Felt Recoil in 12 GA

[HK4me]

Is the felt recoil contributed by the PSI of the load, the load size or the FPS of the shot?

Loaded up some 12 ga with Longshot, 1 1/8 to 1420 fps with 10,900 PSI and it kicks like slugs. Just wondering so I can switch primer/shells or powder to lower the recoil yet still maintain high FPS.

Thanks

[Barbarossa]

F=M*A


Lower the pressure (FPS), or reduce the payload; I'd imagine.

[bjl333]

1420, 1 1/8 !?!?!? It hurts just thinking about it!!!

What type of shooting are you doing? You should be good at 1150 with 1 1/8 with almost anything, trap, skeet, sporting clays 1200 is max for me!!

consult a load manual...

[Barbarossa]

I regularly shoot 1550 fps, 1-1/8 ounce #4 & 1625 fps, 1-1/4 ounce #2
(Winchester Xpert )


Going to some slow #7.5 trap shells is a heck of an adjustment.

[Ask TheFeader about my flinch lol]

[crackerman]

What are you trying to shoot? If its clays, whoa nelly, if its game birds you can still slow down, but if its steel or exotic at waterfowl suck it up, speed kills.

[HK4me]

Its for hunting. The recipe is straight from Hodgdon website. We went for Doves with AA 1290 load and saw the feathers fly but birds kept going. These were high flying doves and couldn't reach many of them. So I thought of loading higher speed load. Whats your thoughts for these?

[Barbarossa]

Have you had experience shooting doves with commercial loads prior to this?

It's often more difficult to extinguish life, then to break a clay.

[KevinB]

Felt recoil is a little tricky. First is weight of the gun and action type.

Shot charge and velocity are a close second.

Another thing that is a huge part of the equalization is gun fit and mount. A poorly fitted gun will kick the heck out of you.

So a heavy gas operated auto with a light slow load you have low felt recoil.

A light pump shooting fast heavy loads and your felt recoil is going to be much more.

Hope that helps.

[Newshooter]

That load sounds like it would thump you all day long.

How long of a shot are you shooting? What type of choke are you using?

If a 1290 shell wasn't reaching them, they might have been out of range to even try to shoot at. I have shot 1290 shells at sporting clay courses with long range targets and they broke no problem.

[crackerman]

What size shot are you using and what does the receipe call for on the website? It sounds like you are trying to make waterfowl loads and adapting them to dove.

Probably should spend the money on a mojo and deeks instead of just muscleing the load to get up there. Sometimes the birds are just to high.

ETA I looked up federal loads and they are getting an 1 1/8 ounce upto 1500fps. I think you just need to work on gunfit and getting the birds closer.

[BigDogatPlay]

What size shot are you using and what does the receipe call for on the website? It sounds like you are trying to make waterfowl loads and adapting them to dove.

^^^ This ^^^ was the first thing I thought of as well reading the OP.

1 ounce to 1 1/8 ounce at 1300 fps should be more than enough to get the job done on passing doves. The questions I'd have would be what hulls and wads are being used, how is the gun choked and what kind of distances are you taking the birds at?

[Thefeeder]

><

High fps does not equal more birds. At some point the pattern will blow meaning that there will be large spaces in between pellets and allows birds to fly right through the best placed shots.

Some shotgun shell 101:

The dram eq (eq= equivalent) is a good indicator on how hot or mild a load is.

Full charge 12ga hunting shells are 3 3/4 dram ....target loads are in the 3 dram range (2 3/4 - 3 1/4).

Low recoil 00 Buck and LR Slugs are in the 3- 3 1/4 dram range.
Full loads of Buck and Slugs are 3 3/4 drams or even a Max dram close to 4 dram ..... 2 3/4" magnum load


For your reloading as a hunting load....1 1/4 oz Lead # 7 1/2 or #6 going about 1330 fps 3 3/4 Dram is a good hunting load and can be used for all birds by just changing shot size ( #5 for Pheasant and rabbit) ect. NOT A GOOD STEEL SHOT LOAD

Find some recipes that come close to this load with pressures in the 9700-10000 range.

Never change any component of a recipe ...Never

Slower burning powder like Blue Dot will dampen the recoil a bit ....some powders will have a sharper feel in recoil and some a bit of a longer push. BUT, you will be shooting full loads and felt recoil is a combo of shells, weight of gun, good gun fit with a good gun mount..

It important to pattern your loads and work up a load that give you the best uniform pellet spread. Don't look for great results as most barrels and choke tubes are limited to how good they shoot. But you can find some some good results and put a few more birds in the bag.

[ysr_racer]

I've never seen a clay target that 1oz of #8's going 1200 fps wouldn't break.

Doves? That's a different story.

[HK4me]

I tried hunting with the cheap Walmart shells I use for shooting traps, which, like everyone stated, worked fine for traps, but was not working too well for birds. Everyone i hunt with tells me to get faster shots. I guess I kinda over kill with loading these 1420 fps loads for bird hunting. I tested these out with my Browning B27 O/U and was shoting great with them but felt every shot, and the Browning has the original plastic pad, no padding. I patterned them at 40 yards and like someone stated, on my A5 with a MOD screw choke, it did leave a small hole in middle of the patter. But on my 1100 with a fix factory MOD barrel, the pattern was great-evenly spread over center mass. I didn't know a load would pattern differently on different barrels.

I'll probably tone down to the 1300 range and use my 1100 shooting lower flying birds and not try those longshots over 40 yds. Thanks to everyone for your responses, learned a lot from this forum.