How to reduce 223 recoil...? Wanting to watch impact....!

dan brothers

dan brothers

New member
I have a Savage 12 FLV 223, which is a Varmint Heavy Barrel... and I love the gun, but I can't watch the impact on hits... is there anyway to reduce the recoil so hits can be viewed... without buying another caliber like a 204 or 17 Rem.

I'm shooting 50 gr. factory ammo... it puts 3 shots in a dime... 4 shots make a clover leaf... and 6 shots make a smiley face... and 10 shots makes me a fisherman...

Options...

reload lighter...?

install a muzzle break...?

hold on tighter...?

attach a cinder block... oooohhhh... don't say that...



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I'd try a different hold before I went with a brake, if that is what your thinking. Or add a suppressor. A suppressor will get you what your after with out blowing your ear drums like a brake will.
 
I was shooting some 33 gr barnes bullets and they seem to have less muzzle jump then 55gr.

How about a scope with more FOV? For me to not be able to see a hit on 1.5 x the muzzle would have to jump up to like 45 degrees. Even better with both eyes open , my left eye sees every impact. Even on my Tikka t3 lite I hit a ground squirrel last time I was out and could see it fly off about 8 feet in the air on 4x.

Consider the shape and angle of the recoil pad. Is it rotating on the toe of the pad because you need more pitch or to grind off the toe? That will cause a gun to recoil up instead of back. I grind down the toe on all my guns and or adjust pitch. You want the entire pad to make even contact. THe heel of the gun should be the point of rotation not the toe. Look into shotgun fitting, pitch,and cheek slap. The same principals shouldget your gun recoil back instead of up. No one ever stops to consider fit with a rifle but it can be important. Its more important with something that recoils hard obviously.
 
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muzzle brake. got a buddy who has an AR with one on his 223 and the gun has no recoil at all. as for blowing your ear drums wear ear plugs.
 
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See how the toe of the recoil pad sticks out. It is like that because it looks good. It is not functional. I haven't got to it yet but I need to grind that down so its flat and in line with the center of the pad.


Sort of hard to see here but see the angle of the pad and that I ground the pointy toe off? No more recoiling up.
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You could try a recoil pad shapped like this kick eeze rocker pad. See how there is no toe? That shape can help the muzzle jump.

http://www.kickeezproducts.com/rocker.php


Or adjust it with a wedge shapped shim.

you can experiment by stacking a couple washers on the top side of the pad, you might need a longer screw.
 
You could have some lead added to the forearm of you stock, but it will make the gun weight more......HUMMMM...might try that cinder block.
 
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Put a brake on it. The thing will barely twitch, it'll be like shooting a 22lr. And no it won't blow your ears off (wear muffs). About the rest of that nonsense......use a 32X scope if you want, shoot any weight bullet, don't worry about a tighter hold or recoil pad shape. And especially don't mess around weighting the gun, I went through that years ago and it's a poor solution. One of my 223's has a #7 Shilen barrel.....it was ok unbraked, but a brake made even more fun to shoot.
 
Learn how to shoot properly and you can spot your hits. I have no problem spotting hits with a 168gr 308 loads of 115gr 243 loads or 75gr 223ai loads. If off bipods learn how to load them, if prone learn how to postion yourself correctly behind your rifle.
 
I'm not sure what to say here
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I can see hits behind both of my current 223s. The AR and the bolt gun, with heavy for caliber bullets.

I guess a brake would be the most logical answer, even though I despise them......
 
To me that stock looks just too straight. Next I think a little research on a brake might pay. I have only been around and shot a few but one was certainly milder for noise. Can't remember if it was a vais or not.
 
I like the brake idea...but I can't do hearing protection, because I'm shooting for blood more than paper... and I'm not always in a perfect shooting form position...
 
Originally Posted By: dan brothersI like the brake idea...but I can't do hearing protection, because I'm shooting for blood more than paper... and I'm not always in a perfect shooting form position...

You are destined to have LOUD ringing in the ears, permanent hearing loss....wear electronic ear muffs or suffer!

I have shot untold thousands of rounds at ground squirrels, p. dogs, jack rabbits, doves, ducks. I could have wished that electronic ear muffs had been around back then.

The Tac 6 ear muffs are thin, will not come in contact with stock.

I carried many guys on p. dog hunts, and they thought that they could see their hits with their Rem 700 223 varmint's, they could NOT when push came to shove....I got them to spot for me...

They could tell me that I got the p. dog or not, but I asked them if I hit them low or left or right of center...they looked at me like I was crazy. With a p. dog head barely sticking out of a hole, at the shot, I would ask my spotter if I hit left or right, high or low...their usual response was "shoot again".

I played around with weights in the stock and weights attached on the stock. You need to get a 223 up to about 16 lbs to see the pin point exact impact on the animal, the closer the range, harder it is to see exact impacts.

Put a muzzle break on the rifle, wear electronic ear muffs...done deal. I wear e.ear muffs + ear plugs, and hear normally with the e. ear muffs.

If you lie on the ground with a shoulder strap on your left arm, you will see your hits better than any way I tried, it is very uncomfortable with your neck and shoulders hurting you in a short time.
 
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