If a rifle in 416 rigby weigh 10 pounds. Would you leave it as is, or remove 1 pound of stock, and add mercury reducser bringing the weight up to 10 pounds again?

Wich helps more?

Myself, I'd rather have it weigh 12#.
Have a good pad, long barrel, balanced. and a good stock that fits me just right.

IF it still kicked too much, then I'd add mercury and keep it balanced if I had to put one in the forearm too.

Just my opinion. IF you're hunting bad assed bear and will need something quicker to handle. Then get on the Alaska thread and read what the bear hunters prefer. Heck of a good thread with lots of info and experience's.

George

Unfortunately you would have a tough time removing 1# of wood from a conventional wood stock and still have anything to hold on to that can stand recoil. Take the stock off, take the pad off and weight the stock. should be between 2 and 3#, i just weighed an unletted CZ stock, so it should weigh more than yours, at 2#9oz.

Mind if I answer this a different way?

IMHO, a rigby shouldn't weigh more than 9.5, 10 MAX with scope and all the bullets. Yes, I understand that it has substaintial recoil. Training around that recoil is easier than changing the gun. Here's how. Get some 350 or 300 gr bullets and reload them at the BOTTOM of the chart, lightest possible loads. over the course of a month, shoot about 100-150 of these... now, add ONE grain to that load, load 20, shoot those in a week. does this once more, and while you are shooting those 20, load some BOTTOM 400 gr loads... and mix and match. You aren't shooting for groups, through you should try to aim as if you are, rather to overcome the recoil training.

Trust me, I haven't shot my 550 express in about 4 months (work is heck) and will be making "powderpuff" loads to get me back on stream with it.. 700gr at 1800 or so, so I can work back up to 2130

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by Nortman:
If a rifle in 416 rigby weigh 10 pounds. Would you leave it as is, or remove 1 pound of stock, and add mercury reducser bringing the weight up to 10 pounds again?

Wich helps more?

If you want the gun to weight 10 lbs, then leave it as it is. If the gun is hurting you then either install a good, soft pad, add additional weight, or, go to something with less kick.

Recoil training... Thanks Jeffe, that was funny!

It was a hypotetical question.. put another way, if recoil bothers you, should you add one pound of lead shot? Or one pound of mercury reducers?

quote:

Originally posted by Nortman:
It was a hypotetical question.. put another way, if recoil bothers you, should you add one pound of lead shot? Or one pound of mercury reducers?

A pound is a pound. Use what is most convenient for you. Given the two choices I would add the lead shot. If you are convinced that the mercury will offset the recoil enough to make the gun less painful, then use the mercury.

quote:

Originally posted by Nortman:
It was a hypotetical question.. put another way, if recoil bothers you, should you add one pound of lead shot? Or one pound of mercury reducers?

Hypothetically I would assume that the pound of movable mercury in a reducer[s] would give slightly less “felt†recoil than would a pound of non-movable lead. How much less?...I haven’t got a clue.

You are adding the same amount of overall weight, but the mercury in the reducer has the added ability to provide resistance to some of the recoil energy without transferring it directly to the stock and in turn, the shooter.

mercury seems to reduce FELT recoil, as it turns it into two distinct bumps, rather than one big BANG..

lead is easier and cheaper.

training for the recoil helps with the mental aspects of heavy recoiling guns, if you want to learn to shoot them well.

So, to answer your question, if I had a rigby that weighed 10, I wouldn't bother altering it to mercury tube(s), rather I would train to it.

jeffe

A pound is a pound and recoil is recoil...but the physics of decelerating a body in motion stay the same no matter what.

Recoil “reducers’ are more properly called Recoil “dampeners†since they can’t, and don’t reduce the recoil. All they can do is dampen it by providing resistance that must be overcome by the force and also by lengthening the time of deceleration.

The force of recoil has to move the mercury inside the tube and as was pointed out, that slows things down a bit and gives you two “bumps†rather than one slam.

Male ego’s nothwithstanding...there’s a really good reason why Ronnie Barrett makes his .50 caliber rifles in the weight range (28 pounds)that he does.

Nothing like adding weight to tame recoil. If a 10+ pound gun seems too heavy, drop and give me 20!

quote:

Originally posted by malm:
Nothing like adding weight to tame recoil. If a 10+ pound gun seems too heavy, drop and give me 20!

One thing about rifles we should never forget is that the Laws of Physics are very strictly enforced!!!

I believe the military has always used the formula of at least 400 to 1 (rifle weight to bullet/powder charge weight) in determining what was reasonable for a human being to handle in a shoulder fired weapon.

one thing about weight on a heavy rifle - you're going to carry it a hundred miles for every time you shoot it.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
one thing about weight on a heavy rifle - you're going to carry it a hundred miles for every time you shoot it.

That’s why God invented teenage sons!

I wouldn't do anything to add weight that isn't reversable. Once you get used to the recoil, and if you take it hunting, you'll want to shed those pounds as much as possible.

So I guess if one were to start smacking themselves in the face everyday, and gradually increasing the force of the smacks, that at some point they would have trained themselves and become used to a sledge hammer between the eyes???

Or maybe at that point they were just beyond feeling anything!

Exactly. And I misspelled reversible. But after enough recoil, who really knows, or cares?

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I wouldn't do anything to add weight that isn't reversable. Once you get used to the recoil, and if you take it hunting, you'll want to shed those pounds as much as possible.

Amen!! Carry it 10 miles... and you'll be thinking about sawing the stock off a greater than 10# rifle...