Youth/ladies rifle -- recoil management. Thoughts?

[ActionJackson017]

All,

Many threads to be read discussing HBC's most venerable topic of "which calible to buy", but after going through a dozen or so threads I couldn't find much on recoil management. To skip to the punch, grandpa settled on and acquired a 7mm-08 for my son and we spent a day at the range yesterday conditioning the barrel and sighting it in amongst other fun endeavors. It's the Ruger American Compact bolt-action with synthetic stock and matte black barrel. Hell of a little rifle and I was quickly shooting reasonable groups at 100 meters as we sighted it in and conditioned the barrel in short order.

Having said that, my quick observation on the rifle was my 75lb 11 y/o son would *not* be able to handle it's recoil until he's a little older/heavier. In fact, I will go so far as to say my 30-06 is more comfortable for me to shoot. It was spitting Hornady 139 grain interlocks down the range and this morning my shoulder feels distinctly abused lol.

Considerations I would like others thoughts on:
-Easy place to start -- upgrade the butt pad. Sims Airpad 10824 would be an easy upgrade but my go-to sites don't appear to carry.. (@todbartell, can I order in through you if you see this?)
-Install a muzzle brake. Seems overkill on a 7mm-08 and not sure I want to go this route. But.. 3 gill? clamp on?
-Lighter load. Drop down to 120 grain?

Bottom line is my experience yesterday suggests in my mind my son is going to have to put on another 10-15lbs before he will be able to shoot this rifle well. What have others done for their youth and wives rifles?

Cheers.

[Squamch]

Magna porting? Have a Smith throw a brake on it?
Buy a good quality recoil pad, and a magnum pad for him to wear on his shoulder?

[Fella]

Stick a good recoil pad on it would be my first suggestion and try a lighter bullet. 120gr would be a good deer bullet especially in a premium projectile like TTSX. Actually I’ve heard the 120gr TTSX is even a good elk round but I have no real world experience with that so you may want to do some more research.

[VLD43]

All,

Many threads to be read discussing HBC's most venerable topic of "which calible to buy", but after going through a dozen or so threads I couldn't find much on recoil management. To skip to the punch, grandpa settled on and acquired a 7mm-08 for my son and we spent a day at the range yesterday conditioning the barrel and sighting it in amongst other fun endeavors. It's the Ruger American Compact bolt-action with synthetic stock and matte black barrel. Hell of a little rifle and I was quickly shooting reasonable groups at 100 meters as we sighted it in and conditioned the barrel in short order.

Having said that, my quick observation on the rifle was my 75lb 11 y/o son would be able to handle it's recoil until he's a little older/heavier. In fact, I will go so far as to say my 30-06 is more comfortable for me to shoot. It was spitting Hornady 139 grain interlocks down the range and this morning my shoulder feels distinctly abused lol.

Considerations I would like others thoughts on:
-Easy place to start -- upgrade the butt pad. Sims Airpad 10824 would be an easy upgrade but my go-to sites don't appear to carry.. (@todbartell, can I order in through you if you see this?)
-Install a muzzle brake. Seems overkill on a 7mm-08 and not sure I want to go this route. But.. 3 gill? clamp on?
-Lighter load. Drop down to 120 grain?

Bottom line is my experience yesterday suggests in my mind my son is going to have to put on another 10-15lbs before he will be able to shoot this rifle well. What have others done for their youth and wives rifles?

Cheers.

Your questions and information provided leave out some key information. What is the length of pull on this rifle Vs the length of pull suited to your son. What is the pitch on the butt end of the rifle. what is the weight of the rifle. Chances are your son may require a shorter length of pull, at his age. Pitch can make a huge difference in felt recoil. A good pad like a kickeez pad can manage felt recoil well. A break will definitely reduce felt recoil, but if you haven't addressed proper gun fit first, you still have issues. I think the best advise would be to consult or better yet visit, a proficient gun smith and discuss gun fit and recoil reduction options. Lots of good info on the net about fitting firearms.

[guest]

My Daughters are light wieghts...... They both shoot 3006. 180 gr.
We had their rifles stocks shortened and quality recoil pads installed. They have no issue with these guns.....both 760 Rem. Pumps. Fit is HIGHLY important. The wife shoots .308 win. All of them shoot well and harvest Deer no issue. You can get reduced loads for 308 and 06. Just know the shooting limitations of them.

Dont waste money on breaks etc...... Proper fit, handling and practice are most important.

Good luck to you. Great to hear youth getting into it! They are our future.

[Ride Red]

Good recoil pad (length of pull adjusted) and you can purchase a shooting vest with interchangeable pads too.

Or https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/cabelas-range-recoil-shirt-with-4most-wick-and-4most-inhibit-for-men#close

[saskbooknut]

Three physical components affect recoil - velocity of bullet, weight of bullet, weight of rifle.
Good fit, good pad and lighter bullet at lower velocity will help.

[brian]

Good stock fit dramatically affects felt recoil.

[IslandWanderer]

Anything in a Creedmore....obviously.

[crazy ducker]

My wife shoots a savage 7mm08 youth model, as she has short arms, and she loves it then my 10 1/2 year old just used it to shoot a moose in oct. it’s a good caliber with light recoil

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Do you or your Dad handload??

You can reduce recoil by A LOT by using H4895 with a 60% load

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf

I used to load 120gn TTSXs with reduced loads in my daughter’s Remmy Mod seven compact in 7mm-08 when she was smaller. Major reduction in recoil

SSS

[willyqbc]

Most of these synthetic stocks are hollow in the butt, or maybe foam filled, they also usually have a bunch of room in the barrel channel. You can use these empty spaces by adding a mixture of silicone and lead shot to add weight to the rifle. This can significantly reduce recoil. Along with a bunch of stuff allready mentioned on this thread such as lighter bullets and reduced recoil loads etc, you can get recoil down to the level of a 223.

[ActionJackson017]

All,

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. Plenty of wisdom in here, starting with the reality that the short length of pull on this rifle likely does not fit me. My dad commented that I looked uncomfortable over it and well, I did... I couldn't get comfortable with it and hence why I feel it hammered the hell outta me. I'm no expert, but my little guy has been practicing pulling the rifle to his shoulder and at 4' 11'', it passes my eyeball test of fitting him well so it's worth the investment of some tweaking.

I've decided for now to give it a year before my son hunkers down behind this rifle -- he can get an inch or two taller, 5-10lbs heaver and he can shoot my .17HMR in the mean time. I am going to upgrade the recoil pad to start with on his 7mm-08 and while I have the stock butt pad off, I'll see about adding some silicon and lead shot to beef it up a bit.

Misc:
-We don't hand load at present although we have debated getting in to it - SSS, your recommendation is noted.
-Willy, that's an excellent idea to add a little weight to the butt; I think this is part of the equation.
-VLD43, thank you for the wisdom but it's too advanced for me; I don't know how to measure the butt's pitch and only know how to eyeball comfortable length of pull. The rifle is atleast 5 inches shorter for example than my Sako Finnlight 85 and sadly, neither are heavy enough to register on my digital scale at home but the Ruger is noticeably ligher than the Sako.

[ActionJackson017]

Here's a visual comparison of the 7mm-08 vs. my 30-06

https://imgur.com/a/YHMuW2U

https://i.imgur.com/Oq5rZig.jpg

[Bustercluck]

I’ve added lead shot or bullets mixed with epoxy into the butt pad.

And I’ve personally experienced the difference in powder of a fast burning powder vs a slow burning powder. This is probably the easiest thing to overcome felt recoil. Only problem is you sometimes don’t get the performance you’re looking for.

[Bustercluck]

I wouldn’t bother with a bolt on break. Waste of money to me.

[ActionJackson017]

That's what I've heard too, Bustercluck. Can't disagree. I'm going to start with the recoil pad and adjust my seating position over the bench the next time I head to the range. Maybe I'll pick up a box of the 120 grain TTSX too to compare.

Cheers.

PS> Have to say disappointing how grainy that pic turned out.. sorry about that, I thought these new fan-dangled iPhones were the best, but to be honest, my Samsung's pics show way better on the computer monitor..

[280 77]

Ruger americans are great shooters for the money . It is however a fairly light rifle which will affect the felt recoil , a heavier rifle will actually reduce the felt recoil . I believe that hornady makes a reduced recoil load in 120 grn called the "Custom Lite" .

[todbartell]

upgrade the butt pad. Sims Airpad 10824 would be an easy upgrade but my go-to sites don't appear to carry.. (@todbartell, can I order in through you if you see this?)

our Limbsaver supplier doesn't list this sorry

I would get some Hornady Custom Lite 120gr, it will recoil considerably less than most full house loads

[ratherbefishin]

It’s no secret I’m a fan of the venerable 6.5 x55 Swede,light recoil, superb accuaracy and the ballistic equivalent of a 270 after 100 yards .Ideal youth rifle .High sectional density bullets will handily take anything in North America. Tradeex generally has a great d selection for very reasonable prices, best value you can get for your money, ammunition readily available ( I use Privi Partisan , under $30 a box )

[Greenthumbed]

A cheap and easy way to add weight to a rifle is by putting an ammo sleeve/cheek bags with some extra ammo on the stock. Your son will probably think it's cool too!

[bacon_overlord]

I'm going the same route with a compact youth 7m-08 savage lightweight hunter.
Going to be handloading for it though. 139 SSTs and Varget hopefully does the trick.

[BCBRAD]

Double up on hearing protection, plugs and muffs.

Helps with recoil management.

[Tuffcity]

This vid explains how to get a pretty accurate LOP for body size. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOgIPbzKHWI

[Huevos]

I have pretty petite kids that come hunting with me. My oldest is now 15, but when she was younger, I had her shoot my .243. It was too much for her being the size she was. She developed a kind of anxiety from it. When I would take her hunting, she never wanted to shoot because she was scared of the gun. Once I figured that out, I purchased a limbsaver pad for it. That helped a lot, but still not great. I was really concerned that I had screwed up so bad with not starting her properly, she wouldn't want to hunt with me anymore. I decided to put a muzzle break on the rifle. After a long time trying to convince her to shoot the gun again, she agreed. She now shoots it no problem. Her younger sister is now 12. I just asked her how much she weighs so she went to the bathroom to see. 62.5 lbs. She shoots this gun no problem. She took a deer and a bear with it last year. If you have another rifle for your son to use, by all means, wait a year, but if not, i'd say get a break. I wouldn't reccommend losing a year of hunting with the kid because his rifle kicks too much.
If this is your first that is hunting age, you will notice that a lot of animals that would have been harvested previously will walk. Take it in and enjoy it. They learn. good luck with your efforts. Hope you get a chance to get out with him soon.

[Cat catcher]

I second the 6.5 x 55 low recoil with no mod’s and cheap to shoot. Great ballistics too.

[Downtown]

All,

Many threads to be read discussing HBC's most venerable topic of "which calible to buy", but after going through a dozen or so threads I couldn't find much on recoil management. To skip to the punch, grandpa settled on and acquired a 7mm-08 for my son and we spent a day at the range yesterday conditioning the barrel and sighting it in amongst other fun endeavors. It's the Ruger American Compact bolt-action with synthetic stock and matte black barrel. Hell of a little rifle and I was quickly shooting reasonable groups at 100 meters as we sighted it in and conditioned the barrel in short order.

Having said that, my quick observation on the rifle was my 75lb 11 y/o son would *not* be able to handle it's recoil until he's a little older/heavier. In fact, I will go so far as to say my 30-06 is more comfortable for me to shoot. It was spitting Hornady 139 grain interlocks down the range and this morning my shoulder feels distinctly abused lol.

Considerations I would like others thoughts on:
-Easy place to start -- upgrade the butt pad. Sims Airpad 10824 would be an easy upgrade but my go-to sites don't appear to carry.. (@todbartell, can I order in through you if you see this?)
-Install a muzzle brake. Seems overkill on a 7mm-08 and not sure I want to go this route. But.. 3 gill? clamp on?
-Lighter load. Drop down to 120 grain?

Bottom line is my experience yesterday suggests in my mind my son is going to have to put on another 10-15lbs before he will be able to shoot this rifle well. What have others done for their youth and wives rifles?

Cheers.

Had the same problem many years ago.
In a 30 cal. Barrel you could reload Shells with a very light Bullets like a 86Grain 308 Diameter (.30 Mauser) Bullet. Tradex sells them.

Recoil will be almost nil.

Cheers

[ActionJackson017]

To circle back on this thread from the fall, Grandpa Knute on the forum here took some time to fill the hollow stock with epoxy resin and add some additional weight to the equation, and we upgraded the butt pad to a Limbsaver as well. I took the 7MM-08 out to a cut block and put a few rounds down the barrel and my shoulder reports to me a significant improvement in recoil. :)

Now it's time to look in to hand loading.

Cheers!

[justachip]

Buy some Remington reduced recoil ammo and let him shoot it works well. I believe Hornady makes it also. I went this route with my son reduced recoil ammo hand loads bumped it up next year and full load 120 ttsx after that. Shoot me a pm if you would like some reduced loads that worked for us.