This was just plain unpleasant to shoot as it came from the factory. It is a Savage 210 rifled barrel 12 guage made for deer hunting, as here in Illinois you can only hunt with slugs or muzzleloaders. Changes I made were putting on a pachmayr 990 recoil pad, I got that one recommendation from the big bore forum, thanks, and a muzzle brake (shooters choice I think).

The brake came threaded but I turned the threads off and silver soldered it on with Hi force 44 silver solder. The only screw up occurred when I left it to cool overnight, some of the flux had run down the brake and slightly etched the brake. It cleaned up pretty well and after season this year the gun is going to get camoed (don't look at me, it belongs to my little brother!) but if I do it again (well actually already did) I'll make sure to clean off all flux residue while the gun is still hot.

It sure turned a hard kicker to something more like in the 30-30 range, much less recoil than a 30-06. Unfortunately I didn't shoot it after I made one modification and not the other so I don't know which does more but I do like this combination as it stands. Before this the scope has bopped a few people, and it was hard on your shoulder too, giving that sharp rap that I don't like rather than a shove.



We have an old friend who we don't get to see much more nowadays except during deer season, and he has been having shoulder problems for the last year, so I did the same thing to his marlin bolt gun with the same results. The brake does not have as much blast as a centerfire brake does, I guess it probably has something to do with gas velocity more than volume. Shooting handloads at night does make a nice basketball sized fireball at the muzzle though.

Mind if I ask what power that scope is? I have to use slugs here in NY too but never found the need for more than a 4X. Perhaps a smaller scope woud be in order since slugs are god out to perhaps 100-125 yds. which is usually further than one can see in the eastern woods.

Just a thought.

Rob

Looks like a good reason to buy a proper front end loader to me. I appreciate the work you did and do not care a bit what you choose to shoot, but I will certainly go to my grave NOT understanding that concept when the use of muzzle loaders is permitted.

Rob,

The scope is a Burris Black Diamond 3X10 or something. As you guessed it pretty much gets left on 3 power. It was selected primarily because of a mil dot recticle and it is illuminated too. My scope is a 1.5X5 with a heavy post,illuminated. To each his own.

Dan, of course we have muzzle loaders too! That is a separate season even though you can use them during regular season as well. However if you have multiple tags and participate on a deer drive you'll appreciate why a muzzle loader doesn't work too well for those.