From Total Fun To Pure Pain: How & Why?

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otisrush

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I'm 56 yrs old.

When I was a teenager (prob ages 14-17) my dad and I shot a lot of Trap. We shot year round, going out on Sunday mornings to a local club probably 45+ wks of the year - meaning we were committed and we loved it, virtually in any weather. Our standard Sunday we'd each shoot 4 rounds, so, 100 shells. On occasion my dad would declare himself "done" early and I'd shoot his last box in addition to my 4. He bought me a BT-99 and I loved it. Of the guns I own (most inherited from him) it is the gun that has the most sentimental value.

Due to life in general I fell away from trap shooting. I've been shooting a lot of pistol and rifle, but finding shotgun sports locally is difficult.

But when I have had occasion to shoot one of them (Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays or 5 Stand) it hurts my shoulder......A LOT! Over the last couple of years on an annual trip with good friends we do some shotgun shooting. And every time I walk away completely frustrated. I flinch horribly - I'm sure due to the utter pounding I'm taking and the pain I know I'll develop. I recently was on this trip and one day we shot a round of Sporting Clays. The last 20% I was just looking forward to it being over. The next morning I started a round of 5 Stand and I stopped before it was over. I just couldn't take it.

On the one hand I'm figuring age is a big factor between why I could so easily shoot 4 boxes each Sunday with no remembered pain at all, and now it is so difficult. But I'm figuring there are reasons that go beyond just simply "I'm getting older.". Clearly there are people who enjoy the shotgun sports well into later life.

Any ideas on what I should look into to make this more enjoyable? If pursuing just trap I know I could put a release trigger in my BT-99. But I'm figuring that will help only the flinching. At the end of the day I still have to address the pain I'm experiencing. I also know I could put in a recoil reducer. Do most heavy-use shotgun shooters use a reducer?

I'm wondering if upper body muscle mass is a component. I exercise a lot, but I don't lift weights. Maybe I need a bit more muscle up there? Any other ideas?

Thx for reading.

OR
 
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Maybe time to see your Doctor? If shooting your shotgun now makes your shoulder hurt a LOT, there may be some developing issues that could be corrected. OR maybe you're just getting old like me.
 
A slipped disc and spurs in the neck can produce pain and even loss of movement of the arm.

If your healthy, add weight, porting, a better recoil pad, all may help.

I ended up shooting skeet with 28 & 410 gauge shotguns.
 
OK,
Sit back and let me ramble a bit.
Like you I spent my youth trapshooting with my dad. We started at the local level, but as our skills and interests progressed, we wound up shoot trap all over the Midwest. We shot somewhere every weekend. I didn't play sports in school like my friends.., I shot. What a wonderful time we had. We kept our reloader set up because we had to churn out at least 600 rds per week. More if we wanted practice ammo or doubles ammo.
Soo....
When you go to a trap range and see the older gents are shooting fine trapguns and wearing nice shooting vests with leather shoulder pads.....don't automatically think "there goes some old snob, probably rich by the looks of all that gear"
When I was young, I would shoot my mod12 with no padding on my shoulder, just my t-shirt. I would go to school and the gym teacher would think I was being abused. You could see the tread marks from my Pachmeyer Decelerator on my shoulder, but it didn't hurt. I was young. Nothing hurt.
Now, 40 years of pulling on wrenches, and throwing hay bales, and scooping corn have taken its toll. I'm 53. I can still break my targets. All of them occasionally. But when you see me at the gun club, I'll be wearing a nice shooting vest, a shooting shirt, Decot glasses(So I can see the targetsĺ, a empty hull bag (So I can catch my empties and reload them with a light load), the finest hearing protection (So I can keep what little I have left [too many hours on a big diesel]).
So Otis rush.
Your time has come too. You aren't a teenager anymore. Gear up.
Light loads
Good ears
Good eyes
Good pad
Good vest
Make sure your gun fits
Maybe a release trigger for that BT. They're everywhere.


I think you'll be cured.
 
Welcome to old age.... ( 67 here). Sounds as though it's time to talk to the doctors. Perhaps if you are currently shooting a 12 ga. then you could go to something smaller. The previous owner of my Browning Citori 12 ga. had a shoulder replacement and traded the 12 ga. Citori in on a 28 ga. I shoot sporting clays with a bunch of older mostly retired guys, some of whom are into their mid-seventies. I've heard them discuss issues like that but haven't paid much attention. I should start listening to the older guys with "been there, done that" experience on shotgun sports / shoulder issues. Between a good medical examination of the shoulder and talking to older shooters I'd bet that you could get all the proper information needed to make a sound decision for the future. Good Luck with it.
 
My experience is nearly identical to Armored Farmer, though I didn't travel the whole Midwest, just MN and WI. Back then at 18, I could shoot 400 a day at a major shoot and not blink an eye. I did wear a vest, but for the first couple years, not even plugs or muffs. :eek: So, speak up sonny, I'm a little hard of hearing. :) So as both 243winxb and Armored Farmer suggest, check with your doctor, see if there is something physical going on. I had a cervical fusion done about 5 years back, the year before that, I was limited to shooting .22's and no bow. It took another year before I could shoot my bow again, even set down all the way to 50#, but I could shoot rifle and shotgun again. Then add some of the accessiories mentioned, you'll feel the difference. Fit is VERY, very important.
Last year we added Trap to the 4-H Shooting Sports program, and I teach it. So I occasionally shoot a round with the kids, and sometimes an Open round on league night. I want to join a team, but my boss can't guarantee I'd be off by 5 that night of the week. Maybe this coming year.
Anyhoo, after shooting even 100, I can feel it more than back then. Sometimes I shoot the 4-H club's Tri-Star Raptor 20 ga., since it's just 16 yards, feels a lot better on my shoulder, kind of like a mini 1100.

AF, did you ever shoot the Wissota Shoot at the Hudson, WI, gun club back then? I shot it up until I went into the Army at 22. We're the same age.
 
Lots of good info given here, I might also add that gun fit is likely to change with age and weight gain or loss, shoulders might start drooping a little maybe. I am a big believer in super light reloads, I run 7/8oz 12 gauge at just barely 1160fps, 3/4oz 20 gauge doing about 1190. Those loads will smoke skeet and trap targets. I like heavy shotguns weighing over 8lbs+. Better the gun absorb the recoil than my shoulder and cheek. And I will just be rolling into 50 years old here in a few months.

Just like my job, I am a plumber doing mostly industrial fitting and plumbing, many times with big pipe and fittings, I have found ways to work smarter and not harder so my shoulders don't take the brunt of the force.

If you start off with heavy shotgun loads, you will feel lit right away and it works on your brain, start off with light loads and your brain and shoulder will thank you. Last round of sporting clays I shot entirely all 7/8oz loads and still ran a AA score of 91 out of a 100. Course was set up where skeet and IC would break just about all the targets, 2 stations would of been handy to have a mod choke and a heavier shell but I still managed to break the majority of the targets with the superlight shells.
 
It happened to me over the past couple of years. I got back into skeet/trap shooting and there were days I'd shoot 6 rounds of skeet in less than a couple of hours (I'd often go out in the middle of the day and shoot solo). Then one year I was getting sore in the shoulder and it would last over a day. I got the diagnosis from my doctor that it was probably arthritis setting in. I've been swimming about 2500-3200 yards every weekday morning for the past 33 years and the soreness was never there before but it is now. It hasn't gotten any worse either, it's just there and fairly mild. I was put on the minimum dose of Meloxicam which is not much different than Advil and hopefully easier on the organs.

I tailored the 12 ga loads to 3/4 oz @1300 fps and shoot a Remington 1100 so the recoil couldn't be any milder. Now I can still feel a little soreness after 4 rounds, but it isn't a chore to finish the up. A couple of rounds don't hurt at all.

So:
Lower recoil loads
See your doctor and have him check for arthritis
Something safe for long term mild pain meds
 
You need to get a gun that fits you.

Cast off, cast on, length of pull, it ALL matters. A properly fitted gun will eliminate your problems
 
When I had four vertebra fused in '11, I went to an 1100 with an add on pad, one ounce loads and a Past shoulder pad. Otherwise my back would go into spasms. A year later found me with a spinal infection, in a turtleshell brace and after three months, shooting the same combo again. I'm back to my 870TB but need a padded vest and can't shoot in just a t shirt. If you want to shoot, there is a way.
I'm 73. Still shoot a lot of 1 ounce loads.
 
Old age, gun fit, or physical problems, maybe. But it could be something simpler. I learned the hard way that shotguns "kick" when they're held lightly and "push" when held firmly to the shoulder pocket. And the pocket only appears if the right elbow is held at close to a 90 degree angle. As a young man I used to come home with a black and blue shoulder, but I'm no longer bruised (or young).

I've helped a lot of people having trouble with recoil with just these two points, many of them big guys in their 20's.
 
Old age, gun fit, or physical problems, maybe. But it could be something simpler. I learned the hard way that shotguns "kick" when they're held lightly and "push" when held firmly to the shoulder pocket. And the pocket only appears if the right elbow is held at close to a 90 degree angle. As a young man I used to come home with a black and blue shoulder, but I'm no longer bruised (or young).

I've helped a lot of people having trouble with recoil with just these two points, many of them big guys in their 20's.
Yes, the pocket is key. I suspect PapaG's problems are something different, he has many, many rounds of Trap and Skeet under his belt. I teach the pocket and correct forward leaning stance for both rifle and shotgun for 4-H, the kids with shotguns catch on pretty quick.......
 
Yes, the pocket is key. I suspect PapaG's problems are something different, he has many, many rounds of Trap and Skeet under his belt. I teach the pocket and correct forward leaning stance for both rifle and shotgun for 4-H, the kids with shotguns catch on pretty quick.......
:oops: Gawrsh, I'm 53 and just had a senior moment! :rofl: Don't know why I thought it was PapaG....Call me Heimer. Alz Heimer. :p
 
"...I'm 56 yrs old..." That explains a lot. My doc told me, "Once you hit 50, everything hurts." Told him it wasn't 50, it's all down hill after 40.
Any issue with arthritis, shoulder tendon damage, back issues, bursitis or any of the other 'itis'? Been to your doc lately? If not, it's time.
 
If, by some senior moment, I don't find the pocket(which perfectly matches my TB recoil pad) I am immediately given painful feedback.
I think my "pocket" must have an extra half inch of cartilage or scar tissue after nearly fifty years of trap shooting.
I wish I had a dollar, hell ten dollars, for every newby whose eyes were opened when "we" discovered the magic of the "pocket". I could order a new, custom built 1972 870 TB.
 
The older I get the smaller my caliber and gauges get. I had a closet full of nice O/U's and got rid of all but my 20ga Beretta and my 410/28ga Verona. The only 12ga in the house is my Win 1300 and I only have it because of turkeys and ducks.. The 20 and 28ga have done 98% of my shotgun shooting over the last 15 years. Like others have said, light loads, good vest and smaller gauges. Welcome to the Retirement community.
 
Maybe time to see your Doctor? If shooting your shotgun now makes your shoulder hurt a LOT, there may be some developing issues that could be corrected. OR maybe you're just getting old like me.
The best advice! You may have a rotator cuff issue that you know nothing about. See a sports physician. Light loads, better recoil pad, those are just attempts at reducing pain. Find the root of the problem and you won't have to guess or fiddle around with "fixes" that don't address the problem.
 
I realized that a 20 gauge can be as effective as a 12 after my trip to South Dakota about 3 weeks ago. I would shoot my 12 gauge 1100 on bad days that it might rain or snow. On the nicer days ( relatively ) I would shoot my 20 gauge 1100 lightweight. When they said that South Dakota pheasant numbers were down they weren't kidding. Usually 5 of us get 40 to 45 birds, this year 4 of us got only 14. I only shot at 4 birds, and got 3 of them--- all with my 20 gauge. Because my1100 20 gauge has a 2 3/4 inch chamber steel shot is hard to find. Luckily I still have 2 boxes of Winchester 20 gauge Dry Lock number 4 shot steel. I am 68 and because I shoot Rem 1100's I do not have trouble with recoil. The 3 to 4 guys I hunt with for the week all shoot 3' 12 gauge Benelli shotguns ( the youngest at 32 years old shoots some 3 1/2 inch shells for his 3rd shot ). Other years when we get a lot of shooting in SD, the guys with the inertia recoil operated Benelli shotguns complained of sore shoulders.They now give me the easiest walking because I have spinal stenosis, 5 ruptured discs in my lower back, arthritis, bone degeneration, bone spurs, and all of my discs are dried out. I just take pain pills every 6 hours instead of every 8 hours. There is NO whining during pheasant hunting !!! My back and now knees hurt, but so far my shoulder is ok. I also shoot sporting clays alone with my 12 and 20 gauge and use the delay for the thrower, which makes it a little sportier. My 20 gauge Lightweight was made in 1995 and is still in beautiful shape, and is beautiful to look at and shoot. Now if they would make the dreaded steel in more 2 3/4 inch shells for when it is required.
 
I can shoot my TB all day with ounce and an eighth without trouble. Either the gun fits new or after 45 years I've grown around it. However, my late brother's Ithaca 100 20 gauge beats the tar out of me even with 7/8 ounce dove loads. Fit, fit, fit.
 
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