hugh

I have a recoil pad from NECG, The NECG Universal recoil Pad is perfect not to soft and not too hord and the look is classic.

This recoil pad is the choise of Heym of Germany for their big bore magnum bolt action rifles. Mine is in the caliber .500 Jeffery and it works great.

NECG also sels hard rubber spacers.

http://www.newenglandcustomgun.com/

Do not get a recoil pad that is too soft it will only acclerate the rifle and make the recoil feel worse and bouncy.

Cheers,

Andr�

Thanks for the input folks! I decide to go with the NECG universal pad. My gunsmith recommended them because they are soft in terms of soaking up recoil, but don't tear like the Kick Eze pads or Sims pads. They had one that is 1.5" thick which will take me out to a 14" LOP. Should be about right. I'll update you on how it works. Thanks for your ideas!

Just curious, but are the guys that have the 14 and 14 1/4" LOP able to operate the bolt with the rifle in the shooting position?

Hauptjager,



You ever shoot a big bore with a thumb hole sporter stock? If you had you wouldn't say all those great things about them. Palm swells aren't too swell on big bores either. By the way, I love both palm swells, thumb holes , and pistol grips on my low recoil rifles!



Hugh,

Things to do to minimize the punch:



1.) Maximize the footprint of the butt pad. This will spread it out over a greater area. <DUH>



2.) Soft recoil pad.



3.) Butt pad angle to fit your shoulder/chest profile (see a Weatherby) this put more butt pad in contact with YOU. This is important with regard to spreading the recoil force of the maximum area.



4.) Correct LOP. I would suspect that you would be best served by a 14.25" LOP, but you should really get measured by a competent stockmaker/gunsmith.



ASS_CLOWN

Roger,



My stopper has a LOP of ~ 14.625" and I can easily operate the bolt with the rifle in recoil let alone when it is statically setting on my shoulder. I sometimes wonder if the reason some remove rifles from their shoulders to reload them is that the LOP is too short causing the rifle to "fall" off their shoulder while working the bolt making the reloading process from the shoulder too awkward. Does that make any sense?



Anyway, the shortest LOP I have in a bolt or lever action is 13.75" and that is a Super grade M70. It is awkward for me as it is too short and I want to take it off my shoulder all the time. The longest LOP I shoot is a 15.125" on a SXS double rifle and I have no problems handling it either.



One thing that I did not address but should have is the cheek plate. The thickness of the comb i.e. cheek plate is also very important from a sight alignment and felt recoil perspective. If it too thick or too thin one can have sight alignment issues and get hit hard by recoil. So the squareness and width of your jaw are also important dimensional factors for a proplerly fitted stock.



I hope that answered your question.



ASS_CLOWN

Shot with 13-5/8" LOP for years. Had a friend who was about the same size and arm length have me try his with a 14" length of pull. Fantastic. No problems either with bolt manipulation as I would have thought there'd be. Recoil, using the same caliber of gun and similar pads, seemed easier to handle also. Go figger