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Good Form and Shotgun RecoilGood form reduces felt recoil and improves your shooting -- in both clays and waterfowl. Imagine you’re in a duck blind -- it’s dark, cold and wet. The last thing you want to struggle with is a bad-fitting shotgun.
While the circumstances seem dire for women, there is good news.
Advances in technology are making shotguns for women more affordable and comfortable. Yes, there’s still a disregard towards most women shotgun shooters, but existing advances can easily be adapted.
Now bear in mind that you still may need a visit to the stockfitter. However, before you head down that path, check out these solutions first to see if they may be exactly what you need.
How About a Semi-Automatic?
Semi-automatic shotguns -- or autoloaders as they’re also known -- are prized for their low felt recoil compared with over/unders. A semi-automatic uses some of the expanding gases from the fired shell to cycle the next one into the chamber. So rather than you absorbing the full force of the shot, a semi-automatic puts that energy to good use.
Another type of semi-automatic is inertia-driven. Rather than using the gasses, this type of shotgun actually harnesses the recoil to reload the chamber.
Semi-automatics don’t eliminate felt recoil, but they can reduce it by up to 40%.
Will Porting Reduce Recoil?
Porting is designed to lower felt recoil by releasing shotshell gases through small holes near the muzzle of the barrel. Rather than forcing all gases through the barrel, the thinking goes that pre-releasing some those gases beforehand can cut the amount of energy escaping through the end of the barrel.
Whether or not porting actually lessens felt recoil is still up for debate. But there’s one benefit to porting that most insiders agree on: porting reduces muzzle jump.
The other thing that insiders agree on about porting is that it makes your barrel more difficult to clean. The holes throw off a residue that turns the surrounding area gray, and if you’re a fastidious shotgun owner you may need to clean out the ports with a tiny brass brush.
If you think porting is for you, get a shotgun already ported at the factory. Otherwise, aftermarket porting may be too pricy for the results you’ll see.
