Mercury recoil reducers

[ducktapehero]

I was wondering if any of you have ever put one of those Mercury Recoil reducers in your shotgun and how well did it work. I have had 3 shoulder surgeries in the last few years and have some nerve damage. Needless to say it's painful to shoot my Ithaca 37. I love my shotgun but I can't "blaze away" with it the way I used too. I miss shooting my baby. I'm going to put a recoil pad on there but the more I can reduce recoil the better. Here's the website to the product. Any opinions?

http://www.mercuryrecoil.com/index.htm#top

 

[kudu]

Sorry, no experience with the mercury type recoil reducer. Have heard of some shooters using them with good results. I have used the Dead Mule recoil reducer which is spring loaded weight. It was OK but I have to believe the weight in the gun helped more with perceived recoil.

http://www.100straight.com/products/deadmule.htm


High volume shooters tend to go with heavier guns and custom fitting to combat felt recoil. The 37 is a light gun that may benefit from some weight and possibly an oversized recoil pad. I realize that weight may be an issue in even shouldering a gun after shoulder operations, but a good pad like a Decelerator does wonders.

Do a search on recoil pads and you will come up with many recommendations.

 

[P95Carry]

DTH ...... I too have no first hand experience of these but .. physics dictates that they should help .... anything that enters the ''recoil energy chain'' should buffer or damp the system. I have heard reasonably favorable reports.

Only reason for not using is .... haven't felt the need. I do two things as a matter of course .. recoil pad (slip on very often) - this gives me extra length I usually want and, helps soak up some shock.

Second .... I have a strap on leather pad (with some filling) .. over right shoulder, when going to shoot excessively . Forget make but can check that out for you. It is held in place a bit like a sho rig ... very comfortable and .. keeps a further nice dose of whack off the shoulder. Great for flinchless benchrest stuff etc.

 

[Dave McCracken]

The mercury reducers do work, according to folks I know with them. However, there's other ways to reduce kick without adding weight.

A wearable recoil pad like the PAST is effective, though I find mine better for bench work than wingshooting and clays. Others do well with them for everything.

Installing a premium pad like the Decellerator helps. Leaving it umtrimmmed will look odd, but the extra surface area really helps.

And the biggest way to cut the kick is using lighter loads. Going to a 1 oz load instead of 1 1/8 at the same speed cuts kick about 11%. Dropping the speed to 1150 still leaves plenty of moxie but drops the felt recoil another 8-12%.

Finally, form can play a part here also. Making sure we have no slack between the butt and shoulder, leaning well into the shot and being behind the gun instead of beside it so the full length of the spine can act as a spring will aid recovery and comfort no end.

 

[sm]

What they said.
I could have sworn the mercury recoil reducer I used was called Dead Mule.

Anyway, two identical guns , one with- one w/o. He had added the Decellarator pad because I used one. Shooting same loads. Most noticable was the balance and handling...err...messed up. Not less felt recoil, Citori 20ga bbl used from the Citori 3 bbl set.

For some it helps...depends. Subjective IMO

Better gun fit , better form, improved for the fella.
Better hearing protection also improved the "percieved" recoil for the fella.

Fella removed the reducer. *Somebody* made a comment about not relying on crutches...you folks might know this fella that would make such a suggestion.

 

[rick_reno]

Yes, they help. How much - beats me, I don't have any way to measure it. I put one in my Benelli Nova - it not only makes the gun poiint better, the recoil on 3.5 inch loads feels better.