Who has experience with mercury recoil reducers (mrr)? I am considering buying a .375H&H barreled action and putting an HS Precision stock on it with a mrr..How do these devices work and how well do they work? Thank you for the information.

I had Sabi Rifles (www.sabirifles.co.za) build me a .500 Jeffrey about 3 years ago and test shot the rifle without a MRR and then took it back and had them fit the MRR. It takes up what I would estimate to be about 40% of the initial recoil and turns it more into a push rather than an explosion at the shoulder.... I've had no problems at all with the MRR or the rifle.

Frankly I'm delighted with the rifle and their work.

Robert, long time no see. What have you been doing with yourself? I hope you did get to make your RSA trip.
When I got my CZ in 416 Rigby it was a relatively light rifle with no scope. I think it was about 8#. It pushed me around pretty good. I decided that Jim Brockman should restock it for me and put a recoil reducer in it and use one of his on/off brakes. That combination has made the Rigby just plum tolerable. It is a heavier rifle now at 10.6 # but it is not a rifle I dread to take to the range. They can affect the balance and handling of the rifle though. You can also correct a balance issue with one of these if the balance is out of kilter.
That said, the 375 is not too bad in the recoil department. Most shooters can get used to the recoil of the H&H with some range time in shooting positions. I personally would get the 375 made up first and put a hundred or two rounds through it and then decide if you need a MRR in it. These are things that can be added later. D

rwj, I have a mrr in my Blaser R93. I have two barrels for it which are .375 H&H and .300 Win Mag. Now, keep in mind that I have never shot the rifle without a mrr, but ordered it with the mrr because of past experiences with the .30 cal + mags. I also wanted to do away with the muzzlebrakes. I can tell you that both of these calibers are a dream to shoot when compared to my friends rifles of the same calibers without any recoil reducers when we go to the range to shoot. My friends shoot my rifle in amazement. I also have a Kickeze (SP ?) recoil pad on it. I'm sure the little bit of extra weight helps with recoil along with the shock absorption properties of the mercury. Hope that helps you...Craig

I shoot a bunch of registered trap, so recoil reduction & the various reducers get debated ad nauseum. There are a tremendous number of people much more versed in Newton's Laws than myself that claim that it is the weight exclusively, not the "operating system" (whether it is mercury or mechanical) that reduces felt recoil.
I don't know for sure, I use a C&H Mercury reducer in both my trap gun and my .416 Taylor, only because I already owned them. If I didn't already own them I would save the money & do the same thing with straight added weight. There is obviously a multitude of methods to contain shot & fill the stock bolt hole (if it has one, drill it if it doesn't)
Whether it is just the weight or also the function of the mercury slopping around, there is a noticeable reduction in felt recoil.

mike

McMillan fiberglass stock with 2 mercury recoil reducers for sale for CZ550 magnum. Click on:

McMillan-CZ550

Robert,

I honestly think you can get used to the 375 H&H without the MRR. The HS Precision stock is not a lightweight so your gun will be plenty heavy as is. In Alaska as you know you can do a lot of walking over rough country while hunting so weight does matter and I think a MRR adds about 8oz.

Regards,

Mark

I believe all they do is add weight for the most part, and that reduces recoil of course, the rest is hype..

I never liked them mostly because they through everything out of balance and if you add more weight up front to get balance then the rifle is too heavy to pack all day in hot Africa...

A better route IMO is the muzzle brake with a thread protector, use the brake on the bench and during practice, then take it off for hunting, or just use the brake all the time..

Some folks don't like brakes, mostly those folks that actually havn't used them and make an issue over noise, but as long as everyone knows its there that shouldn't be a problem, and everyone should realize that with or without a brake, a guns blast will do damage to your ears. I lost a lot of my hearing and that was BEFORE the brakes came popular..God gave us all fingers to eat with and stick in our ears!

The muzzle brake is the greatest training aid to come along in a long time to teach one to shoot heavy recoiling rifles...Use it on the bench and end every session with about 5 shots off hand without the brake, hunt without the brake and in time you will completely abandon the brake all together and be very recoil tolerant..

Dthfrmbv,

I didn't know Blaser made a mercury recoil reducer - the one in my R93 is tungsten beads. It's about as effective (on a pro rate basis) as the mercury one on my .500.

When did you buy your mercury one?

rwj,

I've a H & H that weighs 7 1/2 #. As long as I keep the 270 bullets not much faster than 2800 fps the recoil isn't a problem for a person who has a tendency to flinch (me). As Mark mentioned, carry wight could become a greater problem.

I have a mercury recoil reducer in my 375 and the stock lenthened. There is a picture in the big bore section of this site.She has stayed in perfect balance and shoots like a dream. During load development I fired 35 300gn rounds through her prone with no recoil problems or flinch. Prior to that she was a real bitch with federal ammo.
The recoil damper works in the same way as when you kicking a water butt. The shock wave moves up and down the fluid dissipating the energy in many directions thereby taking the aggressive backward shock out of the rifle.
I must say I hate muzzelbreaks even though I know they work fantastically well. I think there needs to be a special day on the range for them to practice all together and give themselves flinch with unexpected lateral bleasts to each others ears.

My .375 weighs 9 1/4 lbs. It doesn't need a buffer at all. Heck, I shoot it in a T-shirt. I disagree with Ray, though, on bigger calibers. I have one in my .404 and two in the .450 and appreciate them a lot.

I have an 8oz MRR in my .404 & I shot it before & after the installation. I think it helps recoil a bit more than just adding 8oz of shot. I don't think it's 40% but I can feel the diff.

I have three in my .585 Nyati.................have never fired them without the theory should work and if that does not the extra weight would certainly tone down the recoil IMHO.

I am here to testify that mercury recoil reducers work. And they work better than just adding weight. When the rifle moves rearward during recoil, the mercury does not move until the wall of the mercury tube slams into it. THe mercury has inertia (of course) which declerates the rifle's rearward recoil.

As for how it feels, the mercury takes the edge or bite out of recoil.

The "worst" case is that they are an easy-to-use way of getting some weight added to a gun. The best case is that they work as advertised. I suspect they fall somewhere in the middle and that it is more important that your brain believes that they add more than weight. I have a couple and think that they more or less work as advertised. However, as I have been shooting more "big bores" I will be taking them out of a couple of rifles and putting them in a couple of new ones that do have more recoil.

As I expected, lots of good advice. I am looking at getting a .375H&H for my brother and three of the synthetic-stocked rifles I have looked at are pretty light...and I was trying to anticipate my brother's best options if the rifle kicked like a mule...The wooden-stocked .375s I have looked at are all heavy (Ruger, M70, CZ) and I agree with those here who indicated that such rifles would not be bad to shoot.

I do agree with D Hunter and Mark Young that some time should be spent at the range before any decision is made to modify the rifle.

I also agree with Ray on muzzlebrakes..I use them on my Weatherbys (.378 and .416). I am so used the brakes that I would consider these two rifles incomplete if I took them off the rifles. And as Ray stated, muzzlebrakes are great training devices for folks learning to shoot heavy rifles. Brakes work.

WY: I like your advice as well. Shooting something less than 300 grain bullets is an alterantive that should be considered.

D Hunter: It is good to hear from you. I hope you are doing well.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice.

I suppose the bottom line is if you like them then they are for you, if you like muzzle brakes then pick your company!

None of them bother me, and I advise all our clientele to use what works for them and allows them to shoot better, I'd rather stick my fingers in my ears than deal with a wounded Lion, Buff or whatever...

I will say that I don't use either of them anymore, but at one time some years past I did use muzzle brakes as a means to overcome my fear of recoil...

Robert, I would wait on an mrr if your going to put the gun in an HS stock. I have a one of their stock on my 375 and replaced the uncle mikes recoil pad with a pachmayer declerator. The recoil is quite manageable even with 300 gr loads. Puting a mrr in the stock may require cutting into the aluminum bedding block in the stock and compromise the integrity.
Ralph

Then you get a few weirdos like me who get addicted to recoil :-)

I've only used a MRR on my 458 Lott, if it will kick more with out it I will never take it out. The main reason I had it put in is that the rifle came out at 91/2 lbs and I wanted it at 10 1/2. Also it was very muzzle heavy, the MRR solved both problems. I won't take a chance on a muzzel brake on a DG rifle. The PH may not be able to stay far enough away from me in the jess and I don't want him crawling around on the ground blinded and deafened during a nasty situation. I never thought about a muzzle brake or a MRR on my 375. It weighs 9 1/2 lbs and the recoil is not too much to handle. I have never noticed recoil when shooting at game except for a 12 ga. 3" Rem 870 with 1 7/8 onces of shot. I knew it had recoil because I always had to pick up my hat after the third shot.


465H&H

quote:

Then you get a few weirdos like me who get addicted to recoil :-)

I haven't done any shooting up in the .40+ caliber range, but I, like you, tend to enjoy heavier recoil. To me, shooting a .243 isn't nearly as fun as shooting say a .338 RUM. Maybe I'm strange. But then again I haven't shot anything truly big bore yet! That might change my outlook quite a bit

KINO: I have an H-S Precision stock on my .378 and that stock has made for an excellent and solid shooting platform for that rifle (my favorite rifle). The long barrel and the stock, along with a scope and bullets, makes this a fairly heavy rifle (9.5 pounds)..the last two seasons I have been carrying a Harris bipod on this beast and it is an extremely accurate rifle..

I was considering the H-S Precision for my brother's rifle because it would weight more and these stocks are extremely stable and strong. And H-S offers their stocks with a mrr installed...but I think what I will work on, if my brother lets me (I'm having fun doing this...but it is his rifle!)...what I am working on is getting the rifle weight up around 9.5 pounds with a good barreled action, stock, and scope, which should make it a good rifle to shoot.

As Mark Young mentioned, a heavy rifle is a drawback because of the long distances that may be covered walking and carrying a heavy rifle is, well, not fun. But I think we can work on putting a rifle together without a mrr...I have never used one and just wanted to know what folks thought of them.

Sharpes and fusino: If you are in the neighborhood sometime, drop by. We will take the .378 and .416 Wbys out for a spin...with or without the break. Shooting fully charged 400 grain SAFs out of the .416 will be something that you will remember . I love it.

465H&H: I agree with you but I am always torn between the benefits of using a break and not...being selfish, I have decided that breaks are to my benefit and I will leave the innocent bystanders to their own devices to deal with the concussion that results when I shoot my .378 and .416. As long as I can hit what I am aiming at and poke a big hole in it, I will live with the guilt of ruining ear drums.

I have a 3 1/2 12ga with a MRR in it and a limbsave pad on the butt. The combination is a piece of cake to shoot all morning in a duck blind with 3 1/2" shells.

My 300WBY has a KDH Muzzle brake and probably recoils less than a 243 as a result. I can see bullet impact through the scope with that rifle. For a bean field hunt for deer out of a blind this is a good choice. I absolutely will not fire that rifle without hearing protection though. Even hunting. That thing will ring your bell!!

quote:

Sharpes and fusino: If you are in the neighborhood sometime, drop by. We will take the .378 and .416 Wbys out for a spin...with or without the break. Shooting fully charged 400 grain SAFs out of the .416 will be something that you will remember . I love it.

rwj, that would be awesome! The only problem is most of my travel is in the lower 48 But maybe someday I'll get up there! If I do you can be sure I'm going to take you up on your offer!

Never been to texas, hope to one day. It's a looong way from where I live now.

I really like the mercury recoil reducers that I have in my rifles. The balance of the rifle is an individual thing. The rifles of mine that have them balance better with the extra weight in the butt.

This has to do with where your hand is on the forearm of the rifle. People with longer arms have a balance point more towards the muzzle than someone with shorter arms.

You might tape the tube to the side of the stock and see how it affects the balance before you go to drilling. I did this experiment with two of them on one rifle. Two threw the balance way off for me. One was just right.

fusino: You are welcome here any time...

Sharps: I live in Alaska, not Texas .

rwj,

I agree with those that say to shoot the rifle first before doing more mods. A 9.5lb 375 with the propper LOP and good pad should be easy to shoot. Sure, another 8oz (plus the MRR effect) will make it recoil softer and if it doesn't throw off the balance go for it if desired. The bigger guys (upper 416 rigby loads, your unbraked WBY and the Lott) are in a different class of recoil from the venerable 375.

John