Help recoil !

[grayfox]

I've been doing what skeeterbait said but I just bought a Lead Sled & now I don't dread patterning my turkey guns anymore.  Makes it enjoyable again.  Get a Lead Sled & put some weight on it & you'll be Happy Happy Happy!

[SumToy]

Load the magazine of that gun up to maximum capacity , get a good recoil pad , limbsaver etc....

This is the best way.  I don't like any kind of sled that ties the gun down.  It put a lot of pressure on the gun.  Other reason also that affects the patterns.    I have folded a towel up a few times and used it also to help.   

[30_06]

You don't tie the gun down to a lead sled, at least mine didn't.

[Birdyblaster]

Another vote for the lead sled.  They still allow the gun to recoil, just that the sled take the recoil instead of your shoulder.  I put 25 lbs on mine and it makes my 300 win mag kick like a .223.  I shot a 3.5/2.25/7 Hevi-13 in my sled the other day and it kicked less than a 20 gauge light target load.

[Skeeterbait]

I do know of one case that a lead sled caused a wooden stock to crack.  The gun was older with a solid plastic recoil pad and a wooden stock.  The toe of the stock split away.  Could have already been damaged, I don't know. There is no doubt that a lead sled puts more stress on a stock than your shoulder does.

[BandedSpur]

Load the magazine of that gun up to maximum capacity , get a good recoil pad , limbsaver etc....

This is the best way.  I don't like any kind of sled that ties the gun down.  It put a lot of pressure on the gun.  Other reason also that affects the patterns.    I have folded a towel up a few times and used it also to help. 

William knows what he is talking about. I have a lead sled, and it works great, but I don't pattern turkey loads from it. There have been lots of reports about broken guns using the sleds. The guns are designed to be fired from the shoulder where there is some give. You can break a gun by not allowing it to recoil at all. When I use the sled, I don't put any weight on it at all so that it can slide a bit on the bench. The weight of the sled (about 15 lbs) is enough to attenuate the recoil considerably and is not as hard on the gun as it is if you load it up with 50 or more pounds of shot. My patterns are also worse when shooting off the sled vs off the shoulder. The difference is not huge, but it is there.

[allaboutshooting]

I use a slip on Limbsaver pad and pattern from my shoulder for final patterning.

I will use a rest of some sort to get a gun on paper. Lately, I've been using a MaXBox rest. It's made from closed cell foam, light, easy to transport and works well.

I also have a Sight-Bloc shooting rest that I've left on my bench for over a year now through all kinds of weather, to see how it holds up. It's made from recycled rubber and so far, it's done very well. It's heavy and you can turn it to allow shooting from different heights, etc.

Shooting from any rest, at least for me however, produces a slightly different POI than shooting from my shoulder.

Thanks,
Clark