So maybe this is weird, or maybe it is mad genius. It was just an idea that popped into my head that I thought could be neat, I have no intentions to immediately implement any of these ideas on my rifle.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever thought to add temporary weight to a rifle to have it kick less, perhaps when teaching a new shooter, or working up loads. My thought was because I added one of those stock sleeves to hold extra rounds, and with even that small amount of additional mass, it seemed to recoil less. And of course any AR recoils less the more junk you hang off it. My rifle (Rem 700 ADL .308) is pretty light but not featherweight by any stretch, and I am not sensitive to its recoil, but I just thought, if you wanted to get someone accustomed to a hunting rifle, you could just add mass rather than go out to buy reduced-recoil rounds. Easy ways to do this would be to attach something to the swivel stud, or wrap lead tape around the stock, or hollow out the stock and put weight in there, just so long as it is tight and not rattling around, it should work. It wouldn't take much to add a pound or two, and that would make a big difference on a 7lb gun! Then as the shooter gains confidence (and learns about eye relief) you can slowly remove the weights till it is back to original. I know it would mess with the balance and everything, but the idea would be to use it for training/testing and then slowly taper it back. Advantage over reduced recoil rounds is practice with the actual round to be used in a hunt, and tapering off rather than jumping from one to the other. Advantage over one of those recoil-reducers is it doesn't affect LOP (and I have found those recoil-absorbers to be more trouble than they are worth because they soften the blow, but the gun seems to want to jump more.)
I was just wondering if anyone has ever thought to add temporary weight to a rifle to have it kick less, perhaps when teaching a new shooter, or working up loads. My thought was because I added one of those stock sleeves to hold extra rounds, and with even that small amount of additional mass, it seemed to recoil less. And of course any AR recoils less the more junk you hang off it. My rifle (Rem 700 ADL .308) is pretty light but not featherweight by any stretch, and I am not sensitive to its recoil, but I just thought, if you wanted to get someone accustomed to a hunting rifle, you could just add mass rather than go out to buy reduced-recoil rounds. Easy ways to do this would be to attach something to the swivel stud, or wrap lead tape around the stock, or hollow out the stock and put weight in there, just so long as it is tight and not rattling around, it should work. It wouldn't take much to add a pound or two, and that would make a big difference on a 7lb gun! Then as the shooter gains confidence (and learns about eye relief) you can slowly remove the weights till it is back to original. I know it would mess with the balance and everything, but the idea would be to use it for training/testing and then slowly taper it back. Advantage over reduced recoil rounds is practice with the actual round to be used in a hunt, and tapering off rather than jumping from one to the other. Advantage over one of those recoil-reducers is it doesn't affect LOP (and I have found those recoil-absorbers to be more trouble than they are worth because they soften the blow, but the gun seems to want to jump more.)