn't shoot it sub MOA, but it was a day and night improvement over the Ruger I had been shooting for years, and I really enjoyed taking it out.
I figured if I could shoot the Tikka that well then I had to fix the Ruger, so I took it to a smith and spent a pile of money for a custom muzzle break, Pachmyer recoil pad, better scope, and a trigger job. Like magic with all of the enhancements it was a pleasure to shoot. Shooting it without any fear I got the groups down to 1 MOA, and loved shooting it. So definitely getting the rifle worked on improved it as one would expect. I was now shooting half the group size of the Tikka.
Unfortunately I hated hunting with ear protection and my hunting buddies don't want to be around when that thing goes bang, so I have given up on using breaks, personally, but different situations might make me change me mind on that one some day.
Not wanting to use a break I went back to work on recoil reduction, I found some articles on something called the EVO Shirt, with a custom moldable shoulder piece. It simply gets rid of the recoil that is not mitigated by improving the pad and setting up the rifle correctly. You can wear it hunting, or just at the range where the beatings usually take place, and it has the added bonus that you can use it with all of your rifles as opposed to buying a break for each one, nice investment for $60.
It has taken me over 3 years to get over the bad habits developed from 20 years of jerking triggers on hunting rifles, but recoil and flinch is a thing of the past. My favorite rifle is a 30-378 which I shoot without a break, 20 - 30 rounds every weekend and look forward all week to breaking it out on Saturday to put up some 0.4 MOA groups.
I think the lesson I learnt was that flinching was 50% in my head, and 50% in my equipment. Spending a lot of time getting the rifle stock length and scope position exactly right so I was holding the rifle perfectly comfortable in shooting position, was a major improvement and it was free. Getting a good recoil absorbing pad ont he rifle fixed most of the equipment problems, though the EVO Shirt also helps a lot even if only at the range. Getting comfortable shooting and spending a lot of range time on technique got rid of the other 50% of the problem, but I had to fix the equipment before I could start working on my head.
