Cheek Bruising

[Bill50]

Every time I shoot sporting clays, my cheek bruises. I usually go shooting with a coworker that likes to go duck hunting and shoots alot more than me. He said my stance and mount look fine.

I'm 6'2" and use the shotguns with the longest length of pull I can find. Never have experienced shoulder bruising, so I'm sure I hold the gun tight enough.

Is there a trick to holding the gun? If I don't keep a tight cheek weld, I feel like I lose the sight picture.

 

[JT-AR-MG42]

I can't say for sure why and kind of doubt anyone can over the internet without seeing
your rig and watching you shoot it.

So, speaking in general, the gun should fit you and let the beads line up
without having to bury your face on the stock. Just maintain the 'wood on wood'.
It is possible that you are bringing your face up as you fire in anticipation of the recoil or
to see the target break.
Maybe practice on single targets and make a point of following the biggest chip to the ground.
If you do it honestly, you'll soon see if you are coming out of the gun too soon.

Just my .02, JT

 

[Bill50]

I definitely put my face in the stock to make beads line up. Today we did the "hard" sporting clays course, so we didn't shoot alot of doubles.

On hand trap and "easy" sporting clays, we always do doubles. No problem with a follow up shot until after 100 rounds, so I don't think it's a flinch issue. I usually shoot a gas operated semi auto.

 

[JRWhit]

I tend to have a similar issue. I always thought it was the result of a lighter shotgun or just simply that after 100 rds of taking recoil, something is bound to be a little sore. I have been checked by a trainer for proper fit before and was told I had a good match, but I think I have a tendency to press into the cheek wield a bit tighter than necessary. You may do the same thing.

 

[Armored farmer]

It's a sore subject (pardon the pun)
Clay pigeon shooters have gone to great lengths to deal with this matter.
I don't know why your gun is hitting you, find out.
Make sure your gun is fitting properly.
Add a pad of moleskin on the comb may help.
Cheap shells sometimes shoot pretty sharp.(fact)

It is a serious issue, you can develop some bad habits real fast if you are getting whacked 100x.
When I was a kid shooting trap, I had a beautiful custom stock on a mod 12.
As I grew it began to hit me so bad that at the end of a 200 bird race my gums would bleed. I ended up changing guns.

 

[rbernie]

I have never had cheek/face issues from having my face buried hard onto the stock, even when shooting 3" field buck from a sub-8lb gun. OTOH, I have had my face battered by not having my cheek firmly enough against the stock - the stock would 'slap' me under recoil.

I'm gonna vote that the gun doesn't really fit you, and your face and the stock are separating slightly under recoil and then meeting again with force.

 

[Hookeye]

My dad's 1100 trap gets me once in a while. My magnum 1100's never did.
The difference? The trap model wears a higher comb trap stock...........but it's been reduced to almost field stock dims.
Yeah, it needs just a little more taken off LOL

Bought a Baikal 20 ga over under cheap. Had to work the stock down a bunch. Once at proper dim it rarely popped by cheek. The next step was to bend the stock for more drop.
I sold it rather than make a cradle and do all that hot oil stuff.

It had 26" bbl and I like 28" better.

 

[Telekinesis]

That sounds like a gun fit issue. Even if you're keeping your cheek on the comb like you are supposed to, it can still happen after you fire enough rounds. I had the same issue when I first started shooting conpetitively. I'd have a bruise on my cheek after every practice session and when doing competitions or shooting 200-300 rounds a day I'd start to get a bit of a cut on my cheek. Eventually I just had to get a new gun because there was no way to get that gun to fit properly.

What eventually solved the issue was getting the stock completely reworked and fitted to me. I'm 6 feet tall and have really long arms, so I had to get a few more inches (yes, that much) added to the back to lengthen the LOP. Then I had an adjustable comb set up so that it could move both vertically and laterally. A soft comb also helped a LOT. Since getting that work done, I have zero discomfort or cheek bruising even after several hundred rounds.

If you go to any major Trap shoots (and maybe skeet and sporting clays as well), you should be able to find several professional gun fitters who can take a look at you mounting the gun and give you some ideas (and most will do that for free). I recommend Todd Nelson (I think his company is called The Country Gentleman) if you can find him. Great guy and he does some really good work.

Also a short term/cheaper option would be one of those stick on cheek pads. They help a bit but in my experience don't completely fix the issue.

 

[cdb1]

Cheek slap is caused by improper stock fit if form is correct. I had one shotgun that caused slap. My shotgun guru had me lengthen the stock .25" and it went away.

 

[entropy]

Either you are 'crawling' the stock, and putting your cheek in front of the drop-off of the comb, or your cheek is not firmly in contact with the comb when you fire. Longer LOP or retraining yourself on mounting the stock will cure the former, training will cure the latter. I had a friend who ripped his cheek open every Wed. nite during leagues from the former reason, but he had a 23.5 avg. that year and didn't want to mess with that, so he suffered through the summer. I popped 3/4" of spacers in the stock before duck season, no more cut up cheek.

 

[prestpat]

It might be a matter of incorrect pitch. If the toe is in firm contact with your shoulder but the heel isn't, the gun will tend to rotate upward under recoil and cause cheek slap. You can play with the pitch dimension a little by putting a shim of some kind under the heel of the recoil pad.

 

[rem1858]

I will also add that a shotgun stock can have neutral cast, cast on or cast off.

 

[kudu]

It might be a matter of incorrect pitch. If the toe is in firm contact with your shoulder but the heel isn't, the gun will tend to rotate upward under recoil and cause cheek slap. You can play with the pitch dimension a little by putting a shim of some kind under the heel of the recoil pad.

This is a good suggestion, as well as entropy's suggestion to add a bit of length to the stock as well.
I had the problem of cheek slap when I was getting started shooting skeet, tried the moleskin on the cheek of the stock, baby powder on my face to help reduce friction from recoil, added a bit of length to the stock, reduced stock length. I am also 6'2", finally my shooting style changed and adapted enough that I was no longer getting beat up. Took a couple years and 30-40 thousand shotshells.

My stance became more upright, less tight on the stock, the beads don't line up on each other, they have a bit of rib between them which I find makes you want to float the target some which has the added benefit in windy conditions of seeing it drop and being able to follow it. I have weight about 60% forward on my left foot and twist from the knees and hip, not from the waist and shoulder. Sometimes easing up on the gun is better than fighting to make the gun do what you want it to.

Hope some of the suggestions that have been brought forward to you will help beat the problem. Good luck to you and good shooting.

 

[Bill50]

Most posts go straight to the length of pull being too short or have good alternatives I ruled out in favor a gun fit problem.

Confirmation bias, but I was thinking it is a gun fit problem due to a short stock.

My favorite for sporting clay gun is a Mossberg 935 magnum because it's heavier and seems to have a longer length of pull than most of the other shotguns I've shot.

I have a Remington 11-87 with what appears to be the same length of pull but feels longer on the shoulder. The Remington is a 20 gauge, so it's not an apples to apples comparison.

Is there anything with a longer length of pull on the market? I have a small and medium size limbsaver. I don't think those fit on a shotgun. Would it be worth buying a large to see what happens when I add an inch?

 

[kudu]

Usually adding a 1" or 1 1/4" recoil pad adds at least 1/2 to 3/4" to the length of the pull. I like Decelerator grind to fit pads, but nothing wrong with Limbsaver or the other brands. If it already has a thick recoil pad just adding a 1/4 spacer or 2 will add additional length also.

Each individual has different body proportions, whether it be high or low cheek bones, longer neck, etc. Hopefully you will figure it out quickly and cheaply, I know how expensive it can get chasing a cure.