Does pistol grip stock reduce felt recoil at the shoulder on a 12GA Shotgun?

[jonconsiglio]

I don't get how you don't get it. Look at yourself in your own avatar picture. Imagine that rifle receiver flying back at you .. your right hand is in a much better position to resist that backlash than it would be in a conventional thumb-over grip. That's all I got.

Yeah, still not getting it. I can shoot an 870 with or without a pistol grip and it'll recoil the same for me. I'm using the same technique. I'm not saying everyone else is wrong, I just think recoil management is the same regardless of the grip attached.

Now, I shoot more squared than I do bladed and I tuck my elbows in tight with long guns. The only thing I do different with a shotgun is push forward with my firing hand.

The only reason the stock even touches my shoulder/chest is to stabilize the rifle. So, my shoulder is not absorbing the recoil nearly as much as it could be if I pulled tighter.

I don't spend much time on shotguns. On average, I shoot about 750 rounds a week. Maybe 10 of that (if averaged per week) is through a shotgun. So I'm certainly not an expert on them, but I have trained on them in different environments and have put over 200 through one in one day with no soreness of any kind.

What I think I'm trying to say here is that the same result can be had with either grip, but maybe people just use more of a push/pull technique after installing a pistol grip...

I don't know.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[kerberos]

Worth 1000 words...

[jonconsiglio]

That I knew, I was asking about how a standard pistol grip lessens recoil... Thanks for the pic though.

[Smitty901]

Not getting into pro and cons of the fancy high tech stuff.
A pistol grip allows you to better seat the stock to the shoulder and hold it firmly there. That does reduce the effect of recoil on you and allows for better control of it when used right.
Notice I said reduces the effect not he actual recoil

[dbglock]

OK, I shot the 870 (without pistol grip) and 500 Persuader (with tactical pistol grip and buttstock) yesterday side by side so I could do a comparison. My son and I both felt that the recoil of each gun was the same, but the perceived recoil at the shoulder was noticeably less with the pistol grip. Again, it's just in the way you have a "backstop" there in the form of the meat of your hand as opposed to simply throwing a thumb over the top and wrapping your fingers around the stock. What Smitty901 said is exactly consistent with our findings. I doubt my buttstock is fancy-pancy with coil springs like the one in kerberos' picture, but just being there to form a backstop does the trick IMO.

[msc8127]

Best way to deal with 12 gauge recoil is to shoot it more. They always kick but you find what makes it the least abusive on you by practicing with it. Likewise, you eventually get used to the higher amount of recoil.

sent via iCarry

[Chesafreak]

My 870 has a pistol grip on both ends. This allows me to absorb recoil with my support hand by pushing forward against the front pistol grip. It works pretty well to reduce recoil to my shoulder.

[gasman311]

Got to recommend the fancy stuff here. Put on the Mesa Tactical endine recoil buffer system. You end up with buffer system, pistol grip, AR style multi-position stock, then you can put on a snap-on limbsaver pad made specifically for the AR style stocks. Pricey, but works great. I shoot a LOT of shotgun (hunting/sporting clays) and don't believe the pistol grip alone does much. Granted, I now shoot a 20ga or 28ga in the field depending on what Im doing, so my HD shotgun is setup exactly as above.